The first link, Acme, is very powerful, attractive & worldwide. To move the map sideways, click & hold on the map, and drag the map itself (not the center point). You can zoom in or out with the control on the left. The bottom right corner shows the lat/long of the center. It also lets you jump to any other lat/long in the world. Enter town, address or lat/long in any format. To save a view, click "Link to this page." If it says "we don't have imagery at this zoom level," just zoom out.
Searchable by Latitude/Longitude:
Acme Satellite & aerial photos, roads & topography best for high speed connection. Worldwide. Enter town, street address or latitude/longitude (not county) in "Find" window. Roads & photos do print in Internet Explorer, not Firefox.
Google is very similar to Acme, but often does not print aerial images. Roads print in both Internet Explorer & Firefox,
US Geological Survey (vast data on disasters, trees, rail, pipes, power lines, etc.) Click "Find Place" on left & enter town, address, latitude/longitude, or county. Click scale & pointers on right to control what is shown, then "Refresh" at the bottom right.
Location map from WVDEP (enter latitude & longitude) Good for dial-up connection. Inaccurate latitude. Only West Virginia.
(Or try prettier but slower map, also inaccurate. enter place, county or latitude/longitude)
National Atlas Click "Find" tab & enter place or zip code. Can show wide variety of info, including counties, but not zoom in much. On "Map Layers," you can choose to show towns, counties, national parks, streams, roads, etc, explained on "Map Key"
Yahoo town, address or zip code. US & Canada. Can show nearby businesses in some countries
Mapquest (AOL) town, address or zip code. Worldwide. Can show nearby businesses in some countries & traffic on interstates
Microsoft Enter town, address or zip code. Worldwide. Can show nearby businesses in some countries & traffic on interstates. Aerial photos.
Specialized:
County outlines in wikipedia
Nautical charts from US NOAA
Soil surveys from USDA. Click "Start WSS." With the magnifying glass, you can then draw a rectangle on the map and it will zoom in. After you get below 10,000 acres, you can click the AOI rectangle button (Area of Interest), draw it, and then click the top tab for "Soil Map"
Historic maps from Library of Congress. (For eastern panhandle, type in search box: "Northern Neck" or "Jefferson Fry")
Interactive maps from Fish & Wildlife Service (poor) Zoom to see area; scant detail shown
Statistical maps from Census Bureau. You can get pre-made maps, or map your own. Click here to show the boundaries of subareas available. You'll zoom in, & within each county or city you'll see:
- big census tracts numbered from 9722-9728 (dark orange)
- medium block groups numbered 1-4 in each tract
- small blocks numbered in each block group (pale yellow)
Tax maps for WV
World maps with areas proportional to many economic, social & cultural numbers; categories available
Super-detailed relief maps (unlabeled) from US/Japan spacecraft. Free after complex registration & download process
If you
know other good map sites, please tell the webmaster