Understanding different forms of locations

The azimuthal map program keeps a log of the parameters submitted and whether the map generation succeeded or not. It does not store or track IP addresses or anything that could link requests to particular users unless you identify yourself in the title. Looking at the logs lets me see how people are using the tool and more importantly how I can improve it.

The location field is the one that seems to trip people up the most, and I have been working quite a bit to expand the range of inputs that will work for the location. For example, you can enter degrees, minutes, & seconds separated by spaces now with a N, S, E, or W to specify the latitude or longitude. You can also use unsigned doubles followed N, S, E, or W instead of using signed values.

Most recently, you can enter city names. For large cities, you may be able to enter just the name. For example, “Chicago”, “Paris”, and “London” resolve to “Chicago, IL”, “Paris, France”, and “London, England”. For smaller US cities, enter the name and the state. For smaller non-US cities, enter the city name and country. This approach only works when the spelling and punctuation match exactly.

Azimuthal map does US cities now!

The azimuthal map form can now add labels for US cities. The database of latitude/longitude pairs for cities seems imprecise because some California cities are in the Pacific ocean. It might also mean that the coastal outlines are not precise enough.

If you notice a city out of place, please let me know. There are some errors in the database. For example, San Francisco was a few miles out to sea.

Update: I updated the list of cities to include ones from Alaska and Hawaii.