# I'm looking for a specific type of map program. Any reccomendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2014, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740 "2014-09-07T08:47:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Recusant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@Recusant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recusant)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/1 "2014-09-07T08:47:03Z")
The average American does not know the location of Transoxiana or Khwarezm. In and of itself, this is not a problem (I’d be kind of worried if it was), but it makes explaining matters of the distant past easier if they have a visual sense of the area you’re talking about, and “I think that’s modern day Tajikistan” often doesn’t help. As a person who often finds himself discussing these things (the gods call on me to educate the masses in matters weird and trivial, I suppose), I’ve taken to carrying around a small folder of maps. Unfortunately, most of what I have is at different scales and colorings, often with landmarks inconsistently pictured. Rather than hunting down more similar physical types, it seems to me I ought to be able to just do it digitally, so I’m looking for a program that’ll let me zoomably and scrollably display a political map, with an overlay function that’ll let me slap a ‘here’s the region now/in 784’ on top of it. Ideally, it’ll also have a sizable library of maps already installed, or at least the ability to easily add more. This kind of software isn’t something I have experience with, so what I’m looking for may not actually exist, but it doesn’t seem like something impossible to create. Anyone have any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/2 "2014-09-07T09:22:26Z")
I think you’re talking about a GIS (geospatial information system) - these allow you to have many different map layers at different scales - comprising image-based (raster) and drawn-line (vector) maps. Usually they have some sort of ‘base’ mapping which may be an official paid-for, surveyed map, or maybe just something like openstreetmap. Additional map layers can be created - with the map content being ‘registered’ for placement/orientation/scaling against the base mapping. There are expensive, corporate versions of this such as ArcGIS and MapInfo, and there are free, open-source ones too. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/3 "2014-09-07T10:21:54Z")
What’s that, you say? You’re trying to show where Transoxiana, Khwarezm, and Tajikistan are? Me thinks you’re hanging out in the wrong types of bars. Does your mother know? 😃 In all seriousness, I’m subscribing to this thread: when you find a solution, please share. I’d be interested. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/4 "2014-09-07T10:43:46Z")
Here’s one called [QGIS](http://www.qgis.org/en/site/) that my colleagues in Emergency Planning use as a fallback (because it can be run entirely from a USB stick, making it good for scenarios where computer networks/infrastructure might be unavailable). I think the learning curve might be a bit steep, but that’s sort of inherent in the task you are attempting. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/5 "2014-09-07T11:19:26Z")
QGIS is a great open-source alternative to expensive GIS software like ArcGIS. Unfortunately, I’ve found that its one weakness is precisely in the kind if thing the OP wants to do – quickly and easily create a pretty, well-drawn map. Still, if he/she has a week with some free time, learning the basics of the program might be just the thing. Shouldn’t be hard at all to find a data set of country polygons that includes a “name” attribute field, assign the symbology such that the desired one is highlighted (e.g., colored red) while the rest have mere wire-mesh outlines, and save the map as a JPEG or PDF to show on a monitor, send to someone as an email attachment, upload to Facebook, or print out. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/6 "2014-09-07T11:33:58Z")
I just noticed the OP wants to highlight sub-national regions. If he/she uses something like QGIS, that will take a little more work than what I just described above. I see three options: 1. Find a free database with sub-national region polygons that the OP wants to highlight. You may get lucky, you may not. 2. Start with the all-countries polygon data set, and learn how to edit it (with QGIS). You need to chop up (cut) the country into regions. Or, start a new polygon vector data set (there are many possible formats – “feature class” is the general term in ArcGIS) – and create the single region polygon yourself. Either way, you need some base layer(s) to guide you as you draw or cut. You should be able to find them pretty easily – e.g., major cities (points) or major rivers (lines). (Using a base layer directly to cleanly cut out or build your polygon, rather than just digitally draw it by hand, takes a little more GIS skill). 3. Forget the whole GIS thing and use a drawing program – freeware, or comes-with-your-computer stuff like Paint, or expensive software like Adobe Illustrator – download a free map of the world (takes seconds) with a minimum of distracting text and clutter drawn on it (you could even use a “blank” map – showing, say, just national borders, used for high school exams and such) – and highlight your preferred region “by hand” (digitally draw on the map). ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/7 "2014-09-07T13:04:49Z")
Google Earth, the .exe ? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/8 "2014-09-07T13:23:10Z")
ArcGIS/ArcMap/ArcView is made by ESRI. I would visit [www.esri.com](http://www.esri.com) They do have a product that is free, ArcExplorer which is downloadable. That site also hosts tons of data for free that is viewable on a browser. Also they have an online map viewer which you can add data to that they serve. It has a 30 free trial. Not sure how much it would cost after that. [http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html](http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html) The web site is huge. I haven’t done much with this free stuff. I’m a GIS programmer/analyst for County Gov. I really only work with our own local data that we create with ArcMap. (my home internet is very slow and data is limited, otherwise I’d search the site for you a bit more) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/9 "2014-09-07T18:56:24Z")
GIS is overkill for this. Wikipedia would be far simpler. > **[Transoxiana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transoxiana)** > > Transoxiana or Transoxania ("Land beyond the Oxus") is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Turkmenistan and southern Kyrgyzstan. Geographically, it is the region between the rivers Amu Darya to its south and the Syr Darya to its north. > Historically known in Persian as Farā-rūd (Persian: فرارود, \[fæɾɒːˈɾuːd̪\] – 'beyond the \[Amu\] river'), Faro-rü... > **[Khwarazm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwarezm)** > > Khwarazm (/xwəˈræzəm/; Old Persian: Hwârazmiya; Persian: خوارزم, Xwârazm or Xârazm) or Chorasmia (/kəˈræzmiə/) is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the east by the Kyzylkum Desert, on the south by the Karakum Desert, and on the west by the Ustyurt Plateau. It was the center of the Iranian Khwarezmian civilization, and a series of kingdoms such as the Afrighid dynasty and the Anushtegin dynasty, whose ca Not as fancy, but infinitely easier. The hard part is not the map drawing portion, but the data – somebody has to bother drawing all those historical political boundaries, and then making it free available for people to use. If you’re willing to do that yourself (draw area on an existing map), you can easily do so with [www.caltopo.com](http://www.caltopo.com) by selecting Google Maps as your base layer, drawing the shapes, and then sharing your work. No software installs necessary, and easy to share with anybody you want. Edit: As Isildur said, Google Earth would work just fine too. Just click the “Add polygon” button at the top. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-looking-for-a-specific-type-of-map-program-any-reccomendations/697740/10 "2014-09-07T19:05:38Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > GIS is overkill for this. Wikipedia would be far simpler. > [Transoxiana - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transoxiana) > [Khwarazm - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwarezm) > > Not as fancy, but infinitely easier. > > The hard part is not the map drawing portion, but the data – somebody has to bother drawing all those historical political boundaries, and then making it free available for people to use. If you’re willing to do that yourself (draw area on an existing map), you can easily do so with [www.caltopo.com](http://www.caltopo.com) by selecting Google Maps as your base layer, drawing the shapes, and then sharing your work. No software installs necessary, and easy to share with anybody you want. > > Edit: As Isildur said, Google Earth would work just fine too. Just click the “Add polygon” button at the top. And, in fact, there are several historical timelines available for Google Earth already: [https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gec-dynamic-data-layers/IR-xFFGsYxo](https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gec-dynamic-data-layers/IR-xFFGsYxo) [http://www.chronoatlas.com/](http://www.chronoatlas.com/) > **[Historical U.S. Counties](https://www.randymajors.org/maps)** > > View Historical US County Boundary Lines on Google Maps. County boundaries change over time: this historical Google Maps tool contains the full dataset from the Newberry Atlas, helping to ensure you are searching in the correct county for the years...