Map Finder - with Marker pin - Help
New (Jan 2023). We have changed the zoom levels to match just the three main levels of detail / scales of the maps returned on the right-hand side:
- Zoom Level 5. Small-scale maps - low level of detail - eg. whole countries
- Zoom Level 10. Medium-scale maps - general overview of wider landscape - eg. regions / counties
- Zoom Level 15. Large-scale maps - high level of detail - eg. town plans and estate maps
You can switch to use the previous viewer with all zoom levels by clicking on the View all zoom levels button (upper right).
You can use this application to search and view all of our online maps. This search process complements our main Map Finder - with Outlines application that allows searching showing the boundaries or outlines of map sheets. Our Georeferenced Maps application allows a selection of seamless mosaics to be viewed.
Watch a Help video on the Map Finder viewer.
Navigation
Go to other viewers for the same area:
Main search process
- Move the marker to your point of interest. Just click on the map to move the marker there. You can also search by placenames (upper left), and the marker and map will locate to your chosen placename.
- (Optionally) filter the maps by date range, map type, keyword or scale.
- The maps covering the marker location appear in the Results on the right. Click on the map image thumbnails to view the maps.
- Move the marker to your point of interest. Just click on the map to move the marker there. You can also search by placenames (upper left), and the marker and map will locate to your chosen placename.
- The maps covering the marker location appear in the Results on the right. Click on the map image thumbnails to view the maps.
- (Optionally) filter the maps by date range, map type, keyword or scale.
All of our online maps are searched in this application.
Gazetteer
The Search Button 
allows you to search using a Gazetteer of Place Names, or by Counties/Parishes.
Further information on the Gazetteer.
Limit results by date range
Change the date range sliders in the left-hand panel to limit the maps returned to a particular span of years.
Limit results by scale
By default, the maps returned are based on the scale of your main map. When zoomed out, covering a wider geographic area, less detailed maps are returned. When zoomed in, covering a smaller geographic area, more detailed maps are returned. To change this to return all maps, regardless of the zoom level, change the Scales of returned maps to 'All scales' in the left-hand panel.
Linking to the viewer
The URL in your web browser address bar changes dynamically as you zoom and pan the map, and when you change the position of the marker or date range. You may copy or bookmark the URL in your web browser address bar to save the current viewer location and returned maps.
Application
This application uses OpenLayers as its main interface, as well as GeoServer for Web Feature Services.
We have released the OpenLayers code behind this viewer on Github for onward use. Please see the GeoCart 2018 - ANZMapS Historical Maps Online Workshop, for a set of freely downloadable basic OpenLayers viewers with code and notes. For further details, please consult the following:
- Fleet, C. (2019) 'An open-source web-mapping toolkit for libraries', e-Perimetron 14(2), pp. 59-76. Available online.
- Fleet, C. (2022) Understanding user needs: a case study from the National Library of Scotland. Digital Preservation Coalition Technology Watch Guidance Note. http://doi.org/10.7207/twgn22-01. Available online.
Please email maps@nls.uk for further assistance, or to provide general comments/feedback.