Where's Waldo? Please Fix the Zoom level in Biblical Places Maps

John Brumett
John Brumett Member Posts: 294
edited November 21 in English Forum

Please fix the Zoom level in Logos 5 Maps or Biblical Place Maps.

Open the Tribal Distribution of Palestine Map and try to find Adummin.   Tribal Distribution Of Palestine

In Joshua 15:7 I am trying to find Adummin. So I press Control F to find this city and the maps barely zooms in.  If you look in the lower left hand corner the range of the Maps is 20 miles. 

The Zoom should be fixed at 2 Miles which is ten times the current Zoom level.  Here is the result of me zooming in at that level. 

Can anyone else confirm this?

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Comments

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 13,413 ✭✭✭

    First, that problem's been around from day one.  Ten years ago, I think.

    Second, they're on their third attempt at mapping. Still struggling. Not likely they'll ever fix the one you can use offline.

    And the key sequence is badly broke (zooming).

    It's likely why we'll not see Carta .... Logos can't do graphics. Low-res, error-prone, poor-UI.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    Second, they're on their third attempt at mapping. Still struggling. Not likely they'll ever fix the one you can use offline.

    Yes, it like if your windshield wiper is broke you go out and buy a new car but that new car's wiper is also broke.  I think the Logos 5 maps are the best out of the 3 (as far as the colorful contextual maps) but with a few improvement it could become a great resource.

    1.  Fix the zoom level

    2.  Link a Bible with the map so you can single click on a city in your Bible Translation and the map will zoom in to that location. They already have all the cities on the map linked to Factbook.  Sort of like what they have with a Greek word in the Bible and the Bible Lexicon.  

    3.  Take my verses for the Logos 5 maps and integrate them into logos maps.   That way you have the right map for the right scriptural passage.  For example Joshua's Northern Campaign- Joshua 11:1-5.  If my Bible is in Joshua 11:1 and I have it linked to Biblical Map places it will automatically jump to the Map Joshua's Northern Campaign.  Then in my Bible I click on Merom in Joshua 11:5 and the map zooms into that city.   

    4.  Allow other contextual maps to appear bellow so you can pan and zoom in on those maps. What they had prior but took away.  Now it jumps to the page in the book of the Atlas and you have to copy and paste into PowerPoint.

    5.  You could also create a visual filter that lists all the cities on the Maps in Biblical Places and they would appear in your favorite Bible Translation.

    5187.Logos 5 Maps.docx

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    Can anyone else confirm this problem with the zoom level?

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton Member, MVP Posts: 35,672 ✭✭✭

    Can anyone else confirm this problem with the zoom level?

    There have been problems like this with Biblical Places Maps since Atlas was introduced! And Atlas isn't much better i.e. you don't see Addumim until you zoom in.

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    Would like to hear from somebody at Logos to recognize this is a problem and to let me know if it is on the list to be fixed.

  • Mike Binks
    Mike Binks Member, MVP Posts: 7,428 ✭✭✭

    Would like to hear from somebody at Logos to recognize this is a problem and to let me know if it is on the list to be fixed.

    Hi John

    The forums are mostly a self-help facility where users help each other. The staff do monitor this section but tend to concentrate on threads which start with 'Bug'.

    If you want to get the 'official line' on this problem it is probably best to give customer services a ring. If you do please report back here so the rest of us can get an update.

    You are right though the Atlas is a bit of a pain in the neck!

    tootle pip

    Mike

    How to get logs and post them.   (now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs) Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    Bump

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    Would still like to hear from someone from Logos.

  • Mike Binks
    Mike Binks Member, MVP Posts: 7,428 ✭✭✭

    Would still like to hear from someone from Logos.

    Customer Service is contactable on 800-875-6467

    tootle pip

    Mike

    How to get logs and post them.   (now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs) Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    I am still frustrated.  Called customer service and the nice lady said it was technically working as designed.  Have you ever tried to explain something to someone and they just didn't get it!  

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294
  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 13,413 ✭✭✭

    Isn't the point of Control Find "to Find"?

    Mr Brumett (and I'm smiling), you're missing key Logos policies:

    - Development is 80%. Very few exceptions do they do cracker-jack good. 'Find at 20,000 ft' is an example.

    - Forums are voluntary and largely avoided by FL employees. Mouth-shut is the key. Bugs are the exception.

    - When the obvious can't be avoided, they suggest you 'vote' to fix their earlier work. Calms the natives down.

    - They're very predictable. "For goodness sakes, don't feed the dragon!  He'll want more!" Can you say 'journals'?

    Carta. Buy Carta.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • Adam Borries (Logos)
    Adam Borries (Logos) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 872

    John, 

    I'm sorry this is frustrating you. We spent a significant effort last year improving the maps experience in the Atlas, both in terms of data and functionality. We don't plan to invest any more in the Logos 5-era "Biblical Places" resource, but I would welcome any feedback you have about Altas. 

    I'll respond to your points above, interpreting them as well as I can for the Atlas tool. 

     1.  Fix the zoom level ... Isn't the point of Control Find "to Find"? 
     

    Ctrl+F in Atlas places a drop-pin at the location to help you find what you are looking for. Zoom in to the matching location(s) is something we will consider adding.

     

    2.  Link a Bible with the map so you can single click on a city in your Bible Translation and the map will zoom in to that location. They already have all the cities on the map linked to Factbook.

    3.  Take my verses for the Logos 5 maps and integrate them into logos maps.   That way you have the right map for the right scriptural passage.  For example Joshua's Northern Campaign- Joshua 11:1-5.  If my Bible is in Joshua 11:1 and I have it linked to Biblical Map places it will automatically jump to the Map Joshua's Northern Campaign.  Then in my Bible I click on Merom in Joshua 11:5 and the map zooms into that city.   

    Much of this already exists in Atlas.

    • Linking a Bible and Atlas panel together filters Atlas maps to the current passage. 
    • Turn on the Media>Atlas maps visual filter to see and open maps associated with the reference. (Edit: This seems to be broken for me at the moment; will investigate.)
    • Right-click on a Place name, or have the Information or Explorer panel open, to open Atlas filtered to all maps that contain the Place.

    Later this year, we plan to implement some improvements to exposing Places and other data, to make it more obvious/accessible. Zooming to location in a passage-specific map is something we will consider as part of that work. 

    4.  Allow other contextual maps to appear bellow so you can pan and zoom in on those maps. What they had prior but took away.  Now it jumps to the page in the book of the Atlas and you have to copy and paste into PowerPoint.

    I'm sorry, I'm not following this one at all.

    5.  You could also create a visual filter that lists all the cities on the Maps in Biblical Places and they would appear in your favorite Bible Translation.

    I'm not sure I understand this one. I think what you are saying is that you want the option on the map to change the place labels so that they match the names of those places, for that passage, in your preferred Bible. There are a couple of ways we could do this, but it seems like a low priority; I'd rather spend development effort on some higher-value targets. 

    Thanks for caring enough about Logos to offer your thoughts. 

     

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    We don't plan to invest any more in the Logos 5-era "Biblical Places" resource, but I would welcome any feedback you have about Altas. 

    I should of listed this as a bug because this is a feature that worked at one time.  I am not asking for a new feature but simply to fix what was broken before.  Some of us use the  Biblical Places more than Logos 7 Maps because:

    1. Better Graphics and even more colorful

    Looks closer to event maps you would find in the New Moody Bible Atlas.   

    2.  More cities on the maps

    3.  Available offline (not every church has internet)

    4. Faster to use

    Here is the proof that this feature once worked.  I found old logos Wiki instructions on the Web.  

    The old Wiki for Logos Places: I found in the Way Back Machine that archives Old Internet Pages

    How to use the Find box in Biblical Places

      You can use the Find box in Biblical Places to locate cities or regions. This only works with newer Logos maps which are tagged in a database. There are 2 ways to tell if a map will allow you to use the Find box:
    1) If the map is labelled as a newer Logos map as shown below.
    2) Check if Find (in this panel) appears in the menu.
     

    • Now we will use the Find box to locate a city

      

    1. Click on the icon in the upper left corner of the Biblical Places panel.
    2. In the drop down menu click on Find (in this panel).
      This will not show up here in maps which are not Logos maps with database entries.
    3. Logos shows the Find box under the information panel.
      Notice the size and scale of the map in this image.
    4. In the Find box type the name of a city or region that you want to locate.

    5. Notice that Logos will zoom and position the map to the city that you entered in the Find box.

    Notice the map zoom level to find Nineveh is at 30 miles and centered in the picture.  

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    4.  Allow other contextual maps to appear bellow so you can pan and zoom in on those maps. What they had prior but took away.  Now it jumps to the page in the book of the Atlas and you have to copy and paste into PowerPoint.

    I'm sorry, I'm not follBwing this one at all.

    There are other maps in other Bible Atlases that offer the same or similar events such as the Battle of Jericho and Ai in the Moody Bible Atlas.  These can be integrated in the Media Collection as a thumbnail as opened in Biblical Places Maps.  These maps can then be panned and zoomed liked they were in Logos 5 Maps. 

    This is what it looked like in Logos 5 Maps.

    The problem in Logos 5 maps was the images only listed every map that had that city and not just every map that had that event. 

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    5.  You could also create a visual filter that lists all the cities on the Maps in Biblical Places and they would appear in your favorite Bible Translation.

    I'm not sure I understand this one. I think what you are saying is that you want the option on the map to change the place labels so that they match the names of those places, for that passage, in your preferred Bible. There are a couple of ways we could do this, but it seems like a low priority; I'd rather spend development effort on some higher-value targets. 

    Here is what I meant:

    If the maps on David's Census is showing on the right and linked to a Bible all the places in the Bible on the Map are highlighted in Green or Whatever Color.  Here the Map has Dan, Beersheba, Aroer, Jerusalem, ect.  This way someone can follow along in the Bible and easily find where those cities are on the Map.

  • danwdoo
    danwdoo Member Posts: 567 ✭✭✭

    I don't use the atlas much because every time I have tried it by clicking on the icon in a text, it seems to show nothing. Perfect example. I was reading in the ESV John (7:9) and came across an atlas link to the life of Christ. When I clicked on the link it opened a new window with a nice big gray map of nothing. Absolutely no use whatsoever. Shouldn't these markers actually focus in on the events they are referenced by in the text?

  • John Brumett
    John Brumett Member Posts: 294

    Yes the map should go directly to the event and place mentioned in the text.  In your case Jesus' Last Trip to Jerusalem, Up to the Triumphal Entry instead of Biblical World-Life of Jesus.  It appear that all the maps are going directly to the major big picture map.  They should go directly to the event map and zoom in to the city.      

  • Adam Borries (Logos)
    Adam Borries (Logos) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 872

    Hi, John, thanks for responding. 

    I like your ideas, especially connecting Atlas with related maps from your library. We don't have any work planned to improve maps in the near future, but thank you for your feedback.