Suggestions for Logos4 Maps Extended

So I found two older threads dealing with similar Logos4 map disappointments. But I would like to bring them back here. (The two threads are here: http://community.logos.com/forums/p/8003/63467.aspx#63467  And here: http://community.logos.com/forums/t/9599.aspx; there might be others that I missed, though).

1. A MAJOR gripe of mine about the maps is that when you search for a specific place such as Jerusalem, Bethel, Megiddo, etc., the map zooms all the way out and you have Zoom in to the location. The 3 places I mentioned are easy enough to find because they are very commonly mentioned locations. However, if it is an obscur location and no one has learned about where it is located, you have to zoom in and move around the map until you find it. Also, the city that one is looking for is not highlighted in any obvious way. Highlighting the city or village searched for would make it easier to locate. (I can do command f and search for that city, but it also does not zoom very close.)

2. There are major geographic locations within Israel that are not easy to see on the Logos maps. These are Mountains and mountain ranges; the Shephelah (hill country); the wilderness; the desert (usually distinguished in Scripture, but not always); and wetlands/swamplands (the "Rose of Sharon" in the Scriptures). None of these are easy to distinguish on the Logos4 Maps. I would like more of a topographical map of Israel the land layout that we see the cities and villages laid on top of.

3. The Major highways that ran throughout Ancient Israel are not in every single map. No minor roads linking the cities are not in any map. Yet that would help show that someone traveling did not have as many options as many of us think. One good resource that shows all the highways and other roads is Daily Life In Biblical Times by Obed Borowski.

4. In the Accordance Bible program (that my professor has) he can customize a map. He can have a blank map of Israel (or other parts of the ANE) and he can go through a list of City, village, mountain, and geographic names (such as wadis, rivers, lakes, different wildernesses [such as Sin, Shur, etc.], etc.) and click on them and they will show up on the map. I would LOVE to see this feature come to Logos4 Maps.

5. Okay, so I plan on teaching classes (including geography of Israel) and I plan on using Logos4 Maps in my classes. What I would like to see is more maps on specific events in the Bible. There are precious few (Abraham's journey and others). I would like to see this extended for all parts of the Bible were specific cities are mentioned. And some of the cities mentioned are in ONE map. And many times that map has only one of the cities I want or the city is not located on ANY map (such as some of the cities mentioned in Gen 11 [and earlier chapters] and other parts of the Hebrew Bible).

6. Also, there are times I might want to copy a specific area on a map and paste it in a Word document and print it as a handout, or Powerpoint Document as part of a slide show. If I zoom in on the area and tell it to send to the Word document or Powerpoint, it does not focus on the area that I had zoomed in on. Instead, it is the WHOLE map. And if I try to expand it in the Word document (or powerpoint) the map distorts making it even hard to read than before! It ALSO won't work if I just print from the area I zoomed in directly! It prints out only the whole map. There is no feature allowing me to print where I want and how much I want of a map! This is highly frustrating. So, the only way for me to show the area of the map that I want others to see is in Logos4 itself. Which means, if they want to take the map home so that they can use it in their personal reading, they can't. So I would REALLY like the option to print what I want to print or copy and paste or export what I want pasted or exported. I would like more control to come to this.

7. I would also like (after the roads and highways are added, and after the ability to customize a map the way I want it) I would like two other things as a part of Logos 4 maps: a) the base of all Logos4 maps be a Topographical map and b) the ability to show 1) all cities of Israel on the map (if that is what I want), and 2) the ability to show only the roads and highways that I want. So either all the roads, or I get to choose which ones show up on the map.

8. After every road and highway (that we know of) has been added to Logos4 Maps, I would like the ability to customize routes for specific stories so I can help others visualize what is going on in the story. So, in essence, I would like to be able to "draw" on the maps following the roads to the cities and villages. And then the ability to export this to a document (in case someone wants a hard copy to visualize what he or she is reading). I would also like to add the option of how many miles/kilometers when highlighting specific routes. When one holds control (pc) or command (mac) + left mouse click, the only way to see the distance is the most direct route, which usually does not follow ANY roads and can be slightly misleading (hence the need for the roads and highways being added to the maps). So, when one looks at the journey Jonah made to Ninevah, it would be great to see the possible road(s) to there and see the route he would have taken, and the ability to follow the roads to see how many miles/kilometers his trip actually took him.

9. Logos has many Church History resources. But no maps that help the student to visualize what he or she is reading (when they read the travels of different Church Fathers, bishops, etc.). I believe that to make the Maps features complete, Logos needs to add maps for Church History. This would include the following: possible routes specific people would have/might have used to reach a place; the different topographies of other nations so that none natives and/or those who have never visited the area can have a better feel for how easy or hard such a journey would have been; layouts over specific geographical areas of the known religion of the area (this would be a good feature added to maps for ANE Studies for Bible studies, such as the Mesopotamians over time, the Canaanite religions, etc. This would help give people a feel for what Israel was running into when they were living in those areas.).

10. Another feature I would like to see in Logos4 Maps is overlays. For example: there are 3 temples in Jewish History: Solomon's Temple, Ezra's Temple, and Herod's Temple. They each took up different amounts of space on the Temple Mount. I would like to be able to overlay each temple one at a time on the temple mount. So I can see one of the temples, or two of the temples or all three temples at a time. And, I'd like to see the Temple mount before and after Herod's Expansion of the Temple Mount. And I'd like more of 3D look of the temple mount when I overlay the bases to see the size differences. Another example: The walls of Jerusalem have been different at different points in Israel's history. So I would like to be able to see the size of the City of David, Nehemiah's walls, the expansion of them by others (including Herod...I think), and the expansion of the walls by the Muslims. I would like to be able to see them overlaid upon the area one at a time, as well as customize it how I want to see it (so if I want to see Solomon's Temple and the City of David at the same time, I can do that. Or Nehemiah's walls and Ezra's Temple. Or Herod's Temple and the walls that were expanded before and/or during Herod's. I would also like more of a 3D representation of each of the Temples so I can compare them to each other.

I hope that Logos will add many of these features (all of them would be awesome!...and would add more competition to Accordance!) sometime in the future.

Caleb F. S.