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I think I owe everyone a big THANK YOU!

I was just going over the server statistics for Land Matters.

In the first 4 weeks we had nearly 1/4 million hits!

We are just approaching a month and a half since going public and we now have well over 1/2 million hits. Wow!!

You folks are great! Thanks for making Land Matters a hit. biggrin.png

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  • 2 weeks later...
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By user request Land Matters has finally finished the California Claims map. We've also added a cool Gift for our donors to enjoy.

This thing was a bear, it took more than a month for Ruby to get the Township Range and Section grid straightened out. Less than 2/3 of California has been surveyed and the Federal, State and County governments have used that as an opportunity for land grabs. As a result there is no single complete Land Survey grid in the State.

Now that the grid is built it's relatively easy to update the claims. The current map was updated from the BLM on November 23, 2014.

The big advantage of these maps is the ability to see the Land Status and get the current claims status for any claim right from the BLM LR2000. No need to fill out confusing forms on the BLM site anymore. Just use the tool and click on the results window and the BLM report for that claim will be generated for you automatically!

Be sure to check out the County Recorders map layer. After you have pulled the BLM LR2000 report you can look up the County records too.

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Clay Im very impressed at the land status, links, and claim info at My Land Matters.Org

I think you guys are going to be a great site for prospectors and as you add more states ,maps

and updates on the site it just keeps getting better. :) AzNuggetBob

#MyLandMatters.Org

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Thanks everybody! It's nice to hear when you've done something good. :)

An even bigger THANK YOU! needs to go out to all who helped Land Matters. Not only will you receive your Gift soon but you helped keep a free resource up and running for another month. :D

All the maps and books that have been added since Land Matters started have been by request of the users. It's important that you let us know what you want next. That's what keeps Land Matters growing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Arizona Claims Map has a new addition - the Mineral Potential map layer. This little beauty was worked up by the Arizona Geological Survey to show where the areas of highest mineral potential are in the State. It looks pretty simple but there is a lot of information and study that went into this map.

This map really belongs with the Arizona Geology Map and you will find it there too. I just thought it would give a little more information to those studying claims and land status.

The Arizona Geology Map also got a new Faults Map layer display too. Each State geology map will be updated with new information layers as we get the time. Contact Land Matters and let them know what you would like to see next.

I hope you noticed that I can now link you directly to those maps without going through the website or a donation page. These two maps are now sponsored. Sponsored maps are given direct access without any click through pages so feel free to share those links to the maps with your friends - the link will now take them directly to the map. biggrin.png

If you were thinking of getting the California Treasures gift DVD there's still time to have one mailed to you before the holiday.

The Arizona Claims map has just now been updated directly from the BLM (12/12/2014). We've also split the claims display into separate layers for lode and placer claims so you can dig through them a little easier.

More coming soon!

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Alright now you have a map with a bunch of colored squares on it. I'm sure you've figured out you can zoom in to an area and get some information about what's on the map by clicking the [ i ] symbol but how to heck can you get some real useful information. You know like finding out just which claims were new in the update.

You can make the job of seeing what claims were updated when and where with a little search magic.

You know that pair of Binoculars on the right side of the map? You are probably thinking we just put that there to confuse you - right? 200.gif

It's actually a really cool feature once you learn to use it. I'll give some examples:

First open the Arizona Claims Map.

1. Go ahead and click on the Binocular symbol while you have the Placer Claims layer turned on. An imposing form titled "Query Editor" appears on the upper left corner of your map.

2. Select the name of the map layer you want to search in the "Layer Name" dropdown box at the top of the "Query Editor" window. Let's start with "BLM LR2000 Placer Claims" for this example.

3. Skip all the other parts of the form for now and go right to the "Generated Query" box at the bottom and type (or copy & paste) this exact line:
[Claim Location Date] > '2014-10-1'

4. Click the "Apply" button.

You should now have a list of all the Placer Claims located since October 1st 2014. happy0199%5B1%5D.gif

Hold on this gets even better! You want to know if any of those claims were made in your area of interest right?

Scroll to the top of that result list and find the column titled "Township and Range". Click on that title. Now the result list is sorted by the Township and Range. Just scroll down to see if there are any claims listed in your Township and Range. They will all be clumped together in a group. happy0199%5B1%5D.gif

So you want to see on the map where one of those claims is? Just click the magnifying glass symbol to the left of the claim name and the map will zoom to the section the claim is in! happy0199%5B1%5D.gif

I promised you search magic - wasn't that easy? You can change the date in this line to whatever you want:
[Claim Location Date] > '2014-10-1'

You could even search for claims between two dates like this:
[Claim Location Date] > '1936-1-1' AND [Claim Location Date] < '1952-1-1'
That will search for all claims located between 1936 and 1952. Just click on the "Claim Location Date" column head to sort those in order of date.

You can search for specific claims by name or any other quality you want just by playing around with different ways to fill in the blanks in the "Query Editor" form. This is searching on steroids!

Go play with it. You can't break the maps and you just might find the trick that gives you just what you were looking for.

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By request we've added a few new features to the Idaho Geology Map. We've added a Faults Layer and a new Idaho Rock Samples layer with 26,000 Rock samples taken from all over the State.

The Rock Samples layer has a link to the chemical analysis of each rock sample. The analysis is presented in an easy to read table broken down by percentage or ppm (parts per million) of each element.

Even if you don't have an interest in Idaho geology I hope you will take a look at this new feature and let us know if you would like to see one of these Rock Sample layers on your State's geology map.

As you can imagine building a map from all these samples takes some considerable time. I think it's a very useful feature not only for prospectors but for rock and gem hunters or anyone interested in the nitty gritty of an areas geology. If we get good feedback on this new feature we could begin to include it in your state's geology map.

Let us know what you would like to see. Contact Land Matters.

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By request the Idaho Mining Claims Map is now available.

Idaho currently has:

18,983 Lode Claims
2,191 Placer Claims
436 Millsite Claims
16.... Tunnel Site Claims
21,626 Claims Total

There have been so many requests lately for Idaho we've made this an Idaho weekend. Be sure to check out the new Idaho Geology while you are looking at those claims maps.

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  • 5 weeks later...

It's been a while since I posted a Land Matters update. We've been busy finishing up some private work but we've still made a lot of updates to the Land Matters Maps and Library.

Of most interest to prospectors is that we have now completed* the 12 Western mining states BLM LR2000 claims maps. All of those maps were just updated this weekend and as usual the BLM is still updating records from months, and in several cases years, ago. Lots of surprises there. Check it out!

We've split the Mining Claims Maps into two sections and created a new Mines Maps section that has several new maps to help your research.

The Land Matters Geology Maps section continues to grow. There are now 25 States mapped with new additions coming regularly. Each State Geology map will continue to have new features added as we find the time and resources. Some maps have more features than others. We build these maps mostly by request so if we are missing something useful let us know and we will get it mapped for you asap. You can Contact Land Matters directly, we'd like to hear from you. :)

We've got a new mapping set that should be useful for all lands users. The Land Matters Topo Search Map gives you quick direct access to download more than a Quarter Million Topo Maps. This includes the entire Historic Topo maps collection from the USGS. You can search by area and download old, full resolution, topo maps going back to 1882. Look up the old mines, buildings and roads. Many have hand written notations on the map from the time they were published. These are a great resource for most any research involving the land or history. Something for everyone there!

The USGS just released the new US Topo series for Arizona. These have several upgrades from their previous digital topos. Most importantly they now have the PLSS (Township, Range, Section) layer included. You will find those on the Land Matters Topo Search Map along with all the other topo maps being added every month.

There's lots more to come at Land Matters check in often.

MyLandMatters.Org

Barry


* There are three claims in the State of Nebraska! We have not mapped those. :blink:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for your support Rattlesnake Jim!

And thanks to the several other supporters on this forum. Without you we couldn't have served more than a million visitors who have downloaded more than 140 Gigabytes of maps and files! We are now serving more than 300,000 hits a month! Land Matters has been very popular and is growing fast. :)

We are a third of the way to our funding goal! We are rapidly running out of room on our server and desperately need to expand our capacity. We've got terabytes of maps, books and tutorials still to upload.

Times are tough and we understand if you can't make a donation. Please continue to use Land Matters for your research. You can help by contacting Land Matters and letting us know what maps or research materials and tools would be most useful to you.

Until we can expand we will be adding all the best smaller maps and books that will still fit on the server. Look for more useful maps and research materials in the very near future.

Thanks again

Barry

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The much requested Alaska Mining Claims Map is now available!

This map was tough. Alaska is one BIG state! The State of Alaska has a lot more State Land than Public Land. This is unusual in the western mining states. Alaska allows mining claims through their own state mining board. That's also unusual. This makes for a lot more State mining claims than Federal mining claims so the Alaska map has three types of claims displayed.

This new Land Matters map has both the State and Federal mining claims displayed. It's also our only map with the Master Title Plats displayed right on the map. This is shaping up to be one killer map! ;)

There will be more features added to this new map in the next few weeks so keep a look out for more updates soon!

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So its a map of both state claims as federal (federal Lode and Placer)?

That's right Chris. All on one map with color coding for Federal Lode (blue), Federal Placer (orange) and State claims (green).

Two layers of BLM ACTIVE case files Lode and Placer - both those layers are queryable.

Two layers of live BLM ACTIVE case file updates - not queryable but they do display claim name and make it easy to see when there is a change in claims. Live feed from Alaska BLM.

One layer of State claims - queryable with details.

We will be adding plans and notices soon as well. :)

Let us know what else you would like to see on the maps.

Barry

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We've added direct access to all 227 of the USGS Geologic Atlas folios to the Land Matters Geology Library.

You can search for those folios by Quadrangle name or get the whole list to browse through by typing "Geologic Atlas" or just "gfolio" in the search box.

If you haven't studied a Geologic Atlas folio you are in for a treat. These are some of the most comprehensive early geologic reports on the study areas you will find. Some run to hundreds of pages with several separate high quality maps to illustrate all the findings.

Good winter research material. Study up and you will be chomping at the bit to get out in the spring and try all the great new locations you will find in these reports.

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Wow, i am overwhelmed by all the resources available.... i need to sit down and go over the basics again.... back to 2010....lol

I did find that my imac was a little suspect when i tried to use it....

i think i remember you telling someone at the very begining you were staying away from that..

Guess I will have to fire up the old Acer Laptop....

Prickly Paul

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Wow, i am overwhelmed by all the resources available.... i need to sit down and go over the basics again.... back to 2010....lol

I did find that my imac was a little suspect when i tried to use it....

i think i remember you telling someone at the very begining you were staying away from that..

Guess I will have to fire up the old Acer Laptop....

Prickly Paul

The iMac shouldn't be a problem Paul. Any internet browser except early versions of Internet Explorer should work fine. The type or age of the computer shouldn't matter either.

What kind of problems are you having?

A couple of things to check would be:

Maps need to be able to open in a new window. If you have a third party pop-up blocker you may have to make an exception for http://www.mylandmatters.org

Searches and Maps require cookies. If you don't allow cookies your browser will only see the first page of search results and you won't be able to use the maps with predictable results.

You need javascript turned on in your browser preferences to use the maps.

We don't track users but the server does need to know where you are on a map or which search page you are on. Without cookies the server can't know which of the 12 people using the map at the same time wants to zoom or move their map. No cookies and your map would move every time someone else moved their map. You would be playing wack-a-mole instead of enjoying the fine Land Matters maps. :)

I hope that helps Paul. PM me if you are still having problems and we'll figure it out.

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The previous older Geologic Folios have been very popular so we came up with another group of Geology maps for download.

We've added direct access to all 1,784 of the USGS Geologic Quads in the Land Matters Geology Library.

You can search for those Geologic Quads by quadrangle name or get the whole list to browse through by typing "gQuad" in the search box or by searching for "Geologic Quadrangle" with the state name.

These are higher resolution and more recent structural geology maps than the previous folios. Look around and I'm sure you will find something useful. ;)

We've got lots more geology resources coming to the Library soon as well as a few surprise maps.

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We've upgraded several of the Land Matters Base Layer maps big time.

You will find these Base Layers on every Land Matters interactive map. They form the bottom of the maps layer stack and provide a visual reference for the other map layers.

We've made the Aerial Photos ("Satellite images"), Topo and Street maps load about 4 times faster and increased their color quality. For those of you on faster connections you will see a big difference in load times and quality.

We've increased the ground resolution of most of the Aerial Photos by more than 3 times. Ground resolution is a whopping 1 foot in most of the United States now!

_____________________

We've also upgraded the Real Time Weather Map. This map now has higher resolution real time radar that will let you see the progress of storms anywhere in the United States as they happen. The real time infrared satellite updates show cloud masses and their movements right along with the radar day or night.

Just click on the "Refresh Map" button to watch the radar and cloud imaging change as the weather changes. You can zoom in and out and move the map just like any other Land Matters map but the map shows current weather conditions.

These weather maps are one of my favorites when I'm planning an outing. Get the real thing at home when you need it.

More coming soon!

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