Formula:Location map

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This template displays a location map as a composite image of an existing map plus a marker and an optional label superimposed onto it. Maps used here are not just images alone. Instead, maps are selected by mapper-template suffixes "XX" (to use template "Location map XX"). Maps can be defined either as squared for equirectangular projections or else, have curved latitude or longitude lines, to skew the location of the marker symbol, as in {{Location map Africa}}. That mapper for Africa uses sine/cosine factors to shift the marker x/y to fit the curved lines. Each mapper template sets its own map borders and decides if skewing x/y for curved lines. See the technical design below, under "Design issues".

Note:

• Setting caption=xxxxx also frames the map, while an empty "caption=" leaves the map unframed.
• The coordinates are not checked. If the coordinates fall outside the map, then the marker will try to appear outside the map-image, overlaying the page text.
• For a map with no marker, set marksize=1.
• Do not use "px". Using width=200px causes maps to cover a page, use: width=200 (no "px").
• To create a map with more than one marker, refer below to: See also.
• To display a map that uses a non-equirectangular projection (i.e. has curved latitude or longitude lines), use skew factors for x/y as in {{Location_map Africa}} or try Template:Location map skew.

Usage

Parameter "location" refers to a map definition template. If location is Spain, the map image and coordinates are based on the values set in Template:Location map Spain.

Decimal degree coordinates

{{Location map
| location
| lat        = 
| long       = 
| label      = 
| label_size = 
| position   = 
| background = 
| mark       = 
| marksize   = 
| width      = 
| float      = 
| border     = 
| caption    = 
| alt        = 
| AlternativeMap =
}}

Degree, Minute, Second coordinates

{{Location map
| location
| lat_deg    = 
| lat_min    = 
| lat_sec    = 
| lat_dir    = 
| lon_deg    = 
| lon_min    = 
| lon_sec    = 
| lon_dir    = 
| label      = 
| label_size = 
| position   = 
| background = 
| mark       = 
| marksize   = 
| width      = 
| float      = 
| border     = 
| caption    = 
| alt        = 
| AlternativeMap =
}}

Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
{{{1}}}		the unnamed 1st parameter contains the location of the map definition (if Spain, then use values from {{Location map Spain}})
lat	0	latitude (decimal format; enter negative numbers for southern latitude)
lat_deg	0	latitude degrees
lat_min	0	latitude minutes
lat_sec	0	latitude seconds
lat_dir	N	latitude: N = north (default), S = south
long	0	longitude (decimal format; enter negative numbers for western longitude)
lon_deg	0	longitude degrees
lon_min	0	longitude minutes
lon_sec	0	longitude seconds
lon_dir	E	longitude: E = east (default), W = west
label	{{PAGENAME}}	label text
label_size	100	label font size as a percentage (<100 = smaller, >100 = larger)
position	right	label position relative to the mark: left, right, top, bottom, none
background	transparent	label background color (background-color: {};)
mark	Red pog.svg	marker image file name ([[Image: {}]])
marksize	8	marker size in pixels, omit px ([[Image: {}px]] font-size: {}px;)
width	240	map width - omit "px" or will stretch across page (image: {}px width: ({}+2)px;)
float	right	position of map on page: left, right, center, none (float: {}; clear: {};
border	#CCCCCC	border color or none (border: {};)
caption	"Marker text (location map name)"	map caption; for no caption enter "caption="
alt	empty	alt text for map; used by screen readers, see WP:ALT
AlternativeMap	{{Location map {{{1}}}|image}}	Alternative map file name ([[Image: {}]]), must use same border coordinates as the default map

Available map templates

There are over 470 mapper templates, named for nations or regions:

{{Location map Africa}} {{Location map Alabama}} {{Location map Alaska}} {{Location map Albania}} {{Location map Algeria}} {{Location map Argentina}} {{Location map Australia}} {{Location map Austria}} {{Location map Belgium}} {{Location map Brazil}} {{Location map California}}

{{Location map Canada}} {{Location map Egypt}} {{Location map England}} {{Location map Europe}} {{Location map Florida}} {{Location map France}} {{Location map Germany}} {{Location map Hungary}} {{Location map Ireland}} {{Location map Israel}} {{Location map Italy}}

{{Location map Mongolia}} {{Location map New York}} {{Location map Nigeria}} {{Location map Paris}} {{Location map Rome}} {{Location map Russia}} {{Location map South America}} {{Location map Texas}} {{Location map USA}} {{Location map Wyoming}} {{Location map 100x100}}

See 430 others in: Special:PrefixIndex/Template:Location_map_.

See also Category:Location map templates (currently very incomplete, but useful for some subcategories).

Creating new map templates

1. Find an appropriate blank map in equirectangular projection.
2. Create a template named Template:Location map location (copy the content of any other map template into it and enter appropriate values).

Examples

Default width, float, label position, and caption (decimal coordinates)

Pag

Pag (Croatia)

  
{{Location map | Croatia
| lat = 44.44
| long = 15.05
| label = Pag
| alt = Pag is on an island
}}

Map with the default caption (degrees/minutes)

Pag

Pag (Croatia)

  
{{Location map | Croatia
| lat_deg = 44 | lat_min = 26
| lon_deg = 15 | lon_min = 3
| label = Pag
| position = right
| mark = Green pog.svg <!--green dot-->
| width = 200
| float = right
| alt = Pag is on an island.
}}

Marker/Label outside of Map

Rubicon

Rubicon (Croatia)

  
{{Location map | Croatia
| lat = 44.44
| long = <!--outside map-->11.85
| label = Rubicon
| position = right
| width = 200
| float = right
| alt = Rubicon in Italy (outside the map)
}}

Map with a custom caption and text background

Imotski

Imotski in Croatia

  
{{Location map | Croatia
| lat = 43.44
| long = 17.21
| label = Imotski
| position = right
| background = #FFFFDD
| width = 200
| float = right
| caption = Imotski in Croatia
| alt = Imotski is in Croatia.
}}

Map with enlarged marker and label

Pag

Pag Island in Croatia

  
{{Location map | Croatia
| lat = 44.44
| long = 15.05
| label = Pag
| label_size = 200 <!--200% larger-->
| position = right
| background = #FFFFDD
| marksize = 14
| width = 200
| float = right
| caption = Pag Island in Croatia
| alt = Pag is on an island
}}

Map with no caption or border

Brčko

  
{{Location map | Bosnia
| lat = 44.87
| long = 18.81
| label = Brčko
| position = left
| width = 200
| float = right
| caption = 
| alt = Brčko is in northeast Bosnia.
}}

Alternative style of map

Lockerbie

Lockerbie in Scotland

{{Location map | Scotland
| lat_deg = 55 | lat_min = 07 | lat_sec = 16 | lat_dir = N
| lon_deg = 03 | lon_min = 21 | lon_sec = 19 | lon_dir = W 
| label = Lockerbie
| position = right
| mark = Blue_pog.svg
| marksize = 9
| width = 200
| float = right
| caption = Lockerbie in Scotland
| alt = Lockerbie is in southern Scotland.
}}

Lockerbie

Lockerbie in Scotland

{{Location map | Scotland2
| lat_deg = 55 | lat_min = 07 | lat_sec = 16 | lat_dir = N
| lon_deg = 03 | lon_min = 21 | lon_sec = 19 | lon_dir = W 
| label = Lockerbie
| position = right
| mark = Blue_pog.svg
| marksize = 9
| width = 200
| float = right
| caption = Lockerbie in Scotland
| alt = Lockerbie is in southern Scotland.
}}

Using Alternative Map

Biratnagar

Location of Biratnagar Airport in Nepal

{{Location map | Nepal
| lat_deg = 26 | lat_min = 28 | lat_sec = 53 | lat_dir = N
| lon_deg = 87 | lon_min = 15 | lon_sec = 50 | lon_dir = E
| label = Biratnagar
| position = top
| mark = Airplane silhouette.svg
| marksize = 10
| caption = Location of Biratnagar Airport in Nepal
| alt = Biratnagar Airport is located in southeastern Nepal
}}

Biratnagar

Location of Biratnagar Airport in Nepal

{{Location map | Nepal
| lat_deg = 26 | lat_min = 28 | lat_sec = 53 | lat_dir = N
| lon_deg = 87 | lon_min = 15 | lon_sec = 50 | lon_dir = E
| label = Biratnagar
| position = top
| mark = Airplane silhouette.svg
| marksize = 10
| caption = Location of Biratnagar Airport in Nepal
| alt = Biratnagar Airport is located in southeastern Nepal
| AlternativeMap = Nepal relief location map.jpg
}}

Relief

Popocatépetl

Popocatépetl (Mexico)

{{Location map | Mexico
| label = Popocatépetl
| lat_deg = 19 | lat_min = 1  | lat_sec = 20 | lat_dir = N 
| lon_deg = 98 | lon_min = 37 | lon_sec = 40 | lon_dir = W
| width = 200
| relief = 1
}}

Popocatépetl

Popocatépetl (Mexico)

{{Location map | Mexico
| label = Popocatépetl
| lat_deg = 19 | lat_min =  1 | lat_sec = 20 | lat_dir = N
| lon_deg = 98 | lon_min = 37 | lon_sec = 40 | lon_dir = W
| width = 200
| relief = 
}}

Map that crosses 180° meridian

Suva

Suva (Fiji)

{{Location map | Fiji
| label=Suva
| lat_deg =  18 | lat_min =  8 | lat_sec = 0 | lat_dir = S
| lon_deg = 178 | lon_min = 26 | lon_sec = 0 | lon_dir = E
| position = right
| background = yellow
| mark = Locator_Dot.png
| marksize = 7
| width = 200
| float = right
}}

Design issues

Each of the mapper templates named as "Location_map_XX" (such as {{Location_map_Africa}}) contains a map-image name, latitude range, longitude range, or x/y skew factors, as the details hidden by data encapsulation (computer science). Some mapper templates treat latitude/longitude as straight lines (Mercator projections), whereas other mappers have skew factors for maps with curved lines. Hence, each of those templates is not a "fork" of {{Location map}} but instead, they are accessor functions which access the map-border coordinates or skew-factors as shared data, rather than being repeated data in each article using {{Location map Italy}}. If Italy officially changes its map borders, then only that one mapper template need be changed, and only those Italy-related articles will be reformatted. The total of 20,000+ articles using {Location_map} will NOT be reformatted when someone updates each particular "Location_map_XX" and so the impact on Wikipedia server work is reduced, as roughly 450 times faster, by having 450 separate mapper templates.

See also

• {{Charta locatrix}}

Vicimedia Communia plura habent quae ad Location map spectant.

• Template:Location map many - placing multiple markers/labels.
• Template:Location map+ - placing long list of markers/labels.
• Template:Location map skew - mapping along converging longitudes (non-equirectangular).
• Template:Location map Africa - uses sine/cosine to skew x/y locations.
• {{Annotated image}}, allows text notes to overlap image, allows cropping
• {{Lageplan}}, related template to Location map with specific features
• {{Superimpose}}, supports simple layer superimposition.