#bible mapper

Web page view showing results of a search for sites in John 2

David P. Barrett, creator of the Bible Mapper program and co-author of the Crossway ESV Bible Atlas, has just released an initial version of the Bible Mapper WebViewer. According to Barrett,

It is intended to be a quick reference tool for Bible geography information, not a way to make maps (there is not a way to save, export, or print a map other than the default tools of your browser). I envision people using it to look up Bible geographical information on the fly, such as on their mobile device at church or Bible study, or on their computer while studying a passage. You can also input a reference like "Joshua 10-12," or pass in a page URL, and it will automatically fetch the text and map all the locations it can discern on it (though it's definitely not 100%).

 I am happy to report that David P. Barrett has released a version 5 of his excellent Bible Mapper program. Barrett provided the maps for the Crossway ESV Bible Atlas which is the required atlas I use in my Survey of the Lands of the Bible class. From the description on the site:

Bible Mapper is the ideal tool for researching and creating maps of the biblical world. Virtually every known location and geographic feature in the Bible can be displayed and fully customized quickly and easily, making it a snap to create stunning maps adapted to your particular needs. Check out the gallery of pre-made maps that ship with Bible Mapper 5.

You can learn about all the features of this Windows program HERE. Notable new features include the capability to:

Create high resolution maps of Jerusalem (the Jerusalem Ordnance map of 1865 is also able to be overlaid on the terrain)

Upload your custom objects or styles to a repository to share with other registered users, or restrict access to yourself for easy import into other maps

Import basic KMZ/KML data (points, lines, areas, etc.) created by other software (e.g., Google Earth) and customize it on your map

If you want to get an idea of how the program works, you can use version 3 for free with no limitations. A key for the new version 5 costs $37. Here are examples of two maps I created using Bible Mapper.

David Lang at Accordance recently posted a fine 11 minute video on the Accordance blog showing how to make a custom map of Genesis 19 using the map module in Accordance. It is a great feature that I don't think any of the other Bible software packages can handle. BibleWorks does include a map module, but it would be very difficult to create the kind of map you see above with the labeling and highlighting. What's more, you don't have the 3-D option that Accordance offers. Of course, you don't always want to create your own maps. Accordance offers a number of overlays illustrating biblical events, some even with animations. There are also atlas modules available. The map module in BibleWorks also uses a more extensive system of overlays to highlight periods or books of the Bible or particular events. They also include The New Moody Atlas of the Bible which has a very good collection of maps. Logos 5 has a Bible Places Guide that is very helpful, and they have a large selection of very nice maps. (Don't buy one of the old map sets. What you want are the Bible Facts: Places and the Logos and Faithlife Infographics datasets that are included with most libraries.) All three of these programs have integration of the maps with biblical text and related resources. Still, only Accordance has the map creation possibility that's as nice as one that David Lang created. There are two other possibilities, however.

 One is using Google Earth. Lang's article partly caught my attention because I had occasion last fall to want to create exactly the same kind of map he did. Using this Google Earth KMZ file from the Geocoding page at OpenBible.info, I have quick access to all the biblical sites. Then I navigated around until I was able to capture the view above and put it into my PowerPoint. Compare it to Lang's map above!

Another option is a standalone Bible mapping program called BibleMapper created by David P. Barrett. You can use version 3 for free (no limitations) or get the improved version 4 for $37. The map of the Seven Churches of Revelation is one I created in BibleMapper. One of the great virtues of this program is that any map you create is your own, and you don't need to obtain any copyright permissions or pay any costs to share your map. (Accordance allows free usage of any map you create, but they appreciate attribution. If you want to use their maps for any commercial project, however, you should contact them.)

UMapper is "the first universal web-based map authoring application." I just gave it a spin, and it has some nice features.

When you start creating your own map, you can choose to use either Microsoft Virtual Earth or Google Maps.

To locate places on the map, you can either locate them manually, use a map lookup, or use a Wikipedia lookup.

It's easy to embed the map (cf. below) or share it in quite a few other ways.

It's free!

As an experiment, I did a quick map of Acts 16.11f. showing Paul's journey from Troas to Philippi. Take a look: A few things to note:

In this example, Microsoft Virtual Earth worked better than Google Maps. It's easy to switch back and forth between them, however.

It's not really designed to map ancient locations, so searching for such sites won't always get you the result you want.

You probably don't want modern highway maps, so using the aerial or satellite views are better. UMapper won't replace BibleMapper or Accordance Bible Atlas for creating your own maps with more attractive backgrounds suitable for printing.