How to Use Pattern Fills in Shapes in PowerPoint 2010

We had a great question today on if we remembered the old pattern fill option in Powerpoint to fill an object. Great to show a state that is covered by two different people or topics. What we discovered is that is was taken out in PowerPoint 2007 but added back in for version 2010. I discovered an excellent tutorial on Indezine.com and how they have moved it from the Fill option to the Shape Fill Gallery. Here is the link to the tutorial.


Learn how to add (or change) a pattern fill to a selected shape in PowerPoint 2010

Thank you Indezine.com for all your great tips

New Geography Book for Homeschool Curriculums

Coming shortly from Bruce Jones is our latest book in association with Aquinas Learning Program, Geography, The Americas & The 50 US States. Learn the basic geographic layout of the Americas and each of the 50 US states.  Each outline map is presented in two ways, one page has the map with corresponding cities, capitals and physical features and the next page has the blank outline without any of the information.  Students can trace the outlines of the map, study and highlight cities, capitals and features, and finally review by filling in the pertinent data on the blank map.  This book corresponds with the Cycle 3 Geography curriculum for the Aquinas Learning Program.

Black outline maps included in the book are: World Robinson Projection, North America with countries, Canada with provinces, United State of America with states, Central America with countries and South America with countries. The book includes all 50 US states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming in the order they entered the union.

Also included are US territories: Guam, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.

The blank outline maps in this handbook can be freely photo copied by a teacher, mentor or parent for use in a classroom or in the homeschool. Available shortly at Amazon.com

Sample pages from Geography, The Americas & The 50 US States

Editable USA PowerPoint County Map with Names

  Detail of our USA National editable county map with names in PowerPoint

 USA National editable county map with names in PowerPoint

We got a good question today on our USA National County map, which was did we have a national US map with counties and their names and can it be edited in PowerPoint.

The answer is yes we do. We have several versions of this map, one with all the names and one without. Because of all the data, there are over 3,000 counties in the US, we set the map up on an 11x17 slide in PowerPoint. All the elements are editable, the type is live, each county can be colored or changed however you want. This map is great if you are setting a national territory map. We also have this same map in Adobe Illustrator format.

It is available for download from our www.mapsfordesign.com site in PowerPoint and also available from our subscription site www.bjdesign.com in illustrator and PowerPoint.

Celebrating for Old Glory on Flag Day

Today is Flag Day, June 14, commemorating the adoption of the flag of the United States. The day was proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and then made National Flag Day in August of 1949 by Congress. Fun fact, one of the longest running Flag Day parades is held every year in Quincy, MA, starting in 1952.

One of the hidden bonuses on our CD Rom collection are CIA World Fact Book maps and flags. Over 100 country's maps and flags in jpg format. Great for presentations, education and websites

Lots of Flags at Amazon (amazon affiliate links)

Editable Maps for Great Presentations

Do you have a PowerPoint presentation coming up where you need to show offices or territories, or locations on a map? Have you gone on line, pulled down a map on to discover that you can't edit it. You can't color in the states or counties or fix the text.

Well we have the solution, with our World of Maps editable PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator maps you can build successful presentations, reports, design projects, websites. World of Maps is a collection of editable PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator maps for building presentations, reports, graphic design, website and education. The maps are fully editable, with states, counties, countries, USA, World and continent regional maps.

Each map is fully editable, each country, county, state, is an individual object that can be colored, resized, moved around or even deleted. All text is live and can also be moved around. Perfect for making presentations, the maps come right in PowerPoint which almost everyone knows and is easy to email to your team.

Two ways to buy; a full collection or just an individual state or country.
You can learn more at www.mapsfordesign.com and www.bjdesign.com

Section: SALES

Enlarging a Map in PowerPoint, Easy to Do

We had an excellent question on printing out oversize maps from PowerPoint.

QUESTION: I would like to not only use your maps in my presentation, but also print them out on up to tabloid sized paper.  Can I do that?  Would it take a special software application?  Or can I print right out of PowerPoint onto tabloid.

OUR ANSWER: The answer is yes. All of our maps are in vector format and can be enlarged or reduced to whatever size you want. The best way to do this is to make up a larger PowerPoint slide, say 11x17inches and then copy the map into the slide and then enlarge it. Check out Document Setup to make a larger slide.

The key thing to remember here is to set up the slide first then copy the map in and enlarge it. If you try to enlarge a standard size slide with a map in it, it will become distorted, so make the slide large first then paste the map in and then enlarge. You will also need a larger format printer or plotter to print the map out.

We also have a good instructional video on this topic.


If you have Adobe Illustrator then it is also very easy to enlarge, check out www.bjdesign.com for all of those maps

Who Is the World of Maps?

I am not sure we have introduced who we are, so I thought I would take this opportunity. The World of Maps is a collection of electronic, digital, editable, royalty free clip art maps for graphic design, presentations, illustrations, websites, scrapbooking, and education. The collections contains, world projections, US, States, Counties, World Regions, World Countries and Globes, they come in two editable formats including PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator and also in jpg format. We are owned by Bruce Jones Design Inc. and are sold on two main sites, www.bjdesign.com and www.mapsfordesign.com. We also have a couple of distributors and sell our cds through Amazon.com

BJDesign.com is our subscription site, with two options, a $149.95 option of unlimited download and a $199.95 option of unlimited download and a back up CD-rom. A great site if you need lots of maps. MapsForDesign.com is our other site that we set up for if you need just one or two maps for your project. Almost all the maps sell for $49.95, there are a few more, but most are at that price. And we only have PowerPoint maps on this site while bjdesign.com has maps in PowerPoint, Illustrator and jpg format.

Our PowerPoint and Illustrator maps are fully editable, all elements can be change and customized. Our PowerPoint maps are very popular for business, and sales and marketing presentations for sales departments around the world. Great for setting up territory maps for sales people.

We have been selling our collections since 1990 when we first started drawing our maps. If you have questions you can call us at 781-255-7171 or email us at bruce (at) bjdesign (dot) com, we love to answer them

Section: FACTS
Our main CD collection, Amazon affiliate link)

Plotting Locations on PowerPoint Maps

A question we get a lot is about can you plot store locations, third party sites, sales offices etc. on our maps.

The answer is yes it is very easy. Our PowerPoint maps are fully editable and they are easy to color, add text, move stuff around. They make a great solution for sending out info on your locations. PowerPoint files email very easily and can be opened by almost anyone in the business world.

You can put little stars or boxes, color them, make them any size, they are easy to move around. If you need to add text, just use the text tool, type what you want, format it and then put it where you need.

Take a look at our How Do I Add Text to a PowerPoint Map video for some additional info. I am going to see if I can grab a moment and do an additional video on this topic.

Do You Have US/Canada and US/Mexico Combined Maps?

We received this question today from a customer concerning combined maps of United States and Canada and United State and Mexico

Question:
Do you have a combined US & Canada County map available?
Also do you have a combined US & Mexican counties/municipalities available?
Thanks. The customer also contacted us a little later with a follow up question on if the maps had individual states and provinces.

Answer:
Yes we do, we have them in PowerPoint and in Illustrator format. You can get them individually on our www.MapsforDesign.com and part of the full download package on www.bjdesign.com. Full editable and ready for your presentations.

Searching for Where Japan is On The Globe

We have been following the events in Japan with a lot of interest and amazement. I took a quick look at our Google Analytics stats for our World of Maps site and saw a big spike on Friday, March 11, the day of the earthquake. The top 9 all centered around Japan. It was interesting to see what people were searching on and the keyword phrases they used.

In order:

1. japan on globe
2. where is japan on the globe
3. globe of japan
4. japan globe map
5. world globe japan
6. globe japan
7. map of japan and usa
8. japan globe
9. japan on a globe

Above is our Southeast Asia map showing Japan, China and Southeast Asia, to see all of our editable PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator maps check out http://www.bjdesign.com

Japan and Pacific Global Map

Globe map with Japan and the Pacific Ocean. Editable map in PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator, map can be customized however you want. This map can be purchased individually and is available at http://www.mapsfordesign.com

Japan Country Map, Broken Down by Administrative Districts

Our editable map of Japan, this map is available in both PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator, both versions are completely editable. This map is broken down by administrative districts, includes capital names.

World of Maps Holiday Gift and Products Shop

We have pulled together some of our more popular Country Maps and turned them into products. This video shows you a quick overview of what we have.



We have been getting a great response from our World of Maps gift and product store this holiday season, the designs include: World of Maps Designs, Canada with Maple Leaf, Canada with Map and Maple Leaf, Germany Map with Flag, England Map with Flag, United Kingdom Map with Flag, Spain Map with Flag, France Map with Flag,  Deutschland Map with Flag

We have tons for items that you can pick up the include:  t-shirts, v-neck t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirts, men and women, fitted t-shirts, toddler t-shirt, sweatshirt, boxes shorts, thong underwear, mouse pad, electric wall clock, journal, throw pillows, keepsake box, framed tile, mug, large mug, apron, Sigg water bottle, dog t-shirt, pet bowl, magnets, calendar, tote bag, messenger bag, gym bag, beach bag

You can visit the store at www.FreeUSandWorldMaps.com

Our Gift and Product Map Store is Up for the Holidays

We are please to announce that we have pulled together all of our map and flag designs into a collection of gift products for the holidays. With maps and flags of Spain, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and England on all kinds of products from t-shirts, to mugs, pillows, aprons, notebooks, mouse pads there is a gift for him, her, friends and family. Our products are made by Cafepress so you know the quality is great and they handle all the shipping.

Hope you get a chance to visit our World of Maps Gift and Products Store  this holiday season.

Easy of Working with Our Editable PowerPoint Maps

We had a nice comment today from a customer that need to do a lot of customizing on one of our maps. They also need to duplicate the map for a book as well as the web. They bought one of our PowerPoint maps and then we sent along the matching Illustrator map for their designer. We got this comment back.

Bruce,

I am having fun working with the map I just ordered!  You have done a very
good job designing it and making it easy to use.

Thank you for the attached file, I'll forward it to my illustrator.

Have a great weekend!

Rich

Overview Video for Our Editable PowerPoint, Royalty Free Clip Art Maps for Presentations

 
Royalty free, downloadable, editable clip art maps, perfect for setting up sales and marketing presentations, showing sales territories, office locations, defining regions and project progress. Maps are also great for illustrations, websites, education, school projects, home schooling and scrapbooking.

Includes a full range of World maps, USA maps, 50 US States plus territory maps, 50 State County maps, Canada maps and Provinces maps, World Regional maps with editable countries, over 90 individual countries including United States maps, Canada maps, United Kingdom maps, India map, Australia map, and many more.

Each immediately downloadable states, county, or country map, is an individual element that can be easily edited, modified, customized, resized, changed, colored however you like or deleted, group or setup a custom map. All text blocks are live text that can be edited and changed. Easy to make a blank or printable maps for schoolor other projects, just remove the color. All maps come loaded right in a PowerPoint slide for easy editing and work with all the PowerPoint tools. Our editable clip art maps work with all version of PowerPoint on PCs or Macintosh, and with Apple's Keynote presentation software

You can see all of our new How to Edit our PowerPoint maps videos on our editablemaps YouTube Channel

12 New How-to Videos for MapsforDesign Editable PowerPoint Maps

We have been quiet but quite busy lately here at the World of Maps. We have been redoing all of our How-To Videos for editing and customizing our editable PowerPoint Maps for MapsForDesign.com. Reworking each one to clean it up, update for PowerPoint 2007, and give everyone better instructions one how to do the different tasks. It has taken a while but we are done and they are now up on YouTube and will shortly be up on the MapsforDesign.com instruction page.

Some of the thing we did were simplified each video-"One Video/One Idea, aka Ed Dale," rewrote the YouTube and website text, new graphics, consistent look across all videos, beefed up the keyword research for better tags and helping customers find what they need, improved the titles and really worked enhancing the YouTube page. The goal was to have it all done for Labor day so that we can turn the videos over to our web master and he can connect them all to the site. Over the next couple weeks we will post each one here also.

You can visit the YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/editablemaps and see all the new videos

Let us know what you think and are some more videos we should be pulling together.

Sharing World of Maps Clip Art with Your Team or Group

We love getting questions from customers, it lets us know what is going on and where we need to pay attention with our collections. A question on sharing our editable World of Maps with your team came in today from Jennifer.

Questions:
I was wondering, if we purchased the CD-ROM, would it be restricted to a single/private user or could it be used for business across the team/group?

Answer:
Hi Jennifer, thank you for visiting our site and for your question. You are free to use the maps across your team. We want you to be able to do your job and sharing with your coworkers is part of that. If you are going big, with lots of people and offices then we do have licenses for that, but for your regular team that you work with every day, feel free to share.

Technical Question on Making Hi Res JPG Maps from PowerPoint

PowerPoint has a lot of great uses that a lot of people just don't know about. One of them is outputing jpg files that can be used for print or on your website, kind of a poor mans version of Adobe Illustrator.

We had this great question from Carlie on how to make a hi res jpg file from PowerPoint

Question:
When saving as a jpeg, is there a way to edit the resolution? It automatically saves to 96dpi. I'd like to save as 300dpi

Answer: 
Hi, Carlie, thank you for your question. I am assuming you are working out of PowerPoint. Making a jpg file is an easy save as option in the Save As pull down menu under the File menu. Instead of saving the PowerPoint file as a slide deck, just choose jpg.. If you are going to the web then as it saves it is fine, the resolution is 96 dpi, if you are going to print then you might want it higher.

Here is a way to do that. Set up a larger PowerPoint slide, maybe 20" x 20", in document setup, copy the map into it, (this is important, otherwise it gets distorted, don't enlarge the slide with the map in place, copy it onto the new slide), group it, enlarge it and then make the jpg. Then in Photoshop or some other photo editing program you can reduce it down to a smaller size and the resolution will go up proportionally.  You can also just resize the jpg in your layout program and the resolution goes up.

So 9 inches at 100dpi, becomes 300dpi at 2.25, a very easy way to make a hi res jpg file.

We also have a video on this

Zip Code Boundary Maps, Do You Sell Them?

We get this question now and then on if we sell zip code maps on our download editable map sites. The answer is no, but we usually refere people over to a couple of places that do carry them.

Question:
Do you guys sell zip code boundary maps? I can't seem to find them? or Can one display data on your maps

Answer:
The answer is unfortunately no, our maps are very simple and easy to edit and customize but we don't have any ability to display data or to show zip codes. Folks love what we have but zip code maps are a level or two above what we carry. We do have a very nice collection of editable county maps in a couple of different ways that are great for highlighting marketing data and work very well.

If the customer is a marketing person then I usually send them over to look at www.territorymapper.com. If they have lots of money then I usually say look at www.mapinfo.com, they are the biggies in this area. If the questions comes more from a delivery, transportation directions then I say to look at  www.ZipCodeMaps.com. Either of these sites can be very helpful.