I Spy...a Better Map on Ancestry

I don't covet much. Besides it being one of the big top 10 Thou Shall Nots (the listicle of all listicles for Christians), it's a waste of time to covet. Okay, there was that time when I was eight that I coveted my best friend Christie's above ground ivy-covered atomic bomb fallout shelter that she had in her backyard. That was SO cool in the late 1970s to play in. One day we were princesses locked in the tower by the mean old witch of a queen. Another, we were mad scientists. 

We played in that thing for hours upon hours until I had to go home for dinner at dark thirty. So, you can't blame me too much for coveting that, right?

Like I said, I don't covet much as an adult. [Hard to beat the fallout-shelter-then-playhouse.] However, I felt a twinge of yearning when I saw this new dynamic search map on Ancestry.

Most of you are probably aware (at least, I hope you are) of the handy dandy clickable search map on the Ancestry Search Page. It looks like this:

Ancestry Collections Search Map (US)

You simply click on the map the state you want to search the database collections of (or the name of the state below the map) and you get the following.

Ancestry collections list for Texas (US version)

Like I said, handy dandy. You can also click on the tabs above the map to select different countries. All very nice. But then I was on Twitter and saw the Ancestry UK Twitter account tweet this:

New dynamic maps allow you to explore by location with ease. Try it here: http://t.co/ryZc5o8VfE #Maps #Genealogy

— Ancestry UK (@AncestryUK) April 20, 2015

So I clicked on their link and then gasped! Take a look at this:

Ancestry Collections Search Map (UK version)

You can zoom in and out with the roller ball on your mouse. Or, if on your iPad, you can use your fingers in what I like to call the pinch and anti-pinch moves to zoom in and out. Fancy schmancy. And then when you click (or tap) on the collections map marker, it tells you the number of collections Ancestry has for that state and then gives you this on another page on your computer:

Ancestry Collections List for Texas (UK version)

And then it looks like this on the iPad:

Ancestry collections list for Texas on iPad (UK version)

I want that new Explore(r) Map like I wanted that ivy-covered fallout shelter playhouse in *my* backyard. 

Christie never taunted me like this.

Do you have it? Have you seen it?

~Caroline