Back to all posts
 

SCOTUS Map: There's a (new) map for that.

June 20, 2019

 

Welcome to the new and improved SCOTUS Map.

You may notice a few changes on the site. Here's what's different:

  • More map, less clutter. The point is to find events, not show all information at once. That's why the map takes up the whole window, and the search box only expands once you start typing or click the '+' button for more information.
  • Events are fully searchable now. You don't have to select preset filters for Supreme Court terms, dates, or justices. Just start typing in the text box at the top of the window and results will begin populating as you go. Here are a few search ideas to help you get started:
    • a query like 'symposium' or 'opera'
    • a Court term like 'Summer 2015' or 'OT 2018'
    • a date (e.g. '07-20-2017', 'a year ago', 'November 2016') or a date range ('from 01-01-2016 to 06-30-2016')
    • a preset like 'Past Events' or 'Recently Added'
    • a justice such as 'Sotomayor'
    • a combination of several criteria, such as 'Ginsburg 2017 symposium'
  • Find events attended by a combination of multiple justices. In addition to searching for events associated with any of one or more justices you've selected, you can now narrow it down to events featuring all of the justices you select -- for example, this one featuring six (!) justices. Just start typing justices' names into the search box and choose "all" from the resulting dropdown menu.
  • It's easier to locate an event on the map. Click on the little arrow icon in the events list and it will center the map on the pin for the selected event.
  • Never miss an event again. You can now easily subscribe to a calendar of the justices' public events so they always show up in your calendar app. Just visit the calendar page.
  • More resources for each event. We used to only show a maximum of one event page and one recap page per event. Now a single event can have multiple page links associated with it (if, for example, an event was recapped by both CNN and The New York Times, or it has multiple event pages like this one). We can even display event-related tweets!
  • Link rot protection. Sometimes event pages and recaps of events on other web sites get deleted or overwritten and the old page is no longer available. So we're starting to add "screenshots" of the pages (look for the little camera icon when you're on a specific event page) so you can always find the original details even if the web page is no longer online.

We want to hear from you! If you have any thoughts on the new design, ideas for features that don't exist yet, a tip on an event we haven't found, or anything else, drop us a line. We love receiving feedback. Thanks for visiting!

Victoria and Jay

P.S. Don't forget to tweet about SCOTUS Map if you're a fan!