Template intended to simplify adding a standardized and formatted caption below a map indicating the location of something (e.g. a country), possibly referring to the map's main region and optionally also to a shown subregion. Original use within infoboxes (e.g. see articles on European countries). For a complete set of elements of reasonable length, a width of (minimally) 250px (without extra padding or margins) should be available.
Parameters
Required parameters shown in bold italics
Parameter
Description
Default
countryprefix
Neither linked nor styled prefix e.g. "the" (for articles named e.g. "United Kingdom", "Czech Republic", "Netherlands").
–
country
Only if the country name at the map should not be identical to the article name (e.g. "Metropolitan France").
Template sets [[...]] (if article or redirect exists).
<article name>
location
Description identifying country's location (e.g. "circled in inset") if default value of location_color is not appropriate.
If passed, location_color is suppressed; a value of "none" suppresses both.
–
location_color
Only if location is not used: Colour identifying country's location; "none" suppresses the default.
orange
region
Name (or equally extremely short description) for approximately the entire area depicted by the map.
special: "[[Antarctica]]" shown as "on Antarctica",
special: "[[Middle East]]", "[[Arctic Circle]]" or "[[Pacific Ocean]]" shown as "in the ...",
special: versus any other: shown as "in ...", e.g. "[[Africa]]" shown as "in Africa"
–
region_color
Colour identifying region; "none" suppresses the default.
white
subregion
Subregion indicated within region (only if used: aligning both region and subregion lines to the left, else single region line centered as top line)
Must not occur without parameter region.
special: "[[EU]]" or "[[European Union]]" shown as "in the European Union",
special: versus any other: shown as "in ...", e.g. "the [[Caucasus]]" shown as "in the Caucasus"
–
subregion_color
Colour identifying subregion; "none" suppresses showing the default.
tan
legend
Filename of image providing a map legend.
–
Note
If country, region or subregion is exactly the name of a page in article space, the template automatically creates a link to it. You can still put a link here manually, using the usual syntax.
Examples
Code
Raw result (in unformatted box, compare to handling in Infobox)
Typical sample for an article on a European Union member that needs no "the" before its name, for otherwise identical output: {{map caption |region=Europe |subregion=EU |legend=European location legend en.png}}
Infobox usage of code (as intended) — in which the alignment, the padding/margins, and font are rendered differently (this template adjusts for that infobox):
Sample for article named 'Armenia', about a non-European country
{{Infobox Country or territory|
|common_name = Armenia
|image_map = Europe location ARM.png
|map_caption = {{map caption}} |(some required infobox parameters omitted from sample)
}}
Sample for article named 'Belarus', about a non-member of the EU
{{Infobox Country or territory|
|common_name = Belarus
|image_map = Europe location BLR.png
|map_caption = {{map caption |region=Europe |legend=European location legend en.png}} |(some required infobox parameters omitted from sample)
}}
Sample for article named 'Netherlands', about a member of the EU
{{Infobox Country or territory|
|common_name = the Netherlands
|image_map = EU location NED.png
|map_caption = {{map caption |countryprefix=the |region=Europe |subregion=the [[European Union]] |legend=European location legend en.png}} |(some required infobox parameters omitted from sample)
}}
Net result — The three simplified samples above, shown here side by side Net result — (called here without country parameter, and with placeholder values for population to prevent error messages):
![Location of Map caption (orange) in Europe (white) – [Legend]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Europe_location_BLR.png/500px-Europe_location_BLR.png)
![Location of the Map caption (orange) – in Europe (tan & white) – in the European Union (tan) [Legend]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/EU_location_NED.png/500px-EU_location_NED.png)