Geographical Information
Links to cartography, gazetteers, and maps.
Cartography
- Cartographic and Architectural Records
- The holdings of the Cartographic and Architectural Section of the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.
- Cartographic and Architectural Records
- NARA's General Information Leaflet, Number 26 contains information about the holdings in the Cartographic and Architectural Section. Topics include Mapping, Architectural and Engineering Drawings, and Aerial Photography.
- Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS)
- "The mission of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society is to support research, education, and practice to improve the understanding, creation, analysis, and use of maps and geographic information to support effective decision-making and improve the quality of life. "
- Concise Bibliography of the History of Cartography
- An annotated bibliography provided by the Newberry Library.
- History of Cartography
- "Organized by region and time period, The History of Cartography looks at maps in the context of the societies that made and used them." Produced by the University of Wisconsin.
- International Cartographic Association
- This organization was established to promote "the discipline and profession of Cartography and GI Science internationally."
- Mapping History
- This resource from the British Library presents a collection that "is a reminder that there is often more to a map than meets the eye."
Gazetteers
- Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
- Information about almost 2 million geographic features in the United States from the U.S. Geological Survey.
- Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- A database of thousands of place names provided by the Getty Research Institute.
- U.S. Gazetteer Files
- Gazetteer files are available on line for 1990, 2000, 2010, 2012, and 2013 on the U.S. Census Bureau website.
- World Factbook
- This online version of CIA World Factbook offers a great deal of information about countries, territories, and regions of interest with maps and country profiles.
Maps
- Alabama Maps
- "This web site is divided into three sections: the Contemporary Map Index, the Historical Map Archive, and the Aerial Photography Index." Developed by the Cartographic Research Laboratory at the University of Alabama.
- The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789
- This site from the Library of Congress represents an important historical record of the mapping of North America and the Caribbean.
- American Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to 1850
- Drawing on the holdings of the New York Public Library, and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, this online exhibit is devoted to offering a number of historically significant maps of the Mid-Atlantic region up to 1850. Presented by the New York Public Library.
- Civil War Maps
- This site features maps from the approximately 2,240 Civil War maps and charts and 76 atlases and sketchbooks held by the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress. Most were made during the Civil War.
- Color Landform Atlas of the United States
- Relief maps and color composite satellite images showing land formations and vegetation patterns.
- Geography and Maps: An Illustrated Guide
- A guide to the holdings of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress
- MAGIC (Map and Geographic Information Center)
- The University of Connecticut Libraries developed this site to "provide the public with access to maps, atlases, gazetteers, aerial photographs, and geospatial data pertaining to the state of Connecticut, New England and the world."
- Maryland Map Collection
- Comprehensive collection of over 2,500 Maryland maps from the University of Maryland Libraries.
- Mapping the National Parks
- This Library of Congress web site features close to 200 maps, dating from the seventeenth century to the present day, of the areas that eventually became four of America's finest national parks: Acadia, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, and Yellowstone.
- National Atlas of the United States
- Electronic maps and services provided by the National Geospatial Program of the U.S. Geological Survey.
- National Geographic Society Maps
- Portal to the National Geographic Society's mapping resources. Requires free registration.
- Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
- Electronic maps of many countries including U.S.G.S. and other maps of many U.S. areas, historical U.S. city maps, National Parks, Monuments and Historic Sites, other historical maps. Also has electronic gazetteers, distance calculators, bibliographies and glossaries, U.S.G.S. map symbols, map projections, time, tide and sunrise tables, and links to many other sites with maps and other geographical information. Presented by the University of Texas at Austin Libraries.
- TIGERWeb
- "The TIGERweb web-based application allows the users to visualize our TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing database) data. The application allows users to select features and view their attributes, to search for features by name or geocode, and to identify features by selecting them from a map." From the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sanborn® Maps
Sanborn® Maps were originally created to estimate fire insurance liabilities. These maps are frequently used for preservation and restoration efforts, and can be useful to genealogists. Here is a selection of links to web sites featuring Sanborn® maps.
- North Carolina Sanborn® Maps
- This site provides access to University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Libraries collection of Sanborn Maps of towns in North Carolina.
- Sanborn® Fire Insurance Maps
- Index to the Library of Congress collection of Sanborn® maps. About 6,000 sheets are available online.
- Sanborn® Fire Insurance Maps For Georgia Towns and Cities, 1884-1922
- Users can search or browse this database of Sanborn® maps.
- Sanborn® Fire Insurance Maps
- Penn State University Maps Library has an extensive collection of Sanborn® Fire Insurance maps for Pennsylvania. Many are available online, and more will become available as the digitization project continues.
- Sanborn® Maps for Missouri
- "Documenting the layout of 390 Missouri cities from 1883 to 1951, the University of Missouri-Columbia Ellis Library Special Collections Department has digitized 6,798 of the maps for Missouri cities from 1880 to 1922." Database can be searched or browsed.