Current Maps and Atlases
Customizable Map Servers
These sites allow the user to create customized maps. Some allow the user to specify the latitude and longitude to be covered, while others allow choices of countries or regions. Some also allow the user to specify which information will be displayed, such as political borders, rivers and other natural geographic features, or major cities.
- Alexandria Digital Library Gazeteer (from UC-Santa Barbara; a searchable interface to find geographic features, including detailed information about each feature and a map of its specific location. They also offer a map browser interface.)
- Digital Chart of the World Server (from Penn State University; a customizable interface to 1991-1992 Chart of the World maps)
- Earth and Moon Viewer
- The National Geographic Society offers several useful world map products online, including the Map Machine (for full-color maps) and the Xpeditions MapMaker (for printable maps), as well as a page of useful map-related links
- Online Map Creation (from Germany)
- Perseus Atlas (from Tufts University; an interactive current world atlas in full color, highlighting major geographic features)
- Xearth Earth Viewer (from Ohio State; creates images of the globe, at any rotation and any sun position, and with or without background stars)
Map Collections (global)
The rest of these map resources offer access to prepared maps, without allowing the user to customize the information that is displayed on each.
- Perry-Castaneda Map Library (from the University of Texas; the single best source for online maps, whether or individual cities, countries, regions, or topical themes related to current events)
- About.com World Atlas
- Atlapedia Online (includes access to both physical and political maps of countries and regions, as well as global maps)
- Atlas of Cyberspaces (refocuses the attention of maps on information technology rather than on more traditional geography)
- MapQuest World Atlas
- Merriam-Webster's World Atlas (in conjunction with the New York Times Online)
- Theodora.com's World maps
- United Nations Cartographic Section (official UN maps of numerous countries and regions, as well as of UN peacekeeping operations)
- World Outline Maps: blank maps of regions or the world, these are very useful for
educators (as testable materials) and students (to help study for such tests), and I have used
them for my Introduction to International Relations courses at FSU. Some of these maps
are available from:
- About.com
- Clifton Fox at Tomball College in Texas
- Eduplace.com
- Houghton Mifflin's Social Studies Center
- Pearson Scott Foresman (scroll down the page to the Social Studies section)
Map Collections (regional)
- Atlas of Canada
- Finland: 500 years on the Map of Europe
- Latin American Maps (from the Latin American Network Information Center -- or LANIC -- at the University of Texas)
Map Collections (United States)
- National Atlas of the United States (the official national atlas, from the U.S. government)
- American Memory Map Collections: 1500-2003 (a variety of thematic map collections from the Library of Congress)
- ARL Electronic Atlas (from the Borchert Map Library at the University of Minnesota; this Association of Research Libraries atlas offers county-level topical maps based on U.S. census data)
- Color Landform Atlas of the United States
- Digital Atlas of the United States (from Professor William Bowen at California State University - Northridge and the California Geographical Survey)
- Eco-Regions of the United States (from the U.S. Forest Service)
- Historical Maps of the United States (from the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas)
- TerraServer (from Microsoft; offers access to USGS aerial imagery for the entire United States -- users can even view an aerial or topographic map of their own house address!)
- U.S. Census Bureau maps (maps of states, counties, cities, and various topical themes)
- 1895 U.S. Atlas (includes state and county maps for each state, as well as city and town data)
Links to Other Online Maps
- British Library
- CGRER/University of Iowa
- The Fascinating World of Maps and Mapping ("Oddens' Bookmarks,", an extensive compilation of map-related web links from Roelof Oddens at Utrecht University in the Netherlands)
- Geography World
- Michigan Electronic Library
- Northwestern University Library
- Perry-Castaneda Library (from the University of Texas)
- WWW-VL: History: Maps (the Historical Maps site from the WWW Virtual Library, hosted at the University of Kansas)
Historical Maps and Atlases
Map Collections (global)
- Historical Maps (a large selection from the James Ford Bell Map Collection at the University of Minnesota; users can use a search engine or browse through their entire catalog, organized by mapmaker, region, or date)
- HyperHistory Maps (the maps are not as high-tech as some of the other maps available online, but they cover a wide range of history from ancient civilizations to World War II)
- Yale University's Online Map Collections (access to a number of different online map collections, including antiquarian maps of the world and of each region, historical city maps, and others)
Map Collections (regional)
- AWMC Map Room (a very useful set of maps of the ancient world, from the Ancient World Mapping Center at the University of North Carolina; includes a variety of maps of ancient Greece, Rome/Italy, Egypt, and surrounding areas. They also provide a page of links to other online maps of the ancient world)
- FEEFHS Map Room (an excellent set of maps of Eastern and Central Europe, from the Federation of East European Family Historical Societies; originally intended for genealogical research, but also useful for other historical pursuits, especially regarding the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian empires and nearby territories)
- Hargrett Library Rare Map Collection (from the University of Georgia; focused on the state of Georgia, the U.S. Southeast, and the Colonial/Revolutionary period)
- Mapping History: The Darkwing Atlas Project (from the University of Oregon; currently includes a variety of historical maps of both American History, 1783-1860, and Ancient to Medieval European History)
- Perseus Atlas Project (an online attempt to build an atlas of ancient Greece, from Tufts University)
- Ryhiner Map Collection (a map collection at the Municipal and University Library of Berne, Switzerland; this web site primarily provides small images of maps in the collection, although some of the maps of Switzzerland and other European sites are large enough to be useful. The Project also offers links to other map sites)
Links to Other Online Maps
- Heritage Map Museum (links categorized by geographic region and by historical theme)
- Historical Map Web Sites (from the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas, perhaps the premiere online map site on the Web)
- Historical Maps On-Line (a useful set of links to online historical maps, provided by the Thomas R. Smith map collection at the University of Kansas)
- WWW-VL: Map History / History of Cartography (part of the WWW Virtual Library)
Gazeteers and Geographic Name Servers
Global Coverage
- Alexandria Digital Library Gazeteer (from UC-Santa Barbara; a searchable interface to find geographic features, including detailed information about each feature and a map of its specific location. They also offer a map browser interface.)
- GEOnet Geographic Names Server (from the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency)
- Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Regional Coverage
- Canadian Geographical Names (from Natural Resources Canada)
- US Gazetteer (from the U.S. Census Bureau)
- U.S. Geographic Names Information System (from the USGS)
Distance Calculators
- Aeroplanner Distance Calculator (from Aeroplanner.com; calculate distance based on airport abbreviation, latitude/longitude, ZIP code, or several other options)
- City Distance Tool (from GeoBytes; calculate distance based on latitude/longitude or city name, with what appears to be a very large database of world cities)
- Great Circle Distance Calculator (from Ed Williams' Aviation Page; calculate distance based on latitude/longitude)
- How Far Is It? (from Indo.com's Bali/Indonesia travel site, although it covers the entire world; calculate distance based on city names or latitude/longitude)
- John Byers' Distance Calculators (on a USDA web site; calculate distance between any two points based on latitude/longitude, or between over 300 cities currently included in his database)
- Latitude/Longitude Distance Calculation (from Chris Michels at Northern Arizona University)
- World Distance Calculator (from the Federation Aeronatique International; calculate distance based on latitude/longitude)
Local Maps and Driving Directions
- FreeTrip
- Google Maps
- MapBlast! (now owned by Microsoft)
- MapQuest
- Maps On Us
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Please note that I am providing these links for informational purposes only. I am not experienced with the use of GIS methods, so I can not answer any questions that you might have for me.
- CTI Centre's GIS Site (from the CTI Centre for Geography, Geology, and Meteorology at the University of Leicester, UK)
- ESRI Home Page (Environmental Systems Research Institute, the makers of ArcData and ArcView GIS software)
- ESRI's Downloadable Data (including world baseline data, U.S. and Canadian street data, and more)
- Geography Resources: Geo-Spatial Datasets (from the University of Colorado)
- GIS Net
- GRASS GIS Web Site (more GIS software)
- USGS' GIS Information Site (from the US Geological Survey)
http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~phensel/maps.html
Last updated: 10 June 2005
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Paul R. Hensel. All rights reserved.