Government and University Sources

Public and Governmental Sources

Please consult the Government Documents Department on the fifth floor for CD-ROM and in-house resources.

Here is a sampling of websites:

Geodata.gov—Geospatial-One-Stop is a geographic information system (GIS) portal that serves as a public gateway for improving access to geospatial information Web-based portal for one-stop access to maps, data, and other geospatial services from across all levels of government, including the USGS. Geodata.gov is a component of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

The United States Geological Survey Home Page is an impressive starting point to geologic, topographic, and hydrologic information in the form of maps, databases, and special projects or publications. The USGS site is often busy, has many components and partners, and is subject to change. Below are some USGS sites, but by no means all:

• Index of USGS Science Topic Web Sites Alphabetical Topical Index to programs and activities (Atmosphere and Climate to water resources.)
• New Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey
• USGS node of the National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
• The National Map is a project to provide scientific information describing and interpretimg America's landscape by mapping the terrain, monitoring changes over time.
• The National Map links to a portal called the National Map Viewer which provides access to TNM data from the USGS and its partners, including State and local implementations of TNM. There are a number of links to specific kinds of products and you may want try this one as well.
• Global Information Locator Service (GILS)
• EROS Data Center (Earth Resources Observation Systems)
• EarthExplorer Query and order satellite images,aerial photographs, and cartographic products through the U.S. Geological Survey.

The U.S. Bureau of the Census maintains the Maps and Cartographic Products site, which contains map products, including downloadable, boundary files, TIGER on-line mapping, and more.

The National Atlas of the United States is a basic resource in regards to the 'geographical' condition of the United States. Here the user can pick a place or area and then combine/overlay geospatial and geostatistical data sets, e.g. soybean areas in Ohio for example, to create one's own map.

The BLM's Geographic Coordinate Data Base (GCDB) (Bureau of Land Management) home page includes information about public land survey geographic coordinates files, samples, links to State Office GCDB sites and related Web sites.

The National Imagery and Mapping Agency, NIMA (formerly Defense Mapping Agency, DMA) produces geo/spatial products for other agencies, and the public -- check out the "Places to Go" and the Lycos Search Results" sections.

The CIA World Factbook includes basic downloadable maps along with other information. Information on other CIA Publications including maps.

Most of the raw data used in this country, including cartographic, is produced by government agencies; FedWorld is a site to provide a comprehensive access point for locating and acquiring U.S. Government on-line information.

This Austrialian government site, ERIN,Environmental Information Sources on the Internet, contains links and navigation to a broad range of resources world-wide. Also consult other ERIN pages at this site.

And of course the United Kindgom Ordnance Survey Home Page.

University Sources and Map Libraries

Major starting points:

A very comphrehensive 'must see' site at the University of Ultrecht is Oddens's Bookmarks is a well-organized list of over 15,000 links for those interested in any aspect of maps and mapping.

PCL Map Collection: The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin has put a great many of maps themselves on the Web as well as soil surveys, gazetteers, and sample map projections. It also has a very nice list of Map-Related Web Sites.

Other University sites:

The University of California (Riverside), INFOMINE - Maps & GIS Internet Resources site is a must in starting serious searching, and good for other topics as well.

The Arizona State University Map Collection's site includes a neat "Map Index" to its collection if one needs a quick reference.

The Department of Geography and Geology at the University of Wisconsin (Stevens Point) keeps an impressive list of links to Resources for Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing.

The Dalhousie University Libraries Map Collection (Canada) site provides links to commercial sites, associations, government sites, map collections and digital libraries, quick reference, electronic journals and full text articles, and GIS and Remote Sensing Sites.

Exploring the pages of the Earth Sciences and Map Library: at the University of California at Berkeley, being a large collection, will provide in an organized manner what might be available, especially in regards to CD-ROM and electronic resources. Then consult ALICE.

The University of Buffalo Geography Information and Analysis Lab beyond being an interesting site keeps a list of Web resources.

The George Mason University Department of Geography and Earth Sciences also maintains a classified list of cartographic resources on the Web including a list of map collection sites, and a list of commercial sites.