The following is an organized list of web resources that users may find helpful in furthering their research. These resources are not produced or maintained by the Map and Geography, and we are not responsible for their content. Be sure to cite any resources you use!
Web Resources on other Map Library Pages
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and Almanacs
Dictionary of Abbreviations and Acronyms in Geographic Information Systems, Cartography, and Remote Sensing
From UC Berkeley Library
Glossary of Cartographic Terms
From Maps for America and hosted by U Texas, Perry-Casteñeda Library. The online version of ESRI’s Dictionary of GIS Terminology.
GIS Dictionary
From Esri.
Background Notes
Country information from the Department of State including human and physical geography, economy, government, history, etc.
Country Studies
Prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program.
The World Factbook
Includes information on countries of the world compiled by the Central Intelligence Agency. The content of this site focuses on current statistical data with emphasis on economy, government, transportation, geography, and social environment. Appendices and general reference maps are also included.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Scanned version of the venerable print product produced by the Bureau of the Census. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Encyclopedia of Chicago
The link leads to the maps in the encyclopedia.
Calculators and Tools
Great Circle Distance Calculator
Calculate distances using great circles, NOT road distances!
Decimal Degrees to Degrees, Minutes, and Seconds
Converts between decimal degrees and degrees/minutes/seconds and back again
Lat/Long to UTM
Converts latitude/longitude to UTM and UTM to latitude/longitude.
Map Date Codes
Part of the WAML Map Librarian’s Toolbox .
Online Distance and Length Conversion
Convert modern and ancient distance measures.
Cartographic Reference Resources
Among other resources, includes map projections and map scales. Compiled by the map library at the University of Texas at Austin.
Map Societies
Map Societies Around the World
Geographical and alphabetical lists of organizations active in the history of cartography.
Washington Map Society (Washington, D.C.)
International Coronelli Society for the Study of Globes
International Map Collectors’ Society
Society for the History of Discoveries
Road Map Collectors Association
Road Map Collectors Association
Includes information on official state highway maps, commercially produced maps, and publisher date codes.
International Society for the History of the Map
Seems to still be under construction in certain areas, but they provide excellent map-related news and some miscellaneous resources.
Weather and Climate
Urbana-Champaign Weather
From the UIUC Department of Atmospheric Sciences
US Daily Weather Maps
An NOAA website that provides access to 1871 to the present. Maps for September 2002 to the present are provided by the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
Illinois State Climatologist Office
So you don’t think that we have exciting weather? Check out this page of interesting maps and data.
Illinois Climate Maps from State Climatologist
1981-2010; precipitation, temperature, snowfall, heating and cooling degree days.
Local Climatological Data
Hourly, daily, and monthly summary weather statistics for 1,600 weather stations across the United States. Illinois stations include Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Rockford (RFD), Moline (MLI), Peoria (PIA), and Springfield (SPI).
Climate Prediction Center
Provides weather forecasts for the next week or the next month, along with climatic information on events such as El Nino and La Nina, tropical storms, and other weather-related data.
National Centers for Environmental Information
Formerly the NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Preservers and provides public access to climate and historical weather data and information
US Climate at a Glance
From the National Centers for Environmental Information. Offers national maps of mean temperature and precipitation by month from 1900 to the present. Regional, state, and some city data that can be graphed.
Extreme Events
From the National Centers for Environmental Information. Links to data and descriptive information about severe weather events in recent history. Covers hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, temperature extremes, and other severe weather happenings. For some events, radar, and/or satellite images are provided.
Tornado Project Online
All kinds of interesting information about tornadoes, from personal experiences and myths about tornadoes to summaries of recent and historical tornadoes and an explanation of the Fujita scale used to classify tornadoes.
NASA Online VLF Receiver
Listen to the very low frequency (VLF) “songs of the Earth” live!! Including the “sferics,” “tweeks,” and “whistlers” of lightning.
Surface Wind Map
The data is supplied by the National Digital Forecast Database, and the map is a really nifty visual! It may be slow to load, and they recommend viewing it in Google Chrome.
Visualization
Motley Roots of Data Visualization
Milestones in the History of Thematic Cartography
Not Strictly Maps
The Spatial Turn
Written by Dr. Jo Gudli, an historian at the Harvard Society of Fellows, a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital History at the University of Chicago, and published author. Part of the Spatial Humanities Project sponsored by the Institute for Enabling Geospatial Scholarship.
Paste in Place: An Information Design Studio
This falls more in the arena of graphic design, but it could be fun and useful for creating your own maps.
Derek Watkins – genius loci, mappings, neogeography
A blog by a grad student in Geography at the University of Oregon.
Spatial Awareness
“A regular editorial focused on the maps and the spatial community.” Put together by Robin Hawkes, this monthly newsletter seeks to collect interesting resources from the wider community, including “cool demos, new tools, tutorials, beautiful maps, interviews, behind-the-scenes and more.”
What Was There
“The premise is simple: provide a platform where anyone can easily upload a photograph with two straightforward tags to provide context: Location and Year. If enough people upload enough photographs in enough places, together we will weave together a photographic history of the world (or at least any place covered by Google Maps).”
Chart Porn: data visualizations that you just gotta love
A fun blog dedicated to sharing neat graphs, charts, and other creatively visualized data.
Maps and the City: Blog on Cartography and Design
A blog dedicated to fun maps and map design. Written by a Public Relations Specialist in Amsterdam. Not the most scholarly but fun and a good place to kick off research.
The Chart Geek: Archive for the ‘Geography’ Category
More than just maps. Includes interesting visualizations for all kinds of data.