Research Guide: Geography - Maps

New York | United States | World | Gazetteers | Travel

New York

1:24,000 USGS Print Quadrangles: 1:24,000 USGS quadrangles (as well as other New York State maps) are available in the Milne Library Map Room. Please ask at the Reference Desk if you need assistance. Topographic maps from the local area can be purchased inexpensively from local sporting goods stores.
Digital Atlas of New York City: Map topics include Population and Race, Ancestry, Income and Poverty, Household Types, Adult Educational Attainment, Commuters. Based on 1990 census data.
Historic USGS Maps of New England and New York: From the University of New Hampshire Library.
Local Area Maps (Current): College at Oneonta campus map, Hartwick College campus map. For local Oneonta city maps, try MapQuest.
Local Area Maps (Historic): Historic maps of United States cities and towns from the U.S. Library of Congress American Memory Collection. Provides an Index to New York Cities and Towns. Includes an 1884 Bird's Eye View of Oneonta.

United States

American Memory Collection: Map Collections 1544-1999: From the U.S. Library of Congress. Mostly historical maps on topics such as exploration, immigration, military battles, conservation, transportation.
Color Landform Atlas of the United States: Map selections for the continental United States. Provides shaded relief maps and satellite images.
The Electronic Map Library: Links to US atlases including New York City and the US. From California State University, Northridge.
gCensus: U.S. Census tract data overlaid on Google maps allows clicking and dragging to focus and zoom in on the area of interest, then see population, land, water, and housing units.
Google Maps Transparencies: Google maps overlaid on satellite imagery, or vice versa. Click and drag, and zoom features make these maps easy to use, and provide very detailed maps. Includes U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Historical Maps and Charts Project: A database of over 21,000 digitized maps and charts from 1747 to 2001. Search by keyword, by state or region, type, year, or chart number. From NOAA.
National Atlas of the United States: Allows users to view all or part of the United States with layers of up-to-date information on topics such as population characteristics, environment, geology, and transportation. Much of the information is available by county. Not easy to use. Be sure to wait for the list of map layers to load completely. The print version of the National Atlas of the United States (currently being updated) is available in Milne Library Reference REF Atlas Case G1200 N3 1970.
National Geographic Map Machine: Includes population, climate, country facts.
Social Explorer: Demographic information for the U.S. from 1940 to 2000. Interactively generate maps by population, occupation, age, sex, employments, etc. Generate statistical reports. Click on the Maps link on the top toolbar for the free parts of the web site.

World

Atlapedia.com: Atlapedia.com has physical and political maps of several world locations.
CIA World Factbook: Maps are provided with descriptions of each country. There is a separate section with Reference maps.
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Provides online maps in various formats (pdf format maps may cause problems on some computers). Also includes Maps on Other Web Sites and Country Map Sites.
TerraServer: Online aerial photographs and satellite images. Provides images of many large cities and famous places worldwide. Most of rural upstate New York is not yet available.
World of Maps: Especially good for maps of Europe. From the Map Curator Group of the Swiss Library Association.
The World Bank, Mapped: World Bank has "mashed up Google Maps with World Bank data to give you a visual entry point to browse our projects, news, statistics and public information center by country. "

Gazetteers

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names: Search almost one million place names around the world. Contains latitude and longitude, place names and types, and sources of information. Provides variant and historical names for places.
US Gazetteer: Searchable by place name or five-digit zip code. Places identified may be viewed with the Tiger Map Server and census data may be obtained through the 1990 Census Lookup.
USGS Geographic Names Information System: United States and Territories: Can be searched by feature name, state name, feature type, elevation, county name, population range, USGS 7.5 x 7.5 topographic map name.

Travel

Mapsonus.com: A good resource for finding maps and directions.
Maporama: Street-level maps for many European countries as well as the US.
MapQuest: Includes an interactive street guide and city to city driving directions. Some international maps.
Yahoo maps: Yahoo has maps as well as driving directions and locations of restaurants and tourist attractions.

Page maintained by Kay Benjamin (benjamkd@oneonta.edu)