Staff Luncheon Geosources

Geographic Sources

Geographic Resources

A tour of geographic sources, both print and

online, used in providing reference services to library

users

Royce Kitts

Geographic Sources

Geographic sources can…

• Help you locate a place

• Tell you how to get there

• Tell you about a location

• Inform you about current events

• Give you tips on business or recreational travel

Geographic Sources

• Geographic sources also deal with time periods

• They can be current and/or historical in nature

• They can also deal with historical geography in relation to genealogy, military history, and place name changes

Geographic Sources

Political Change

• The rate at which political changes occur in the world can make many print resources obsolete almost as soon as they are ordered

• However, even out-of-date materials can be useful, as they provide historical information that may not be available in more current materials

Geographic Sources

Search Strategies

• Reference librarians must be familiar with the geographical resources available to them

• They should also remain flexible and creative in their search techniques

• As always, a good reference interview can pinpoint the best resource for a given question

Geographic Sources

Scale

• With maps and atlases, it is important to consider scale

• Scale is that ratio of the distance on the map to the physical distance between the two points

• Scale can be critical, and will depend on the planned use of the map itself – the larger the scale, the less detail can be given on a single page

Geographic Sources

Projection

• Projection deals with how things on a flat map look differently than they would on a globe

• The most well-known example of map distortion is the Mercator Greenland Distortion.

•Greenland appears to be about the same size as Africa

Geographic Sources

Projection (cont.)

• On a Mercator projection map, Greenland appears to be about the same size as Africa – which is actually 14 times larger

Geographic Sources – Evaluation

Colors and symbols

• Colors can be used to designate water, landforms and other man-made items

• For example, many maps use blue for water, green for vegetation, and black for man-made items

• Color can also be used to show elevation or population

Geographic Sources – Evaluation

Symbols

• The larger the area covered by a map, the fewer symbols that can be used, in order to avoid clutter

• For example, a map of the U.S. printed on a single page may include only state boundaries and state capitals

• By contrast, a map of a single state can accommodate roads and other symbols for the different towns

Geographic Sources

Other types of Geographic Sources

Geographic Sources

Historical Atlases

Popular historical atlases include:

• The Times Atlas of World History• Historical Atlas of the United States•Historical Atlas of Kansas

Historical atlases can also focus on specific time periods and/or regions

Geographic Sources

Thematic Atlases

Examples of thematic atlases include:

• Road atlases, such as The Rand McNally Road Atlas• Mark Mattson's Atlas of the 1990 Census• Patrick Moore's Atlas of the Universe• Nicholas de Lange's Atlas of the Jewish World

Geographic Sources

Gazetteers

• A list of geographical names or features

• Can be appended to an atlas or published separately

• Can be locational or descriptive in nature

• As with maps and atlases, out-of-date gazetteers can provide valuable historical information

Geographic Sources

Here is a sample entry from the Historical Gazetteer of the United States

Note that it includes:• town name• county• region of state• distance to nearest big city• important events in town history

Geographic Sources

Useful gazetteers include:

• The Columbia Gazetteer of the World

• Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary

•Rand McNally Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide

Geographic Sources

Here is a sample entry from the Columbia Gazetteer of the World

Note that it includes:• name of place• place type (town, city, village, etc.)• state, national, and world location• longitude and latitude• major industry or goods manufactured• some historical information

Geographic Sources

Travel Guides

• Includes travel literature by publishers such as Fodor, Frommer, Lonely Planet

• Also includes the Let's Go series (Harvard Student Agencies) and Shoestring Guides (Lonely Planet)

• Additionally, includes specialized guides to tourist attractions, museums, trails, etc.

Geographic Sources

Other Geographical Sources

Other useful print sources for geographical reference include:

• Background Notes (U.S. Department of State)• Longman Dictionary of Geography (Audrey Clark)• The Weather Almanac

Geographic Sources

Online Resources

Geographic Sources – Online Resources

Online Resources

• The online environment has allowed for a figurative explosion of map resources on the internet

• With the advent of new mobile technology devices, maps are everywhere you want to beResources in the age of

the

World Wide Web


Google

• Would you expect anything less than Google to be at the center of emergent geographic innovations?

• In the age of 2.0 we call these innovations “mashups”

• Google Maps and Google Earth are currently at the front of this mash-up phenomenon


Mashups

• Geographic Mashups are combinations of maps with other digital content

• This screenshot is of the Darfur region in the Sudan

• In this example, each flame symbol stands for a village in Darfur that has been destroyed

• Clicking on the flame symbols will bring up information about that village or town


Mashups (cont.)

• This is the information retrieved by clicking on one of the flame symbols in the previous example

• In this case, it tells us the location, status, and number of structures destroyed


Mashups (cont.)

• This mashup is between Wikipedia and Google Earth

• Each little Wikipedia symbol is attached to a particular point of interest in New York City


Mashups (cont.)

• This is the kind of information found by clicking on one of the Wikipedia symbols in the previous example

• Provided is general information, location, history, and in this case an original drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge

Columbia Gazetteerhttp://www.columbiagazetteer.org/

Google Earthhttp://earth.google.com/

Google Mapshttp://maps.google.com/maps

Infopleasehttp://www.infoplease.com/atlas/

Internet Public Library Mapshttp://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/ref42.50.00/

Library of Congress Map Collectionhttp://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html

MapQuesthttp://www.mapquest.com/

National Atlashttp://www.nationalatlas.gov/

National Geographic Mapshttp://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/

Rand McNallyhttp://www.randmcnally.com/

UN Atlas of the Oceanshttp://www.oceansatlas.org/

U.S. Gazetteerhttp://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer

U.S. Geological Surveyhttp://www.usgs.gov/

U.S. Census Bureau Maps and Cartographic Resources http://www.census.gov/geo/www/maps/


http://www.columbiagazetteer.org/



http://earth.google.com/



http://maps.google.com/maps



Geographic Sources – Conclusion

Thank you!

Royce Kitts

Staff Luncheon Geosources

Business

Transcript of Staff Luncheon Geosources