I love maps especially historical or geological maps but any kind of map will do ! I've collected maps most of my life - old world maps, historical maps, natural history maps, geological maps. However, the problem with collecting maps are most are so big and unwieldy that storage is a real problem. I have hundreds of maps taking up much of my basement. If maps were digital you could look at them on your monitor and cut and paste the sections you need?
Well, it didn't take long for the Internet to become a great repository of maps. Many agencies, organizations, and map collectors have been digitizing their maps or collections and making them available on the Net. There are even software programs that generate a map specifically for you. Just type in the latitude and longitude and presto, an instant map.
USGS Maps http://mapping.usgs.gov/mac/maplists/index.html
The United State Geological Survey has been making maps of our country for over one hundred years. You can now locate and order maps of your area over the Net from this web site. Simply select the State, city, and map scale you want to see if they have one for you. You can even custom query for a map based on date, scale, land use, and other criteria. Search for a specific map or even latitude and longitude.
USA Dem Map
http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/nsdi/usa_dem.gif
If you want a great image file of the entire United States that shows just landform topography, download this map. A smaller version is at http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/nsdi/usa_dem_s.gif
Xerox Parc Map Viewer
http://pubweb.parc.xerox.com/map/
This is an interesting site where you can select any point on the planet or the USA and a map will be generated to that point. Just click on a spot on the map, and a new map will be generated. You can keep expanding the view down to roads and rivers, parks, and other features, even in color.
Color Landforms of the United States
http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/states.html
This is a great web site that generates beautiful color landform maps of any state in the U.S. You have the option to produce a shaded relief map, a county map, black and white map, satellite image, 1895 dated map, or a PostScript map.
1895 U.S. Atlas
http://www.livgenmi.com/1895.htm
If you are looking for a turn of the century map of your county in New York State (or the country) turn to this page! Download county graphic files of the 1895 National Atlas. Great for those doing geneology.
New York State Historical Maps
http://www.sunysb.edu/libmap/nymaps.htm
If you are looking for really old maps that show New York State, this site has them all the way back to Giacomo di Gastaldi's New France map of 1556. There are a total of 20 maps covering the dates 1556, 1635, 1639, 1656, 1674, 1675, 1690, 1698, 1700, 1755, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1780, 1790, 1802, 1825, and 1895. All in color and downloadable.
Yahoo!!!
http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py
Yahoo, a popular Internet search engine gives you the ability to type in an address anywhere in the United States and it will produce a detailed map of the address and surrounding area. It even places an X on the address so X marks the spot! This mapping program will even give you driving directions to the site. Just place the address where you will start from and it will plot out the driving directions to the site. The maps are produced by Mapquest, based in Denver, Colorado.
PaleoMap Project
http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm
This is an interesting site if you want to know what the Earth looked like over the last few billion years. These maps illustrate the plate tectonic development of the ocean basins and continents, as well as the changing distribution of land and sea during the past 1100 million years.
Ranges of North American Breeding Birds
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/birds/breedrng/breedrng.htm
Would you like to see the range of our State Bird, the Bluebird? How about any bird that breeds in North America. This site, maintained by the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, produces great distribution maps of many breeding birds in North America. The maps show changes in the distribution and abundance patterns for the last 20 years. For each species represented there are four maps, each representing the average distribution and abundance pattern over the five-year periods 1970-1974, 1975-1979, 1980-1984, and 1985-1989. Good site for bird lovers.
Geography
http://geography.about.com/education/scilife/geography/mbody.htm
This is one of those mining company, now About.com, sites that put up topic specific areas, in this case geography. It has tons of great links to maps, and other geographical information but it also contains a chat room, forums for discussion, articles, an email newsletter, and a very nice section on geography for kids.
Reach Don at drittner@aol.com or 251 River St.