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Maps and Geospatiality
December 11, 2007
Just returned from a meeting at which my wonderful colleague, David Cobb, “mapvangelist extraordinaire,” showed our department a few of the new marvels emerging on the Harvard Geospatial Library, “a catalog and repository for geospatial data files… these files (also called layers) show geographic features, such as roads, countries, or tax lots, along with descriptive information about those features, such as road name, country population, or tax lot value.” Much of the HGL is publicly available, on a layer by layer basis, and there is considerable online help available within the system for using it.
David also showed us a nifty way to browse for maps that have been digitized here. One goes into the online catalog, HOLLIS, and does a “Title beginning with” search for: harvard map collection digital maps. Not every one of these records leads to a digital map at present, but the current resulting list does include links to online versions of 14 American Civil War maps, a 1739 atlas of Paris, and a link to a number of maps already digitized in the “Imaging the Urban Environment” project – which includes historical maps of cities around the world (maps with "Internet Link" or "Multiple Links" have digital versions). Harvard has America's oldest map collection, and it’s quite astonishing to see many of them viewable now anywhere, anytime. I love good technology.
Speaking of good technology, another mapping link I often include in research guides is the superb Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin. They highlight “Online Maps of Current Interest,” as well as current worldwide maps, historical maps, thematic maps, and links to topical map sites, among other links.
Had I had access to these resources (and certainly had I met the enthusiastic and visionary Mr. Cobb) earlier in my career, I would doubtless have become a map librarian. Who wouldn't?
More as it happens, geographically,
Cheryl
Posted by Cheryl LaGuardia on December 11, 2007 | Comments (2)
