Government Documents

Topographic Maps

In the east corner of the library (Harden Hall, 2nd floor) is the map collection. Michigan and Wisconsin topo maps, Great Lakes nautical charts, CIA maps, maps of North America and the world....

Online, you can go to the following websites:

Libre Map Project: USGS 1:24K Topo Maps.
Downloadable topo maps--not seamless.

Geographic Names Information System 
From the USGS. Searchable database for about 2 million place names (the official repository of domestic place names) in the United States and its territories. You will be able to link to a variety of maps of your search. Also links to place names in Antarctica and the Geonet Names Server (for foreign place names).

New TopoView from the USGS. This resource highlights the maps in the Historic Topographic Map Collection (maps published prior to 2009). Scales include 1:24K through 1:250K. An additional source of old, out of print topographic maps is the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer.

For new topo maps, click here.  As well as here--the Map Locator Tool has access to both old and new topographic maps.  

Peakbagger
Although a website for climbers and hikers, the USGS topographic maps are presented seamless.  Link takes you to our local Hogback Mountain.  These are not current topo maps.

Time Zone map

General Map Links

Blank maps! Print them off and fill them in yourself.

List of online map sources from Southern Illinois University (there are sure to be some of the same listings on this page).

International Cartographic Association
Current maps of events in the world, updated monthly.

Perry Casteñeda Library Map Collection
If you have blindly surfed for online maps, you have ended up here time and time again. From the University of Texas at Austin. Go here first.

United Nations Geospatial
Maps of countries, regions and missions are available in .pdf format as well as geospatial data.

National Geologic Map Database
Over 100,000 geologic maps from the 1800s to today are available.  These include maps by the USGS, the State Geological Surveys, and hundreds of other organizations.

CIA World Factbook
World, regional, and country maps in .jpg or .pdf. Also from the CIA, declassified maps.

National Geographic's Mapmaker Interactive

Global Gazetteer
Locate regions, place names and exact locations of most any populated place the world over.

Worldmapper
A visually intriguing website that displays statistical data in the form of cartograms.

Gallery of Map Projections 
Several hundred examples of map projections as well as a small bibliography.

Radical Cartography
An interesting website with a variety of strange maps and graphs (mall plans, income, suicides, and world cropland since 1700 to name a few).

Mappery.com
"Mappery is a diverse collection of real life maps contributed by map lovers worldwide. For the first time it allows people to easily find relevant and interesting maps of yet unknown places by visually browsing a larger context. Mappery makes it easy to find and explore maps by keyword, location, or simply by browsing a map." That just about sums it up.

Maps from FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data, from the St. Louis Federal Reserve).
Economic data for US counties, metro areas, states.

Aeronautical Charts From SkyVector.

OpenSeaMap.
A worldwide nautical chart (don't use it for navigation) in which you can select different layers to view (such as water depth, navigation aids, marine traffic).  The Great Lakes are not covered very well.

MarineTraffic.com.
Follow worldwide shipping (includes Great Lakes and inland waterways).  Link opens over Lake Superior.

Persuasive Cartography. A collection of “persuasive” cartography: ​more than 800 ​ maps intended primarily to influence opinions or beliefs--to send a message--rather than to communicate geographic information.

OpenGeoSci. OpenGeoSci is a free, public map based interface that allows users to search for maps, cross sections, charts, tables, figures, and data from GeoScienceWorld publications.

Global Maps from NASA's Earth Observatory. 
A global view of what’s happening on our planet. Maps include carbon monoxide, chlorophyll, cloud fraction, fire, land surface temperature, net radiation, sea surface temperature, snow cover, rainfall, and vegetation.

Sites dedicated to a variety of maps: DIY Cartography, Strange Maps, and Cartographers Guild 

Michigan Map Links

Map resources from various State of Michigan agencies and departments and other non-government links (this list is incomplete--it'll always be added to):

• GeoWebFace - A huge resource.  Online geologic maps and data from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. One of the largest publically accessible record sets in Michigan. Includes oil and gas well data and files, mining and related geographic information. Maps can be built on a road map, aerial photograph or topographic map base. Over sixty layers - many specific to this application - of map information include: Glacial Geology, Structural Geology, Outcrops, Bedrock Geology, Gravity, Magnetics, Shaded Relief, Hillshade, Water Falls, Wells, Wetlands Inventory, Town, Range and Section, State Ownership, State Mineral Leases, Federal Lands, and National Forests.
• Michigan Department of Transportation The official state highway map, ORV and snowmobile maps, state railroad map, etc.
• Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy has created a maps access webpage. 
• Department of Natural Resources
  • ORV trails
  • Inland lake maps
  • General Land Office plat maps Drawn from the original surveyor's notes [these same maps, available at a much higher quality, are also available from the Archives of Michigan]. 
  • Also from the Archives of Michigan, their digital collection Michiganology.  Search using the word map.
  • Michigan's Center for Shared Solutions & Technology Partnerships (for downloadable GIS files and data in the Geographic Data Library).
• Subdivision Maps.  Effective January 2019 the subdivision plats portion of the Bureau's Accela Citizen Access (ACA) system was implemented and plats can now be searched for online. 
• Pure Michigan Map & Travel Tools (maps, links, and contact information for more than just road travel)
• Michigan Economic Development Corporation (the maps produced by this organization are aimed at business and commerce promotion [transportation, labor and employment statistics, utilities, etc.]).
• Michigan Public Service Commission (Search for maps in the search box).
• Michigan Disease Mapper, from the Department of Health and Human Services.
• Watersheds in your district, from Michigan Sea Grant.
• Michigan State University Map Collection and the University of Michigan Map Library contain the largest collection of maps in the state.
• Flood Insurance Study Maps from FEMA. Covers the entire US, but simply type in the address you are looking for.
• Maps may appear from any state agency on just about any topic. Those listed here are just a sample of what you can find. The search box on the State of Michigan website is a useful tool. Search with "map or maps" and limit your search to an agency, or, a keyword.
• Want to browse the map drawers and shelves? Michigan maps can be found in the G4110 call number range; atlases in G1410.
• Although not from the state, the U.S. Census Bureau's list of Michigan's County Block Maps, County Tract Maps, and Voting District/Legislative Outline Map. Newer maps are searchable here.

Plat Map information can be found from REGRID (even without a subscription).  We do have physical plat books for most of the counties in the Upper Peninsula in the map bollection.

Lighthouses (not just Michigan).  From the University of Buffalo.  There are a number of lighthouses of the Great Lakes resources online.  I like the links to Lighthouse Friends off that one.

Great Lakes Ship Tracking. From Boatnerd.  Track marine operations in the Great Lakes.  Zooming in shows nautical charts, which is a neat touch.  You can also go to Marinetraffic.com.

MI-TRALE.  Trail apps (and links) for the Western Upper Peninsula.

Sanborn Maps of Michigan cities (from the Library of Congress)

Michigan GIS Open Data
Search across 10 categories including demographics, hydrography, fish & wildlife, and public health.

How do you pronounce Michigan place names (and other names associated with Michigan)?  Here is a continually updated developed by the Michigan Bureau of Services for Blind Persons Braille and Talking Book Library.  

Cyndi's List: Maps of Michigan
A list of online maps, gazetteers and geographical information (both current and historical) from this genealogy website. There is more to Michigan on it as well as the remaining 49 states.

World Atlas.com (Michigan's slice)
Facts and many maps of Michigan (outline, highway, relief). With links to other states, the nation, and the world.

Soil Maps of Michigan (and of the whole U.S.)
The Web Soil Survey from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service allows you to select specific locations within the U.S. and obtain a map of the soil types as well as other soil attributes.

NOAA Chart Locator and their new NOAA Custom Chart (replaces paper charts).  Zoom in and select the charts for the areas you want. How about Coast Pilot no. 6, for the Great Lakes?  Historic nautical charts online are found on the Historical Maps tab (above, on this webpage).  But among the links there is the NOAA Historical Map and Chart Project link.  GPS Nautical Charts have a version of these charts.  

Historic County Boundaries of Michigan from the Newberry Library. Interactive display of the county boundaries and their changes in Michigan and nearly all the U.S. as well.

Other historical maps of Michigan can be found at the MSU Online Map Collection, the University of Alabama, and the USGS (Map Locator & Downloader). Alabama has a nice list of digitized out of print 1:62,500 topographic maps as does the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection.

The National Geologic Map Database. Search for a map by title or author or map number; search for themes--geology or geophysics or marine or resources or hazards or other (geochronology, paleontology, or geochemistry), state or territory and county, scale, etc. Try their Map View!

Historical Maps

David Rumsey  
Over 130,000 images (and growing--every time I check the number climbs!) have been scanned from Mr. Rumsey's private collection of rare 18th and 19th century maps. A fully searchable database of high quality images allows you to find states/provinces, countries, authors, and keywords. Also available are maps of Africa, Japan, Scotland, rare maps from the University of South Florida collection and geologic maps from Stanford University.

Library of Congress  
Jump directly to the maps portion of The American Memory Project. You can choose from seven categories, including Transportation and Communication as well as Discovery and Exploration. There is also the Geography and Map Reading Room.

Old Maps Online. The OldMapsOnline Portal is an easy-to-use gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world. It allows the user to search for online digital historical maps across numerous different collections via a geographical search. Search by typing a place-name or by clicking in the map window, and narrow by date. The search results provide a direct link to the map image on the website of the host institution.

Images of Early Maps on the Web  
About 2500 links to maps the world over. Categorized initially by continent, country or theme, then by an alphabetical list. The website itself is a good resource on maps and cartography.

Ancient World Mapping Center  
Images and articles of the Roman civilization in the Mediterranean region.

Historical Cities of the World  
Hundreds of maps have been scanned in for cities throughout the world (only one for the US, though). Search by name of city or by year of map. Maps are available in low and high resolution.

World Historical Gazetteer  
Place names—their origins, change over time, and reflections of identity—can provide a fascinating and revealing lens through which to explore history. Used with the interactive tools of digital history, the study of place names brings new, deeper, and broader connections to our understanding of patterns of historical change.

Historical Maps Online  
The University of Illinois Library and the University of Illinois Press have created this online collection of maps charting the last 400 years of historical development in Illinois and the Northwest Territory.

Also from Illinois is the University of Chicago's online map collection. Besides maps of Chicago, there are ethnographic maps of the 19th century, maps of Paris, midwest cities, and urban rail transit maps.

Great Britain (and more)  
From the British Library. List of links to map sites for Great Britain as well as additional sites (including several already listed here). Additionally, the British Historic Towns Atlas.

Historical Map Archive  
From the University of Alabama. Nearly 30,000 maps are available of all the states, North America, and the world. In .jpg and MrSid format. The USGS has historical topos available here.

Historical maps and map websites from the Perry Casteñeda Library Map Collection. Another resource here from CartoMundi: Africa, Europe, Middle East, with some Asia and America.

NOAA Historical Map and Chart Project   
This collection contains over 21,000 maps and charts for, mostly, the United States. Dates range from the year 1747 to 2001. View them online or downloaded as a .jpg or MrSid file. You might select the "classic, non-geographic search page"--it's an easier search function.

Great Lakes Maps. Over 100 historic maps of the Great Lakes--from the entire region to the U.S. Lake Survey of 1852-1882. Additional digitized charts can be found at the American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO).  
Access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present. In many cases you can see survey plats and field notes from original material.

The World Digital Library has over 700 maps available for viewing.

GIS Links

ArcMAP 10 is installed on the Government Documents workstation, located directly in front of the Circulation Desk. This is available for all patrons to use. If you need assistance with this program, please contact the Documents Librarian. Color printing is available.

A free, open source GIS program is QGIS.  Download it here.   

Butler University has an informative page, Data Analysis and GIS Mapping, providing background information on the topics and links to additional resources.

Formerly the National Atlas of the United States, now National Map Small Scale Data Download
Shapefiles and maps of the United States are available for download.

Michigan GIS Open Data Portal
“Serves as the state's repository of digital geographic information. This site currently contains over 60 unique statewide datasets including the state's basemap (MI Geographic Framework), aerial imagery, geology, hydrography, land ownership, topography, and much more." This is a good one-stop shop for Michigan data. For population data, go to the Census Statistics and Demographic Data page from the State of Michigan.

Another Michigan source is the MTU GeoPortal.  
Some datasets are similar to the Michigan GIS Open Data Portal, but there are others specific to the Keweenaw and Upper Peninsula, including Sanborn maps and hiking/recreation.

Michiganview.org
An additional resource for Michigan.  MichiganView is a consortium of academic member institutions dedicated to promoting the use and advancing the science of remote sensing technologies in Michigan schools, governments, and industries. MichiganView coordinates programs and services that emphasize remote sensing education, training, and research. 

Great Lakes Information Network: Maps and GIS
Download GIS data and view maps for the Great Lakes area (and beyond) by topic, geographic region, and organization. In its own right, this website is a good source for general information. A similar website is the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission.

Data.gov
Data.gov (Geospatial portal) is the federal government's public gateway for providing access to geospatial information. A wide variety of data categories are available containing data from federal, state, local and private sources. Searchable via a text search or an interactive map. You can also go directly to agencies that have GIS data, such as: NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center, the Geospatial Data Clearinghouse from the Forest Service, or the National Park Service.

An additional resource, which may or may not mimic many of those found through Data.gov, is the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD).  Data that is labeled "secure" is not necessarily secret, it's just there because of licensing agreements--you can apply to get at this data.  

GitHub Awesome Public Datasets
Worldwide data.  "GIS" is about halfway down the page.

Replacement for The Geography Network Search interactively for data available to download or for purchase.

Federal Geographic Data Committee
Search for and download data from many different agencies for use in a GIS.

More GIS links from NMU via the GC335, GC337 and GC428 resource page.

Aerial Photos

The National Collection of Aerial Photography
Includes military imagery from WWII (Allied Central Interpretation Unit, German Air Force (Luftwaffe), Ministry of Defence: Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre, Mediterranean Allied Photo Reconnaissance Wing). Scotlland, where this web resource originates, has a variety of sources.

EarthExplorer
Among many other data sets here (land cover, elevation) are aerial/satellite photos.  

Historic Aerials
Search for a location and a selection of aerial photos (their years of availability) can be selected.  There is a cost.

Global Security.org
An organization that “seeks to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons and the risk of their use”, their Public Eye section has detailed satellite photos and maps of military bases, sites, and establishments.

Google Earth 
Download aerial photos (of varying quality) of the entire planet at once and the ability to look at them in 3-D. As they say themselves, "Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips." Something similar, without the globe and terrain feature, is Zoom Earth.

The Superior Watershed Partnership has a shoreline viewer of the U.P., from Chippewa County west to Gogebic County.

RS&GIS Aerial Imagery Archive at Michigan State University
Aerial datasets acquired by counties, the State of Michigan, and federal agencies dating from the 1920's to the 2000's. This is the largest repository of remitely sensed imagery in Michigan.  Create an account to access this system.

Direction Finders

These are all quite similar, essentially improving the Census Bureau's TIGERweb. In fact, they all seem to use the same base map information with minor changes. You'll probably have your favorite. Mapquest, Badger Mapping (requires login), Google Maps, Maps.me, Bing Maps, Here.com, OpenStreetMap, and even Waze has a neat map to surf around on.