Maps and Atlases: World - General Maps

This section of the Geospatial Resources research guide lists resources that cover the world in general or that cover many different subjects. For resources that emphasize a specific subject look under the appropriate subject in the Geospatial Resources research guide. See also the International Development--Atlases and Maps research guide.

• Americas--1:250,000 (Pan American Institute of Geography and History) (Map G 3290 s250 P3) Map series at a scale of 1:250,000 published by individual Latin American countries and coordinated by the Pan American Institute of Geography and History. An index of available maps is located in the map vertical filing cabinet.
• ArcGIS Online (ESRI) Includes over 45,000 map data layers that can be viewed using the ArcGIS map viewer or ArcGIS Explorer. Geographic extent extents from world layers to specific geographic areas.
• Buzztracker: World News Mapped (Chin Music Press) Daily mapping of cities and places in the world news that visualizes the frequencies and relationships between locations in the news.
• Earth and Moon Viewer (Fourmilab) Create images of the Earth on either a topographic or satellite image base using geographical coordinate position or other unique perspectives.
• International Map of the World (print copies available in Map G 3200 s1000 U5) Series of 700 maps of the world at a scale of 1:1,000,000. See index on Map Display Panel in the Atlas and Map Collection in the Library.
• Jet Navigation Charts (US National Imagery and Mapping Agency) (Map G 3201 P6 s2000 U5) Series of aeronautical charts of the world at a scale of 1:2,000,000 showing topographic features by shaded relief. See index in the map vertical filing cabinet in the Library or TPC, ONC, JNC and GNC Charts of the World (Omni Resources).
• Joint Operations Graphic (US National Imagery and Mapping Agency) (Map G 3200 s250 U5) Series at a scale of 1:250,000. Library has coverage mainly of Europe. See index on Map Display Panel in the Atlas and Map Collection in the Library.
• Map-It: Form-Based Simple Map Generator (US Geological Survey) Input form takes longitude/latitude pairs and plots them on a Mercator projection map. Includes options to show political boundaries, topography, and rivers; plot and connect entered lat/long points; and add labels. The site is useful for making quick maps with known coordinates, e.g., earthquake epicenters, USGS stream gages, and coordinates from a GPS receiver.
• Map Machine (National Geographic Society) Series of interactive maps that display physical, political, or thematic layers for the world and continents.
• Maps and Geographic Information Resources (United Nations Cartographic Section) Contains world, regional, and deployment maps of UN Peacekeeping Operations.
• Nationmaster.com (NationMaster) Generate maps, charts and graphs using over 4,500 statistical datasets that are listed under 22 major themes, e.g, agriculture, crime, energy, health, transportation, etc. Choropleth maps are viewed on a world base.
• National Geographic Maps on CD-ROM (National Geographic Society) 1998 (Atlas G 1 N273 1998 - available on Geospatial Computer in the Library) Collection of all 535 fold-out maps included in National Geographic Magazine.
• OpenStreetMap A "wikipedia" for maps that provides free geographic data such as street maps. You can add location data with GPS devices or from free satellite imagery; upload it; add names and other tags; and post your map.
• Operational Navigation Charts (US National Imagery and Mapping Agency) (Map G 3201 P6 s1000 U5) Series of aeronautical charts of the world at a scale of 1:1,000,000 showing topographic features by shaded relief and 1,000 foot contouring. The electronic version is known as the Digital Chart of the World. See index on the Map Display Panel in the Atlas and Map Collection in the Library or TPC, ONC, JNC and GNC Charts of the World (Omni Resources).
• Tactical Pilotage Chart (US National Imagery and Mapping Agency) (Map G 3201 P6 s500 U5) Series of aeronautical charts of the world at a scale of 1:500,000. Elevation shown by 500-foot contours and color tints. Presence of vegetation shown on some maps. This is the most detailed map coverage in the HSU Library for many areas of the world. See index on Map Display Panel in the Atlas and Map Collection in the Library or TPC, ONC, JNC and GNC Charts of the World (Omni Resources).
• World Basemap (ESRI) Interactive map allows one to create and print a map for any area of the world. Data is derived from VMap Level 0 (1:1m) for the entire world and VMap Level 1 (1:250,000) for parts of the world. Click on the "ArcExplorer Web" button to launch this application.
• World Map Server (Demis) Interactive map allows one to create custom maps for any area of the world using public domain vector and raster datasets.
• Worldmapper (University of Sheffield and University of Michigan) Collection of thematic maps of the world with countries re-sized on each map in proportion to the map subject portrayed. Excel datafiles, pdf images and .tiff images are available for each map.