The Mysterious World of US Government Maps An Introduction to Paper and Digital maps in the FDLP Christopher J.J. Thiry & Kathryn Lage Five State Government Documents Conference August 3, 2006

National Atlas of the United States of America 1970 Every library should own.

National Atlas Sheets (I ) Some plates from 1970 Atlas. Most new sheets available on web, but some printed. Libraries should get if they have cabinets.

US Geological Survey (USGS) State Maps (I /) Excellent base maps. Can be plain, with topography, or with shaded relief.

USGS Topos (I 19.81, I ) Excellent for historical research. Some sheets up-to-date, others over 50 years old. Different scales. Complete coverage of the US. Good to own maps of your library’s city and county--$6 each.

Castle Rock Topos 1:500, :250, :125, :125,

Castle Rock Topos 1:100, :62, :50,

Castle Rock Topos 1:24, :24, :24, :24,

USGS Topo Indexes (I 19.41/6-3) Free. Need for topos.

USGS National Parks Maps (I ) Most out-of-date. Show topography and often shaded relief.

National Park Service Maps (NPS) (I 29.6/, I 29.8, I 29.21, I 29.39) Black boarder. Given away at park entrances.

National Forest Service (NFS) (A 13.13, A 13.28, A 13.36) Up-to-date. Shows roads, camping, trails.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) (I 53.7/2, I 53.11) Similar to Forest Service. Surface and Mineral Management maps immediately obsolete.

AMS/DMA/NIMA/NGA World coverage. Most date from WWII and immediately after. Good for finding old names of cities in Europe.

TPC (Tactical Pilot Chart) (D 5.354) 1:500,000 world- wide, topographic coverage. None have come through the FDLP in years.

Sectional Aeronautical (TD 4.79/11) 1:500,000 USA. Updated and distributed twice a year.

NOAA, DMA/NIMA Nautical Charts (C , TD 4.82) USA and worldwide coverage. Not all issued/released.

CIA (PrEx 3.10/4) Excellent for displays or reports. Very simple. Some very current.

FIRM (Flood Insurance Rate Map) (HH 10.9/2) Shows flood prone areas. Most out-of-date. Newer ones online.

Soil Surveys (A 57.38) Not all of the US done—most of the mountainous regions skipped. Soil types on top of aerial photographs.

USGS Thematic Maps— (I 19.85:C), (I 19.89:HA, (I 19.91:I), (I 19.87:GP), (I 19.88:GQ), (I :MF), (I 19.90:MR), (I 19.92:OC), (I 19.93:OM), (I 19.91/3:SIM) All discontinued except SIM (paper), and MF (digital). Usually show geology and usually show USA. Not all of the US mapped geologically. Some mapping of Pakistan (satellite), other planets and the moon.

USGS Geologic Atlas (I 19.5/) Covers only parts of the country—mostly mining areas. Most about 100 years old. Collectors’ items.

Open-File Reports (OFR) (I 19.76) Most have maps. Most show geology. Blueline copies—print-on- demand. Most not distributed in paper form via the FDLP. Some distributed from in microfiche. Some issued on cd-rom. Most new ones available on the web—some old ones too.

Census (C , C /2, C /3) Variety of themes including elections and congressional districts Census boundary maps are no longer printed in paper form.

CD-ROMS Almost all out-of-date and some useless DOQ (Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle) DRG (Digital Raster Graphic Data) DLG (Digital Line Graph) TIGER/Census tract street index

Reference Materials A Cartobibliography of Separately Published U.S. Geological Survey Special Maps and River Surveys Map Index to Topographic Quadrangles of the United States, World Mapping Today Guide to U.S. Map Resources Where Once We Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust A Guide to the Cartographic Products of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP)

“Hi, I need a map…” How to begin thinking about online U.S. government maps Static (PDF/JPG) Dynamic Interactive Customizable Maps (WebGIS) Sites shown today: Government hosted Government data hosted by other organizations Digital reproductions of paper maps New methods of publishing cartographic information

Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) & GeoNET Searchable database from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names: foreign & domestic Mapping Services Google maps TopoZone/Terraserver-USA Census Maps EPA Find Your Watershed

The National Atlas Printable maps Interactive maps (Dynamic Maps) Customizable maps (Map Maker) Download raw data New: Atlas of North America data

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection CIA maps Many other maps: news agencies, other government agencies, historical maps

The National Map: The Nation’s Topographic Map for the 21 st Century “The National Map is a consistent framework for geographic knowledge needed by the Nation. It provides public access to high-quality, geospatial data and information from multiple partners to help support decision-making by resource managers and the public.”

Library of Congress American Memory Project Civil War Maps Liberia ~ Maps ~ Maps and Cartographic Items ~ 1500-Present National Parks ~ Maps Panoramic Maps ~ Railroads ~ Maps ~ Revolutionary Era Maps ~ World War II Military Situation Maps

American Memory Map Collections MrSID & JPEG2000 files Need special software to download/print

American Memory Map Collections--Viewing

U.S. Census Bureau Mapping Map Products: Links to PDF maps Congressional District Maps Online Mapping American Fact Finder TIGER Map Server

Searching for U.S. Government Maps Narrowest geographic area → broader geographic area What agency might create this map or collect this data? Electronic and paper: start with library catalog Online Geospatial One Stop: Perry-Castañeda Library CU-Boulder Map Library’s links ( Google Image Search Odden’s Bookmarks (

The Mysterious World of US Government Maps Christopher J.J. Thiry Map Librarian Arthur Lakes Library Colorado School of Mines Office: (303) Fax: (303) Presentation and handout can be found at: Katie Lage Map Librarian Jerry Crail Johnson Earth Sciences & Map Library University of Colorado at Boulder Office: (303) Fax: (303)