Library Intelligencer » maps

Google Maps Rumsey Historical Maps

shirley — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:33:41 +0000

nbsp;http://www.davidrumsey.com/gmaps.html

David Rumsey is one of the world’s great map collectors, and he has been very generous by sharing his treasures via the David Rumsey Map Collection website. Recently, Rumsey has selected 120 historical maps from his collection to link up with data from Google Maps and Google Earth. These maps are tremendous repositories of historical and cultural information by themselves, and when they are joined up with the other maps, they present a multifaceted way of visualizing the past, present, and future of these locales. As the website notes, this is “a marriage of historic cartographic masterpieces with innovative contemporary software tools.” First-time visitors can read the explanation of how this is done, and then scroll down to look through the list of maps, which includes Chicago in 1857, Moscow in 1836, Kyoto in 1709, and a celestial globe from 1792. Also, visitors can toggle the satellite view via the Google Maps overlay map in order to compare and contrast the changes that have occurred over the past decades and centuries. [KMG]

source: Scout report

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection

shirley — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:11:15 +0000

nbsp;http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/

The Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas at Austin has had an impressive online presence for many years. Geographers, historians, and others who enjoy and use maps will find much to admire and enjoy on this site. Perhaps one of the best features here is the “Online Maps of Current Interest”. It’s located front and center on the site’s homepage, and it brings together maps from areas of the world that have been in the news in recent weeks. At any given moment, this area might have maps that deal with piracy in the Red Sea or elections in Europe. Moving on, visitors should take a look at the “Maps FAQ” section before diving into the other areas, which contain hundreds of thematic maps from around the world.
The collection is particularly strong in terms of historical maps, and visitors with a penchant for the history of cartography will be well served here. [KMG]

source: Scout report

Antique Maps

shirley — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:14:00 +0000

nbsp;http://lbxml.ust.hk/mp/main.html

Created by the Special Collections Department at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library, this fine collection of digitized antique maps will pique the interest of geographers and historians alike. The collection contains over 230 maps, charts, pictures, books, and complete atlases produced by European cartographers from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The collection serves as an interesting record of the cross- cultural exchanges between China and the West, and visitors can sort the list of maps by title, mapmaker, or year. There are many highlights here, but visitors should take a look at the work of Edward Belcher, who is responsible for maps of both Canton and the Canton River. Also, there’s a rather intriguing 1851 map by one J. Rapkin titled “China and Burmah”.

source: Scout report

Crace Collection of Maps of London

shirley — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:10:21 +0000

nbsp;http://testbiblio.kit.nl/biblio_smartsit…

KIT has digitized its remarkable historical map collection and made it available online.
One of the largest collections of maps of the former Dutch colonies is thereby accessible via Internet for scientists,
cartographers and other interested parties in the Netherlands and abroad.