BTAA-GIN Blog

Posts

Pole Position

By Danny Dotson, Interface Committee Did you know that the Geoportal has maps from various themes? Not all of these are in the same "collection" as they are provided by different universities, but are in a way a collection as well. This blog entry will be covering polar maps. The Geoportal has many maps related to areas at or near the poles. For example, 145 maps are flagged with place name Greenland. This includes a scan of a map from 1750 . In the same area, there are 19 maps of the place Arctic . Searching for Antarctica would get many more, probably due to the prominence of research on our coldest continent. There are 261 items for Antarctica, but this time some of them are datasets and websites! But more specifically, you'll see areas of Antarctica, like: Antarctica--McMurdo Dry Valleys Antarctica--Victoria Land Antarctica--Marie Byrd Land Antarctica--McMurdo Sound Antarctica--Ross Island So what happens if you were to just search for Pola

Japanese Map Project at The Ohio State University Libraries

In Summer 2022, two students with Japanese language knowledge were hired to examine Japanese language maps in Ohio State's collections in order to record additional information that would improve the metadata about the items, including a focus on the need for both Japanese and English language metadata. Takuma Goto is one of those students. Takuma has been continuing work on this project and this blog post details some general information about the maps and an especially interesting find in the collections. Takuma shares the following about what he experienced and a particularly long map! Takuma Goto (Class of 2023) working with a Japanese map in the Geology Library Hi! My name is Takuma Goto, and I am a 4th year OSU student majoring in Statistics and Spanish. As my name suggests, I am ethnically Japanese, and thanks to my parents' efforts, I understand Japanese as well as English. This has given me the opportunity to work with the East Asian Studies Unit alongside G

Rutgers Joins the BTAA Geoportal

By Francesca Giannetti Rutgers University–New Brunswick is the newest member of the BTAA Geospatial Information Network. As of Fall 2022, we have contributed 4,576 new records to the BTAA Geoportal ( collection record | browse link ). These records come from our previously digitized "Maps of New Jersey" collection, which spans over 300 years of the state's development from geographic, geologic, political, environmental, and historical perspectives. This digital collection is drawn from multiple repositories, including Special Collections and University Archives , the New Jersey Environmental Digital Library , and several public library partners of the New Jersey Digital Highway . I ncluded in the Rutgers collection are some rare and unique items from Special Collections and University Archives, such as this "Early Map of New Brunswick," which I (Francesca) often use in my mapping workshops to invite discussion about the similarities a

Geospatial Data Curation Toolkit

By Melinda Kernik Have you ever saved data in a new file format and then later realized that it no longer looks right? This is a common problem for geospatial data! If you work with geodatabases but sometimes share data in alternate file formats, this post is especially for you. Geodatabases are popular among GIS researchers, but there are a limited number of software in which they can be opened. Because of this, it is a common practice to convert feature classes into shapefiles when archiving or sharing data. Shapefiles have substantial limitations, however, which can lead to loss of data and functionality during file conversion. You may have come across the truncation (and frustration) that can result from the 10 character limit on field names. There are many other limitations shapefiles have that are more difficult to notice, including limitations on the length of text fields and lack of support for time within date fields. It is easy to unintentionally alter a dataset while try

Important Farmland Map Collection

Important Farmland Map Collection According to the American Farmland Trust, 2,000 acres of agricultural land in the United States are paved over every day (The Trust, 2022). This results in negative effects on our waterways and coastal waters not to mention decreased capacity for producing food and other agricultural products. This trend was seen decades ago by the USDA Soil Conservation Service. In response, the Service created and published county maps that colorfully delineated prime and unique farmland. The purpose was to help city planning and other officials understand the high quality land resources in their area [and thereby avoid if possible in future urban growth projects]. As the multi-year project unfurled, it prioritized counties experiencing rapid land use change. Map production continued into the early 1980s, but then took a turn for the worse. The project fell far short of the intended 1,200 counties - perhaps the recession of the early 1980s

The Adventures of Mark Twain

By Laura Kane McElfresh Featured Item: The Adventures of Mark Twain What is the item? Pictorial map of the life and works of Mark Twain, a.k.a. Samuel Langhorne Clemens. This map was issued by Warner Brothers Pictures to promote their biographical movie, The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944). The map's border features images from the biopic, starring Fredric March and Alexis Smith as Samuel Langhorne and Olivia Langdon Clemens. What BTAA Library submitted the item? University of Michigan Interesting tidbits: The map illustrates Clemens' extensive travels across and beyond the United States Shows his connections to some unexpected places -- such as Bear Creek, near San Antonio, TX Cities that figure prominently in Clemens' life and career are marked with stars on the map Both appearances of Halley's Comet during Clemens' lifetime are commemorated Caption: The map is illustrated with events in Samuel Clemens' life and characters from his writings. Where can I find

Wisconsin Official State Highway Map Digital Collection

By Jaime Martindale, Map and Geospatial Data Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison Coming soon from the University of Wisconsin-Madison: Official State Highway Map Digital Collection A digital archive of the “Official State Highway Map” of Wisconsin has recently been completed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). Dating back to 1916, the state highway map collection contains 82 unique editions (some single year, others spanning two years.) The print editions were digitized by the American Geographical Society Library (AGSL) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Wisconsin State Historical Society (WHS) and the WisDOT Cartography Division to create a comprehensive collection of digital maps in both PDF and TIFF formats. The digital map files will be archived by the Robinson Map Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Official State of Wisconsin Highway Map, 1916 (PDF by WHS) Wisconsin’s earliest official highway map is date

BTAA GIS Conference 2022: Tuesday, November 15

By Laura Kane McElfresh, Cartographic Metadata Librarian, University of Minnesota Final preparations for the third annual BTAA GIS Conference are underway! With technical infrastructure and support from the Big Ten Academic Alliance headquarters office, the Planning Committee is pleased to present this slate of programs on geospatial applications in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and medicine. The conference will feature a map gallery plus lightning talks, three papers sessions, and two panels on GIS careers and professional development, centered around a keynote presentation by Tanya Ruka and Rudo Kemper of Native Land Digital . The day begins at 9:00 AM CST/10:00 AM EST with lightning talks on a variety of geospatial topics. Two papers sessions follow: "Justice and Social Geography" at 10 AM Central (11 AM Eastern), and "Climate and Carbon" at 11:15 AM (12:15 PM Eastern). After a break for lunch, the conference will reconvene at 1:00 PM CST (2:00 PM

Collection Highlight: Government Open Geospatial Data Collection

By Tara Anthony The BTAA Geoportal provides opportunities for users to discover individual maps and geospatial items, along with collections of items within websites, online portals, and ArcGIS Hub Sites. One of these collections focuses on government open data portals that span multiple geographic locations of BTAA institutions. This post will highlight a selection of the content found in the BTAA Government Open Geospatial Data Collection. What is in this collection? Breadth of BTAA Government Open Data Collection Viewing all items within the BTAA Government Open Data Collection provides you with over 14,000 records of content covering Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. This includes resources classes of datasets, web services, imagery, websites, and maps. The website resources at the county and state levels provide discovery of geospatial data layers and content to t

Featured Item: Lake Monroe Land Suitability Study Topographic Map, 1975

By Ronda L. Sewald, Cartographic Resources Cataloger, Indiana Lake Monroe Land Suitability Study Topographic Map, 1975 Topographic map of Lake Monroe accompanying the 1975 land suitability study. https://geo.btaa.org/catalog/e36066e5-5875-47fc-88c9-f751b8c89f69 Overview of Item Lake Monroe was formed in 1965 by flooding the Salt Creek Valley located in southeastern Monroe County, Indiana. The Wabash River Basin, which covers most of Indiana and adjacent portions of Illinois and Ohio, was highly prone to flooding before this time. A 1933 report by the United States House Committee on Harbors and Rivers estimated the annual average cost of flood damage in the basin at $2,000,000 (roughly equivalent to $60,000,000 today) (page 9). The creation of Lake Monroe formed part of a basin-wide solution. Comparison of topographic map from 1975 study with the United States Geological Survey’s 1947 7.5-minute series topographic map of “Allens Creek Quadr