BTAA-GIN Collection Stories

By Cecilia Smith University of Chicago Library GIS Data Hub What is the item? The University of Chicago’s GIS Data Hub is a portal to a curated set of historical Chicagoland data. There are currently 33 vector layers covering different themes. The data was produced by several sources, including UChicago researchers and Library Map Collection staff. What BTAA Library submitted the item? University of Chicago Interesting tidbits: The collection contains the city boundaries for Chicago starting in 1868. Ward boundaries for the years 1986, 1992, and 1998 are popular layers for researchers interested in redistricting and social outcomes. The 77 community areas as of 1990 are available, and continue to be very similar to contemporary areas. A number of layers were derived from a 1948 dissertation by Henry Hughes Presler, titled "The effects of subsidy of Presbyterian Churches in metropolitan Chicago, 1871-1942." In the dissertation, Presler maps religious congregations and their et...

 By Jay Bowen Featured Item: National Flood Hazard Layer: Iowa With flooding a perennial problem in the low-lying riverine areas of Iowa, the National Flood Hazard Layer: Iowa is a particularly useful resource for Iowans. This dataset is managed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on the Iowa Geodata website. From this dataset, you can download the National Flood Hazard Layer, which includes the Iowa portion of the regulatory dataset produced by FEMA for their Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM). It is particularly useful to community officials and members of the public who wish to know which parts of their communities are within areas FEMA defines as having a 1-percent-annual-chance for a flood event, a 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood event, or minimal flood risk. In this post, I will take a look at one presentation of the data in an interactive online map. I live in Iowa City, in Johnson County. By downloading the data as a geodatabase, I can open it in QGIS, extract the fea...

By Laura McElfresh Lighthouses (Great Lakes Circle Tour), Wisconsin 2013 What is the item? This data layer represents locations of Wisconsin lighthouses on the Great Lakes. What BTAA Library submitted the item? University of Wisconsin Interesting tidbits: The month of August includes National Lighthouse Day on the 7th! This dataset is part of the Wisconsin Coastal Atlas, an online collection of geospatial data covering the coastal Wisconsin counties on Lakes Superior and Michigan. Each lighthouse point on the interactive map display is clickable for more information about that lighthouse, including name, location (latitude & longitude), and links to outside websites for further reading. Wind Point Lighthouse, Wisconsin By User:JeremyA, edited by Fir0 002 - Edited version of Image: Wind Point Lighthouse 071104.jpg., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5191958 Map image of the lighthouse dataset (full interactive Web Map Service display is available here) Wh...