BTAA-GIN Blog

By Kathleen Weessies Simple quiet country life sounds idyllic and peaceful for anyone fed up with the complications of modern society. But folks in the country see the limits to that charm: They want to stream shows, shop, and work online from home just like anyone else.    People in rural areas want broadband internet yesterday. Connectivity is surging forward not quite to meet that need, but pretty fast by bureaucratic standards. Since 2009 the U.S. federal and many state governments are collectively allocating an unprecedented amount of funding to rural broadband initiatives.    The dramatic transformation underway and to be seen in the near future is a delightfully fertile area of study and inquiry for researchers across many disciplines. Geospatial data relating to broadband initiatives is both plentiful and absent depending on what you need.   The state of Iowa, however, has a lovely array of datasets freely available for download.  The state of Maryland a

By Shirley Li Featured Collection: Purdue University Campus Map Collection What is the item? With historical imageries from 1890 to 2014, Purdue University Campus Map Collection is preserved from a digital scholarship initiative to educate the Purdue community and the public about the historic grounds and structures of the campus. Located in the Archives and Special Collections, the physical campus maps were scanned and georeferenced by the libraries. Individual GeoTIFFs can be downloaded from this collection on the BTAA geoportal. What BTAA Library submitted the item? Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies Interesting tidbits All the historical maps are georeferenced and mosaicked into one mosaic dataset , which was published to ArcGIS server as one image service. University Hall is the oldest remaining building on campus. Completed in 1877, it is the only building remaining of the original six-building. Purdue Campus Maps: West Lafayette, Indiana, 1890-2