BTAA-GIN Collection Stories

Jose Anza Garcia and Milan Budhathoki, GIS and Data Service Center , University of Maryland Libraries At the University of Maryland's McKeldin Library, we are proud and fortunate to possess a map collection featuring over 200,000 items. It spans a wide degree of subject categories (topographic, nautical, aeronautical, etc.) and formats (print maps, atlases, raised relief models, etc.). In addition, through the library's designation as a Regional Depository Library by the Federal Depository Library Program, the map collection also holds countless government-produced documents of important historical and cultural value.  A top-down map of the library's 4th floor, which houses the map collection (red square). Examples of different storage furniture items: at left, cabinets, and at right, atlas bookcases. However, the sheer size and scope of the map collection mean that a comprehensive catalog of all its contents does not exist at this time, making it hard for the library's...

By Jay Bowen - GIS Specialist, The Digital Scholarship & Publishing Studio, The University of Iowa Libraries  The BTAA Geoportal has a wealth of interesting and beautiful historic scanned maps available to the public to download. Recently, I discovered John Henry Renshawe's shaded relief maps of US national parks from the early 1900s. Using his Panoramic View of the Yosemite National Park, California from 1914, I wanted to demonstrate an open-source technique for adding three dimensionality to these fantastic relief maps. Download and Georeference the JPG File The first step is to download the map here and load it into a georeferencer tool in your favorite GIS software. While I find georeferencing in ArcGIS Pro to be an intuitive breeze, I used the Georeferencer tool in QGIS to keep with an open-source and MacOS-oriented workflow. You can do a lot of amazing GIS work in the comfort of your home with a MacBook! As shown in the screenshot above, I rubbersheeted the ...