BTAA-GIN Collection Stories

By Shirley Yue Li Indiana Covid-19 Cases Tracker This is a live dashboard to track Indiana’s confirmed COVID-19 cases, testing levels, and deaths. The county map shows the locations of cases. The dashboard is created and updated daily by the Polis Center at IUPUI. BTAA geoportal has several COVID-19 related data for Indiana. Emergency Medical Service Stations as Developed for the Homeland Security Infrastructure Program: Indiana Hospitals and Clinics, Derived from HAZUS: Indiana Hospitals and Rural Health Clinics: Indiana Hospitals as Developed for the Homeland Security Infrastructure Program: Indiana Medical Care Facilities, derived from Essential Facilities Data of the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Data: Indiana Residential Care Facilities, Nursing Homes, and Hospices: Indiana County Boundaries: Indiana Indiana Population Density: Indiana Populated Areas: Indiana Indiana Major Urban Areas: Indiana

By Jay Bowen Covid-19 Cases: Iowa As concerns over the global coronavirus pandemic have intensified, Iowans may be wondering if there is a reliable geospatial dataset that they can access to do their own monitoring of the virus in Iowa. Through the BTAA Geoportal, the public can freely access the Covid-19 Cases: Iowa dataset, which is hosted by Iowa Open Spatial Data and updated and maintained by the Iowa Department of Public Health. Through this dataset, you can download a shapefile displaying the total confirmed cases and deaths due to COVID-19 by county. Of particular interest to those who wish to make a more than static map of the outbreak in Iowa are the API options offered. Here, you can simply copy the GeoJSON URL and plug it into the JavaScript supporting your online map, allowing your map to display automatically the updated GeoJSON. What I like about this option is that it gives you constant access to the most recent data published by the Iowa Department of Public Health. If...

By Cecilia Smith Project Task Force Members: Cecilia Smith, GIS & Maps Librarian By far, the maps most frequently requested at the University of Chicago library are the social scientists maps published by UChicago researchers in the 1920s and 1930s. Out of dozens of maps, however, there is a showstopper: East 63rd Street : Cottage Grove Ave. to Stony Island Ave. East 63rd Street : Cottage Grove Ave. to Stony Island Ave. Like the other social scientists maps, the East 63rd Street map was produced sometime in the early 20th century. Our best guess is that it was printed in the 1930s by a sociology researcher. Unlike its cohort, East 63rd is a showstopper for three reasons: It’s huge: The East 63rd Street map is about 112 inches x 15 inches. While relatively narrow, finding space to unfold a map that is nearly twice a person’s height is challenging! The historical changes are striking : The map depicts a bustling thoroughfare with busy storefronts and an elevated rail stop (that’s th...

 By Karen Majewicz If you are looking to perform geospatial analysis on a dataset in the geoportal, using the “Open in ArcGIS” button will come in handy. A large percentage of the geospatial data resources in the geoportal are also available as ArcGIS Rest Services , which are hosted streaming datasets that can be added to an online map application. To find the resources with web services, use the facet “Type” and select “Service” . Items with ArcGIS Rest services will have an option in the Links panel that says “Open in ArcGIS.” Clicking this text will open an instance of ArcGIS Online with the selected dataset loaded. From there, you can symbolize the dataset and add other files to your map. Click "Open in ArcGIS" under the links panel Note to perform geospatial analysis or to save the map, you will need to log in or create an account with ArcGIS Online.

 By Bria Parker Locations of street cameras in Washington, D.C. Privacy is a hot-button issue - with all the devices that listen to us, that monitor us, how do we maintain our privacy as citizens? Should we have to sacrifice privacy for safety? How pervasive is the surveillance where you live? The BTAA Geoportal contains datasets on the locations of CCTV locations and traffic camera for some of the metropolitan areas covered in our geoportal. Interested in how much surveillance monitors the landmarks in our nation's capital ? Wonder where traffic cameras are located in Des Moines, IA? Check out our Geoportal! Download layers (or grab web services APIs) and use a tool like ArcGIS online to combine CCTV layers with a host of other municipal data, like crime and safety, arts and culture districts, community development, health, and, location of farmers markets!

By Cecilia Smith George Washington's own map of the whole group of farms at Mount Vernon, drawn in 1793 What is the item? A land survey map of the Mount Vernon estate drafted by George Washington in 1793. What BTAA Library submitted the item? Penn State Interesting tidbits: At 17 years old, George Washington became a land surveyor in Virginia. He worked throughout Culpeper County surveying land and producing maps. This map depicts the five farms composing the Mount Vernon Estate: Mansion, River, Muddy Hole, Dogue, and Union. Washington includes a summary of the acreage by field for each of the farms and provides notes on surrounding areas in a box labeled “References.” The estate is bounded by the Potomac River on the south. This map is a 1931 reproduction of the original in the Huntington Library.

By Cecilia Smith Railway terminal map of Chicago What is the item? A map of railways and depots in Chicago and surrounding areas from 1897 by Rand McNally and Company. What BTAA Library submitted the item? University of Michigan Interesting tidbits: Railways were an influential component to the incredible population growth in Chicago during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The map uses color to denote North, West, and South Chicago, whose boundaries are largely formed by branches of the Chicago River. The Chicago Park and Boulevard System is also highlighted in green. The system is a series of parks connected by wide streets with central medians containing planted dividers. 26 miles of the system are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

By Karen Majewicz India was subjected to colonization by England between 1612-1947, first under private trading companies, and later the British government. A major turning point occurred in 1857, when Indian soldiers (known as Sepoys) serving the British East India Company revolted. Violent clashes broke out across northern India, and, although historians disagree on casualty numbers, at least hundreds of thousands of people were killed. This series of uprisings, known as the Indian Rebellion of 1957, prompted the British government to dissolve the Company and to assert their own direct control over India. Within the next few years, cartographers provided the government with many new or updated maps illustrating British encampments, transportation routes, and the locations and dates of the major Rebellion conflicts. Many of these 19th century Indian maps can be found via our geoportal and came from the Ames Library of South Asia, housed at the University of Minnesota. This collect...

By Caroline Kayko Visit our Featured Collection: Nichols Arboretum and Matthaei Botanical Gardens The Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum (MBGNA) is a University of Michigan organization that promotes environmental conservation and enjoyment of nature in two locations in Ann Arbor, MI: the Nichols Arboretum, and Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The MBGNA has an open data GIS hub where they host datasets about vegetation, trails, land cover, geology, and more. These can be used by anyone from botanists to nature trail enthusiasts. Aerial Imagery There are scanned aerial images from sporadic years, the oldest being from 1937 and the newest being from 2006. There is also digital orthoimagery of the botanical garden from 2010 from a SEMCOG orthoimagery project. Close-up of aerial imagery showing handwritten notes denoting farms on the botanical gardens grounds, 1949. Interactive Maps Some notable interactive maps on the open data hub include the Matthaei-Nichols Botanical Surveys. ...

By Cecilia Smith What’s in this collection? The EarthStat collection consists of 1,099 raster datasets. The data layers are global in coverage and provide information regarding agricultural crops. What BTAA Library submitted the collection? EarthStat is a collaboration between the Global Landscapes Initiative at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment and the Land Use and Global Environment Lab at the University of British Columbia. Stanford University improved access to the data by splitting it up into layers, converting it to web services, and creating metadata for each layer. The web services and layer level downloads are available in the BTAA Geoportal . The original GeoTiffs can be downloaded at the EarthStat website. Interesting tidbits: EarthStat data was created to support researchers developing ways to feed a growing world population while reducing the environmental impact of agriculture. The EarthStat project combines national, state, and county level cen...

By Daniel Dotson and Joshua Sadvari At Ohio State, our map collections include more than 175,000 geologic, topographic, and thematic maps distributed across our Geology Library, Gardner Family Map Room, Architecture Library, Special Collections, and more. While we have not yet contributed scanned maps to the geoportal, our participation in the project has been of great benefit to us in identifying potential collections for digitization and discussing effective map scanning workflows with our peers. We look forward to contributing scanned maps from our collections in the future. Ohio State is looking at a few options for adding scanned map content. Click the links to view the print records from the OSU Library Catalog. We have three main categories: Public domain maps, not digitized elsewhere We have a number of maps in our collections that are public domain. Some of these are in patron-accessible collections, while others are in our Special Collections units. These items would be check...

 By  Karen Majewicz The Minnesota Geospatial Commons was officially launched in 2015, and serves as the state’s central clearinghouse for public geospatial data. The site runs on an open source application (CKAN) and is operated by the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office (MnGeo) . The Commons has grown from about 200 unique datasets at the time of public launch to over 800 today. Total Number of Datasets in the Minnesota Geospatial Commons between July 2014-July 2019  https://gisdata.mn.gov/stats#total-datasets Contributors Contributors include state departments and agencies, such as Natural Resources, Transportation, Health, Agriculture, Revenue, Education, Water & Soil, and Animal Health. Metropolitan entities, such as the Emergency Services Board, the Mosquito Control District, and MetroGIS have also contributed resources. Submitting public data to the Commons is voluntary, but several counties, including Dakota, Itasca, Faribault, Hennepin, Lake, Meeker, Ram...

By Cecilia Smith Facility Geofence: Iowa What is the item? A shapefile with the Salt and Brine locations for Iowa Department of Transportation facilities. What BTAA Library submitted the item? University of Iowa Interesting tidbits: Salt and Brine locations are where Iowa DOT’s snow plows are kept. This data layer contains a polygon for each of these locations. Each polygon covers the entire area on which a facility sits. This enables two related geospatial applications: geofencing and automated vehicle location (AVL). Geofencing is the use of a virtual perimeter for a real geographic area. AVL involves determining the geographic location of a vehicle and transmitting the information to a database. In this case, the polygons act as geofences, meaning that as an AVL enabled snow plow enters or leaves the area of a polygon, the trip start or stop is recorded. That information can then be used for planning operations and communication to the public. Thanks to these types of data, Iowans ...

By Melinda Kernik Featured Item: Wildfires Tracked by DNR: Minnesota What is the item? This data layer shows the location of wildfires in Minnesota between 1985 and 2019 (updated weekly). It includes fires for which the MN Department of Natural Resources was the primary responding agency - in other words, wildfires on state lands and some rural private lands. It does not include fires occurring on federal and native American lands (several hundred annually) or those dealt with by local fire departments (several thousand annually). Even with only a subset of events represented, the data provide a fascinating look into the frequency and causes of wildfires across the state! What BTAA Library submitted the item? University of Minnesota Interesting tidbits: Curious about what proportion of wildfires are caused by lightning (as opposed to railroads, arson, or children)? The data includes information about the cause, size, and damages related to each fire. The data have been collected for m...

By Kathleen Weessies What happens when a broad-based discovery tool such as the BTAA Geoportal brings together datasets that had been created in isolation and places them side-by-side? Scholars experience unprecedented findability and access to datasets which in turn gives rise to new questions and research topics. In short, knowledge is advanced more broadly, more deeply and in a more timely manner. For example, every municipality, county, and state government is charged with governing some aspect of the public drinking water supply. Every unit of government generates data of one kind or another documenting aspects of water management within its purview. Scholars studying topics such as aquifers, agriculture, contaminants such as e. Coli, or disaster mitigation draw on these public datasets to advance our collective knowledge. Each dataset is usually generated and maintained in isolation of other local and regional efforts. In the BTAA Geoportal, scholars can use one search site to fi...

 By Theresa Quill IndianaMap is the largest publicly available collection of Indiana geographic information system (GIS) map data. It is a collaborative project made possible by partnerships between federal, state, local organizations and agencies, and universities. IndianaMap is developed and maintained by the Indiana Geological and Water Survey and was created in part as a data sharing initiative between Indiana GIS data providers. It includes data from all 92 Indiana Counties, as well as many state agencies, academic institutions, and federal agencies. What’s in this collection? IndianaMap is the primary source for spatial data of Indiana. Data layers are organized around eight general themes: Demographics, Environment, Geology, Government, Hydrology, Imagery, Infrastructure, and Reference. Examples of data are Census data cleaned and clipped to the state of Indiana, Wind Power Speed and Density, School locations, Elevation data, Political Boundaries, and much more. Data i...

By Karen Majewicz Students of Landscape Architecture and Geographic Information Science (GIS) will likely have encountered the name Ian McHarg, due to his landmark book, Design with Nature. This text, published in 1969, put forth ideas about taking the ecology of a region into account when planning homes, neighborhoods, and cities. McHarg’s work was particularly influential in the field of GIS for his proposed methods of using polygon overlays for analysis. McHarg was also part of an architectural firm, Wallace, McHarg, Roberts, and Todd, that was frequently contracted to work with metropolitan areas to assist with urban planning. This firm worked with the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities in Minnesota during the late 1960s. Their work resulted in a report, An Ecological Study of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, that was accompanied by dozens of custom maps detailing the climate, geology, hydrology, biota, and built environment of the region. The original copies of these maps a...

 By Cecilia Smith Featured Item: Shipwrecks (Great Lakes), Wisconsin 2014 This is a shapefile of 631 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Historical Society compiled the data. What BTAA Library submitted the item? University of Wisconsin Interesting tidbits: There’s a good deal of interesting attribute data in the shapefile, including: the vessel type, where the vessel was built, the lives lost in the wreck, and more. Using this dataset, you could create a time animation using the wreck dates or a comparison of home ports and wreck locations. Where can I find out more? More information about Wisconsin shipwrecks, including a searchable database of the wrecks, is available here: http://www.wisconsinshipwrecks.org/ The Wisconsin Coastal Atlas ( http://www.wicoastalatlas.net/ ) is a great resource for maps, data, and tools for the region Have questions about this item, the BTAA geoportal, or maps and geospatial data in general? Please don’t hesitate to contact our...

By Nathan Piekielek, Paige Andrew, and Linda Ballinger Project Task Force Members Nathan Piekielek, Geospatial Services Librarian; Paige Andrew, Maps Cataloging Librarian and Linda Ballinger, Metadata Strategist Over the course of the past three years Penn State University Libraries has organized and shared through the BTAA geoportal cartographic information resources of two primary types: 1) digital surrogates of original paper maps and atlases; and 2) geospatial datasets. Paper maps and atlases are from The Donald W. Hamer Maps Collection and Eberly Family Special Collections Library. Geospatial data are from state agencies across Pennsylvania that have been contributed to The Pennsylvania Geospatial Data Clearinghouse ( PASDA ). Some examples of each follow: A nearly complete collection of Pennsylvania Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps that when properly georeferenced can be used to track land use change through time and can be linked to other historical human geography data sources lik...

By Catherine Hodge What’s in this collection? The Hixson Plat Map Atlases of Iowa digital collection contains the 1930 editions of Hixson plat books for 95 of Iowa’s 99 counties. Plat books are atlases showing rural land ownership and property boundaries, or real property. A plat atlas generally has a map of the featured county showing the townships and sections as laid out by surveyors. Each page of the atlas is plat of the individual townships (36 square miles) within the county, identifying who owns individual parcels of land and the number of acres in each parcel. The plat shows township sections, roads, railroads, boundaries of towns and urban areas, and bodies of water. Local schools, churches and cemeteries are also noted on each map. Since plat maps can be used to trace property ownership over time, they are often sought out by genealogists or people interested in family histories, as well as by historians. What BTAA Library submitted the collection? The University of Iowa In...