New and Notable in the GRMC, October 2007

New and Notable in the GRMC, October 2007

The Geospatial Resources & Map Collection hosted many different classes during the month of October. Over 130 students from Social Studies Methods, History, Education Library, and English attended instructional sessions learning about maps and atlases and GIS resources in the GRMC.

Students working on class projects also used the resources of the GRMC during October. Architecture students working on a project in Cincinnati borrowed historic and current maps for their work. Students in landscape architecture are planning an urban park in downtown Muncie, so they visited the GRMC to borrow maps and to collect GIS data. Other landscape architecture students studied historic maps of Muncie to learn about the location of streetcar lines, and historic preservation students used maps and atlases of New Albany for an upcoming project. The GIS Specialist created custom maps using data and resources for students in urban planning, foundations of education, and journalism. A professor of language and linguistics acquired GIS maps for a project on Mexican-Indian dialects in Mexico. And a professor in natural resources is using physical maps of Australia from the GRMC in his classroom for a special project.

The GIS lab received updated software during the month of October. Oblique aerial photography of Delaware County was installed on the GIS lab computers, and ESRI BusinessMap 4.5 software was also added to the lab.

The GRMC Web site was also updated with a third online map tutorial, Using Maps and Atlases in Social Studies Lessons. This tutorial explains how K-12 teachers can teach lessons about a large variety of topics by featuring images and information from maps and atlases. The tutorial is located under the “Maps and Atlases” section of the GRMC Web site at http://www.bsu.edu/library/collections/gcmc/