Female Labor Force Percentages, Student Atlas of Anthropology, 

Ball State University Libraries Atlas Collection

Holiday Hours for the GRMC

The Ball State University Libraries' GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will be closed for Labor Day on Monday, September 3.  The GRMC will reopen at 8:00 on Tuesday, September 4.

New Orleans, Plaquemines Parish, Slidell Topographic Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Ball State University Libraries’ USGS Topographic Maps Show Locations of New Orleans, Plaquemines Parish, Slidell Levees


The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) maintains a collection of the U.S. Geological Survey topographic map quadrants covering the United States. These maps provide details of physical and manmade features and reveal elevation levels.

The map of New Orleans (click to enlarge) includes the location of the French Quarter, Vieux Carre, the Super Dome, and the Convention Center. Contour lines reveal the elevation levels—ranging from 14 to 21 feet on the north bank of the river to 0 to 5 feet in the southern part of the city.

The Belle Chasse topographic map shows the location of Braithwaite on the southern bank of the Mississippi River. The map shows the levee along the river that was breached in Plaquemines Parish. The blue symbols below the levee near the water identify a marsh area.

The topographic map of Slidell reveals the town’s location next to Lake Pontchartrain. The levee is located east of the marsh area, and a pumping station is next to the Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. This levee breach is allowing water to flood the town of Slidell, located north of this map.

The GRMC maintains a collection of historic and modern USGS topographic quadrant maps that may be used to research development and environmental changes over time. These maps circulate for two weeks or longer and may be used for class projects.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

GIS at Ball State: Free Overview Class Available

Ball State University Libraries Offers Free Class on Available GIS Resources

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are a powerful set of spatially integrated analysis tools, currently used in numerous academic disciplines at Ball State University to extend advanced research and learning. 

Attend one of the free informational sessions to learn about the types of GIS resources available to the Ball State community. Topics will include software availability, online subscriptions, training opportunities, Ball State data inventory and support options. 

Two sessions will be offered, both in the GIS Research and Map Collection, Bracken Library Room 224: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 9:30 am - 10:30 am Wednesday, August 29, 2012 1 pm - 2 pm 

Please contact Angela Gibson, GIS Specialist, at 765-285-1097 for more information.

Geography of the Olympics

Geography of the Olympics: Classroom Resources Available from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) offers custom cartographic classroom resources available from the Cardinal Scholar institutional repository.  Cardinal Scholar allows users to access these invaluable resources from any location with Web availability.

The GRMC created a geography lesson for middle and high school teachers that incorporates the recent interest in the Olympic Games in London.  Geography of the Olympics is a worksheet listing all the previous and future sites of the Summer and Winter Olympics.  Teachers print a copy of a world map to accompany the GRMC worksheet, and students mark the locations of each of the Olympic sites.  The students then answer analytical questions about the Olympics based on trends on the map:  Which continents have never hosted any Olympics? Why were no Olympics held in 1940 or 1944?

Storybook Map of England is a map created by the GRMC to commemorate popular children’s literature written by English authors.  The London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony featured some of these popular books and characters. 

Teachers and student-teachers headed back to the classroom can find numerous other maps, cartographic tutorials, games, posters, lesson plans, map worksheets and other resources in Cardinal Scholar.  These classroom resources were developed specifically for K-12 teachers but may be used for any research and learning projects.  

To find all of the available resources from the GRMC in Cardinal Scholar, click on “Communities and Collections” on the left side of the page.  Scroll down to the Information Technology section and the GIS Research and Map Collection will be listed under University Libraries.  On the GRMC collection home page, click on “browse by title” in the middle of the page.  This lists all the titles in the collection.  For a more specific search, you may also enter a subject or geographic location such as “Africa” or a keyword such as “game.”  Users can save the documents for use in papers, presentations, or classroom activities or print any of the materials.

For more information about any of these classroom resources, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.