Ball State University Libraries Holiday Hours

Map showing how late the average person stays awake on New Year’s Eve

Happy New Year:  Holiday Hours for the GIS Research and Map Collection

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will close at 3:00 pm today, December 31 and remain closed on New Year’s Day.  The GRMC will return to its regular hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Friday, January 2.

Hours for the other departments of University Libraries are found here.

Maps in the News: Indonesia and the Java Sea

National Geographic map of Indonesia (GIS Research and Map Collection)

Indonesian government agency, Bakosurtanal, map showing monthly rainfall and rainy days 

(GIS Research and Map Collection)

Mapping the News: ESRI GIS Story Map of AirAsia Flight 8501

ESRI, the leading GIS software developer, has created an interactive story map depicting the details of AirAsia Flight 8501.  The flight disappeared somewhere over the Java Sea on December 28 on a flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore.

Users can scroll through pages providing information about the flight.  The first map shows the planned flight path and the location where air traffic controllers lost contact with the flight, near the Billiton Islands (above, click to enlarge National Geographic map).  The second page includes information about the aircraft and number of passengers and crew.

A radar map shows the type of clouds that were in the area during the flight.  (December is monsoon season in the area—see map above).  And a chart depicts altitude and speed changes.  A third map shows the search area of the Java Sea.  The sites of information centers at other regional airports are also depicted, and the page includes the number for the Emergency Call Center.

For more information about using GIS story maps, visit the ESRI Web page or the Storytelling with Maps gallery. 

The Ball State University Libraries’ provides access to the latest ESRI GIS software on computers in the Architecture Library, Bracken Library’s lower level, and first floor.  The GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library includes a GIS lab with 28 high-end computers featuring GIS and other software.  The lab is available for class sessions, and the GIS Specialist is available for instruction and research assistance.

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

Holiday Hours at the Ball State University Libraries

Holiday Hours in the GIS Research and Map Collection

The Ball State University Libraries GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library will be open regular hours—Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 pm—on December 22 and 23.  The GRMC will close at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, December 24 and will be closed on December 25 and 26.

The GRMC will reopen with regular hours on Monday, December 29 and 30, and close at 3:00 on December 31.  It will be closed on January 1 and reopen with regular hours on Friday, January 2.

Bracken Library holiday hours are posted here.

Maps in the News

National Geographic map showing North Korea's nuclear capability

National Geographic satellite map showing dark North Korea compared to South Korea and Japan

U.S. Geological Survey LandSat image map of Peshawar, Pakistan

Central Intelligence Agency map of Pakistan

Historical Atlas of the United States map showing the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis

GRMC Map of incidents of the Cold War

Central Havana

1911 U.S. War Department map of Cuba

Maps in the News:  North Korea, Cuba, and Pakistan Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes thousands of maps and atlases of locations in the news.  These maps (click to enlarge maps) of North Korea, Pakistan, and Cuba may be used for numerous projects for research and learning.

The LandSat map of Pakistan is part of a set of satellite maps of the country that detail the rugged terrain.  The map of Cold War incidents created by the GRMC is available from the Ball State University Cardinal Scholar repository.  The 1911 map of Cuba is available from the Digital Media Repository.

For more information about any of the maps in the Collection, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Australia Maps Available from Ball State University

Maps in the News:  Australia Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library has hundreds of maps of Australia available for research and learning.  Most of the maps of Australia, however, have not yet been cataloged and will not appear in the CardCat system.  Researchers can visit or contact the GRMC for more information about the cartographic resources available for Australia.

City maps for Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and Melbourne and dozens of other urban locations are available in the GRMC.  The Sydney Pictorial Map and City Guide (above, click to enlarge) includes a map showing the locations of prominent points of interest and drawings of each of the building’s architecture.  Notes about who designed the structure and how it was built are also included on the map.

The collection also includes road maps of Australia, economic maps of the country, and topographic maps.  A set of 2002 topographic maps of New South Wales includes the topography on one side with aerial photography on the verso (above).

The National Geographic map of Australia (above) includes a satellite image with vegetation and a temperature gradient depicted.  Inset maps show how the continent of Australia has shifted over time.

All maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer and may be used for travel, research projects, and exhibits.  For more information about these maps, please contact the GRMC Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 at 765-285-1097.

World Map Projection Collection Available from Ball State University Libraries

New Map Collection Available from the Ball State University Libraries’ Repository

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a collection of nearly 140,000 maps and other cartographic resources.  Now the GRMC is making more maps from the collection available online via the Libraries’ Digital Media Repository. 

The newest DMR collection, World Map Projections, features a set of maps from the Central Intelligence Agency depicting maps of the world created in a unique format—a map projection.  The collection provides online access to 22 azimuthal equidistant projection maps of the world dating from 1942 to 1990.  This map projection creates maps where the center point is represented by different world cities—Kinshasa, Frankfurt, Panama City, Cairo, Moscow.  Using this projection, all points on the map are drawn at proportionately correct distances from that center point.

This collection offers users unique world views and provides a valuable research tool for students of geography.  Users can access the maps anywhere with available Web access and can save the maps to their computer.

The DMR provides access to several map collections:  Muncie and Delaware County Historic Maps and Atlases, United States Transportation Maps, Ball State University Campus Maps, American Cities Historic Maps, Indiana Natural Resources Maps, International Historic Maps, Maps of the World (CIA current maps), Delaware County Indiana Aerial Plat Maps, Indiana Historic County Atlases, United States Soil Maps, and United States Topographic Maps, and the New York Times World War I Maps.

For more information about using the DMR, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097 or the Archives and Special Collections at 765-285-5078.

Social Studies K-12 Lessons Available from Ball State University Libraries

Future Teachers Learning to Use Maps in the Classroom

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) uses its collection of 140,000 maps and 3,000 atlases to create custom, engaging educational lessons and other resources for K-12 teachers and students.  The GRMC presents sessions to elementary and secondary education classes instructing future teachers how to incorporate maps and other cartographic resources into K-12 lessons, games, and classroom independent learning geography activity stations.

The students in Social Science 397 taught by Dr. Dorshell Stewart, Assistant Professor in the Department of History, presented their final projects on December 9 and 12.  The students presented geography lessons that they created for use in their student-teaching classrooms.

Students in this methodology class were able to work with the staff of the GRMC to create custom maps to be used as part of a geography independent learning activity.  These learning stations incorporate a self-guided lesson for students to use during their free time/reading time in the classroom.

Some of the methods students created map puzzles (above, click to enlarge), lessons about the parts of and how to read a map, games teaching how to use a map, and learning U.S. capitals.  One student drew a map board featuring Disney characters for an elementary-level lesson on cardinal directions (above).

Custom maps, lesson plans, games, and other cartographic resources created by the GRMC are saved in the Ball State University Libraries’ CardinalScholar institutional repository.  Teachers from around the world with Web availability can access the maps and lessons for use in their classrooms.

For more information about using maps and cartographic resources in the classroom, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Indiana History Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Mapping the Hoosier State:  Indiana History Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Today marks the 198^th anniversary of Indiana’s admission to the Union on December 11, 1816.  The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) is creating custom maps about Indiana’s rich history.  The maps are geared toward the fourth-grade Indiana history curriculum and feature numerous people and places often neglected in the elementary social studies textbook. 

Indiana’s political history is depicted on the map Whigs, Willkie, and the White House: Indiana Political History (above, click to enlarge).  This map features prominent figures in the state’s rich political history, including the five U.S. Vice-presidents from Indiana.  The map also includes lesser-known politicians like Eugene Debs from Terre Haute, who in 1920 became the only person to run for President while in prison and George Dale, a Muncie mayor who became an early proponent of civil rights.

The Mapping the Crossroads: Indiana Automobile History map (above) describes some of the people and car companies that called Indiana home.  In its history, more than 50 communities in Indiana produced over 200 makes of cars, including Studebaker, Auburn, and Westcott.  The Cole Motor Car Company in Indianapolis, for example, produced the first automobile for a U.S. President, William Taft in 1910.  And Elwood Haynes built the first successful spark-ignition automobile in Kokomo in 1893.

Indiana’s history in the field of sports is also significant and is described on the map, Horsepower to Hysteria: Indiana Sports History.  Indiana’s love of the game of basketball is depicted with hometown heroes like Larry Byrd of French Lick and John Wooden of Martinsville.  But the state is also the home of David Boudia of Noblesville, an Olympic gold medal diver; Marshall “Major” Taylor of Indianapolis, the first Black world champion in any sport—bicycling; and Dan Patch of Oxford—a world record-breaking harness racehorse in the early 1900’s.

Other maps in the series include a map of Indiana’s music history, a map showing movies that take place in Indiana, a map of prominent authors from the state, a map of Indiana high school boys basketball state champions (before class basketball), and a map of Indiana points of interest.

The maps include photographs from the Libraries’ Digital Media Repository and from the Indiana Historical Society.  The Indiana history maps are all available in the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar repository.  The maps may be printed and used in the elementary classroom or for research and learning projects.

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

Adventure Maps Available from Ball State University

Take a Trip with Adventure Travel Maps from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) has received a donation of four new Adventure Travel Maps published by National Geographic.  The National Geographic Adventure Travel Map series features folded waterproof, tear-resistant maps.  Each map highlights an area’s terrain showing detailed topography and includes an index identifying thousands of cities and towns.  As the name implies, these maps are ideal resources for travelers due to their durability and information.

National parks are shown and forest cover is identified with shading.  The maps also include road networks with distances marked along the routes and color designations for major highways or expressways, secondary roads, cable car routes, tracks, and paths.  Important travel aids like airports, gas stations, lighthouses, ferry routes, and rail lines are also identified.  And local police, ambulance, and fire telephone numbers are included on some of the maps.

The maps also list hundreds of unique points of interest in the area.  Windmills, zoos, archaeological sites, caves, museums, castles, and golf courses are all featured using different symbols on the maps.  The maps also identify the locations of monasteries, churches, and other sacred sites.  UNESCO World Heritage sites are also shown.

The newest Adventure Travel Maps in the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library are maps of the Czech Republic, Vietnam South and Vietnam North, and Florence, Italy.  The map of Florence includes inset maps of the region and of the city’s Old Town (Centro Storico) section.  A map of Amerigo Vespucci Airport is also included.

The GRMC also includes Adventure Travel Maps of the Four Corners region of the United States, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C, Berlin and Munich, Germany, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cape Town, South Africa, and Venice, Italy.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Civil War Program and Exhibit at Ball State University Libraries

Frank A. Bracken Civil War Collection Presentation at Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University community is invited to attend the opening of the Frank A. Bracken U.S. Civil War Collection on Monday, December 1 in Bracken Library.  A reception will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Helen B. and Martin D. Schwartz Digital Complex on the first floor of the library.  A tour of the exhibit will follow on the second floor in Archives and Special Collection.

A Friends of the Alexander M. Bracken Library program will be presented at 6:30 p.m. in Room 104 of the library.  Nicole Etcheson, Alexander M. Bracken Professor of History, will present “The Goodly Land of Hoosier: How the Civil War Changed Indiana.”  Etcheson is the author of Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era, A Generation at War: The Civil War Era in a Northern Community, and many other history books and journal articles.

The Frank A. Bracken U.S. Civil War Collection is comprised of a vast assortment of Civil War artifacts donated by Bracken, a former trustee with deep family ties to the University.  It focuses on battlefield preservation and showcases artifacts, photographs, weapons, maps, re-enactment uniforms, personal papers, and more than 300 academic and rare books about the War and President Abraham Lincoln.

The exhibit will be displayed on the second floor of Bracken Library outside the Archives and Special Collections through January 31, 2015.  To see the materials from the exhibit online, visit the University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository.

For more information about the exhibit or the program, contact John Straw, Assistant Dean for Digital Initiatives and Special Collections, at 765-285-5078.

Mapping Thanksgiving Dinner

Geography of Thanksgiving: Mapping What’s for Dinner

The leading GIS software producer, ESRI, has created a story map showing the locations of where the staples of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner are produced in the United States.  (Click on the dinner plate to see the different maps).  The four individual maps detail the locations of turkey production and where sweet potatoes, green beans, and cranberries are grown.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2007 data), Minnesota is the leader in raising live turkeys with 46.5 million birds.  The total number for the entire United States is 248 million.

Wisconsin produces the most green beans with 258,320 tons and is also the highest producer of cranberries with 430 million pounds.  North Carolina produces the most sweet potatoes with 972 million pounds.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library includes a 28-station computer lab featuring the full suite of ESRI software for teaching, research, and learning.  For more information about using GIS software, please contact Angela Gibson, GIS Specialist, in the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Ball State University Immersive Learning Project Showcase

Save the Date:  Ball State University Freedom Bus Immersive Learning Project Showcase

The Freedom Bus project began when the Muncie Indiana Transit System (MITS) provided the Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Team with a retired bus to transform into a mobile civil rights museum.  The mission of the project is to educate and celebrate the civil rights history of East Central Indiana.  The bus is now moving into the next phase of its journey.

The Freedom Bus was given to a group of Ball State University students for an immersive learning project for the fall semester.  The students were responsible for researching the civil rights history of East Central Indiana and creating, building, and installing exhibit prototypes within the bus.  This showcase will allow the community to examine the prototypes and learn about the students’ work.

The Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, the City of Muncie, the Muncie Human Rights Commission, and the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies are sponsoring the showcase at the Muncie Boys and Girls Club (1710 South Madison Street) on December 4.  Bus tours will be presented from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, and the presentation runs from 8:00 to 9:00 pm.

For more information about the showcase, please contact the Virginia Ball Center at 765-285-0117 or email the Center.  To attend, please RSVP before November 26.

Ball State University Libraries GIS Day Events

GIS Day Mapping Workshops at Ball State University Libraries

Next week is Geography Awareness Week, and Wednesday, November 19 is National GIS Day.  The Ball State University Libraries and the Ball State University GIS Knowledge Group are hosting GIS mapping workshops to mark the occasion.

The workshops will be held in the GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library (BL 224).  The workshops are open to students, faculty, and staff, and all levels of GIS knowledge—from beginning to advanced—are welcome. 

ArcGIS Online mapping workshop will be from 11:00 to 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday.  Angela Gibson, Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Specialist, will explain the mapping features and how to access them.  Attendees will learn to set up a BSU ArcGIS Online account or class group; add and search for content; use analysis tools; and discover available apps like Business Analyst Online, ArcGIS Pro, or Community Analyst.

Joel Bump, Data Systems manager and Developer for the State of Indiana, will present ArcPad Basics from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. in the GRMC.  This high-level demonstration explains using ArcPad for field inventory.  This class will define an item users can inventory; explain setting up a data file and related form; setting up a basic map for ArcPad; and detail collecting data points and using the data in ArcMap.

Bump will present Advanced ArcPad from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.  This workshop will be more interactive with participants discussing topics and asking questions about alternative data sources, the integration of photographs or related tables, or the use of various hardware options.

For more information about GIS Day, please contact Angela Gibson in the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Native American Heritage Maps Class at Cornerstone Center for the Arts

Celebrating Native American Heritage with Maps

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will be presenting a class for the community to commemorate Native American Heritage Month.  The class will be held at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts in the second-floor Founders Room on Tuesday, November 11 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

The presentation, Native American Heritage Month:  A Celebration in Maps, will feature maps detailing the history of Native Americans near Muncie, around present-day Indiana, and the United States.  The maps cover topics like the shrinking range of the buffalo, Lenape villages on the White River, and Native American resistance and feature prominent Native Americans like Tecumseh, Sitting Bull, and Sarah Winnemucca.

The Cornerstone Center for the Arts is located at 520 East Main Street in downtown Muncie.  The class is free and open to the public, and free parking is available. 

For more information about the class, visit the Cornerstone Web page or call Carly Acree King, Director of Education and Communication, at 765-281-9503.  Contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Wall Street Journal Cartography Article

The Elvis Atlas: A Journey through Elvis Presley's America, Atlas Collection, Ball State University Libraries

The Wall Street Journal this week featured an article about using paper maps in the digital era, including one showing Elvis' hometown.

Indiana Political History Map Available from Ball State University Libraries

Indiana Election Day Cartography:  Whigs, Willkie, and the White House

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) features a special “Map of the Month” for November 2014—a map of Indiana political history (above, click to enlarge).  The map, Whigs, Willkie, and the White House, was created by the GRMC and features the people and places of note in Indiana’s rich political history.  Many of the figures and events in Indiana politics also had national prominence and implications.

The map includes photographs from the Libraries’ Digital Media Repository and the Indiana Historical Society.

A copy of the map is available for use in research and learning from the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar online repository.  The map may be printed for use in the classroom or other educational and research purposes.

The map exhibit is featured in the front windows of the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library. 

Native American Heritage Month Map Exhibit at Ball State University Libraries

Indiana History:  Native American Heritage Month Map Exhibit

November commemorates Native American Heritage Month.  Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library is celebrating the month with a special exhibit.

The Native American Heritage Month exhibit (above, click to enlarge) this year includes maps depicting the history of Native Americans in the area of modern-day Indiana.  Indiana’s Native American Tribes is a map showing the Native American groups that lived in area prior to statehood, including the Lenape (Delaware), the Miami, the Potawatomi, and the Shawnee.

A second map, Tecumseh’s War 1811, is from the Historical Atlas of Native Americans by Ian Barnes published in 2009 and available from the GRMC and the Atlas Collection.  The map shows the locations of Native American villages in the region, including Prophetstown.  This site on the Wabash River is where William Henry Harrison fought the Native Americans in the Battle of Tippecanoe.  The map also identifies the locations of American and British forts, Zane’s Trace, towns, and the probably birthplace of Tecumseh and the site of Tecumseh’s father’s death.

The map, Native American Resistance 1785-1842, identifies areas ceded by the Native Americans, Native American settlements, forts, and battle sites.  Northwest Territories 1800-1818 shows the borders of the original Indiana Territory and the subsequent Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan Territories.  Both of these maps and the photographs of Sitting Bull and other prominent figures are from the Historical Atlas of Native Americans.

Another map in the exhibit shows the location of Native American villages along the White River in Indiana.  Current county lines and towns are shown on the map as points of reference. 

A copy of the exhibit poster is available for use from the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar repository.  Previous map exhibits are also available from the online repository for use in the classroom or research.

The GRMC has also created cartographic subject guides to assist researchers using geographic materials related to numerous academic fields, and a guide to Native American resources is available from the GRMC Web page.  The guide includes maps and other cartographic resources available from the GRMC and the Atlas Collection in Bracken Library.

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

The Map as Art: Halloween Cartography

Happy Halloween from Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection

The image above is from the book, The Map as Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, by Katharine Harmon.  Man Cutting Globe is a lithograph created by Vernon Fisher in 1995.  The book was published by the Princeton Architectural Press in 2009 and is available in the GIS Research and Map Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library.

GIS Story Maps for Halloween

Halloween Cartography:  ESRI Story Map Celebrity Cemetery Tour

ESRI, the international supplier of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software and applications, created an interactive mapping tool called "Story Maps."  Story Maps “combine interactive maps and multimedia content into elegant user experiences…and make it easy to harness the power of maps to tell stories.”  The maps are created by a diverse community of authors, and one of the latest added to the Story Map Gallery just in time for Halloween is called Where Are the Bodies?

WhereAre the Bodies? Story Map provides locations of celebrity burial sites using Digital Globe satellite imagery.  The celebrities include historical figures, notorious criminals, and great authors like Ernest Hemingway (buried in Ketchum, Idaho), William Shakespeare (buried in Warwickshire, England) and Bram Stoker (London, England).  The Grimm Brothers, authors of spooky fairy tales, are buried in Berlin, Germany.

The map also includes legends of Hollywood:  Marilyn Monroe is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.  Bela Lugosi, best known for his role as “Dracula,” was buried in one of his Dracula capes in Culver City, California.  Actor Marlon Brando had his ashes scattered in Death Valley, California, and in Tahiti, while legendary director Alfred Hitchcock’s ashes were spread over the Pacific Ocean.

Musician Janis Joplin’s ashes were also scattered over the Pacific Ocean.  John Lennon’s ashes were scattered over Central Park in New York, New York.  Buddy Holly is buried in Lubbock, Texas.  Jimi Hendrix is buried in Renton, Washington.  Freddie Mercury was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery in London, England, but his burial location is unknown.  And the grave site of Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France, is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions and has attracted vandals since his death in 1971.

This Story Map also includes celebrities with connections to Indiana:  America’s first “Public Enemy Number One,” John Dillinger and author Kurt Vonnegut (both native Hoosiers) are buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Indiana native Michael Jackson’s gravesite in Glendale, California is also featured on the map.  And Indiana actor James Dean was buried in Fairmount, Indiana, following his fatal car crash in 1955.

For more information about using story maps, visit the ESRI Web page or contact Angela Gibson, GIS Specialist, in the Ball State University Libraries GIS Research and Map Collection at 765-285-1097. 

Original World War I Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Historic World War I Maps Available Online from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository (DMR) provides online access to a broad range of digitized primary source materials, including artwork, architectural drawings, films and video, oral histories, photographs, publications, and cartographic resources.  The GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) has provided more maps for a new collection available from the DMR—the New York Times War Maps Collection.

The New York Times War Maps are a set of five maps published periodically in the Sunday edition of the newspaper in early 1918.  Each map is newspaper-sized and connects to create a large map of the Western front in France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium during World War I.  The maps cover an area just west of Calais, France, along the coast of the North Sea south to Orleans eastward to Freiburg, Germany, and crossing back northward to near Cologne, Germany.

The maps identify the locations of railways, principal highways, canals, aircraft depots, forts and fortified towns, and naval arsenals.  The battle line as of December 31, 1917, and the furthest advance of the German Army are shown with solid and dashed lines.

For more information about the Digital Media Repository, please contact the Archives and Special Collections at 765-285-5078.  For more information about these or other historic maps, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Maps of Volcanoes from Ball State University Libraries

Places in the News:  Maps of Hawaii Volcanoes Available from Ball State University Libraries

The latest eruption of the Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is threatening residents of the small town of Pahoa.  Burning lava is traveling at rates as fast as 11 yards per hour according to the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.  Many of the residents have voluntarily evacuated from their homes.

The Ball State University Libraries GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a number of maps of volcanoes around the world.  This Dynamic Planet map was published in 2006 by the U.S. Geological Survey.  The map includes locations of volcanoes around the world.  Earthquakes, impact craters, and plate tectonics are also depicted.  A color cross-section map is shown.

The GRMC also includes the World Atlas of Natural Hazards published in 2004.  The atlas includes a world seismicity map and relief maps of world volcanoes.  A section on volcano hazard mapping is included.

Hawaii’s Volcanoes Revealed map (above, click to enlarge) was also published by the U.S. Geological Survey.  The map identifies the locations of volcanoes throughout the state of Hawaii, and sea-floor relief is also shown.  Ancillary maps include the bathymetry of the northwest Pacific Ocean, a 3-D perspective view of Hawaii, and an interpretive map of Hawaii’s volcanoes.

The town of Pahoa is located in the southeast corner of the Big Island of Hawaii.  Pahoa’s location is shown on the Google map of Hawaii (above).

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  For more information about these resources, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

ESRI Creates Zip Code Profiles from Census Data

Profiling America with GIS Data

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) is a vital resource that provides comprehensive GIS support to the entire campus community.  The GRMC offers access to the leading GIS software and assistance from the GIS Specialist. Faculty and students have free access to the full suite of GIS software from the leading publisher, ESRI.  And now ESRI has created an online profile of Americans using zip codes to publish the Tapestry Segmentation Project.

ESRI combined U.S. Census demographic data with marketing data from different zip codes to analyze the percentages of population that can be categorized into different profile groups.  Tapestry classifies the population in 14 “LifeMode” categories from affluent to family-related to ethnic enclaves to a mode labelled “Scholars and Patriots.”  Then each residential neighborhood is divided into 67 distinct segments based on socioeconomic and demographic composition.

The Tapestry segment names offer a glimpse into the percentage of people who live in the neighborhood.  The segments include “Laptops and Lattes,” “Trendsetters,” “Soccer Moms,” “Urban Chic,” “Barrios Urbanos,” “Hardscrabble Road,” and “Diners and Miners.”

The Muncie, Indiana zip code 47304 resulted in 30% of the population described as “Midlife Constants.”  This group typically was married couples with no kids living in single family housing.  This group is described as “homebodies…happy to work on our houses and gardens, do scrapbooking, read, go fishing, play golf, and watch movies at home.”  The group is described as “outgoing seniors who belong to fraternal orders, veterans’ clubs, and charitable organization; attend church; volunteer; contribute to political…organizations.”  This zip code is also represented by 18% in the “In Style” segment and 14% as “College Towns.”

The well-known Beverly Hills zip code of 90210 resulted in a description of the population as 73% labelled “Top Tier.”  “Top Tier” neighborhoods include self-made entrepreneurs and business leaders.  Most are married couples with “lavish homes” who “can indulge…in personal services…and shop at high-end retailers.”  This zip code also includes 20% as “Trendsetters” and 8% as “Retirement Communities.”

The ESRI ArcGIS is available on computers in the GRMC, computers in the Educational Technology and Resources Collection in the lower level of Bracken Library, computers on the first, third, and fourth floor of Bracken Library, the Science-Health Science Library, and the Architecture Library.  Users can type “ESRI” in the Software Locator search box to see a map of computer availability.

For more information about using GIS software, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Earthquake Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

This Day in History:  Earthquake Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time, an earthquake struck a section of the San Andreas Fault System near the San Francisco Bay area.  This was the first earthquake ever to be broadcast live on national television since the San Francisco Giants were playing the Oakland A’s in Game 3 of the World Series at Candlestick Park.  The earthquake was later named the “Loma Prieta” earthquake for the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. 

The Ball State University Libraries GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a substantial collection of maps and other resources documenting earthquakes.  The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has published a number of maps showing global seismicity and more detailed maps of individual states like California, Utah, and Alaska.  Another map by the USGS shows three centuries of earthquakes in the central United States—from 1699 to 2002. 

The map above (top, click to enlarge) is a USGS LandSat image of earthquakes and faults in the San Francisco Bay area.  The yellow circles depict the size of earthquakes occurring in the region.  The Loma Prieta earthquake epicenter is the largest circle in the mountain area northeast of Santa Cruz.

Another map (above) of San Francisco published by the USGS shows the actual ground-shaking effects around the city.  Using remote-sensing, the map shows areas of the city built on either sand (gold color on map), bedrock (blue), serpentinite (green), or bay mud and fill (red).  According to the map, the same areas of the city were damaged in the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes:  “These districts are repeatedly damaged because they are built on soft ground that amplifies the shaking in earthquakes.  Structures built on harder ground, such as bedrock, suffer less damage.” 

Earthquake digital data on CD-ROMs is also available from the GRMC and circulates just like maps in the collection.  Maps circulate for two weeks or longer.

For more information, please visit the GRMC Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 p.m. or call 765-285-1097.