The Geography of America's Pastime

Wrigley Field, Chicago 1930

GIS Research and Map Collection

Cubs or Cardinals? Mapping Baseball Fandom

The New York Times’ “The Upshot” is a Web page that analyzes politics, policy, and other subjects and creates visualizations based on various data.  The site created a map showing the predominant fans of Major League Baseball teams.  “Fans may not list which team they favor on the census, but millions of them do make their preferences public on Facebook.” 

Facebook created a map of baseball fans by county, but this new map was created using ZIP codes.  The interactive map of the United States allows users to see the most popular team in their local area and also view a table of the top three teams in each ZIP code.

The map creators also generated 14 maps of baseball’s biggest rivalries with proposed names for the borderlines.  Users can suggest new maps and names via Twitter or Facebook, and the maps will be regularly updated.

Environmental Maps and Atlases Available from Ball State University Libraries

Soil degradation

Everglades 1973

Everglades 2002

Arctic Ice 1979

Arctic Ice 2003

The Cartography of Earth Day

Today is Earth Day, and the Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library includes many resources for researchers studying issues of the environment.  The Map Collection includes flood plain maps for numerous areas, topographic maps that show development for areas around the world, soil surveys and maps from counties around the country, Gap Analysis electronic resources for land cover, forest types, and other factors, maps of important farmlands in counties around the United States, natural gas and other energy maps, and national and state park and forest maps.

The Atlas Collection also includes a number of resources about the environment.  The maps and photographs shown above are from the atlas One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment, which was published by the United Nations Environment Program in 2005.  Atlases in the collection cover a broad range of environmental issues, including endangered species, polluted waters, urban development, and soil degradation (shown above).  Atlas of Contemporary America: Portrait of a Nation, Atlas of the Great Barrier Reef, World Atlas of Great Apes and Their Conservation, Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas, Atlas of Wildlife, and Atlas of Global Development also include maps about the environment.

For a complete list of environmental resources, researchers can access a cartographic research guide on the GRMC Web page.  For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Maps in the News

Mapping Places in the News

The Ball State University Libraries' GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) houses a collection of over 140,000 maps available for research and learning.  Maps from around the world from the GRMC offer a great resource for learning about places in the news.

This map of Boston shows the location of the finish line of the Boston Marathon (click to enlarge).  The Boston Picture and Street Map was published by Olde South Publishing in 2000.

This is an inset map from the Titanic Reference Map available from the GRMC. The map shows the ship's reported and actual route and where rescue ships were located.  RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. 

A ferry capsized off the coast of South Korea this week.  The ferry was traveling to Cheju-do Island seen at the bottom of this map (click to enlarge).  This map of South Korea was published by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Friday, April 18 marks the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco. This panoramic map shows the city just after the disaster.  The map is featured on the San Francisco at the Millennium map in the GRMC.

This map of Sevastopol, Crimea--formerly of the Ukraine--was published in the book, Last Days of Sevastopol by Boris Voyetekhov in 1943.  The map notes, "This map of Sevastopol is based on the city as it was in 1914. It is impossible to obtain from the Soviet Embassy or any known available source any more recent details regarding the city...."

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.  This map shows the rates of reported child abuse and child fatalities due to abuse and neglect.  The map is from the Allyn Bacon Social Atlas of the United States available from the GRMC and the Atlas Collection in Bracken Library.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  Atlases circulate for 28 days or longer.  For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Speaker from The Polis Center at Ball State University Libraries

GIS Speaker at Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Knowledge Group is hosting a speaker at Bracken Library at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 17.  Dr. David Bodenhamer will present From Historical GIS to Deep Mapping:  The Emergence of Spatial Humanities in Bracken Library room 104.

Dr. Bodenhamer is the Executive Director of The Polis Center and Professor in the Department of History at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.  He has served as strategic and organizational consultant to universities, government agencies, and not-for-profit and faith-based organizations across the United States and in Europe.  An active researcher, Bodenhamer is author or editor of ten books and has published over 30 journal articles and book chapters.  He has presented to audiences on four continents ranging from legal and constitutional history to the use of GIS and advanced information technologies in academic and community-based research.

Bodenhamer’s works include The Spatial Humanities: GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship (Indiana University Press, 2010) and the forthcoming book Deep Maps and Spatial Narratives (Indiana University Press, 2014).

The Polis Center is a self-funded research unit of the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. The Center works with professional and scholarly communities, especially through application of digital technologies such as GIS and other geospatial tools.  Major efforts include projects with national and state departments of homeland security, public health organizations, and research centers.

The presentation is free and open to the public.  Free parking is available in the Emens Parking Garage next to Bracken Library after 7:00 p.m.

For more information about the program, please contact Angela Gibson, GIS Specialist in the GIS Research and Map Collection at 765-285-1097.

Appomattox, Virginia Topographic Map Shows Site of Civil War Surrender

Appomattox on the Map: Map of the Site of the Civil War Surrender Available from Ball State University Libraries

On April 9, 1865 General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at the home of Wilmer and Virginia McLean near Appomattox, Virginia.  The house is now included in the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park. 

The McLean House is identified on this U.S. Geological Survey topographic map (above, click to enlarge) from the Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC).  The GRMC houses thousands of these quadrant maps from around the United States.  These maps are an excellent resource for cartographic research and include relief lines, intermittent and permanent bodies of water, roads, government boundaries, and prominent buildings and other cultural features. Historic topographic maps and thematic maps about the Civil War are also available in the GRMC.

The second satellite image from Google Earth shows the McLean House and the surrounding buildings of the park.  The Web page, What Was There, features a photograph of the McLean House taken at the surrender that can be “faded” to see the house today.

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

Native American Documentary to Premiere in Muncie

The Lenape on the Wapahani River Documentary Premieres Saturday, April 12

A new documentary produced by students at Ball State University explores the source of names like “Muncie,” “Delaware County,” “Anderson,” and “Wapahani High School” and the interesting history of the Delaware Native Americans in Muncie, Indiana and will premiere on Saturday, April 12 at the Minnetrista Cultural Center at 1:00 p.m. 

The Lenape on the Wapahani River is the product of an immersive learning project taught by Chris Flook, Instructor in the Department of Telecommunications.  The documentary film was produced by students from the Departments of Telecommunications, Digital Storytelling, Natural Resources and Environmental Management, and Anthropology.  The project provides educational resources about the Delaware (or Lenape) Native Americans during their time in east central Indiana from the 1790’s through 1821. 

Partnering with the Delaware Tribe of Indians in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and the Conner Prairie Interactive History Park in Fishers, Indiana, the project’s documentary and associated Web page provide a rich account of the Delaware’s often overlooked experience in Indiana.

The documentary will also broadcast on WIPB-TV on the following dates and times:

·         Sunday, April 13 at 12:30 p.m.

·         Monday, April 14 at 11:30 p.m.

·         Saturday, April 19 at 11 a.m.

·         Saturday, April 26 at 11 a.m.

The project was generously funded by the Hamer and Phyllis Shafer Foundation and was supported by the Building Better Communities Fellows program.  For more information about the film, please contact Chris Flook at 765-285-1480.

April Fools' Map Available from Ball State University Libraries

Skates or States? April Fools’ Map Activity from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) creates custom cartographic resources for K-12 classroom teachers, including lesson plans, cartographic games, tutorials, and custom maps like the April Fools’ Map (above, click to enlarge).  Teachers can access the Cardinal Scholar institutional repository to print off and use many of these available resources from the GRMC for education and learning.

To find all of the available resources in Cardinal Scholar, click on “Browse by Communities and Collections.”  Scroll down to the Information Technology section:  The GRMC will be listed under “University Libraries.”  From the GRMC page, click on “browse by title.”  A list of resources including maps, posters, lesson plan ideas, and classroom activities will appear.  A search by subject or keyword is also available.  The GRMC is constantly updating the educational resources, so check for new additions from time to time.

Teachers can click on the title of the resource and save it for use in the classroom.  The lessons range in scope and grade level.  A lesson plan guide, Teaching with Maps, provides sample maps and lessons for teachers of social studies, science, English, and economics.  Other guides available from Cardinal Scholar including cartographic guides on women’s history, Black history, using Sanborn insurance maps in the history classroom, maps and map projections, and genealogy resources.

The April Fools’ map features labels of cities, states, lakes, crops, abbreviations, and mottoes that are incorrectly placed around the United States.  The map provides a good review of basic United States geography, and an answer sheet is included in the PDF file on Cardinal Scholar.

For more information about using Cardinal Scholar or any of the teaching materials, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.