Brazil Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

The World of Soccer: FIFA World Cup Map Exhibit at Ball State University

The FIFA World Cup soccer/football championship begins today in Brazil.  The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research & Map Collection (GRMC) has created a special exhibit (photograph above, click to enlarge) commemorating the competition—a 2011 map of Brazil from National Geographic with the 12 World Cup stadiums identified.

National Geographic also published the Soccer Unites the World map (above) in 2006, which features a map detailing World Cup participant nations, players, a historical timeline and statistics about the sport. The verso of this map shows the rules of the game.

The GRMC includes over a hundred different maps depicting the country of Brazil—including tourist maps, topographic maps, maps of the Amazon rain forest, and city and state maps.  The 2008 DestinationMap of Rio de Janeiro includes 3-D building views, airport terminal maps, and travel information, and the map is waterproof.  Many of the travel maps are printed in Portuguese, Spanish, and English.

The collection also includes historical topographic and thematic maps of Brazil.  Ensaio de Carta Geral das Bandeiras Paulistas is a unique map published in 1922 of Brazil showing the boundaries of colonial Brazil and the location of Bandeira camps and Jesuit missions.  Air strip maps of Brazil published by the U.S. Army in World War II are also available in the GRMC.

The GRMC also has posted special culture posters of Brazil (above) in the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar institutional repository.  These posters feature maps and photographs from National Geographic magazines and may be printed using the large-format plotters in the GRMC.  Posters of various countries from the Cardinal Scholar are excellent resources for teachers, students, and others for presentations or bulletin board displays.

The Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library also includes a large collection of Brazil resources.  The Smithsonian Atlas of the Amazon was published in 2003 and includes colorful maps and photographs of the rain forest and Amazon River.  Street atlases of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Porto Allegre, and other cities are also available.

For more information about maps and other resources from the GRMC, please contact the staff at 765/285-1097.