Play Pac-Man Using Google Maps

Google Maps Makes Your City a Pac-Man Game

From WiredMap Lab

Open Google Maps today, and prepare to play the classic arcade game Pac-Man.  Next to the Street View option in the bottom left corner, a Pac-Man icon will appear.  Click the icon to make the streets a maze complete with the blinking features of the game.

Note:  If enough streets are not on the screen, the game cannot start.  But the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button allows users to play Pac-Man on Google Maps in another location.  Also Pac-Man only moves on the current screen—users will not be able to see what is happening off the map on the screen.

Indiana Women's History Map from Ball State University Libraries

Her Story:  Mapping Indiana Women’s History

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) is creating custom maps about Indiana’s rich history to commemorate the state’s upcoming bicentennial celebration.  The custom maps are geared toward the fourth-grade Indiana history curriculum and feature numerous people and places often neglected in the elementary social studies textbook.

The newest map in the collection, Her Story: Indiana Women’s History, features prominent women pioneers of the state.  Little-known women’s rights advocates like Helen Gougar of Lafayette, Anna Dunn Noland of Logansport, and Amanda Way of Winchester are featured on the map.  The map also features pioneers in politics like Virginia Jenckes, the first female from Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Katie Hall, the author of the bill to make Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a national holiday.  Women from sports, the arts, and education are also included.

Other maps in the series include a map of Indiana’s music history, a map showing movies that take place in Indiana, Indiana authors, high school boys’ state basketball champions, points of interest, Indiana political history, Native Americans of Indiana, Indiana automobile history, and Indiana sports history.

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 classroom or for research and learning projects.

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

Maps in the News from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News 

The Ball State University Libraries' GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) provides cartographic resources for research and learning projects.  These are some of the places in the news on maps (click to enlarge) from the GRMC and online news sources.

Australia Government Bureau of Meteorology map of Cyclone Pam

Central Intelligence Agency map of Israel, GRMC

International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation map of ISIL foreign fighters

BBC News map of ISIL fighters

Cropped Guide Map of Iraq showing the location of fighting in Tikrit, GRMC

Central Intelligence Agency map of Tunisia, GRMC

Central Intelligence Agency Country Profile map of Yemen, GRMC

Al Arabiya News map of Saudi Arabian military operation in Yemen

(click to enlarge)

Maps Presentation at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts

Muncie Sunday Star, Digital Media Repository

Eleanor Roosevelt at Ball State University, Digital Media Repository

Women in the World:  The Geography of Women’s History Program                   

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library is celebrating Women’s History Month with a public presentation in downtown Muncie.  Women in the World is a special program featuring maps from the GRMC and historic photographs of women in Muncie from the Libraries’ Digital Media Repository.  The program will be from 6:00 to 7:00 pm on Monday, March 16 at the Cornerstone Center for the Arts at 520 East Main Street.  (Free parking is available).

The program will cover maps about women’s issues around the world (click maps above to enlarge).  Maps depicting education and employment inequality, women in government, healthcare issues facing women around the world, and discrimination and advancements in society will be shown.  Other maps showing the contributions of women in history will also be featured and coordinated with photographs of women in Muncie.

The GRMC created a special collection of online maps for Women’s History Month available from the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar institutional repository.  These include maps about women working in agriculture, women heads of state, women in tertiary teaching, the travels of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the life of Madam C.J. Walker, and countries with high breast cancer rates.  (Type “women in the world map” in the search box in Cardinal Scholar to access the available cartographic resources).

Please contact the GRMC for more information about using maps for research and learning at 765-285-1097.  

Cricket Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

The Geography of Sports:  Cricket World Cup Map Available from Ball State University Libraries

The 2015 Cricket World Cup began on February 14 and runs through March 29 in New Zealand and Australia.  Fourteen teams are participating in the matches held in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, and Wellington, New Zealand; and Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Perth, and Sydney, Australia.  The championship match will be held in Melbourne, Australia.

According to The Atlas of Sports: Who Plays What, Where, and Why by Alan Tomlinson, cricket is one of the world’s most popular sports.  “The Indian subcontinent, where cricket stimulates more passion than perhaps anywhere else, now generates 70% of world cricketing revenues.”  The map above from the atlas (click to enlarge) shows the status of membership for countries belonging to the International Cricket Council and the location of the Council headquarters (recently moved from London, England to Dubai, United Arab Emirates).

The chart shows the countries that have won the women’s or men’s World Cup.  A graphic notes that 32 million people watched the 20/20 (abbreviated format) World Cup final in 2009.  Australia has won the most World Cup competitions for both men and women.

The Ball State University Libraries’ Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library includes over 3,000 atlases of numerous geographical topics and locations.  The maps and other charts and graphics from atlases offer unique visual aids for students writing papers, presentations, or other types of research and learning.

For more information about using maps as visual aids, please contact the GIS Research and Map Collection in Bracken Library at 765-285-1097.