Maps of Ethiopia, Kenya, Reunion Island Available from Ball State University Libraries

Places in the News:  Africa—Ethiopia, Kenya, Reunion Island

Places in the news this week have centered on the continent of Africa:  President Obama was the first sitting President to visit Ethiopia and Kenya.  And a large piece of what appears to be a Boeing 777 aircraft appeared on Reunion Island, a French island located in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes over 140,000 maps and other cartographic resources of locations all over the world.  The GRMC also offers map posters (Kenya above, click to enlarge) available from Cardinal Scholar for use in classroom or other educational exhibits.  Maps from the GRMC can be circulated for two weeks or longer.

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

John Dillinger Map Available from Ball State University Libraries

Public Enemies:  Robberies of the John Dillinger Gang Map

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) created a map about the life of 1930’s Indiana gangster John Dillinger in 2009 to correspond with the release of the Johnny Depp movie Public Enemies.  The map (above, click to enlarge) and movie are based on a book by Bryan Burrough, Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34, which is available in Bracken Library.

Dillinger became known as America’s first “Public Enemy Number One” by the newly-formed Federal Bureau of Investigation following robberies across Indiana and the Midwest.  The map shows the location of the robberies in bright yellow—the Greencastle, Indiana, bank robbery fetched $76,000 on Monday, October 23, 1933.  That was Dillinger’s largest take due to money deposited in the bank following the Wabash University versus DePauw University football game that weekend.

Other places of interest on the map are shown in gray, like Dillinger’s hometown and the Chicago Biograph Theater where Dillinger was killed on this day (July 22) in 1934.  Crown Point is the location of the Lake County Jail where Dillinger allegedly escaped using a wooden gun in 1934.  A new John Dillinger Museum in Crown Point’s Old Lake County Courthouse opens today.

The Dillinger map is available in PDF-format from the Ball State University Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar.  And the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library has two copies of the map available for circulation.  (Maps circulate for two weeks or longer).

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

Maps of the Lunar Surface Available from Ball State University Libraries

Small Steps: Mapping the First Moonwalk

Today marks the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that landed Neil Armstrong on the moon.  Hours later on July 21, 1969, Armstrong stepped out of the Tranquility Base lunar module.  As millions around the world watched on live television, Armstrong spoke, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind,” as he stepped on the surface to become the first human to walk on the moon.

The map shown above (click to enlarge) was created by the United States Department of Interior and shows the location of the lunar module and the paths walked by Armstrong and astronaut Buzz Aldrin.  The map shows the American flag planted by the astronauts on the lunar surface, the television camera, and the locations of soil and seismic testing performed by the astronauts.

In the book Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities by Frank Jacobs available in the Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC), this map has been superimposed on a map of a baseball field to show the small area explored by the astronauts.  Armstrong only walked about 120 meters from the lunar module to the rim of a crater:

After traveling hundreds of thousands of miles, the landing crew of the Apollo 11 lunar mission spent two and a half hours on the lunar surface and in that time barely covered an area the size of a baseball diamond.  Or, if your sports preferences lie elsewhere, half a soccer field, with Armstrong making just one dash at the other side’s goal.

And exactly how big is the moon?  The Web page io9 explained the relative size compared to the United States (above).  The third map was drawn by Burris High School student Chloe Newman and donated to the GRMC.

Strange Maps, maps of the lunar surface and the solar system, and many other atlases and cartographic resources related to outer space are available from the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library.  The GRMC is open during the summer from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Online Site Maps Local Sustainable Food Sources

Eating Well:  Mapping Sustainable Food in Your City

Consumers searching for ways to support local sustainable food sources can use an online site to locate specific businesses.  The Eat Well Guide is a curated directory of over 25,000 hand-picked restaurants, farms, markets, and other sources of local, sustainable food throughout the U.S.  The site administrators vet every business listed in the guide and do not accept payment for inclusion.

The businesses include restaurants, farms and U-Pick farms, farmers’ markets, stores, food trucks, wineries, and coffee shops.  Users can search by location or category in cities across the U.S.  Just type in the name of the city or a business category, and a map will be created of nearby sites.

ESRI ArcGIS Book Available in Print or Online

ESRI Unveils The ArcGIS Book:  10 Big Ideas about Applying Geography to Your World

ESRI, the world’s leading supplier of Geographic Information System (GIS) software, Web GIS, and geodatabase management applications, has created The ArcGISBook: 10 Big Ideas about Applying Geography to Your World.

From ESRI:  The book “explores Web GIS in ten chapters, each focused on one big idea.  You will learn how to do new things with GIS and accomplish familiar tasks more quickly and easily.  For inspiration on what you can do with Web GIS, the book includes links to hundreds of live examples of web maps and apps as well as videos of thought leaders sharing their vision for what you can accomplish by adopting the Web GIS concepts.”

In each of the ten chapters, Quickstarts tell you what you need to know about the software, data, and web resources that pertain to that aspect of the ArcGIS system.  The Learn ArcGIS Lessons pages are your gateways to online, hands-on tutorials from Learn ArcGIS website.

“The intended audience for The ArcGIS Book is diverse:  from GIS professionals expanding into online mapping to information workers in every field who recognize the power of maps to communicate information clearly.”  And the book is available in print, as a downloadable PDF, and as an interactive Web page.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library offers access to ESRI GIS software and online GIS tutorials, datasets, online mapping applications, in-house GIS data, and one-on-one assistance from the GIS Specialist.  The GIS Research Area is equipped with 28 high-end Lenovo ThinkCentre N58 computers, and faculty may reserve the area for instructional or working lab sessions.

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

Maps of Iran Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News:  Iran

Dateline Vienna, Austria:  Representatives of the United States, Iran, and the European Union have reached a landmark deal to curb Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons after almost two years of negotiations.  Economic sanctions against Iran would also end.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes a unique collection of maps of Iran, including provinces and cities of the country.  The collection includes historic and modern maps.

Iran Country Profile (above, click to enlarge) is a map of the country created in 2004 by the Central Intelligence Agency.  The map includes a comparative area map, location map, and a list of major historical events in Iran since 1908.  The map features ancillary maps of regional physiography, population density, ethno-religious distribution, key petroleum sector facilities, Southern Caspian energy prospects, and the Strait of Hormuz.

The GRMC includes road maps, physical maps, tourist maps of the country, provinces, and cities, and maps of the people of Iran.  Many of the maps are printed in English, Persian, Farsi, and French.

The GRMC also includes a set of international nautical charts including areas surrounding Iran.  These charts offer detailed maps of the coastal areas around Iran.

Maps of the cities of Iran include a set of rich and varied maps of Tehran.  The New Map of Tehran includes telephone directories for accommodations for tourists and charts showing distances between locations.  An historic map of Tehran from 1978 shows the location of the former U.S. Embassy (above).

The Guide Map of Yazd includes an index to historical monuments and sightseeing information, and selected buildings in the city are depicted in pictures.  The GRMC also includes maps of Isfahan city and province—both printed in Persian and English.

The Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library includes several atlases of Iran and the Middle East.  The Historical Atlas of Iran and Atlas d’Iran are newer resources printed in English and French.  The 1956 Atlas of Geological Maps of Southwest Persia was published by an oil company.  An atlas describing Iran’s White Revolution is also located in the Atlas Collection.

The GRMC also offers information about online cartographic resources.  Central Intelligence Agency maps are available from the Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository in the “Maps of the World” collection.  And a map poster of Iran created by the GRMC (above) is available from Cardinal Scholar.

The Middle East Strategy at Harvard University (MESH) offered a comparative report of the media coverage of Iran’s potential missile range in 2008.  Iran began testing the Shahab-3 missile, which Tehran claims can travel 1,250 miles.  The different maps show emphasis given to Israel and other named countries and cities within the missile range.

Please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097 from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm for more information about these cartographic resources.

Mexico Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News:  Tracking “El Chapo” in Mexico

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico, escaped from the Altiplano Federal Prison west of Mexico City on Saturday night.  Guzman was arrested in 2014 after escaping from another high-security prison in 2001.  Guzman escaped via a nearly mile long tunnel leading from his cell to a half-built house south of the prison (Google Map above, click to enlarge).

The Wall Street Journal previously created an interactive map depicting the various significant sites of El Chapo’s life, including his birth in 1954 in La Tuna and his latest capture in 2014 in the resort city of Mazatlan.

The Sinaloa drug cartel is responsible for the majority of heroin and methamphetamine shipments into the United States.  BBC News created a map (above) showing the domains of the various drug cartels in Mexico in 2013.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) has a huge collection of maps and atlases of Mexico, including historic and modern city maps and bird’s-eye views.  The collection includes tourist maps and cruise guides, complete geological sets, topographic maps at various scales, and maps depicting the pre-Columbian history of Mexico.

Maps from the GRMC are available for circulation for two weeks or longer and can be used for classroom exhibits.  For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Cartographic Resources for Weather Events

Droughts to Floods:  Mapping Extreme Weather

Extreme weather conditions are happening this summer in the United States.  Severe drought is affecting the Southwest and West, while flooding is a concern in the Midwest.  The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library includes maps and atlases depicting historic weather conditions, climate maps, and atlases of natural disasters.

The New York Times has published a set of interactive maps showing how the drought has affected water use in California.  Users can view maps showing the changes in daily residential water use over the last two years:  “Statewide, water use decreased 13.5 percent during that period.”  Maps showing the size of proposed water usage cuts are available due to new mandatory restrictions on water use.  And maps showing the daily gallons used per capita are also available.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources maintains an Indiana Floodplain Mapping page which includes the Indiana Floodplain Information Portal that provides an interactive floodplain mapping tool, with specific address searching.

The GRMC includes flood insurance studies and Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) maps for cities and towns in Indiana.  Maps from the Indiana flood Control and Water Resources Commission are also available in the GRMC.

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

Fourth of July Holiday Hours

The Ball State University Libraries' GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will be closed on Friday, July 3 in honor of Independence Day. The GRMC will reopen on Monday, July 6 at 7:30 am.  

Maps in the News

Maps in the News:  Shark Attacks, Amelia Earhart, Havana, the American Revolution, and Fireworks

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) includes maps, atlases, and other cartographic resources covering a variety of newsworthy issues and historical events.  Maps from the GRMC may be scanned to use as visual aids in educational presentations and may be circulated for two weeks or longer.  The following are examples of places in the news from the GRMC:

Seven shark attacks along the beaches of North Carolina have happened over the last month.  The latest attack occurred on the Outer Banks’ Ocracoke Island by a gray shark.  According to the University of Florida, the Carolinas experience an average of just over six shark attacks per year. 

This shark attack map (above, click to enlarge) was published in 2006 by Sealake Products.  The map includes descriptive and historical notes about shark attacks of the last century along the eastern coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico.  The types of sharks are shown for each incident with a date, and the map includes photographs of the sharks and actual-size examples of shark teeth.

 The last radio contact with Amelia Earhart was made on July 2, 1937, on her flight around the world.  The map Final Flight: Map of Amelia Earhart’s Around-the-World Flight Attempt was published by the GRMC in 2014 and is available for use in research and learning from the Ball State University Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar.

The U.S. is reopening an embassy in Havana, Cuba, for the first time since 1961.  The GRMC includes a collection of maps of Havana and Cuba dating back to the early 20^th century.  This map, Colorprint Mapa General de Cuba, showing the location of Havana was published in 1961.

This map of the Revolutionary War was published by National Geographic in 2012 and is posted in the front windows of the GRMC as the July “Map of the Month.”

Jalopnik offers a map showing the fireworks laws of all 50 states.  Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island ban all consumer fireworks.

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