Earth Day 2016

Bellerby and Company, London

Happy Earth Day!

GIS Map of the Travels of Queen Elizabeth II

Happy Birthday Your Majesty:  Mapping the Travels of Queen Elizabeth II

Today is the 90^th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.  Last September when she became the longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, The Telegraph published an online map showing all of the countries Queen Elizabeth has visited.  (The map was created using ESRI GIS software).

Elizabeth has reigned since 1952, and during that time she has visited 116 countries.  The queen visited Commonwealth country Canada 24 times and Australia 16 times.  Elizabeth visited the United States five times.  Her first visit came during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower in 1957, and her last visit was in 2010 with President George W. Bush.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) consolidates one-on-one research assistance from the GIS Specialist with the GIS Research Area, which offers access to ESRI GIS software and to online GIS tutorials, datasets, online mapping applications, and in-house GIS data.

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

Using Cartographic Resources as Visual Aids

New York Times Republican votes

Maps in the News:  New York Elections, Etc.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) provides services to assist and enhance the specific needs of students, faculty, and other researchers.  The GRMC will provide individual and classroom research assistance and instruction, and one of the most popular instructional programs involves students learning to use maps as visual aids in creative writing assignments.

This semester the GRMC has provided instructional sessions to over 500 students in English composition and other classes learning to use maps and other cartographic resources as visual aids to add emphasis, credibility, and clarity to their research papers.  The GRMC offers students information about unique maps, atlases, GIS software, and other cartographic resources—including many Web pages that use the latest mapping technology to create maps about the most pressing news events.  One of the best online resources for maps is The New York Times.

The Times and its related analytical page, The Upshot, feature detailed maps (above, click to enlarge) that display statistics and data related to the latest news stories from around the world, and these maps can be used in students’ research papers.  The Times has featured numerous maps related to the refugee crisis in Africa and the Middle East, maps updating the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Russian air space violations. 

Maps describing social issues like crime and healthcare have also been featured.  The maps range from lighthearted topics like where Thanksgiving dishes are more popular in the U.S. and how often Google users searched for the term “skinny jeans” to more serious issues like state gun laws.  And The New York Times did a comprehensive series related to drugs and created maps showing U.S. overdose deaths for 2014 and how heroin abuse in states like New Hampshire have become a campaign issue.

On today’s page, readers can view interactive maps showing the results of yesterday’s New York primary elections.  Users can zoom in to the maps to see how each block in all five New York boroughs voted, with maps showing the results of the Republican and Democratic presidential elections.  Users can click on maps showing how different demographic groups voted (race and socioeconomic status).

Researchers can use maps to convey a visual message for a seemingly endless variety of topics.  The GRMC can provide information about using and citing maps from online resources.  For more information about using cartographic resources for research and learning, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Earthquake Maps Available from Ball State University

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

Japan experienced two large earthquakes at the end of last week.  And Ecuador, almost 10,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean from Japan, experienced a deadly earthquake on Saturday night.  The two countries lie along the famed “Ring of Fire” where 90% of the world’s earthquakes occur according to the National Geographic Society.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) has a unique collection of maps related to seismic activity around the world.  Maps identifying the seismic potential around the world, global seismicity of world cities, and seismic hazard maps for specific regions in the United States are included in the collection. 

One of the unique maps (above, click to enlarge) depicts tsunami-generating earthquakes of the Pacific Rim.  The map was created by Robert P. Masse’ and James W. Dewey in 1994.

A set of these maps is also available in digital format via the Digital Media Repository (DMR).  This collection, Earthquake and Seismic Hazard Maps, provides online access to maps showing the locations of fault lines, historic earthquakes, active volcanoes, and plate tectonics from around the world, including the New Madrid fault line in the Midwest.

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

Boston Marathon Story Map from ESRI

Maps on the Run:  Boston Marathon Story Map and Tracker

Today marks the 120^th running of the Boston Marathon, and the 50^th anniversary of women running the race (informally).  The race brings elite and amateur runners from around the world and is one of the most popular road racing events.

The Boston Athletic Association Web site allows friends and family to track athletes running the race.  The Boston Marathon Tracker uses a searchable database to allow users to search for the name of a runner and see where on the course they are and what kind of time they are running.

ESRI, the world’s leading producer of GIS mapping software, has created a Story Map about the Boston Marathon. The map, 26 Boston Marathon Facts, provides facts about the race covering ground from Hopkinton to Boston.  For example, “It takes 397 school buses to shuttle the runners to the starting line.  This year there are 30,000 entrants.”

The map includes a photograph and location of a race official attempting to force Kathrine Switzer off the course in 1967.  Women were not allowed to run in the race until 1972, but Switzer entered the race in 1967 as “KV Switzer” and finished the race.  (So this year technically marks the 50^th anniversary of women running the race).

The map includes statistics about runners from Kenya and Ethiopia:  “18 of the last 20 male winners were from Kenya or Ethiopia.”  And facts about elevation are provided:  “Most people think that at 263 feet above sea level, the top of Heartbeak Hill is the highest point of the Marathon.  Actually, the starting line is at 463 feet, and most of the marathon is run at a decline.”

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library provides access to the latest ESRI GIS software and assistance from the GIS Specialist Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 pm.  Students can also access GIS software on computers throughout Bracken Library on weekends and in the evening.  For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Online Interactive Map of Coachella Artists

This Map Rocks:  Map of the Coachella Music Festival Performers

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a popular annual event presented at a polo club in Indio, California in the Colorado Desert.  The festival kicks off on April 15 with over 160 artists from all over the world including Calvin Harris, Chris Stapleton, Ellie Goulding, Ice Cube, and Guns ‘N’ Roses.  But where in the world—specifically—are the bands located?  There’s a map for that.

Vanessa Franko is the Assistant Managing Editor/Features, Sports, Local Music Columnist for The Press Enterprise in California.  Franko created an interactive GIS map showing the home locations for the artists performing at Coachella this year. 

The map legend organizes the artists by genre, including electronic, rock, rap/hip-hop, and reggae.  Users can zoom in to the highly-populated areas like Los Angeles and Europe to identify specific bands.  Click on the marker to see the name of the artist, their home location, genre, background information, and the date of their performance at Coachella.  A link to artists’ Web page is also provided where available.

Six continents are represented at Coachella this year.  The lineup features a DJ from Irkutsk, Russia, a band from the Congo, and rap/hip-hop artists from Seoul, South Korea and Edinburgh, Scotland.  Most of the artists’ hometowns are depicted, although Indiana front-man Axl Rose is identified with Guns ‘N’ Roses in Los Angeles.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library provides access to the latest ESRI GIS software and assistance from the GIS Specialist.  The computer lab in the GRMC houses 28 high-end Lenovo ThinkCentre N58p computers available Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00.  Computers throughout Bracken Library also offer access to the GIS software and are available during the evening and on weekends.

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

Golf Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Mapping the Masters:  World Atlas of Golf Available at Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries provides unique cartographic resources for research and learning.  World Atlas of Golf  is available from the Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library.  

The atlas by Mark Rowlinson was published in 2008 and features computer-generated maps of golf courses around the world—from St. Andrews in Scotland to Casa De Campo in the Dominican Republic.  An entire section of maps is devoted to the Augusta National Golf Course, site of the Masters Championship this weekend.  The famous feature, “Amen Corner,” is featured (above, click to enlarge).

Atlases may be circulated for 28 days or longer.  For more information, please contact the GIS Research and Map Collection in Bracken Library at 765-285-1097.

World War I-Era Map Available at Ball State University Libraries

Historic World War I-Era Map Available in Ball State University Libraries

April 6 marked the 99^th anniversary of the American declaration of war against Germany in 1917.  World War I began in July of 1914, but the United States did not become involved until years later.

In 1983 Ball State University Libraries acquired a rare, historically significant map related to the end of World War I.  Paul Stout, retired map librarian at the Bracken Library Map Collection, attended the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Special Summer Project that year and processed a backlog of maps that the Division received for decades from federal libraries and government mapping agencies.  (Ball State University Libraries was one of the many institutions to sponsor a participant in the program).  In exchange for their work, participants were able to select duplicate maps and atlases from the Library’s stock and send them back to their sponsoring libraries.

During a four-hour selection period, Stout discovered two maps that he suspected were not duplicate copies.  The maps were of the Hungarian portion of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire dated 1919.  One of the maps had specific notations indicating it had been used at the Peace Conference in Versailles, France, following World War I and was stamped “American Commission to Negotiate Peace.”  (The Treaty of Trianon was organized as part of the Peace Conference at Versailles in order to determine the borders of Hungary and was signed in June of 1920, so the American delegation may have used these maps as a resource for the peace negotiations).  Stout returned the two maps to the Division Chief, but he allowed Stout to keep the un-annotated copy of the map as a gift.

The map (pictured above) measures over six feet by almost ten feet in size.  The title of the map is Ethnographical Map of Hungary—Colonization and Population.  The authors are S. Batky and Ch. Kogutowicz, and the map is dated 1919.  The map states it is “designed by order of the Foreign Ministry of the Hungarian Republic.”  The map shows the areas where ethnic Hungarians were predominant—one of the criteria for the negotiations used by the American Delegation to Negotiate Peace in preparation for the determination of the new boundaries of Hungary.

Stephen Duecker, Information Services Librarian, researched the history of the map.  The two maps first belonged to the U.S. State Department in 1919 and then transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency in 1949.  Duecker believed it is plausible that the Ball State University map was at the Peace Conference following World War I.  Due to its historic significance, the map is now housed in the Archives and Special Collections on the second floor of Bracken Library.  The map is available for historical research and as a learning resource.  (More historical objects are also available in the Archives and on the Digital Media Repository, including World War I posters and maps).

Please contact the GIS Research and Map Collection at 765-285-1097 or the Archives and Special Collections at 765-285-5078 for more information about historic maps available at Ball State University Libraries.

National Read a Road Map Day

Road map of Dubai

Read a Map, or Get Lost:  Today is National Read a Road Map Day

Today, April 5, is “National Read a Road Map Day.”  In today’s world, most drivers use GPS technology, but the skill of reading maps can still be imperative, especially in remote parts of the world where accessing a cellular signal can be spotty.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library has thousands of historic and current road maps for cities, counties, states, and countries around the world.  Many users still like to view maps when planning trips.  Students of geography and urban planning use the maps to investigate the development of places over time.  And a history class borrowed historic road maps of the United States from the GRMC for a project studying how the interstate system was created.

Maps in the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  And many are available in folded and laminated format for use on trips.

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