Map of the Cold War Available from Ball State University Libraries

This Day in History: Cuban Missile Crisis

On October 14, 1962, an American U-2 spy plane photographed a Soviet ballistic missile being assembled for installation in Cuba.  Thus began one of the biggest encounters of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union—the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Following a naval blockade, nuclear war was avoided when President Kennedy agreed to not invade Cuba in exchange for the Soviet removal of all missiles in Cuba.

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) created a map of some of the most significant events of the Cold War.  The map (above, click to enlarge) shows the locations of events beginning with Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech in Fulton, Missouri, in 1946 to the World Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972, and the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

The Cold War map, Capitalism vs. Communism: Events of the Cold War, is available for use in education, research, and learning for teachers, students, and others from the Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar repository.  A large-format copy of the map may be printed in the GRMC. A worksheet requiring students to map the events of the Cold War is also available for teachers to use in the geography or history classroom.

The Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library also includes resources for studying the Cold War.  The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of the Cold War, The Canadian Military Atlas, and The Times Atlas of European History all include maps and other cartographic sources.

For more information about using maps from the GRMC or Cardinal Scholar, please call 765-285-1097.

Community Maps Class in Downtown Muncie

Ball State University Libraries' Maps Class at Cornerstone Center for the Arts

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will present a class on Tuesday, October 7 from 6:30 – 7:30 pm in the Founders’ Room of the Cornerstone Center for the Arts in Muncie.  The class, Using Maps in a Digital World, will feature maps from the GRMC in Bracken Library and is free and open to the public.

Participants will learn how to access maps and other resources from the University Libraries’ Digital MediaRepository and Cardinal Scholar.  The GRMC uses maps from the collection to explain current events happening around the globe.  Participants can also learn about using online maps to study genealogy and local history. 

Students and other speakers can learn how to use maps as visual aids for speeches, papers, and presentations.  The GRMC provides access to maps about women’s issues, the environment, education, health and disease, sports, and other social topics.  The GRMC also has large map and photograph posters for countries around the world available online.

Teachers can learn about how to create custom online maps for use in the classroom and learning.  And the GRMC also publishes K-12 lessons, games, tutorials, and other classroom resources online.

The Cornerstone Center for the Arts is located at 520 East Main Street in downtown Muncie.  Parking is free.  For more information, please contact the Cornerstone at 765-281-9503.

For more information about using maps for classroom lessons or as visual aids, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Interactive Map of College Football Fandom

The Geography of College Football

The New York Times published an interactive map that shows the most popular college football teams around the United States.  Click on a county or enter a zip code to see a breakdown of the fan percentage for the three most popular schools. 

The map was based on the number of “likes” and mentions on Facebook.  Most of the teams are close geographically, but the map offers some surprises:  The most popular team in Bronx County, New York and Plymouth County, Massachusetts (and most of Maine and New Hampshire) for example, is the University of Florida Gators.  And the second-most popular team in Washington, D.C. is the Ohio State University Buckeyes.

Syria Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

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

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) has a significant collection of maps of Syria and the Middle East.  The maps include both historic and new, updated maps of the country and region.

Illustrated Syria map was published in 1943.  The map depicts agricultural and industrial products and places of interest, including parts of Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and then Palestine.  An inset map shows main roads, air routes, railroads, pipelines, and political divisions.  The text is written in English and Arabic.

The GRMC also includes road maps of Syria, maps of archaeological sites, tourist maps, economic maps, and land use and population maps.  A unique tectonic sketch map showing oil wells and petroleum exploration from 1978 was published by the Foreign Scouting Service.

Four sets of topographic maps of Syria (including historic maps) at varying scales are also available.  City maps of Syria are also available from the GRMC, including a reproduction of a bird’s-eye view map of Damascus from 1575.

The top map above (click to enlarge) was published by the Central Intelligence Agency and shows the area near Ar-Raqqah on the Euphrates River where American airstrikes are targeted.  This map includes railroads and expressways.

The second map, Syria Country Profile, was published by the CIA in 2011 when the civil war there began and shows the location of an airbase near Ar Raqqah.  Inset maps include a map of the Golan Heights, the oil and gas infrastructure, ethnoreligious distribution, and population density.  The relative size of Syria compared to the eastern United States is also shown.  This map includes information and statistics for a number of geographic features.

For more information about these maps, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097 Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00.

Ball Brothers Documentary Film Premiere

Ball Brothers Factory Band, Digital Media Repository

Gas Boom to Glass Jars: Ball Brothers Documentary Premieres This Week

A Legacy Etched in Glass: The Ball Brothers in Muncie, a documentary produced by the Ball State University Department of Telecommunications as part of an immersive learning project, premieres on Thursday, September 25 at 6:00 pm at Minnetrista in Muncie.  The documentary tells the story of the five Ball brothers—George, Lucius, Frank, Edmund, and William.

The Ball brothers moved their glass manufacturing business from Buffalo, New York, to Muncie during the Indiana gas boom of the 1890’s.  Locating the factories on the south side of Muncie, the Ball brothers expanded their operations enormously in the early 20^th century.  The film explores the lives of the brothers, their families, the ongoing Ball legacy in Muncie, and the core values that propelled them to success as industrialists and community leaders.

The story weaves motion graphic animation, beautiful cinematography, and archival materials with interviews and analyses from expert historians.  Sanborn Fire Insurance maps (above, click to enlarge) and maps showing the Trenton gas field are featured in the film.  Historic maps from the GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) used for the film are available for viewing in the Ball State University Libraries’ Digital MediaRepository.  The map collections include:  Muncie Sanborn Insurance Maps, United States Transportation Maps, Ball State University Campus Maps, American Cities Historic Maps, Indiana Natural Resources Maps, International Historic Maps, Delaware County Aerial Plat Maps, Indiana Historic County Atlases, United States Soil Maps, and United States Topographic Maps.  The University Libraries’ YouTube channel allows users a different format for viewing some of the resources from the Digital Media Repository.

For questions about the documentary, please contact the executive producer and faculty advisor Chris Flook at 765-730-0841.  For more information about the Digital Media Repository, contact John Straw in the Archives and Special Collections at 765-285-5078.

Scotland Maps Available from Ball State University

Scot-Free:  Maps of Scotland Available from Ball State University Libraries

Since 1990 34 new countries have been created, and tomorrow residents of Scotland will vote to decide whether Scotland will join that list.  A referendum on September 18 will determine whether Scotland will become independent from the United Kingdom for the first time in more than 300 years.   The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) and Atlas Collection in Bracken Library include a large collection of maps of Scotland and the United Kingdom.

The Atlas Collection includes Scotland: The Complete Guide, which was published in 1999.  This book includes a road atlas and descriptive guides about food, genealogy, monuments, castles, and churches, festivals, music, and the history of Scotland.  A travel section lists addresses and phone numbers for tourist boards and car rental services and detailed maps of tours and places of interest.

The GRMC includes new travel maps of cities and regions of Scotland and a variety of historic and current thematic maps.  The Historical Map of Scotland (segment shown above, click to enlarge) includes colorful illustrations of places and events in Scottish history, including Sir William Wallace. 

The collection also includes the Tartan Map of Scotland and Clan Map of Scotland with graphics of the various plaids and surnames’ coats-of-arms.  The Tartan Map of Scotland map (above) shows the general location of the areas of the various clan names.

The Whisky Map of Scotland (inset above) was published in 1994 by the Scotch Whisky and Malt Whisky Association of Scotland.  The map includes information about the distilleries throughout Scotland, and the inset shows locations on the cultural “Whisky Trail.”

The GRMC also includes travel maps of regions and cities of Scotland, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Dundee, and Aberdeen.  The Rail Map of Britain includes the railways of Scotland.  Ordnance Survey maps of Scotland and maps detailing the oil fields of the Scottish highlands and islands are also available from the GRMC.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer.  Atlases from the Atlas Collection may be borrowed for 28 days or longer.

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

Hispanic Heritage Month Map Exhibit at Ball State University Libraries

Hispanic-American Cartographic Resources Exhibit at Bracken Library

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) is commemorating Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) with a special map exhibit.  The exhibit includes maps, charts, and photographs from The Atlas of Hispanic-American History from the Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library.  Included are maps of the attack on the Alamo, the California mission system, New Spain, and styles of Latin music.  Charts and photographs also describe Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement.

The exhibit is posted in the front window of the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library through October 15.  The Atlas of Hispanic-American History is available for circulation from the Atlas Collection.

A copy of the exhibit poster is available in the University Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar institutional repository and may be used for educational displays and research.

For more information about any cartographic resources, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Iraq, Jamaica, Somalia, Syria, the Ukraine, and Wales Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News: Iraq, Jamaica, Somalia, Syria, the Ukraine, and Wales

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) provides cartographic resources for research and learning.  In fact the GRMC houses 140,000 maps and atlases of locations around the world, including global “hot spots” in the news.

The first map above (click to enlarge) is a portion of a road map of the United Kingdom available from the GRMC.  The map shows the locations of the NATO Summit in Newport and Cardiff, Wales.  President Obama is attending this meeting of world leaders—the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place in Great Britain.

The second map was provided by the Institute for the Study of War.  The map shows the presence of the Islamic State (Isis) marked in red from Syria through Iraq.  The northwestern region of Syria is identified on the map as the region in which journalist James Foley was kidnapped in 2012.  U.S. airstrike targets are shown as of August 2014.

The next map is from the GRMC and was published by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency showing the regions of dispute in the country of Somalia.  Somaliland and Puntland are not recognized and are self-declared autonomous regions. 

The map of Ukraine was published on the ReliefWeb Web page.  The map shows the rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine.  The map identifies the number and locations of people displaced (IDP’s=internally displaced population) by the fighting in the country and the number of people seeking asylum as of September 1, 2014.

The last map is a Central Intelligence Agency map of Jamaica from the GRMC.  The map shows the parish boundaries, railroads, important roads, and cities.

The most updated Central Intelligence Agency maps are available from the Digital Media Repository from the Maps of the World collection.

For more information about cartographic resources from the GRMC, please call 765-285-1097.

Teachers' Resources Available from Ball State University Libraries

Back-to-School:  Educational Resources Available from Ball State University Libraries

Students, faculty, and other educators can access important classroom resources like maps, lessons, and learning games created by the Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) from the Cardinal Scholar institutional repository.  Cardinal Scholar allows users to access the valuable resources from any location around the world with Web availability.

Teachers and student-teachers can find numerous custom maps, games, posters, lesson plans, map worksheets and activities, cartographic tutorials, and other resources in Cardinal Scholar.  These classroom resources were developed specifically for K-12 teachers to use and share.

Teachers and students from around the world have used the GRMC teaching and learning resources accessible through Cardinal Scholar.  A student-teacher from Shenandoah Elementary School (Middletown, Indiana) used posters featuring maps and photographs from every modern war to create a Veterans Day exhibit at her school.  Student-teacher Kevin Ginder created a bulletin board at Mount Comfort Elementary School (Mount Comfort, Indiana) using maps from Cardinal Scholar.

Kate Sutter, social studies teacher at Lebanon (Missouri) High School, displayed the Black Diamonds: Negro League Baseball map in her classroom (above, click to enlarge).  A Black History Month maps presentation from the Cornerstone Center for the Arts class and Black History Month map posters are also available from Cardinal Scholar.

Danielle Boultinghouse accessed many of the GRMC resources for her lessons while teaching at an urban school in Indianapolis.  “I used map posters of Australia during a weeklong unit.  The students loved the maps and being able to learn about a faraway place.  I also used the Ball State Cardinal Life board game in a lesson about college and used maps to teach about using scale and determining distance for math class.”  Many of the games and lessons are adaptable to use with iPads and other classroom technology.

Chelsea Wappes used Cardinal Scholar while teaching in Fort Wayne and said “Map resources are a fabulous tool for teachers.”  A graduate student studying in England used some of the cartographic tutorials available from Cardinal Scholar to teach students about how to read topographic maps.

James Carson, County Wicklow, Ireland, learned about a Jane Austen literary map available from the GRMC after using the Guide to Cartographic Resources for English/Literature in Cardinal Scholar. A guide to cartographic resources about women’s history is also available, and the GRMC created a series of custom maps about women’s issues called Women in the World now available from Cardinal Scholar, including maps about female heads of state, breast cancer (above), and even Miss Universe winners.

Ball State University students volunteering with College Mentors for Kids use map games for after-school activities with elementary students.  Russia Clue and Canada Clue are a popular twist from the original Clue board game featuring famous people, cultural objects, and the provinces of Canada or the former nations of the Soviet Union instead of suspects, weapons, and rooms.

The Rinker Center for International Programs displays the country map posters (Russia, above) from Cardinal Scholar for the weekly Culture Exchange programs.  These posters include a map of the country with photographs from National Geographic magazine and atlases from the Bracken Library Atlas Collection.

To find all of the available resources from the GRMC, click on “Communities and Collections” on the left side of the main Cardinal Scholar page.  Scroll down to the Information Technology section, and the GRMC will be listed under University Libraries.  On the GRMC page, click on “browse by title” in the middle of the page.  This lists all the resources in the collection.  For a more specific search, type in a subject such as “Africa” or “map game.”  Users can click on the title of the resource and save it for use in papers, presentations, classroom activities, or other research or print any of the games and maps.  (The GRMC has two large-format printers available for the Ball State University community).  And check the repository frequently because the GRMC adds resources every week.

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

Ball State University 2014 Football Opponents Map

Gridiron Geography:  Ball State University Football Opponents Map

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) created a map showing the locations of the schools the university’s football team will play during the 2014 season.  The first football game is at home in Scheumann Stadium at 2:00 tomorrow versus Colgate University from Hamilton, New York.  The Cardinals will travel west to the University of Iowa next week and east to the University of Massachusetts in November.

A copy of the map is available from the University Libraries’ Cardinal Scholar.

GIS Research and Map Collection Closed for Labor Day

Census Atlas of the United States

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) will be closed on Monday, September 1 for Labor Day.  The GRMC will reopen on Tuesday, September 2 at 8:00 a.m.

Women's Suffrage Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Mapping Women’s Suffrage:  Maps from Ball State University Libraries Show History of Voting Rights

On August 18, 1920, the 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote.  Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted and introduced the amendment in 1878.  Congress finally proposed the amendment in June 1919 and submitted it to the states for ratification, finally passing with the vote of Tennessee.

Maps from the GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) show some of the history related to women’s suffrage.  The top map (click to enlarge) shows where women were allowed to vote before the 19^th Amendment.  As territories in the West were included in the nation, many allowed women the right to vote.  Women were allowed to vote in primaries in Texas and Arkansas.  Women were allowed to vote in presidential elections in many of the Midwestern states and Tennessee and Maine.

The second map shows exactly how Congressmen in the House of Representatives voted either for or against the amendment.  Large areas of the South (along with New York City, Philadelphia, and Detroit) voted against the 19^th Amendment.  The map is from the atlas Mapping America’s Past by Henry Holt available from the GRMC.  The atlas was published in 1996 and includes maps about major historical events.

For more information about these maps and atlases, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097 from 8:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday.

Mental Health Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps Depicting World Suicide Rates Available from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ Atlas Collection on the second floor of Bracken Library offers more than 3,000 volumes for research and learning.  The most common type of atlas is a road or street atlas, and the collection includes many covering cities, states, and countries from around the world. 

However, many of the atlases are thematic and cover a multitude of current issues:  Atlas of Health, Atlas of Tobacco, Atlas of Religion, World Atlas of Great Apes and Their Conservation, and even Global Surfari: The Complete Atlas for the Serious Surfer are available in the collection.

The State of the World Atlas by Dan Smith was published in 2012 and includes maps describing ethnicity, education, environmental issues, war and military, and health and quality of life.  Several copies of this atlas are available in the Atlas Collection or on reserve from the GIS Research and Map Collection.  The maps from the atlas can be easily scanned and used for class papers and presentations or other research.

The atlas features information about mental health and suicide rates based on the latest data from the World Health Organization.  According to the atlas “about 800,000 people take their own lives each year, and this is the third-leading cause of death among young people.”  Mental illness is a neglected issue in care, research, and prevention around the world, and “worldwide about 450 million people suffer mental and behavioral disorders.”

The map above (click to enlarge) shows the suicide rates of women and men around the world based on 2009 data (note that some countries have no data on this issue).  The map shows high rates in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Asia for men and East Asia and some Eastern European countries for women.  Included on the map is the statistic that “someone commits suicide every 40 seconds” somewhere in the world. 

The second map, “Mental-health resources” shows the median number of psychiatric beds in general hospitals per one million people based on 2011 data from the World Health Organization.  Europe has the highest number by far while the rest of the world offers from five to thirteen.  And the map includes the statistics that “half the world’s population has access to only one psychiatrist per 200,000 people.”

For more information about using atlases for research and learning and maps as visual aids, please contact the GIS Research and Map Collection at 765-285-1097.

Watergate 40th Anniversary

Watergate Maps from Ball State University Libraries

Saturday, August 9 marks the 40^th anniversary of the resignation of President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal.  The Watergate complex of buildings at the center of the scandal is now listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and is located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

The maps above (click to enlarge) from the Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) show the buildings located on the Potomac River just across from Theodore Roosevelt Island.  The top map is A U.S. Geological Survey topographic map of Washington, D.C. published in 1980.  The Watergate buildings are colored purple and black, and the neighboring Kennedy Center is shown in purple hatches.  The purple color denotes structures that were built since the previous topographic map was published in 1965.  (The purple hatches indicate that the Kennedy Center was under construction when surveyed).

The second map was published by Esso in 1969 and shows only the Watergate Hotel.  The pictorial maps of Washington were published in 1992 and 1996.  The next map was published by National Geographic in 2000 and shows one of the ownership changes of the Watergate Hotel and the addition of new memorials near the Reflecting Pool.  And the aerial map of Washington was published in 2010.

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

Mapping the Ebola Virus

Maps in the News:  Tracking the Ebola Virus

The Ebola virus outbreak in Africa is believed to be the worst in history according to the World Health Organization, and doctors from the Center for Disease Control believe it could take months to stop the epidemic.  The World Health Organization believes that the virus has infected 1,323 people, starting in Guinea and spreading to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria.  Both agencies have published maps showing the location of the deadly virus.

The World Health Organization features a gallery of maps related to the Ebola outbreak on its Web page.  The top map (above, click to enlarge) shows the locations of reported Ebola outbreaks in humans and animals as of 2009.  The maps also include countries that have had cases of Ebola in humans and animals through 2014 and a map of laboratories involved in researching a vaccine for the disease, including the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Center for DiseaseControl (CDC) published the second map above of the African countries affected by the latest outbreak as of July 20.  The map shows areas of confirmed and suspected cases and Ebola treatment centers and laboratories.  The CDC Web page also includes news updates and statistics of cases and deaths from the disease.

The Aljazeera News Agency published a map (above) created by ESRI and National Geographic using GIS mapping technology to show the location of confirmed and suspected cases.  And CNN published a map showing the number of weekly international flights from countries hit by Ebola (above) as fears grow about the transmission of the disease.

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

World War I Resources Available from Ball State University Libraries

Exhibit Marks Centennial Anniversary of “The War to End All Wars”

Monday, July 28 marks the centennial anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, mistakenly believed to be “The War to End All Wars.”  Ball State University Libraries has created a special exhibit to commemorate this epic event.

Visitors to Bracken Library can view a variety of resources about World War I in the lobby just outside the Schwartz Complex.  Books—nonfiction and fiction—about the war are displayed, including Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants and a book about the “Buffalo” division of Black soldiers fighting in the war.  DVD movies like “War Horse,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and “Sergeant York” are also exhibited and available from the Educational Resources Collections.

The GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) created a poster (top above—click to enlarge) commemorating the centennial using maps and photographs from youth books in the Educational Resources Collections.  The maps show Europe before the war, the Western Front, the Eastern Front, and Europe after the war.  The poster is available for educational use from the Cardinal Scholar institutional repository and exhibited in the windows of the GRMC on the second floor of Bracken Library.

The GRMC also includes many maps and atlases depicting the events of World War I.  An original map published in 1918—The Literary Digest Liberty Map of the Western Front of the Great World War--details some of the battle lines and includes maps of the war areas showing Russian, Italian, Balkan, Palestine, and Mesopotamian campaigns and the zones of submarine blockades.

The Ball State University Libraries’ Digital Media Repository (DMR) includes several collections of resources related to the First World War, including photographs of soldiers and parades, letters, and original postcards (from the Archives and Special Collections).  The DMR also includes more than 2,000 World War I posters (above) from the Elisabeth Ball Collection from Italy, France, Belgium, England, Australia, Germany, the United States, and other countries.

The Archives and Special Collections also includes a map published by the Hungarian Geograph Institute in Budapest in 1919 showing the population by ethnicity, nationality, age, and language.  The text of the map is written in Hungarian, German, French, and English.  The map is believed to have been used for planning the division of countries and the peace agreement at the Treaty of Trianon at the end of World War I.

For more information about the Digital Media Repository or Cardinal Scholar, please contact the Archives and Special Collections at 765-285-5078.

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 gangster John Dillinger in 2009 to correspond with the release of the Johnny Depp movie Public Enemies.  The map 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.

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 robberies in bright yellow with other places of interest in gray—like Dillinger’s hometown and the Chicago theater where Dillinger was killed on this day (July 22) 80 years ago in 1934.

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

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

Map of Ukraine Airspace

Maps in the News:  Ukraine Airspace Map

From The Washington Post:  Real-time data from aviation reveals that many airlines are currently routing flights around the airspace of Ukraine.

Google Smarty Pins Online Game

Are You Smarter than a Geography Major?  Google Launches Online Trivia Game

Need to test your map skills?  Google has created an online geography quiz game using its Google Maps called Smarty Pins. 

Players are assigned 1,000 “miles,” which really serve as points.  Categories for the questions are arts and culture, science and geography, sports and games, entertainment, history and current events, and featured topics—which included sub-categories of March Madness and World Cup trivia.

Google asks trivia questions about a city, country, landmark, or other location, and players must drop the pin on the correct spot on the map.  (The game positions itself in the early questions in the region of the correct location and offers clues).  If players put the pin in the correct spot quickly, bonus miles are given.  But if a player guesses incorrectly, Google subtracts how many miles off from the correct spot using the total “miles.”

Encouragement is given:  “Even Columbus took a few years to find the right way.”  “Not bad!  Are your initials G.P.S.?”  But sometimes Google mocks answers:  “Maybe next time you don’t randomly throw a dart at your screen?”  “Wow!  Did you Google that?”  (See above images--click to enlarge)  When the miles are gone, the game ends but levels of badges are awarded.

Maps of Gaza Strip Available from Ball State University Libraries

Maps in the News:  The Gaza Strip

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research & Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library houses over 140,000 maps that can be used for research and learning.  Many of the maps can be used to interpret current events.  For example, the GRMC includes a variety of maps of the Gaza Strip.

The current “Maps in the News” exhibit in the windows of the GRMC features an aerial photograph of the Gaza Strip from 2005 (above, click to enlarge).  This view of the area identifies Israeli-developed areas, the Oslo-defined settlement zones and security perimeter, the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees camps, Palestinian-populated areas, border crossings, and roads.

The GRMC also includes maps of the Gaza Strip produced by the Central Intelligence Agency and nautical charts of the Mediterranean area.  Maps of Israeli settlements in Gaza available from the GRMC date back to 1980.

The Atlas Collection, also located on the east side of the second floor of Bracken Library, includes an atlas called The Gaza Strip and West Bank: A Map Folio.  This atlas features maps showing natural resources, economic activity and land use, selected water resources, Israeli-controlled land, transportation routes and other maps.

An Atlas of Palestine: The West Bank and Gaza is also available from the Atlas Collection. This atlas includes maps depicting the history of the region, socioeconomic conditions, water resources, land use, and main Palestinian cities from the past and present. The map above from the atlas shows safe passage routes between the West Bank and Gaza and an inset map of Palestine before 1948.

Maps from the GRMC circulate for two weeks or longer. Atlases circulate for 28 days or longer.

For more information about these maps, please contact the GRMC Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 765-285-1097.