Related Links

Aerial Photography and Satellite Imagery

California Coastal Records Project hosts over 30,000 aerial photographs of the California coastline from the Oregon border to the Mexican border.
TerraServer is a worldwide source of current, digital satellite imagery and aerial photography in both color and black and white. One can view all of the available imagery for free down to 8 meters of detail. Subscribers (those who pay) can see more detail and can download images. TerraServer started as a joint research project between TerraServer.com, Microsoft, the USGS, and Compaq. TerraServer became a distinct business in order to sell images on-line.

Cartographic Information

Class Material Coordinate Systems from the Geographer’s Craft. This site provides an overview of coordinate systems for georeferencing, a brief description of local and global systems for use in precise positioning and navigation, and geographic information systems for the location of points in space. There are many different coordinate systems, based on a variety of geodetic datums, units, projections, and reference systems in use today. As an example, this overview often uses the position of one of the thousands of geodetic control points in the United States, the star in the hand of the Goddess of Liberty atop the Capitol building in Austin, Texas.
Class Material Geodetic Datums from the Geographer’s Craft. This site provides an introduction to geodetic datums. Geodetic datums define the size and shape of the earth and the origin and orientation of the coordinate systems used to map the earth. Modern geodetic datums range from flat-earth models used for plane surveying to complex models used for international applications which completely describe the size, shape, orientation, gravity field, and angular velocity of the earth. While cartography, surveying, navigation, and astronomy all make use of geodetic datums, the science of geodesy is the central topic of the site.
A Gallery of Map Projections is a site hosted by Illinois State University that has, in pdf format, hundreds of map projections of the world. Each map is a black and white line drawing, showing the land masses, water bodies, and graticule.

Data Providers

ADC Home Page. American Digital Cartography, Inc. sells digital street map data. The products are excellent for geocoding and routing, are extremely accurate, and are updated regularly. Maps are provided using YOUR coordinate projection, available in a variety of GIS and CAD formats and available by the city, county, state, or the entire US.
CensusCD. Products are designed for libraries; Federal, State and local government agencies; schools; corporations; realtors; think tanks; consultants; planners; marketing analysts; and academic researchers at universities. They allow the user to select geographies and demographics from pull down menus. With 4 or 5 mouse clicks, you can design the report or map you want. All their census products come with mapping capabilities – you can see full color maps with the sub-areas you select delineated on your map. They also all allow exporting of both the data and the geographic boundaries into dbf or ascii formats that can be used in databases, SAS, SPSS, ArcView, MapInfo, and several other common software packages.

Jobs for Geographers

Ohio State University has a webpage with links to job listings of the AAG and ACSM and more.

Government: Federal

NASA is the source for much data, including details of planned future systems. Many related links are available, including a master data base to facilitate searching
National Geophysical Data Center. A web site for all sorts of geological and earth resources information and data.
National Ocean Service is a source of information for mapping and charting of ports and oceans, etc.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which used to be called the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), provides access to the world’s imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information.
The Census Bureau of the United States, part of the Department of Commerce, is the home of TIGER data for computer mapping.
USGS, United States Geological Survey. This site is the home of the National Mapping Division, host for the Federal Geographic Data Committee, the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Map Sellers and Commercial Companies

1-World Maps and 1-World Globes sells maps and globes on-line.
Avenza Software Marketing Inc. MAPublisher Homepage. MAPublisher is a suite of filters that bridges Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to high-end graphics, high-resolution printing, and electronic publishing technology, making map production faster.
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. offers rare and antique maps and books for sale by auction, educational services, collection development, and more.
Cartagram. Cartagram, based in Alabama, produces custom maps with high graphic quality for diverse clients across the nation. On the website, Steve Gordon, who is Cartagram’s principal cartographer and a co-author on the Illustrator WOW! books, shares articles about mapmaking and reviews of mapmaking software.
DeLorme makes the Street Atlas USA® and does CD-ROM mapping, GPS, and geographic data systems.
East View Cartographic has, among other international cartographic materials, Russian-produced topographic maps, nautical charts, and satellite imagery. They have offices in Minnesota, Russia, and the Ukraine.
MapandGlobe.com. “MapandGlobe.com” used to be called “A Galaxy of Maps.” It is a complete source for maps, globes, charts, wall maps, map accessories, mapping software, GIS and GPS products.
Maps.com “is based locally in Goleta, CA. It has the largest online map retail site in the world (Alexa rankings) receiving around 13 million visitors each year. Maps.com is both a reseller and publisher with a team of cartographers in Goleta and across North America. Their business mapping division produces print, online, and mobile location based solutions and applications for Education, Media and Business to Business clients. Maps.com publishes the K-12 online resource Maps101.”
MapLink is an importer, distributor, and dealer in contemporary mapping from around the world.
MicroImages, Inc. Homepage. MicroImages, Inc., has software for geospatial analysis. Corporate and product information for the TNT professional and free TNTlite software products for GIS are available for image processing and geospatial data analysis.
Sam Wormley’s Maps and Mapping Agencies List takes you to other sites full of commercial mapping companies.

Mapping: Geological

East View Cartographic, although it carries a variety of geological map materials, specializes in geological data produced in Russia and by the Russians. They have offices in Minnesota, Russia, and the Ukraine.
Geologic Data Systems, based in Denver, CO, supplies maps and geophysical data based on geologic, topographic, environmental, and other industry-related topics. Their available mapping area is nearly the entire world.
National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP). This site is focused on the details of the USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. It provides information regarding the geologic mapping program. The primary goal of the program is to collect, process, analyze, translate, and disseminate earth-science information through geologic maps.
USGS, National Geological Map Database Homepage. This site, developed by the USGS, is a prototype version of a database which provides access to maps and other spatially referenced data for studies in geology, geophysics, marine geology, earth resources hazards, geochemistry, and geochronology.

Mapping: Online

The Sammlung Ryhiner Collection hosts over 16000 high resolution images: maps, town plans and topographical views from the 16th to the early 19th century
Google Maps is an online resource for finding locations and directions, and has many other useful features, including the ability to embed maps into your website with your personalized locations.
MapCruzin.com is an online resource for creating mapping projects involving environmental justice research, data analysis, report writing, GIS mapping, and community outreach. Their mission is to provide the information, tools, resources, and expertise to enhance personal growth and knowledge and to empower others in their efforts towards improving environmental and social conditions.
MapQuest. Produced by GeoSystems Global Corp, this site is a user-interactive atlas. It has a trip router and map designer utility.
The Census Bureau’s TMS (Tiger Mapping System). This is an on-line USA map with street level detail, and with feature and thematic mapping capability.
TopoZone (now part of Trails.com and requires an account) has on-line, printable topographic maps, covering the entire United States, for professional and recreational map users. TopoZone worked with the USGS to create this free service. In addition to serving maps on the TopoZone, the site also provides custom digital topographic data for Web, GIS, and CAD applications. Their Web Services system can add their maps directly to a user’s desktop or server through their ArcIMS and OGC WMS interfaces.

Mapping: Shareware

Google Earth. Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.
Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS). GRASS provides information about geographic resource analysis. GRASS GIS is a Geographical Information System with raster, topological vector, image processing, and graphics production functionality that operates in the UNIX environment through a graphical user interface and shell in X-Windows. It is released under GNU GPL. And it is free.

Periodicals

GEO World is an on-line news resource.

UCSB Resources

Biogeography Lab. The UCSB Biogeography Lab was established in 1991 within the Institute for Computational Earth System Science (ICESS). The prime mission of this lab is to conduct basic and applied research on the ecology, distribution, and conservation status of species and ecosystems with the aid of geographic information systems and remote sensing. A list of current research and recent works can be found by following the links on the Biogeography site.
Earth Gate is a gateway to UCSB earth science research. Since the university has many interdisciplinary research projects, and since several departments research the same fields (for instance, Marine Sciences, Biology, Physics, Geography, and Geology research the oceans), researchers and potential funders of research sometimes want to know what’s being done in, say, oceanic research, but not know every place to look. Earth Gate fills this gap by providing a central site from which one can jump to all UCSB organizations researching a given field.
ERI is the home page for the Earth Research Institute. ERI (formed in July of 2011 through the merger of the Institute for Computational Earth System Science and the Institute for Crustal Studies) focuses on research and graduate education in earth sciences, with an emphasis on processes governing the environmental optics of the earth. Several links located in the ERI site relate to their research and satellite data.
IDEAS (Innovative Datasets for Environmental Analysis by Students) provides access to real-time and archived data and webcam images from automated meteorological stations we deployed around Santa Barbara County, along with many supporting materials to compliment the data from our stations.
Lab on Individual Differences in Spatial Cognition provides up-to-date information on the current research on spatial cognition. A list of faculty and published papers are included.
NCGIA (National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis) is an independent research consortium dedicated to basic research and education in geographic information science and its related technologies, including geographic information systems (GIS). The web site provides information about accuracy and uncertainty in spatial data, cognition, modeling and representation, and major research projects currently being performed.
spatial@ucsb is an innovative university-wide resource and research center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Its mission is to facilitate the integration of spatial thinking into processes for learning and discovery in the natural, social, and behavioral sciences, to promote excellence in engineering and applied sciences, and to enhance creativity in the arts and humanities.
UCSB Campus Maps and Local maps.
UCSB Interactive Campus Map Never get lost on campus again! Find your class location on your smartphone or tablet.
UCSB People Finder is a website where you can search online for student, faculty and staff contact information.
UCSB Homepage has information on academics-related topics and general information about the campus itself.

Weather

California Winter Weather Page. This web site gives detailed information about the highway conditions across the state of California and provides ski conditions for the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
La Jolla Shores Surf Forecast and Surf Reports has up-to-date surfing conditions for Southern California and weather conditions for specific areas worldwide.
Los Angeles/Oxnard Weather Service Office has global weather information, although it specializes in the following counties: Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo.
Ohio State Web Site. The Ohio State University website gives helpful weather data and graphics for North America.
West Coast regional site. The California Regional Weather Server Site provides up-to-date graphical information for West Coast and East Coast, USA. You can follow the local storm track from the Pacific to regional pressure gradients in the atmosphere and the position of the subpolar jet stream as it makes it way across North America.

Table of Contents

Aerial Photography and Satellite Imagery

Cartographic Information

Data Providers

Jobs for Geographers

Government: Federal

Map Sellers and Commercial Companies

Mapping: Geological

Mapping: Online

Mapping: Shareware

Periodicals

UCSB Resources

Weather

Other Sites with Useful Links