Map & Image Collections

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Map and image collections bring-together resources that were assembled pre-Web. The extent of map libraries on the Web can be illustrated by the sheer number listed in the University of Minnesota’s Web page (external site). It includes details of sites (numerous) in the USA as well as global libraries that provide Web access. A large site to access geospatial information is the Alexandria Digital Library (The Alexandria Digital Library Project, 2000; Andresen et al., 1997). It focuses on the provision of spatially indexed information via the WWW. It contains a collection of geographically referenced materials and services for accessing those collections. The project is being further developed via the Alexandria Digital Earth Prototype (ADEPT), funded for 1999-2004 by the US National Science (The Alexandria Digital Library Project, 2000).

Please Note: By electing to visit the sites linking from this page you will be leaving the DPI website.

Alexandria Digital Library	The Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) - a distributed digital library with collections of georeferenced materials.
World Wide Media Exchange	The World-Wide Media eXchange (WWMX) is a centralized index of digital photos, where photos are tagged by the geographic location. From the Interactive Visual Media Group at Microsoft Research. Digital photographs are recorded with their geographical location.

The CIA World Fact Book and the PCL (Perry Castaneda Library) Map Collection (University of Texas at Austin) provide excellent collections of scanned maps, along with other pertinent information. The CIA World Fact Book made available maps of almost any part of the world. And, whilst the shortcomings of scanned maps must be acknowledged, this site made available, and still continues to so do, a plethora of geospatial artefacts and general geographical information.

CIA World Fact Book

Collection of maps made available for public access by the Central Intelligence Agency.

This type of Web resource is extremely helpful where access to rare or unique maps would otherwise be difficult or impossible. Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, a repository to numerous historical artifacts related mainly to Oxford and Oxfordshire, makes available via the Web a number of rare map facsimiles. These high-resolution scanned images may be used by scholars in papers without the need to formally request copyright clearance.

Bodleian Library	High resolution scanned map and artefact collection for Oxford and Oxfordshire.
Corbis image collection	Repository of images for commercial use from this Microsoft owned company.

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