Maps and Geospatial Imagery: Finding Atlases & Gazetteers
Finding Atlases
What is an atlas?
Atlases are books with collections of maps, on a general area such as the World or a continent, on a country, or a topic.
Find atlases in the Libraries Catalog.
Remember that an atlas will be broader in its coverage than an individual map. Topical atlases cover a very broad topic, such as climate, the environment, or population. Regional atlases will cover a large region or country. Keyword searches are very useful in a search for atlases, because there is no special subject term in the catalog for 'atlas'.
There will be both print books and e-books in your catalog searches.
- By name If you are looking for a particular atlas, for example, the Times Atlas of the World, or the National Geographic Atlas of the World, a keyword title search with 'Times Atlas World' or 'National Geographic Atlas World' should give you results of atlases with your title. If you know other words in the title, your results can be narrowed by adding those words. You can choose a sort by date if you want to see most recent ones first.
- By region If you are looking for atlases about a particular region or country, use a general keyword search with the place and the word 'Atlas'. For example, 'China Atlas' should find atlases of this country.
- By topic If you are looking for atlases on a specific topic, use a general keyword search with the topic and the word 'Atlas'. For example, 'Climate Atlas' or 'Population Atlas' should find atlases on the topic that you want. Use a broad term for your topic to find enough usable results. Once again, a sort by date will give most recent results first.
Gazetteers
What is a gazetteer?
A gazetteer is simply a list of geographic place names and their coordinates.
What is a name server?
A name server is a searchable, online gazetteer.
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The Columbia Gazetteer of the World (M.U. only)
by
Call Number: BEST Libary Ref G103.5 .C645 2008Complete in 3 volumes, comprehensive coverage of the world, includes descriptive entries. -
The Columbia Gazetteer of North America
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Call Number: BEST Library Ref E35 .C65 2000; King Ref E35 .C65 2000Based on the gazetteer of the world, but with more extensive entries on most places listed. -
The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 12th ed.
Call Number: King Ref G1021 .T5644 2011 ; BEST Folio Ref G1021 .T5644 2007The index of this important atlas provides geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude), making this a useful gazetteer to places included in these excellent maps. -
Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed.
Call Number: Kinig Ref G103.5 .W42 1997, Sci Ready Ref G103.5 .W42 1997Not a dictionary, but another gazetteer! -
The Columbia Gazetteer of the World byCall Number: Sci Ready Ref G103.5 .C65 1998; King Ref G103.5 .C65 1998Earlier edition of the work listed above.
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The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World byCall Number: King Folio G103 .L7 19521952 edition with supplement, 1961. This is a good reference for older versions of place names. It formed the basis for the Columbia gazetteers listed above.
Name Servers
Government Agency name servers, for U.S. and Canada federal governments.
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GNIS, The Geographic Names Information SystemBy the USGS in cooperation with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN). Contains information for almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States and territories
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GNIS AntarcticaGNIS database for Antarctic place names
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GNS, the GeoNet Names ServerBy the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the BGN, is a database of foreign geographic names.
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Geographic Names Board of CanadaQuery by name (English).
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Toponymie du CanadaRecherche par nom (Français).
Name Authority
Name Authorities are the boards responsible for the name server databases.
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U.S. Board on Geographic NamesThe U.S. body maintains uniform geographic name usage throughout the Federal Government.
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Council of Geographic Names Authorities (COGNA)Lists the authorities for the states, two territories, and Canada.
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U.S. Census GeographyMaintains TIGER/Line files, Name files, and other resources.
