Staying current with travel

Roncevic, Mirela. “Staying Current with Travel.” LibraryJournanl, 8/15/2003, Vol. 128 Issue 13, p114,3p. Available fulltext on EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier, and from LibraryJournal Website at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA315927.html

Atlases and maps of Canada

Atlas of Canada http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/index.html
Atlas of Canada and the World
Detailed maps showing Canada’s provinces and territories, plus statistical spreads consider various natural and man-made themes, such as geology and climate, population and industrial output. Provides data on Canada’s geography, history, economy and culture. Includes maps of the provinces and territories. Whitecap, 1999.

Big Book of Canada: Exploring the Provinces and Territories
Author Christopher Moore introduces the things that make this country unique. Each province and territory is explored and defined not only by its physical features, but also by its history, t he people that make up its population, and the industry and culture that distinguish each region. The book is lavishly illustrated by well-known artist Bill Slavin, and features 150 full color photos. Tundra, 2002.

Canada Atlas – Kids Edition
MapArt has specifically designed this atlas for kids. There are maps, plus puzzles and games. Each province has its own map, plus there’s a map of Canada. Bright colours and an attractive layout makes this atlas very appealing to younger children. Peter Heiler Ltd., 2000.

Canada Map and Place Name Index
http://www.multimap.com/world/CA

Canada Recreation Atlas
The Canada Recreation Atlas is a compilation of the provincial recreation maps produced by MapArt. It features full-colour maps covering all of Canada, including inset maps of 51 major Canadian cities. In addition to the maps, the Atlas includes Gazetteer of over 11,000 place names, creeks, rivers, lakes, inlets, bays and islands. Peter Heiler Ltd., 2000.

Canada Road Maps http://www.maps2anywhere.com/Maps/Canada_map.htm

Canadian Communities Atlas http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/canada.html
http://dev.atlas.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/ccatlas/index.html
GeoAccess, formerly the National Atlas Information Service of Geomatics Canada, in partnership with a Teacher’s Advisory Group from the Canadian Council for Geographic Education, is offering this Internet based project to schools across Canada. By participating and creating a Community Atlas web site, schools will be able to be part of the National Atlas of Canada. The sixth edition, an Internet based version, is currently underway and will provide the very best geographical and geospatial information and data to Canadians.

Canadian County Atlas Digital Project http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/default.htm
Begun in July 1998, the County Atlas pilot project initially encompassed ten atlases. Two subsequent Phases allowed the completion of the Ontario map, ultimately totalling forty-three atlases. The County Atlas Digital Project is a searchable database of the property owners’ names which appear on the township maps in the county atlases. Township maps, portraits and properties have been scanned, with links from the property owners’ names in the database.

Centre for Topographic Information: Natural Resources Canada http://maps.nrcan.gc.ca/
As Canada’s national topographic mapping agency, the Centre for Topographic Information of Natural Resources Canada is responsible for the acquisition, management and dissemination of topographic information for the Canadian landmass.

Using information contained in the National Topographic Database, the Centre for Topographic Information in Ottawa produces topographic maps at scales of 1/50,000 and 1/250,000. In addition, the centre is the custodian of the federal aerial photography archives and offers aerial photography reproduction and distribution services.

Concise Gazetteer of Canada
Covers the whole country. Includes 47,000 of the 350,000 place names used in Canada. Produced by the Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, Natural Resources Canada. Canadian Government Publishing, 1997.

Electoral Atlas of the Dominion of Canada (1895) http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/02/020151/02015104_e.html

The Great Lakes. An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book. http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/great-lakes-atlas/intro.html
Government of Canada and United States Environmental Protection Agency. 1995. Print copy available.

Historical Atlas of Canada. http://www.historicalatlas.ca/website/hacolp/
The Historical Atlas of Canada was a three-volume collaborative publishing project, finished in 1993, which used maps, text and other graphics to explore themes in the history of Canada. The Online Learning Project proposes to make many of the maps and re search data created for the Atlas available over the Internet. At present the Online Learning Project is under development and seeking funding; only 15% of the proposed Tables of Contents is actively online.

Historical Atlas of Canada: Canada’s History Illustrated with Original Maps
Covers a period of a thousand years and contains the historically significant maps of Canada gathered from major archives and libraries from around the world. The atlas tells Canada’s history using maps. All of the major cities in Canada are represented. Douglas & McIntyre, 2002.

Infoplease Atlas of Canada and the Provinces http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/canada.html

Scholastic Canada Atlas of the World
Contains over eighty maps, hundreds of colour photographs and thousands of statistics. Each topographical map indicates important cities, mountains, deserts, bodies of water, border countries and national capitals. Sidebars with essays and pictures help with understanding the different cultures. Information about each country is contrasted with Canadian data. Scholastic. Grade 4 and up.

Introduction to reference: World atlases

Required reading
World Atlas and Dictionary Roundup
http://web.archive.org/web/20040515050103/http://www.ala.org/ala/booklist/speciallists/speciallistsandfeatures3/worldatlasdictionary.htm

Canadian maps and atlases
Required reading
“Atlases and maps of Canada”. School Libraries in Canada 2003 v. 27 no. 3 Available in pdf from Ebscohost Academic Search Premier.

Atlas of Manitoba. Winnipeg: Surveys and Mapping Branch, Dept. of Natural Resources, 1983.

The Atlas of Canada. Toporama. http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/index.html
Online Canadian topographical maps and orthoimages.

Yahoo! Canada Maps http://ca.maps.yahoo.com/
Use to find maps and directions to Canadian destinations. Enter address, intersection, city, province or postal code to find a location, or use driving directions.

Other maps and atlases
MRC Library Internet Subject Guides: Maps
http://web.archive.org/web/20051217165546/http://library.mtroyal.ca/subguides/map.htm
An extensive list of links compiled by Mount Royal College Library in Calgary.

National Atlas of the United States http://www.nationalatlas.gov/
This atlas updates a large bound collection of paper maps that was published in 1970. It delivers map-like views of America’s natural and sociocultural landscapes.

National Geographic Map Machine http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/map-machine#s=r&c=43.74999999999998,%20-99.71000000000001&z=4
Online atlas created by National Geographic. Maps. Charts everything from physical topography and political leanings to climate and population trends worldwide. You can find street maps for all of the United States, Canada and Europe. The “Flags and Facts” link leads you to detailed profiles of 191 countries, which includes a brief history of each locale, its demographics, economics and politics—and of course, maps. Follow the “World Themes” link to view time zones, transportation density and weather maps. Under “U.S. Themes,” you will find diversity, density and population maps based on Census 2000. The Web site even has a link to an interactive map of Mars.

Place names
Gazetteers: Descriptive

Cambridge World Gazetteer: A Geographical Dictionary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
First published as Chambers World Gazetteer. Fewer but more detailed entries than Webster’s.

Columbia Gazetteer of the World http://www.columbiagazetteer.org/main/Home.html
Updating of 1952 ed. Includes countries, towns, rivers, mountains, national parks, etc. Contains 165,000 entries in 3 volumes, some relatively lengthy.

The Columbia Gazetteer of the North America
50,000 entries. Covers every incorporated place and county in the United States, along with several thousand unincorporated places, special-purpose sites, and physical features, as well as Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names On Line http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/index.html
Contains nearly 1 million place names (including continents, rivers, mountains, empires, nations, states, districts, townships, cities, neighbourhoods, etc.). Global in scope. Provides information on place names related to art, art history and related subjects, such as history archeology, and geography.

Merriam-Webster’s Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. 1997.
A comprehensive source of geographical, economic, historical and political information. Over 54,000 entries and 250 maps. Information on continents, countries, regions, cities, historical sites and natural features with pronunciations and variant spelling.

World Gazetteer http://www.world-gazetteer.com/
Online resource. Contains current population figures for cities, towns and places of all countries largest cities of the world images of national flags. Personal site.

Gazetteer of Canada.
Published in parts with a separate volume for each province and territory except Quebec. Lists co-ordinates and provides references to National Topographic Series sheet numbers for both physical features and place names of cities, towns, etc. Concise edition published 1997.

Geographic Names Information System http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic
From U.S. government. Contains information about almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States. Also contains information on geographic names in Antarctica.

GEOnet Names Server (GNS) https://www1.nga.mil/ProductsServices/GeographicNames/Pages/default.aspx/html/index.html
Provides access to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency’s (NIMA) database of foreign geographic feature names. The database is the official repository of foreign place-name decisions approved by the U.S. board on Geographic Names. Currently, the GNS contains 3.97 million features with 5.5 million names (approximate).

U.S. Gazetteer http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer
Searchable database by name, state abbreviation or zip code. Contains geographic information, maps and census data.

U.K. Names (Ordnance Survey of Great Britain) http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/didyouknow/
Gazetteer of British place names. Links to OS maps.

Place Name Origins
BC Geographical Names http://www.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/bcnames/
Provides location and topographic map sheet showing the place or feature. Also has an option to do “sounds like” searches. Includes origin notes and history.

Geographical Names of Manitoba. Manitoba Conservation.

Place Names in the Canadian Rockies http://www.spiralroad.com/sr/pn/

Place Names of Manitoba. Penny Ham. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1980.

Place Names Database. Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. http://pwnhc.learnnet.nt.ca/databases/geodb.htm
Search for place names in the Northwest Territories. Provides location and topographic map sheet showing the place or feature. A map showing the feature’s location can also be displayed. Includes history/origin of name.

Place Name Sites http://www.asu.edu/lib/hayden/govdocs/maps/geoname.htm
Guide to place names sites on the Internet from Arizona State University Libraries Map collection.

Other Map/Atlas Resources
About.com – Geography http://geography.about.com/
Includes online maps arranged alphabetically. Includes links to additional geographic resources.

How Far Is It? http://www.indo.com/distance/
This service uses data from the US Census and a supplementary list of cities around the world to find the latitude and longitude of two places, and then calculates the distance between them (as the crow flies). It also provides a map showing the two places.

Map Collections: 1500-2003 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html
From Library of Congress. Extensive collection of digitized maps (mainly historical).

MapQuest http://www.mapquest.com/
Best known for driving instructions for US and Canada.

Bing Maps http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?wip=2&v=2&style=r&rtp=~&msnurl=home.aspx?%26redirect%3dfalse&msnculture=en-US
Search for maps and directions for Canada, U.S. and other world destinations.

Multimap.com http://www.multimap.com/
Europe’s most popular mapping web site, offering a range of free, useful services to assist with everyday life. Key features include street-level maps of the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada and the US; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; and local information.
Odden’s Bookmarks http://oddens.geog.uu.nl/index.php
Comprehensive listing of cartographic sites. Provides links to over 9,500 map sites.

Perry Castaneda Library Map Collection http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/map_sites.html
Excellent collection of online maps from the University of Texas. Contains about 2,400 maps.

Rand McNally Maps http://www.randmcnally.com/
City maps, driving directions for U.S. directions, etc.

Topozone http://www.topozone.com/
Sample topographical maps for the entire United States. The database is searchable by place name or by latitude and longitude. Complete downloadable USGS maps are available for a fee.

United Nations Cartographic Section Web Site http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm
Maps and geographic resources. Includes peacekeeping maps and country profiles.

Geographical handbooks
Country studies http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
This website contains the on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. The original intent of the Series’ sponsor was to focus primarily on lesser known areas of the world or regions in which the U.S. forces might be deployed, so the series is not all–inclusive. At present, 102 countries and regions are covered. Notable omissions include Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and other Western nations, as well as a number of African nations.

World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
Comprehensive, official CIA basic intelligence reference guide with reference maps.

Travel Guides
Required Reading
Roncevic, Mirela. “Staying Current with Travel.” Library Journal, 8/15/2003, Vol. 128 Issue 13, p114, 3p. Available fulltext on EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier. Updates articles listed below. Also available online from Library Journal http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA315927.html

Supplementary Reading
Roncevic, Mirela. “Have Book Will Travel.” Library Journal. Nov. 15, 2000 pp. 32-36 http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA140331.html and “Have Book Will Travel, Part II”. Library Journal Dec. 2000 pp. 78-81. Both are available fulltext on EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier. Rates guide book series.

Guides
Avalon http://www.travelmatters.com/
Publishes Moon Handbooks, Rick Steeves Guides, Foghorn Outdoors.

Dorling Kindersley http://www.dk.com/
Publishes DK’s Eyewitnesses Guides

Fodor’s http://www.fodors.com/

Frommer’s http://www.frommers.com/

Hunter http://www.hunterpublishing.com/

Langenscheidt http://www.langenscheidt.com/
Publishes the Insight Guides.

Let’s Go http://www.letsgo.com/

Lonely Planet http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

National Geographic Traveler http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/

Rough Guides http://www.roughguides.com/
Text of guidebooks available online at no cost.

Other useful Internet sites for the traveler includes:

About.com – Travel http://www.about.com/travel/
Includes sections on many areas of the world and lists relevant Internet sites.

Expedia.ca http://www.expedia.ca/
Travelocity http://www.travelocity.ca/
Competing sites for travel resources on the net, includes info about package destinations, prices, etc. Canadian versions of U.S. sites.

Introduction to reference: Geographic sources

Geographic sources

• help to locate places
• usually deal with a time period, either current or historical
• some deal with thematic or subject info

Categories of locational questions

• current events
• recreation
• business

Historical geography

• genealogy
• military history
• place name changes

Map: a drawing of all or part of the earth or universe, usually produced on a flat surface and almost always at a greatly reduced scale. • Physical maps: trace various features of the land, e.g. lakes, rivers, mountains. • Route maps: show features such as roads, railroads, bridges, hiking trails. • Political maps: show various political boundaries eg. towns, cities, counties, countries Some maps include all three types of info. Large flat maps provide the most detailed geographic info. Uses:

• finding details of a local area such as streets, public buildings, churches, schools
• look at growth or decline of an area
• look at topography, drainage systems, woodland cover, and other physical and cultural features

Atlas: a planned or systematic collection of geographical maps bound in book form or kept loose in a binder or slipcase. Can provide whole world in one volume at nominal cost.

• Geographical: show important geographical or political features of the world.
• Historical: show boundary changes, military campaigns, or early exploration.
• Thematic: emphasize a specific subject or region, include national, population and geographical atlases

Uses:

• locate places, countries
• understand historical development of a country or region
• look at a specific subject or theme in more detail e.g. world population

Gazetteer: geographical dictionary, usually of place names or physical features. Compliment and supplement atlases. Can be part of an atlas like an index or be separate publications.

• Locational: provide info for precise location of feature either by atlas page and grid index or by latitude and longitude
• Descriptive: locational info plus description e.g. brief history, population, altitude, commodities, etc.

Uses:

• Find where a specific city, mountain, river, or other physical feature is located
• Find additional info such as population or perhaps leading economic characteristics of an area.

Cartography: the art and science of map making. Cartographer: a map maker. Travel guides: provide info about a place or country written to meet the needs of a particular group e.g. students, or level, e.g. inexperienced, traveler. May be written to meet the needs of the armchair traveler. Uses:

• inform travelers about what to see, where to stay, where to eat and how to get there
• provides a lot of detail about specific places e.g. museums, restaurants, art galleries, historic attractions, churches, etc.

The only relatively accurate graphical representation of the earth is a globe but the need for a globe in a reference situation is probably questionable. Evaluation criteria Maps and atlases have unique evaluation criteria Scale and projection

• Scale: ratio of distance on map to actual distance in real world
• Projection: method used to transfer a curved section of the earth to a flat, two dimensional surface.

Scale: most important element of a map as it defines the amount of info that can be shown, as well as the size of the geographical area.

• The smaller the right hand number, the larger the scale of the map 1:75,000 is a larger scale map than 1:600,000 which is a small scale map.
• The larger the scale, the smaller the area the map can cover, but the greater amount of detail that it can include about that area.
• Scales given in numbers called representative fractions (RF):
  1:100,000 means one unit of distance on the map equals 100,000 of the same unit on the surface being portrayed, e.g. the earth
• Small-scale maps are used for maps of wide areas where not much detail is required. For example, a small-scale map of Europe (e.g. 1:12,000,000) would fit on a single page (typically 8 inches by 11 inches).
• A medium-scale map of San Francisco (e.g. 1:300,000) would fit on a single page.
• Large-scale means a more detailed map. They are used in large applications where detailed local maps are required. A large-scale map of a small town (e.g. 1:24,000) would fit on a single page.

Projection All maps are imprecise because projection of the earth’s curved surface onto a flat surface results in some distortion. To minimize or control distortion cartographers have developed numerous scientific map projections each of which has its own special uses, e.g. on world maps:

• Mercator projection shows correct shape of land masses but distorts their size.
• Google’s Interrupted Homolosine projection allows fairly faithful representation of both the shape and size of large land masses but distorts and interrupts the ocean area.

Mercator projection Goode's interrupted Homolosine Colour and symbols Colour used for: political boundaries, contour lines, water, roads, railways, buildings, highways, vegetation, etc. Symbols: amount and type controlled by scale of map Map should be legible and easy to interpret. It should not be too cluttered. Publisher/Authority

• national mapping authority
• Rand McNally, C.S. Hammond, National Geographic Society, John Bartholomew, Oxford University Press, Michelin

Indexing/Place-names As a rule, atlases lacking a general index, or at least separate map indexes should be avoided.

• Does index include all places and features shown on maps?
• Approx. how many entries are included?
• Single alphabet at back or separate indexes for each map or series of maps?
• Does index effectively refer you to right map and right point on map?
• How are variant place-names treated, and is there adequate cross-referencing?
• Does index offer any info beyond place-names and map references e.g. pronunciations, population stats?

Currency Copyright date and date when maps prepared can vary widely. May represent a new printing with only minor corrections vs. a new edition with major revisions.