You Are Here

I received a link to an interesting story today and thought that I'd share it.  With greater access to mapping technologies, this article asks the question "who are the mapmakers?"

You Are Here: How Digital Maps Are Changing the Landscape of the 21st Century

No Need to Blow the Dust off these Maps

The Digital Archives Initiative of the Memorial University Libraries has thrown open the doors on a collection that, although open to the public, was largely inaccessible for a couple of reason. For one; some may not even know of its existence; or two, users may feel that they do not want to go through the extra steps, or make the request to staff if it isn’t something that they are ‘very serious’ about using.


What the Digital Archives Initiative (DAI) is able to accomplish is to place the material into the hands of the user, to enable them to browse the items electronically -  without guilt of placing extra requests with library staff. Or else it may simply increase the awareness of the collection through its ease of access.  In many cases, the materials held as part of this collection are rare and certainly something that you would not want out as part of the general collection. For example, Captain Cook’s Chart of the South-East Part of Newfoundland from 1771 is a map that libraries would certainly handle with care.

Users are able to zoom in on parts of this map to use it, almost just like viewing the original, only without being able to touch it.  Making this map available electronically through the DAI, places this resource back into the hands of the users rather than behind locked doors. In the Map Room here at the Queen Elizabeth II Library, a 1909 map of St. John’s has become so brittle that even staff are hesitant to handle it. Steps have been taken to preserve this map and add it to the DAI to ensure that this map is not lost to library patrons.

Simply opening up the DAI site and browsing the collection is an incredible experience. There are videos from the opening of the current Memorial Campus; personally I could spend hours browsing the Geography Collection, which are historical photographs of Newfoundland and Labrador by three prominent photographers from around the turn of the 20th century. Or perhaps you may wish to browse the first volume of the Newfoundland Quarterly.

All of these resources are readily available through the Digital Archives Initiative of the Memoriual University Library system and can be found online at http://collections.mun.ca/.

Happy Browsing!

Smart Phones and Libraries

To start, what is a smart phone?  Perhaps a smart phone can be thought of, not so much as a telephone, but more as a mobile computer that you can make a phone call with.  One of the big pushes in the technology world is towards integrated technologies.  Cell phones were once just that, phones, now a whole myriad of functionality has been added to these devices so that they are now more akin to personal computers.  Users are making use of their ‘phones’ for just about everything these days and are able to download custom applications to take advantage of the full resources of the device.

So, how can libraries take advantage of the functionality that comes with these mobile devices?  Let’s start with the internet resources.  First of all, library catalogues are all available online, however, downloading a streamlined version of the catalogue designed specifically for mobile devices would certainly increase access and utility.  Other users may wish to access information pertaining to their library accounts such as overdue materials, print credits, or other vital information.  The convenience of having a ‘terminal’ in your pocket is immediately realized.

Beyond simply browsing the catalogue, how else can libraries make us of smart phones?  There is a whole range of uses that the library can employ such as: providing facilities information; hours of operation; study room bookings; virtual tours; and so on.  The library can also grant access to audio and video resources, ebooks, or journal articles in support of your research that can be browsed from anywhere, whether inside the library or not.  Likewise, libraries can provide suites of tools or specialized apps (applications) that could be downloaded to mobile devices for use with other resources of the library.  Another benefit, perhaps more so for users, is the ability of more substantial devices such as laptops or tablets to be ‘tethered’ to the phone, thereby enabling access to the internet - via the phone - where wireless connections are unavailable.

How are these devices of benefit to the library?  The beauty of this scenario is that once someone starts to make use of the device for anything, it will trigger an idea for someone else for a completely different application.  The possibilities are endless!

Those with limited resources, need not be limited in resources.

One of the more valuable digital resources available within the Map Room is GIS or Geographic Information System software.  This tool, for those not familiar, enables users to overlay and analyse geospatial data to create their own map, report, or to answer some geographic query such as identifying optimal locations for emergency services.  Purchasing this software, however, can be expensive and limit its availability for many users.  Within larger institutions, such as at the Map Room at Memorial’s Queen Elizabeth II Library, many are able to take advantage of site license agreements that make the software a little more accessible, but still, not everyone is so lucky.

For smaller libraries wishing to take advantage of this software, there is the option of using open source software.  There are several open source GIS packages available, but one of the more common ones is GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System).  This software was developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the early 80’s to support environmental initiatives undertaken by the military.  It has since evolved into the world’s leading open source GIS software.   One advantage of open source software is that the users themselves drive the direction it takes.  Frequently, users are able to create a new tool or modification, or contribute to a wish list for other users or programmers to tackle.  With the barriers of cost removed, along with enabling users to drive the direction of development, many more doors are opened.  The advantages offered by open source GIS are numerous.  Probably the greatest benefits can be realized by those involved with community based mapping projects and public participation GIS.  These initiatives are as the name suggest, driven by the public and reflect in maps what is important to the people, rather than what is deemed important by the government or large corporations.

I know where it is - but what does it show?

Library catalogues have certainly come a long way from the days of the seemingly endless trays of cards.   Library systems and catalogues are now augmented or ‘enriched’ by a wealth of supplementary information resulting in a greatly enhanced catalogue record.  The interconnectivity of the internet has resulted in greater access to information such as reviews, author biographies, excerpts, or images associated with the product.  This additional information need not be contained within the library or even with the individual record of the book, but can be pulled in from additional sources to augment the record as required.

What does it all mean for the average library user?  Today’s library patrons are used to accessing much more information over the internet and consequently they’re seeking more from the library.  Frequently, library catalogues are being accessed off-site.  Providing the user with this additional information may assist with the evaluation of materials and help to narrow their selections before ever visiting the library.  Even something as simple as providing an image of an album cover of an audio recording can be extremely helpful, not to mention a little more visually appealing.

How does this apply to maps?  Perhaps snippets of maps can be added to the record to help illustrate the content of the map. In many cases, the legend of the map can be included to enrich the catalogue record.  The legend defines all of the symbols shown on the map and would certainly assist the reader by showing them precisely what it contains.  Currently, the scale and geographic extent of the map forms an integral part of the catalogue record, but beyond that the record describing the contents can be pretty sparse.  If given an opportunity to include a portion of the legend, the record will provide a better indication of what the map actually contains.  In addition to adding the legend, many systems allow individual users to add tags or to write reviews for the record, further assisting others with their own evaluation of the resource.  Catalogue records for maps can be pretty vague, but they certainly don’t need to be!

Do you have more than one atlas?

Here at the Map Room in the Queen Elizabeth II Library at MUN, we house the map collection for the library and offer geographic reference services for the university community. To provide this service, we rely on approximately 100,000 sheet maps, nearly 50,000 aerial photos of the province (some photos date back to 1941) and roughly 4,500 atlases, not to mention the gigabytes of digital map data available. So, you can imagine our surprise when we get a call from a person wanting to know if we had more than one atlas! As it turns out, students had been given an assignment that referred them to a specific atlas, so the patron was really asking if we had more than one copy of that particular edition. Still it offered an opportunity to promote the collection just a little bit.


When thinking of maps, people tend to think of street maps, topographic reference maps and other products of that nature. I know I’ve said before that everything happens somewhere, therefore, if we approach it the right way anything that has a geographic component can be mapped. Maps and atlases can portray some very specialized topics. How about The Women’s Atlas of the United States (Call no. G 1201 E1 G5 1995) which presents a collection of maps on a variety of topics pertaining to Women; and Women within the larger population. Another very specialized topic is The Geography of Death: Mortality Atlas of British Columbia, 1985-1989 (HB 1360 B7 G45 1992). This atlas, as with most, not only contains maps but is also full of a wealth of statistics, graphs, and textual information on the demographics of death. Perhaps you may be more interested in The Atlas of North American English: Phonetics, Phonology, and Sound Change (PE 2808 L26 2006) that not only maps and describes variations of dialect, but comes complete with CD so that one can hear the variations as well.


The atlas collection of the Map Room offers a well-rounded array (both digital and print) in a variety of shapes and sizes that covers numerous topics from general reference to the very specialized. In fact, you may be surprised with just what you will find there. So, yes, we do have more than one atlas!

The map as an interface

Maps are often overlooked as an information source, but these documents are a valuable resource for library users.  It can be argued that everything has a location and therefore ‘a geography’; we know that everything happens somewhere.  While maps, in and of themselves, can contain a wealth of data, they can also form the interface to tremendous volumes of information that is referenced by location.  Within resources such as Google Earth, the information available to the user is simply incredible, and not just for spying to see what your neighbours have in their backyard.

Google Earth can be downloaded to your computer.  It places satellite images and aerial photographs along with the power and utility of maps into the hands of everyday computer users.  However, there are limitations that must be considered.  First and foremost, be aware of what you’re looking at.  Consider the date of the imagery and it’s source.  Many fall into the trap of thinking that because it is image-based (including satellite data) that the image is instantaneous or near real-time.  Not so; some of the data is relatively recent, but more of it is a little dated.  Google strives to update its imagery within approximately three years, but they are at the mercy of governments and other agencies that actually collect this information; so what they’re seeking may not be available.  Remember to look to the lower left corner of the image window for the date of the images.  Also, one must be careful of the annotations that are added to the imagery.  Again, some feel that because a lot of the information is fed from satellite imagery, that it has to be correct; again, not so.  Remember that annotations and boundary lines are added by individuals that retrieve this information from a variety of sources.  So, just because it appears on Google Earth doesn’t necessarily mean it’s correct.  I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine who informed me that the name of the street where I live was different than what city officials, street signs, and I thought it to be – because the GPS and Google told him what it was.  His stance was that the satellite had to be correct!  The information he was referencing didn’t come from a satellite.

Within Google Earth, have a look beyond the great images.  Switch on some of the gallery sources like Street View or 360Cities to learn more about an area, or for a quick visit without actually leaving your home.  Learn more about social concerns such as the Crisis in Darfur, the Fair-trade Initiatives and see the areas that are actually affected.  Dive on a wreck with a team of experts or get really adventurous and visit the Moon, or even Mars.  Check it out, it’s worth the exploration.