Digital Tool Box for Teaching and Scholarship: Map Databases

An online database containing digitized fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company. This collection is freely available on the internet. The maps are large-scale plans of urban structures and were used to gauge the fire risks. The maps were hand-drawn and color coded. Sanborn maps are valuable historical tools for historians, geographers, genealogists, and anyone who wants to learn about the history, growth, and development of American cities, towns, and neighborhoods.
Start with: About this Collection. Then select: Collection Items. Use the left menu to filter by various aspects, such as location. NOTE: the states are not in alphabetical order; be sure to select "More Locations" and use the Sort Alphabetically option. Maps are still being added to the collection. 

A a step by step guide to using the Sanborn Maps.

Research Guide that offers The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist, essays about uses of the Sanborn Maps, and other resources.

Maps of 19th century European transportation facilities held by the University of Chicago Library's Map Collection.

The American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection currently contains over 5000 maps, ranging from early maps of Asia to historical maps of Wisconsin and Milwaukee, and other American cities, states, and national parks. The digital collection is under continuing development.

The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection.

Hosted by the Earth Sciences and Map Library at UC Berkeley, includes index maps by the U.S. Army Map Service (AMS) and Great Britain. War Office. General Staff. Geographical Section (GSGS).

Offers current topographic maps and data as well as topical and historical maps of Canada.

Displays historical county boundaries for all states.

Published in 1932, the atlas contains 700 maps. This digitized version is user-friendly and georectified.

Includes Maps on the Web, part of the Oxford Digital Library.

The Broer Map Library is a large collection of government, commercial and other produced maps and atlases from the past three centuries. The library endeavors to provide its collection of maps and atlases online in order to allow libraries and researchers who would not otherwise have access to such a large collection, have them available.

A geographic wiki.

"An Atlas of History and Happenings", Concharto is an encyclopedic atlas of history and happenings that anyone can edit.

18th and 19th century North and South America maps are the main feature of this site. Historic maps of the World, Europe, Asia and Africa are also represented.

Earth Sciences and Map Library at UC Berkeley hosts this site linking to every index map held in the Earth Sciences & Map Library's collection (with the exception of the Army Map Service (AMS) indexes) and air photo index maps.

19th-century ethnographic maps held by the University of Chicago Library's Map Collection.

Provides researchers and explorers with more than 130,000 current and historical maps, as well as other geographical resources, covering every part of the world. The collection is especially strong in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania maps and atlases.

The Geologic Atlas of the United States is a set of 227 folios published by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1894 and 1945. Each folio includes both topographic and geologic maps for each quad represented in that folio, as well as description of the basic and economic geology of the area. The Geologic Atlas collection is maintained by Map and GIS Collections and Services within the TAMU Libraries.

The Gough Map is one of the earliest maps to show Britain in a geographically-recognizable form.

"This site contains thousands of old maps, property atlases, city directories, industrial site surveys, and other items documenting the history and development of the city from the 1600s through today." Access is through a resource browser and an interactive maps viewer.

"The Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia Libraries maintains a collection of more than 1,000 historic maps spanning nearly 500 years, from the sixteenth century through the early twentieth century. Although not limited to a single geographic subject, the collection heavily emphasizes Georgia as colony and state, along with its surrounding region. "

Hosted at the University of Groningen.

The Historical Map Archive is a digitized collection of selected map holdings from sources including the University of Alabama Map Library, the W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, the Rucker Agee Map Collection of the Birmingham Public Library, the Geological Survey of Alabama, Samford University Special Collections Library, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

The Office of Coast Survey's Historical Map & Chart Collection is a rich archive of high-resolution images capturing a vast wealth of the U.S. government's historical surveying and mapping. The collection of over 35,000 scanned images - covering offshore and onshore sites - includes some of the Nation's earliest nautical charts, bathymetric maps, city plans, and Civil War battlefield maps. Electronic copies are available, by free download, to the public.

The USGS is scanning all editions and all scales of topographic maps produced since the inception of the topographic mapping program in 1884. The exact number of maps is unknown at this time but 200,000 is the number currently being used until an accurate count can be made. All 50 States, Puerto Rico and Trust Territories are included in the effort to complete the collection. 

Links to a variety of libraries with historical images online.

A list by the Illinois State Library with links to scanned 15-minute topographic maps.

"... provides an intuitive GIS interface enabling researchers to map and visualize textual and artefactual data relating to seventeenth and eighteenth-century London against John Rocque’s 1746 map of London and the first accurate modern OS map."

Digitized maps of abandoned mine site maps and papers, grouped by county.

The New York Public Library's Map Division uses a Google Earth to index its digitized NYC map collections, which include more than 2000 maps from 32 titles, organized chronologically and geographically (by borough), all published between 1852 and 1923. Requires installation of Google Earth.

Access high-resolution zoomable images of over 20,000 maps of Scotland.

The Maryland Map collection is a comprehensive collection of more than 2,500 maps depicting Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay, and the surrounding region from 1590 to the present. The collection contains many rare early maps of Maryland as well as more modern maps produced by state and local governments. Some selected maps have been digitized and are available on this site.

Included among the earliest documents produced by the United States Government are maps covering the geographic area of the United States as it expanded its boundaries to the west. These early published maps, created by some of America’s leading cartographers, were included in the American State Papers and the United States Congressional Serial Set, the official record of reports of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives from 1789 to present.

1870, 1880, 1890, and 1970 atlas of the United States

Most of the map images on these webpages are from Rutgers Special Collections. Permission is granted solely to view these map images.

Scanned images from the National Library of Australia.

Vision of Britain features scanned historical maps of the British Isles.

An easy-to-use gateway to historical maps in libraries around the world.

USGenWeb Archives, United States Digital Map Library.

Featured maps scanned from originals at the Library of Congress.

Includes links to many sites with digitized Sanborn map collections.

Includes high-resolution image, revealing trade routes and compass bearings from the port of Quanzhou to all parts of East Asia and beyond.

Digitized maps celebrating 200 years of topography in The Netherlands.

Collections include digitized maps of the Civil War; Colonial and Federal Eras; and West Point.

Scanned maps for some states, linked from an index page.