Useful maps and map-oriented Web sites are sprouting up all over the Internet. But
they're often hard to find, because maps are images and search engines such as Yahoo and Excite operate by searching for keywords in text.
Save yourself some time by stopping by one of the
Internet's map-link clearinghouses. Stanford's Branner Earth Sciences Library provides a
set of links to a huge variety of online maps (www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/branner/ol_maps.htm). The site's links to vegetation maps are
impressive, and helpful for activists documenting environmental changes. Among these
links, for example, is one that shows changes in U.S. forest cover between 1982 and 1992 (www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/land/meta/m2310.html).
Another good umbrella site is the Alexandria
Digital Library (www.alexandria.ucsb.edu/). Search for maps by location-start as broadly
as the solar system or narrow your search to countries, states, counties, or, in some
cases, cities.
Anyone who has pored over maps wondering what's
out there knows that maps can be pure entertainment. Wile away the hours-and even learn
something in the process-with two engaging sites: the Library of Congress American Memory
Project (lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/) and Microsoft's Terra Server (www.terraserver.com). The
Library of Congress collection includes a fascinating set of panoramic maps from the 19th
and early 20th century.
With its data bank of satellite images and aerial photography, Terra Server has one of
the highest "gee whiz" factors of any Web site. Spotting your backyard from
space may not amount to high-level research, but the site certainly gives the low-key
field of geography a bit of flair.
(C) 2000 Sierra Club. Reproduction of this article is not permitted without permission. Contact sierra.magazine@sierraclub.org for more information.
