www1.biologie.uni-hamburg.de

Cartographic Links for Botanists

  • ️Raino Lampinen

Original URL: http://www.helsinki.fi/kmus/cartogr.html

compiled by Raino Lampinen, Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History

PLANT DISTRIBUTION AND VEGETATION MAPPING

  • Atlas Florae Europaeae. Overview of the project mapping the distribution of the vascular plants of Europe, with demo software. Atlas Florae Europaeae Database. Includes an evaluation version of a program (Windows95 and NT) for browsing the distribution of taxa (from family to subspecific level) treated in AFE 1 - 11.
  • Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants, by the Institute for Systematic Botany at the University of South Florida has put available maps showing the country distribution of vascular plants. The maps are gif images created with Atlas GIS 3.0 for Windows.
  • Atlas of the Distribution of Vascular Plants in Finland, overview in Finnish, no online maps yet. The Atlas is available only as a computer program, and it is based on the national floristic database of maintained in the Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History, and on a detailed, continuous floristic survey started in 1985. The first version was released in 1993, and the second in 1995. At the moment the Atlas shows the distribution of 1602 Finnish vascular plants as dot and frequency maps in 10 km x 10 km grid. - For some other distribution and coincidence maps of the Finnish vascular plants, visit the vascular plants of Finland page, and follow the links from that page.
  • Atlas of the Flora of New England. The web edition of the Atlas of the Flora of New England will be an ongoing updated document.
  • Atlas of Tennessee Vascular Plants
  • Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah. This is a digital version of the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah authored by Beverly J. Albee, Leila M. Shultz, and Sherel Goodrich, published by the Utah Museum of Natural History, 1988. This document consists of maps of the state of Utah showing collection locations for 2,438 documented plant species. The authors critically examined approximately 400,000 specimens during a seven year time span to create this atlas. The maps are in gif format, the base map shows the topography, regional boundaries and major lakes and rivers.
  • Atlas van de Flora van Eindhoven, the Netherlands, , text in Dutch, includes example maps in gif format.
  • Bioregional distribution maps of California vascular plants. Distribution maps of California vascular plants based on the bioregions cited in The Jepson Manual. Assembled by the Jepson Herbarium of the University of California, Berkeley.
  • BONAP/MIP Botanical Checklist of North America Browser, State Level Distributions. The Digital Checklist of the Vascular Flora of North America is a joint project of The Biota of North America Program of the North Carolina Botanical Garden and the Museum Informatics Project at the University of California at Berkeley, in support of the SMASCH project at the the University Herbarium. Data for the North American (USA, Canada, Greenland) "dot-maps" and nomenclatural information are obtained from the SQL server, and dynamically formatted as HTML documents for presentation on the World Wide Web.
  • Biodiversity and WORLDMAP (Natural History Museum, London). Quantitative measures for mapping biodiversity value, rarity and endemism, combined with accountable methods for assessing priority areas for biodiversity conservation, including gap analysis. The site shows examples from different spatial scales, including preliminary maps derived from AFE data for Europe, and a free downloadable demo of the WORLDMAP software.
  • The Biota of North America Program - World Wide Web Applications of BONAP Data. Sample flowering plant family treatments resulting from collaboration with the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group with indexed search/mapping systems under development at Texas A&M: 1) Checklist format - demo families: Chenopodiaceae and Cactaceae). These machine-generated pages both diversity mapping and range mapping with the inclusion of ancillary data (Texas checklist), 2) WWW 'browsing' format - demo families: Chenopodiacae and Cactaceae) or diversity maps (Chenopodiacae and Cactaceae), 3) Distribution/Diversity mapping at the county level: Arkansas Diversity Mapper. This is an experimental informatics system under development as a collaborative enterprise among faculty and students of the University of Arkansas Herbarium, the Biota of North America Program and the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group; 4) Full file indexing of merged data sets using BONAP nomenclature as a structural framework: the Flora2k System.
  • Cartes provisoires de distribution des Plantes en Belgique. An interactive atlas about the distribution of Flora in Belgium in 4x4 km squares.  
  • Cartes provisoires de distribution des Plantes protégées en Belgique. Distribution maps of the plants protected in Belgium.
  • Check-list of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly - 1994, C.N. French and R.J. Murph, University of Exeter. Numerous maps created with DMAP.
  • Checklist of Online Vegetation and Plant Distribution Maps. The list is maintained by Claire Englander (University Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley) and Phil Hoehn (Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections, Stanford University). The list is arranged by area (world or continent, then subdivided by region or country name, and when necessary subdivided by smaller areas).
  • Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Maps from UNEP Grid Arendal, Norway. 11 maps (Jan '97) showing the Arctic vegetation zones, protected areas, permafrost areas, bathymetry and topography.
  • Die Datenbank Gefäßpflanzen. Erfassung und Zusammenführung von Verbreitungsdaten für Farn- und Blütenpflanzen in Deutschland / National database for mapping the distribution of German vascular plants.
  • Distribution des Plantes supérieures dans la Région Bruxelles-Capitale. Distribution maps of the vascular Plants of the Brussels Region, Belgium.
  • Distribution Maps of Vascular Plants in Hokkaido, Japan
  • Eucalypt Data Project, ERIN, Australia. This project represents a collaboration of Australian Herbaria and Conservation Agencies and the Environmental Resources Information Network. Over 160,000 records of the specimen locality data of Eucalyptus, Angophora and Corymbia species in Australia have been collated, loaded and validated. These records are available for individual species through interactive query via the World Wide Web. These records are also available to researchers and collaborators in the project via this page. It is possible to plot records of a species obtained from a particular institution or to download a file of all of the data.
  • Flora of China. Provincial distribution maps of the Chinese vascular plants.
  • Flora of Hämeenlinna (Hämeenlinnan kasvisto). 799 maps showing the present 1 km x 1 km distribution (Finnish uniform coordinate system) of all vascular plants of Hämeenlinna, a town in S Finland. Compiled by Raino Lampinen (ie., me).
  • Flora of North America, state level distribution maps of North American vascular plants (and much more).
  • Flora Mesoamericana: The Internet Version, Missouri Botanical Garden, USA. Here are example maps which use the Xerox Parc Map Viewer.
  • GIS in Biogeography Home Page. Mailing list archives.
  • Global Atlas of Palaeovegetation
  • Global Land Cover Characterization. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) have generated a 1-km resolution global land cover characteristics data base for use in a wide range of environmental research and modeling applications.
  • Index Holmiensis. A world index to plant distribution maps. Founded in 1969 by Hans Tralau (Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden).Index Holmiensis is a world-covering index to distribution maps of vascular plants. Scientific publications from all parts of the world are systematically scanned by an international team of specialists. The index gives full bibliographic references to published distribution maps - local, regional or world-wide - of vascular plant taxa from family level and below, but mainly at the species level.
  • The International Kuril Island Project (IKIP) collecting data
  • INVADERS - Database of Exotic Plant Names and Distribution Information. A database of exotic plant distribution records and regulatory information for the northwest United States supporting interactive query, reporting and graphics generation.
  • Kartierung der globalen Phytodiversität - BIOMAPS / Biodiversity Mapping for Protection and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources. The project at the University of Bonn, Germany, aims at analyses of the spatial distribution of phytodiversity at different scales. As a first result a world map of the species numbers of vascular plants is presented . Additional analyses include the interdependence of biodiversity and geodiversity and the spatial patterns of different qualitative aspects of biodiversity. A new terminological system for the diversity of introduced plants is proposed.
  • The Mutual Climatic Range Method (MCR) allows the quantitative reconstruction of past climates using biological proxies.
  • The Nevada Mountain Atlas (University of Nevada, Reno, USA)
  • Orchidées de Provence, France. Distribution maps, photos and bibliography of the orchids of Provence, and links to other orchid sites; maintained by Pierre-Michel Blais.
  • Plant Fossil Record Maps, IOP
  • The Plants of Hull (Richard Middleton, UK). Commented distribution maps for all vascular plants of the town.
  • PLANTS National Database. Machine generated maps showing the state distribution of U.S. vascular plants.
  • Plant Species Lists and Distribution Maps for the Great Basin from the Biological Resources Research Center, University of Nevada, Reno, USA.
  • South Carolina Plant Atlas. The purpose of this Atlas is to show, on a county by county basis, the distribution of all native and naturalized ferns, fern allies, gymnosperms, and angiosperms of South Carolina. Approximately 3000 vascular plant species are listed in the Atlas, with a county dot map for each. Johnny Townsend, Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, USA
  • The Species Mapper of ERIN, Australia. Using this tool, you can produce maps from the ERIN database, which contains records of the occurrence of plants and animals in Australia. These records have been obtained from Australian herbaria, museums and conservation agencies. The database contains specimen and survey records of rare and threatened plants, endangered and vulnerable animals and major land-cover plants such as Eucalyptus, Acacia and the Chenopodiaceae. The scientific names for plants and animals are as defined in the Australian Plant Name Index [APNI] (last updated January 1995) and the Census of Australian Vertebrate Species [CAVS] (last updated June 1995).
  • Sveriges växter - Den virtuella floran ("Virtual Flora of Swedish Vascular Plants") by Arne Anderberg, Anna-Lena Anderberg and Mia Ehn Salter, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm. Vernacular names in several languages, morphological decsription, distribution maps (scanned from Hultén's "Atlas över växternas utbredning i Norden" and from Hultén, E. & Fries, M. 1986. Atlas of North European vascular plants: north of the Tropic of Cancer I-III), economic uses, etymology of scientific names, images, etc. Text in Swedish.
  • Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) in Birmensdorf / Zurich, Switzerland. The WSL is a multidisciplinary research institute which concentrates on six main topics: forest ecology, forest utilization, natural hazards, snow coverage, environmental monitoring and landscape ecology. The WSL Landscape Ecology Department sells a CD-ROM with distribution maps.
  • Swiss Web Flora. Data management and analyses: T. Wohlgemuth. Design: T. Wohlgemuth & P. Longatti. This superb site gives species distribution maps and species richness information on the Swiss flora.
  • Turkish Endemic Plants Database. Point and click the map of Turkey to get lists of endemic plants of each vilayet.
  • University of Michigan Herbarium Web Gis Prototype. Interactive distribution maps of fungi in the USA.
  • Vascular Plants Endemic to Texas, Texas A&M University Bioinformatics Working Group in collaboration with The Flora of Texas Consortium. Machine generated species distribution and diversity maps.

Finland

Coordinate Conversion and Transformation

The mapping software packages have various utilities for coordinate conversion; here are links to programs created for just for the conversion.

  • AUSLIG Geodesy Pages: Coordinate Transformation - instructions for conversion of Australian coordinates to WGS84, also Excel spreadsheets for conversions. AUSLIG Geodesy Pages: Coordinate calculations, Datums and Coordinates in Australia. Geodetic Calculation Methods.
  • BlueMarble Geographics sells software for coordinate conversion (Geographic Calculator), GPS tracking, etc. The demo versions are available from their website.
  • Bureau of Land Management ftp server (USA), GIS directory. Plenty of useful GIS utilities - see the file 000-index. Several coordinate conversions programs (for instance in packages llutm.zip, rule2ll.zip, utm.zip). Some programs with source code.
  • Coordinate Conversion (GCTP), USGS General Cartographic Transformation Package (Map projection Software).
  • Coordinates, Datums and Transformations. Annotated links to web sites, maintained by Bob Burtch.
  • National Imagery and Mapping Agency's NIMAMUSE: NIMA MC&G Utility Software Environment, Version 2.1. NIMAMUSE is a self-contained set of computer programs and computer utilities designed to work with NIMA MC&G data and information. NIMAMUSE is designed to be loaded on to and run from several popular computers: IBM PCs running Windows, Sun, Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Graphics.- The package includes Datum Transformation and Coordinate Conversion (DT&CC4), which allows the user to perform datum transformation, coordinate conversion, or combined datum transformation and coordinate conversion, and is the standard for validation of coordinate handling in defense software systems, see Nimamuse 2.1 Documentation Pages.
  • ERIN GIS Tools. The Environmental Resources Information Network has made online form which can be used in lat/long geo conversion in Australia.
  • FORTRAN - f77 Subroutine for Lat/Lon to UTM Conversion
  • Geodetic Calculations by Bernd Scherer, Munich, Germany. WWW forms for various conversions.
  • Great Circle Distance Calculator. This system computes the flight distance between any two points on the earth. This is called the great circle distance. Inputs to the system are the latitudes and longitudes (input through a variety of different methods) of two points, and an indication of whether the distance should be returned as statute miles, nautical miles, or kilometers.
  • Great Circle Route Drawing Program
  • GSRUG - Geographic to Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Geodetic Survey of Canada Online Applications. Coordinate conversion online in a WWW browser. Geodetic Software and Related Data Products guide.
  • John Banta's Coordinate Transform Page . The SeisSoft Company sells several programs for coordinate conversion, and evaluation versions are available via their website:
    • SeisSoft Multiple Regression Transform. Shareware program that converts Lat/Long between various datums.
    • SeisSoft Molodensky Transform. Shareware program ($20 - $25) that converts Lat/Long/Height values between various datums.
    • Coordinate File Conversion. Lat/Lon <=> X/Y, Datum to Datum File Conversion program.
    • Coordinate Transform. Lat/Lon to X/Y conversion program ($20 - $25).
  • KARTTAPROJEKTIOMUUNNOKSET -ohjelma (Win 3.1 & NT).
  • KMSTrans. For converting and transforming the Danish coordinates; the program can be ordered from Kort & Matrikelstyrelsen.
  • Koordinatentransformationen des bkg. Online Koordinatentrafo des bkg ( IFAG) für ED50 - WGS84 und      DHDN - WGS84. Auf einer anderen Seite stehen noch einige weitere Programme zum downloaden.  Hierbei ist besonders das Programm der DMA hervorzuheben (madtran.exe), das sämtliche Parameter enthält, die     auch im Technical Report zum WGS84 enthalten sind.
  • Mapping Datum Transformation Software Program (MADTRAN). MADTRAN-edition 4.1 is a free program for datum transformation and coordinate conversions. A directory of internally documented source code is included for system developer use. The program allows input from geodetic, UTM, or the Military Grid Reference System coordinates. Over 100 datums are available for transformation to or from WGS 84. Output is automatically presented as geodetic, UTM, and Military Grid Reference System coordinates. Geodetic coordinates can be computed in degrees, minutes, and/or seconds. Source code included.
  • Map Projection Software page of Karen Mulcahy - reviews and links of several conversion programs.
  • The National Geodetic Survey (NOAA/NGS) PC Software List, many free conversion programs, such as
    • ENHANCEMENTS (Version 20). Performs field check computations, such as tape standardization, eccentric reduction, datum transformation, triangle (plane, spherical, geodetic), special (three-point fix, intersection, resection), geodetic (traverse, inverse, direct) computations, solar observation for azimuth, and State plane coordinate system computations on the NAD 27 and NAD 83 datums.
    • GPPCGP (Version 2.0). Converts NAD 27 State plane coordinates to NAD 27 geographic positions (latitudes and longitudes) and conversely. Includes defining constants for all NAD 27 plane coordinate zones.
    • NADCON (Version 2.1). Transforms geographic coordinates between the NAD 27, Old Hawaiian, Puerto Rico, or Alaska Island datums and NAD 83 values. Recommended for converting coordinate data for mapping, low-accuracy surveying, or navigation.
    • SPCS83 (Version 2.0). Converts NAD 83 state plane coordinates to NAD 83 geographic positions and conversely. Includes defining constants for NAD 83 coordinate zones. State plane coordinates are entered or computed to 1 mm accuracy, while the latitudes and longitudes entered or computed correspond to approximately 0.3 mm accuracy.
    • UTMS (Version 1.1). Converts geographic coordinates (latitudes and longitudes) on the Clarke 1866, GRS 80/WGS 84, International, WGS 72, or any user-defined reference ellipsoid to Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates, and vice-versa.
  • PROJ4 is a standard Unix filter function which converts geographic longitude and latitude coordinates into cartesian coordinates, (lambda,phi) -> (x,y), by means of a wide variety of cartographic projection functions. For many of the projection functions the inverse conversion, (x,y) -> (lambda,phi), can also be performed. The Unix version of the software (buildable with gcc) is located in ftp://kai.er.usgs.gov/pub/PROJ.4, and this plus a PC-DOS version of the software (both executable & source) may also be downloaded via http. This software supports a very robust set of coordinate projection systems, datums, and ellipsoids. This software is especially useful if you have to convert large batches of coordinates.
  • TranCoor v. 2.3 by Mark van Veen (On Page: Checklist of Software for Field Biologists). Map coordinates conversion utility for the BENELUX countries. Converts between numeric UTM coordinates, UTM codes, matrix numbers, spherical coordinates and Amersfoort coordinates. Furthermore, you can give place names and get their coordinates. Public domain, and source code also available.
  • Transformatie van RD-coördinaten en geografische coördinaten. Online conversion of the co-ordinates used in the Netherlands.
  • Transverse Mercator Calculator (Alan Morton, UK). A facility for converting latitude/longitude co-ordinates to co-ordinates in metres on a Transverse Mercator projection. The facility is created by JavaScript, and it converts latitude/longitude co-ordinates into metric co-ordinates of the British, Finnish, Irish, Italian and Swedish national coordinate systems, and to UTM coordinates.
  • TSPI coordinate conversions , Edwards Air Force Base. Converts coordinates in a WWW form.
  • UTM is a program made by Larry Huldén for converting the Finnish national uniform coordinates (KKJ3 zone) into the grid used in Atlas Florae Europaeae. UTMWorld and UTMFinland are free coordinate conversion programs made by Peter Bostock, Queensland Herbarium, Australia. UTMWorld converts lat/long coordinates to WGS84 coordinates (and vice versa), UTMFinland converts the Finnish national coordinates (lat/long or metric) to WGS84 (and vice versa). They are available via the ftp server of the Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History. - Read the index.txt file of the ftp server.
  • Uurhok. A free Windows program by Laurens Sparrius, Leiden University, the Netherlands. Conversion program for the Dutch coordinates (prompts in Dutch; "Een programma om kilometerhokken naar amersfoortcoordinaten om te rekenen bestaat nog niet dus heb ik zelf maar eentje geschreven").
  • Wizvax's FTP server,Victor Fraenckel's coordinate calculation programs, see the programs.txt file for details. The DOS programs available as zip files include:
    • RULE2LL: computes the latitude and longitude of a point on a map given the easting and northing offsets from the lower left corner of the map. The measurements may be entered in inches or millimeters.
    • LL2RULE: given a latitude and longitude of a point on a map LL2RULE will compute the easting and northing of the point referenced to the lower left hand corner of the map. Input and output formats as well as map scale, map reference ellipsoid and corner latitude/longitude are user selectable.
    • LL2UTM: given the latitude and longitude of a point LL2UTM will compute the UTM coordinates and zone of that point.
    • UTM2LL: given the UTM grid coordinates of a point on the earth's surface, UTM2LL will compute the latitude and longitude of that point. The user may select output display format and may select a map datum or an ellipsoid to be used for the conversion. The user must supply an appropriate UTM Zone number and Zone letter.
    • DIRECT: given the latitude and longitude of a point on the earth's surface and the distance and azimuth to a second point, DIRECT will compute the latitude and longitude of the second point and the azimuth of the first point from the second.
    • INVERSE: given the latitude and longitude of two point on the earth's surface, INVERSE will compute the distance between the two points and the azimuth of each from the other.
  • WGS84 <=> KKJ conversion program. WGS84 <=> KKJ conversion program. A free DOS, Alpha/VMS, VAX/VMS, Win3.x or Windows NT program for converting the coordinates of the Finnish national coordinate system (KKJ) to WGS84 and vice versa - available from the Finnish National Land Survey. Prompts and user guide in Finnish; some of the conversion equations are given on the web page.
  • WISCON -- Coordinate and Datum Transformation Software
  • Wis On Net, Belgium. Online Java applets for coordinate conversions between WGS84, ED50, French and Belgian coordinate systems, and more.

Coordinate Systems, Geodetic Datums, Map Projections

Free digital datasets

The mapping software packages include datasets for base maps, and they often can be converted to formats which can be used in other programs. Here are some links to some of the sites which have made free coordinate files available (there are many more such sites, especially in USA):

  • ArcData Online allows you to browse a wide variety of geographic data to create maps of your areas of interest. You can access basemap data to create traditional maps of geographic features such as political boundaries, roads, and place names. As an alternative, you can access thematic data to create atlas maps of information about the earth including its people, nations, and environment.
  • BASICS - Baltic Sea Region Statistical Database on Sustainable development, natural resources and environment is a compilation of statistics dealing with the Baltic Sea region. Most of the statistics are on a national level, related to most of the countries fully or partly within the Baltic Sea drainage basin; Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine. - Digital boundary data for the countries is available in MapInfo export format (.MIF/.MID).
  • China In Time And Space (CITAS). China in Time and Space (CITAS) is a project to create and maintain databases of spatially- and temporally-referenced data on China. CITAS aims to provide access to a wealth of contemporary and historical information on China at minimal cost to scholars and other non-commercial users. The project utilizes state-of-the-art geographic information system (GIS) technology to integrate tabular and vectorized map data. An unusual aspect of CITAS is its emphasis on the temporal dimension: one project goal is the capability of reconstructing Chinese administrative geography for specific historical dates, and the ability to compare spatial data at two points in time, whether over years or over centuries. Collaboration with Chinese scholars and organizations is integral to the project goals.
  • Coastline Extractor of the USGS Woods Hole Field Center. Freely available datasets containing world coastlines and lakes, international and internal political boundaries and rivers. - Description of the World Vector Shoreline (WVS) dataset (from NIMA).
  • Digital Chart of the World Data Server, The Pennsylvania State University Libraries. This web site will allow you to download the boundaries and layers of individual countries, in Arc/INFO export format, from ESRI's Digital Chart of the World data set.
  • DMAP boundary files for Finland. Free boundary files for Alan Morton's DMAP distribution mapping program. Boundary files for Finland are available via the ftp server of the Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History (read the descriptions in the index.txt file).
  • ESRI ArcData Online. ArcData Online is ESRI's Internet Mapping and Data Site. The ADOL site contains a wide assortment of geographic information that users can access to create map images and download data.
  • ESRI Data Hound Service. A service that catalogs and searches web sites that offer freely downloadable data compatible with ESRI software.
  • Geographic Information Systems in Sustainable Development prepared by the Geographic Information Systems Group Environment and Natural Resources Service (SDRN) FAO Research, Extension and Training Division. - This document has links to sites with free datasets.
  • The GIS Data Depot. Free dataset and software depository. The GIS Data Depot houses data in support of the GIS industry. The majority of the data provided by the GIS Data Depotähas been downloaded by their staff from a wide range of GIS Web sites located on the Internet. There is also value added data where the GIS Data Depot staff has performed some translation, attribution, analysis, or other data enhancing operation. The majority of datasets in the GIS Data Depotä are in ARC/INFO E00, SHP, DLG, TIGER & DEM.
  • GRID-Arendal's Online GIS and Map and Graphics Database. These dataset are produced using ARC/INFO (for both PC and Unix), ARC/VIEW and IDRISI software.
  • Lat/long world coastline data (as a compressed file, coast.zip) from the Bureau of Land Management, USA.
  • MapCruzin.
  • MapData Online Free GIS Data Products. US datasets in for ArcInfo, MapInfo and more.
  • NOAA's Medium Resolution Digital Vector Shoreline
  • On-line Baltic Sea Drainage Basin GIS, Map and Statistical Database, UNEP/Grid-Arendal, Norway.
  • SpatialNews.com. Here is a geocoded points file containing over 13,000 world places with attributes, US zip codes data as well as several datasets covering British Columbia.
  • UNEP/Grid-Sioux Falls, U.SA
  • The USGS collection of public-domain software developed by or for the USGS, including cartographic, map production and revision, geospatial metadata, and mapping products access applications. USGS Geodata is also available via ftp.
  • USGS DLG. 1:100,000-scale coverage of the United States
  • US GeoData Available Through the Internet
  • Xerox Webster Research Center ftp server. USGS Digital Elevation Model files, USGS Digital Line Graph files, geographic names, land use information, US Bureau of Census street maps from 1990, US Bureau of Census street maps, etc.

Gazetteers

Using these services you can enter a place name and see the results in your WWW browser either as a map or as coordinate data.

GIS and metadata guides

GPS

Institutes, Organizations, Societies

Interactive Maps

  • DeLorme CyberMaps and CyberRouter. Enter a ZIP Code or a placename to generate a Street Atlas USA® map, or enter starting and destination points in the form below, and click "Go!" to receive a Map'n'Go® travel plan.
  • Design Map, Australia. This service, developed by Tony Steinke, Charles Sturt University, plots a map on your screen according to the parameters that you fill in the form.
  • Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) Level 0 in 3D A JAVA application, which models DTED tiles in 3D. After selecting a 1 degree tile, you will have the option to view the terrain before downloading the data. From the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, USA. -- Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED®) Level 0 30 Arc Second Terrain Data
  • Eesti Atlas
  • GISLAND, Geographic Information System of Iceland
  • GRASSLinks is a World Wide Web interface to a geographic information system (GIS), offering public access to mapped information. GRASSLinks provides GIS display and analysis tools to facilitate data sharing and cooperation between environmental planning agencies, public action groups, citizens, and private entities.
  • Make a map with NAISMap. With NAISMap, you can view and manipulate National Atlas spatial data layers and construct your own map of Canada.
  • MapQuest. Interactive Atlas (for finding places), TripQuest (door-to-door driving directions within the continental U.S.), Personalized Mapping, Map Shortcuts (allowing you to jump directly to a specific map by selecting a city or country name from a list), etc.
  • Route Map of Germany
  • TIGER Map Service, USA. U.S maps generated on-the-fly according to the parameters that the user gives in a www form.
  • USGS EDC Global Land Information System (GLIS). The Global Land Information System (GLIS) is an interactive computer system developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for scientists seeking sources of information about the Earth's land surfaces. GLIS contains metadata that is, descriptive information about data sets. Through GLIS, scientists can evaluate data sets, determine their availability, and place online requests for products. GLIS is more than a mere list of products. It offers online samples of earth science data that may be ordered through the system.
  • Xerox Parc Map Viewer. The Xerox PARC Map Viewer is a World-Wide Web HTTP server that accepts requests for a World or USA map and returns an HTML document including an image of the requested map. Each map image is created on demand from a geographic database.
  • Yahoo Maps and Driving Directions

Mapping Programs

Just a small selection:

  • AGIS for Windows.
  • Autodesk's FREE Internet data viewer
  • BG-MAP Botanical Garden Mapping System. You will find information here on computerized mapping of plant collections typically housed at facilities such as botanical gardens, arboreta, zoos, and large private estates. The focus is BG-Map, the computer mapping system/GIS designed specifically to meet the unique needs of botanical gardens and arboreta.
  • Biodiversity and WORLDMAP (Natural History Museum, London). Quantitative measures for mapping biodiversity value, rarity and endemism, combined with accountable methods for assessing priority areas for biodiversity conservation, including gap analysis. The site shows examples from different spatial scales, including preliminary maps derived from AFE data for Europe, and a free downloadable demo of the WORLDMAP software.
  • Carto Fauna-Flora Home Page, Belgium. CFF is software to represent animals and/or plant distributions. An evaluation version can be downloaded from the CFF website (the program costs 130 USD).
  • ChartWrite AB is a Swedish company which develops and sells software for management, analysis and presentation of geographic information. A demo version of the Data-on-the-Map 3.0 is available here, as well as some vector maps for the program.
  • Direct Line Distance Server. This online service uses the University of Michigan Geographic Name Server and a supplementary database of world cities 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, using the Xerox PARC Map Server.
  • DMAP. Distribution mapping program created by Dr. Alan Morton, UK. DMAP Distribution Maps or Coincidence Maps based on data files containing the digitized features of the areas to be mapped and also the distribution data for the species to be mapped. The data files can contain co-ordinates as Grid References (kilometres and metres) or as Latitude+Longitude (degrees and minutes). DMAP can be used as a 'stand-alone' mapping package or can be linked to a general database or biological recording package which generates some or all of the required data files.
  • Epi Info, Epi Map and SSS1. Free software and most of the boundary files are free.
  • ER Mapper Home Page, Australia. Free evaluation CD-ROM available.
  • ESRI Home Page, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. - ArcView and ARC/Info.
  • FLORIN Information System Home Page, Russia. FLORIN is an information system designed to deal with a wide range of data about plants: taxonomy and nomenclature, geographic distribution, herbarium and living collections, detailed information about plants collected in the wild, bibliographic data, etc
  • Geographic Explorer. Blue Marble Geographic's FREE geographic viewer for Windows 9x and NT.
  • GMT - Generic Mapping Tools software source. This public-domain software generates PostScript images, see also samples at http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/soest/about.ftp.html.
  • GIS in the Internet, Institut für Geographie und Geoökologie Karlsruhe, Germany. Go to the "Software" pages with detailed descriptions of GIS programs.
  • GIS and GIP Software Listing by Vinton Valentine, University of Delaware. Detailed descriptions on the software packages, also pricing information.
  • GRASS, Geographic Resources Analysis Support System
  • HDF Browser. Fortner Software's FREE HDF Viewer.
  • Idrisi Project Home Page, USA. Founded in 1987 by Geography Professor Ron Eastman, the IDRISI Project is a non-profit project within the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University. The mandate of the Project is to further the development and understanding of computer-assisted geographic analysis. The raster-based geographic analysis packages IDRISI and IDRISI for Windows are developed, distributed and supported by the Project. - IDRISI Resource Center Salzburg, Austria
  • MAPDRAW by Informatik Inc.
  • Map Maker, a GIS software package free for students, academics, non-governmental not-for-profit organisations, and governmental organisations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Map Maker Pro is the commercial version with advanced features.
  • MapPad, a freeware Windows program from the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), NOAA Paleoclimatology Program, USA; with dozens of basemaps from different parts of the world.
  • MapViewer. MapViewer is a thematic mapping package that creates full-color maps by linking worksheet data to areas or points on a map. MapViewer includes numerous boundaries and data files for the United States and World to get you started, and you can create your own boundaries for use with MapViewer. The program is a product of the Golden Software, Inc., USA. Demo versions of MapViewer and other programs are available via ftp.
  • MicroCAM is a microcomputer-based program designed for use in the instruction of computer assisted cartography and for the production of small-scale thematic maps. MicroCAM is public domain and may be spread throughout the land. The AAG charges for the diskettes involved and the extended user's manual written by others. MicroCAM for Windows (Version 1.3) or DOS (Version 4.0) is available for download via anonymous ftp at the United States Military Academy.
  • Microimages, Inc., is the vendor of TNTmips. TNTmips is a professional system for fully integrated GIS, image processing CAD, TIN, desktop cartography and geospatial database management. Among its many applications, TNTmips is used to prepare a wide variety of materials for use and distribution with other TNT products. TNTlite is the free version of the professional TNTmips and TNTview products (you can download this 100 Mb program from the WWW site, or order it on CD-ROM).
  • Microsoft MapPoint 2000 information at Directions Magazine, Microsoft MaPPoint 2000 /Microsoft web server)
  • MOSS
  • NIMAMUSE. National Imagery and Mapping Agency's NIMAMUSETM* : NIMA MC&G Utility Software Environment, Version 2.1. NIMAMUSETM is a self-contained set of computer programs and computer utilities designed to work with NIMA MC&G data and information. NIMAMUSETM is designed to be loaded on to and run from several popular computers: IBM PCs running Windows, Sun, Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Graphics operating systems.
  • OmniMap v. 1.8b. OmniMap is a stand-alone IBM compatible DOS program written to:(1) speed up the recording of research specimen data; (2) help the checking of research specimen data for accuracy; (3) produce specimen databases suitable for use in GIS type software; (4) and to help the analysis of systematics research data. Available via the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee FTP server; read the explain file.
  • RAMAS, Ecological and Environmental Software by Applied Biomathematics. RAMAS is a software library for building ecological models. RAMAS programs incorporate species-specific data to predict the future changes in the population and assess the risk of population extinction or explosion and chances of recovery from a disturbance. RAMAS/GIS is designed to link your GIS with a metapopulation model for population viability analysis and extinction risk assessment.
  • Rockware Inc. Earth Science Software. Demos and free software available.
  • SURFER for Windows by the Golden Software, Inc. Surfer is a contouring and 3D surface plotting program that runs under Microsoft Windows.
  • Surveying Software. Links to free GPS, GIS, mapping and surveying software.
  • Versamap for Windows - Draws outline maps on many map projections. Print publication quality maps, or export maps in vector graphic (WMF, CGM, DXF, ASCII) and bitmapped (BMP) formats. Text may be added to maps using any Windows font. Plot your own data in a simple ASCII format.
  • WoolleySoft, UK, specializes in the development and use of visualization software, with particularly emphasis on landscape visualization and its use in GIS, maps, geography, geology, multimedia, education and outdoor pursuits. Landscape Explorer (the program can capture information from a scanned image or import data from another application; after transformation into a 3D model the landscape can be viewed from any direction) and MapMarker (utility for extracting contour information from scanned map images) are free.

Map collections, basemap data

The CGRER list (link below) is so that there is no sense to put many links here.

  • American Digital Cartography Inc. The ADC Desktop Mapping Division produces a family of digital atlas products, named ADC WorldMap, for use with MapInfo software. Source data includes the Digital Chart of the World (DCW) produced by the U.S. Defense Mapping Agency (DMA). These products provide an intermediate scale base map of large areas to be used for mining and exploration, strategic planning, telecommunications and broadcast analysis, demographic studies, trade area analysis, site selection, and mapping for presentation and reporting.
  • Bruce Gittings' Digital Elevation Data Catalogue
  • Cartographic Images Home Page. Images and descriptions of ancient maps dating from 6000 BC to 400 AD; early and late medieval maps from 400 AD to 13500 AD; and renaissance maps from 1500 to 1700. A terrific selection of cartographic images along with detailed information and other interesting links.
  • Color Landform Atlas of the United States. Currently two types of maps are available for each state (except Alaska and Hawaii): 1) a topographic map optimized to show the landforms. The same color shading is used across the country, 2) a map showing counties in a state. The background topography has been somewhat suppressed to allow the county boundaries to show well.
  • CGRER Maps and References, USA. List of the Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa. A very long list of links to places where to find maps.
  • Digital Chart of the World. The DCW is a 1700 megabyte data base of vector geographic information. It provides global coverage of topographic information equivalent in detail to a 1:1,000,000 scale map. - Digital Chart of the World on CD-ROM, description from ESRI.
  • East View Publications sells Russian topographic and digital maps.
  • Europa Technologies has a product Global Insight proct line.
  • Florida Maps. Florida GIS maps on CD, ArcView and Arc/Info format.
  • Global Climate Maps. Produced by SD-Dimensions and the Agrometeorology Group of FAO's Sustainable Development Department.
  • The Great Globe Gallery
  • Magellan Geographix, a US vendor of digital maps from different parts of the world. Here it is possible to browse an online World Atlas for free.
  • The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas, holds more than 230,000 maps covering every area of the world.

National Mapping Agencies

just a small selection:

Resource Lists

Home Page of the Botanical Museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History (H)
Updated 16 June, 1999 by Raino Lampinen