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Geographical Sciences

This guide provides access to essential resources for geography research at ASU, including databases, journals, maps, geospatial data, and professional organizations.

ASU resources

Map & Geospatial Hub
​​​​​​​The ASU Library Map and Geospatial Hub advances the use of geographically-referenced information by expanding access to and support for geospatial technologies and cartographic resources across ASU and beyond.

Finding historical maps

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Over 142,000 rare historical maps from the 16th to 21st centuries, including atlases, globes, and maritime charts with interactive viewing tools.

Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States
Digital edition of the 1932 Paullin-Wright atlas with nearly 700 interactive, animated historical maps of the United States.

National Park Maps
High-resolution maps for over 400 national parks, monuments, and historic sites, free to download as JPEGs or PDFs.

Find government and scientific maps

National Geologic Map Database
Comprehensive archive of over 110,000 geologic maps and reports from USGS and state geological surveys dating from the 1800s to present.

USGS Mapping
Topographic maps, digital elevation models, and other cartographic products from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Atlas of Historic County Boundaries
Interactive atlas showing the changing boundaries of U.S. counties from the Newberry Library, with downloadable shapefiles, KMLs, and PDFs.

Geospatial data sources

GAP/LANDFIRE National Terrestrial Ecosystems
National-scale data on land cover, vegetation, and terrestrial ecosystems for conservation planning.

USGS Online Soil Surveys
Interactive tool for creating custom soil maps and reports for any area in the United States.

Data.gov - Geospatial Data
The federal government's open data portal with thousands of geospatial datasets across all agencies.

OpenStreetMap
Free, editable map of the world created by volunteers, with downloadable geographic data.

ASU GeoData
Platform for discovering and exploring geospatial datasets managed by ASU and Arizona organizations.

 

Tools and resources

Geospatial Conversion Tools 
Bureau of Economic Geography tools to convert length, area, coordinates, scale, and other geographic measurements.

History of Cartography Project 
University of Wisconsin's comprehensive research project documenting the history of maps and mapmaking.