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Posted by: Meagan Snow
How have national and global populations been mapped over time? This blog post uses collection items from the Geography & Map Division at the Library of Congress to explore changing methods for mapping populations, from census-based thematic maps to modern population raster datasets.
Posted in: Big Data and Visualization, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
The Panoramic Maps Collection, one of our most popular collections, features more than a thousand beautifully illustrated “bird’s-eye-view” maps of towns and cities across the United States, Canada, and even some internationally. To celebrate this collection, we are excited to launch View from Above: Exploring the Panoramic Map Collection, an interactive map that makes browsing …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, 20th century cartography, American History, City Histories, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Meagan Snow
Happy GIS Day from the Library of Congress! Today the Library celebrates GIS Day with a virtual event exploring the role of GIS in addressing humanitarian disasters. Today’s event aims to highlight the role that geospatial data and GIS technologies can play in creating positive change in the face of global humanitarian challenges. Geography …
Posted in: Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Meagan Snow
Maps can tell us all kinds of things about how others have viewed and shaped the world – from the borders of ancient empires to the layout of your neighborhood street grid. Today, spatial data commonly powers the maps and applications we use to access basic information about the places we inhabit: opening an app …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, 21st century cartography, City Histories, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Meagan Snow
Today it’s easy to check the weather without even leaving the house: hourly predictions for rain, wind, temperature, and humidity are available to most of us through our phones at the touch of a button. Warnings for severe weather flash across our screens to help keep us safe – but how did we get here? …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, 20th century cartography, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Meagan Snow
This is a guest post by Meagan Snow, Geospatial Data Visualization Librarian in the Geography and Map Division. Whether you’ve used an online map to check traffic conditions, a fitness app to track your jogging route, or found photos tagged by location on social media, many of us rely on geospatial data more and more …
Posted in: 21st century cartography, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Meagan Snow
Have you ever wondered how historic maps can be used with today’s modern mapping technologies? One of the ways in which analog maps can be used with GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is through a process called georeferencing. Georeferencing is the process of adding digital spatial reference information to an otherwise non-spatial image. Adding spatial reference …
Posted in: Big Data and Visualization, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: Julie Stoner
You are invited to join the Library of Congress in celebrating GIS Day on Wednesday, November 18th from 1-4pm EST, with an afternoon of engaging talks and discussions on the theme of “Mapping the Pandemic Cases, Traces, and Mutations.” This presentation will premiere with closed captions on both the Library’s YouTube site and on the Library …
Posted in: Big Data and Visualization, Events, Geographic Information Science
Posted by: John Hessler
This is a report and guest post by Giselle Aviles, the 2019 Archaeological Research Associate in the Geography and Map Division on the recent Society of Women Geographers Conference held at the Library of Congress. For women who know no boundaries is the motto of the Society of Woman Geographers (SWG), and it is precisely that …
Posted in: Geographic Information Science, Guest Posts, Women's History