Research tip

[mwaynebennett]

I found that some major state universities have scans of old historic maps available for free on-line. I have learned that there were towns (mainly groupings of houses) in my local area that are no longer on modern maps. The old maps show buildings and landmarks. I can open google earth and then align major features from the old maps with the same features on google earth (open separate windows) and locate where these old communities used to be.

I am so grateful that Al Gore invented the internet.

Mark
Elite 2200
WA St.

 

[drummerman]

Mark

I have found sites with old maps also, but the sites I found you can really zoom in on the maps to see any detail. What are the URL's of the sites you found?

Thanks

 

[mwaynebennett]

Drummerman:

Since I live in Washington State, the site I use is at Washington State University (Goooo Cougs)

Here is the URL: http://content.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm-maps/

Mark
Elite 2200
WA St.

 

[turtlefoot]

Here is one of the best university map collections that I have found so far. I have also found towns in my area that are no longer there.

http://alabamamaps.ua.edu/index.html

HH,
Doug

 

[mwaynebennett]

Hey Turtlefoot:

Thanks for the link. I had to download a "plugin" to view the maps, however the maps are not very big on the monitor screen. The plugin was from lizardtech. What browser and plugin do you use?

Mark
Elite 2200
WA St.

 

[turtlefoot]

Hey Mark,

I also use the Lizardtech plugin. I agree with you that the area that is shown on screen is small but what I do is I zoom into the desired detail size that I need. I then save the main area that I need along with surrounding areas. I then put them all in a photo editing program and stitch them together, crop to make it square/rectangle and then it's ready to go.

The extra steps only take about five minutes total and I have a nice, large map of the area.

The LOC also uses a stand alone Lizardtech viewer for their maps that are saved in MrSID fromat. I downloaded some of their MrSID map files, and when I converted them to TIFS the images were 180mb and larger.

Have a good day.
Doug

Email me or something, if I can be of any help with the images or what I do.

 

[mwaynebennett]

Turtlefoot:

Have you tried the USGS site at:

http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/(ctype=areaDetails&xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&carea=%24ROOT&layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2)/.do

There you can download all current USGS topo maps for free, full size as well as some older ones. If you wanted to, you could then send them via email to a local Office Depot or Kinkos and have them printed for about $2 each.

Mark
Elite 2200
WA St.

 

[turtlefoot]

Thanks Mark!

I LOVE the site. Never been there and never even thought of going there...duh. I always used terra server. I like your site much better.

Thanks Again,
Doug