Geography: General Geography Links & Geography Organizations

Geography Sites

This is just a select listing of some good web sites available in the field of Geography.

• Carbon dioxide information analysis center (CDIAC) -- The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) is the central source providing global change data, references, project directories, answers to frequently asked questions about global change, a newsletter and global change products from around the world. The thematic organization of this information includes data from a wide range of locations that can be navigated intuitively and with high confidence.
• Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC) -- Created by the CDC, a joint effort of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), also a cooperative effort between the university of Colorado and NOAA. This site is well organized in an easy table of contents format making navigation very smooth. Additionally, the pages are current and the text is well supported with informative images, graphs and diagrams that are thumbnails for speed in loading. Another highlight was the collection of publications of CDC members, some with web links to their articles, provided in a clean, searchable format.
• Columbia Earthscape -- Though many Internet sites address environmental issues, few measure up to the university level emphasis of Columbia Earthscape. This site is guided and moderated by a large editorial board consisting largely of Columbia University faculty in addition to some from other institutions. The primary goal of the portal is to provide current information and teaching tools concerning the environmental aspects of earth sciences. Earthscape is oraganized into four main topics: Research, Education, Earth Affairs Magazine, and Links and Resources.
• Cornell's digital earth -- Hosted by Cornell University's Institute for the study of Continents, this interactive digital map of the world is in a continuously updated and expanded site that allows students to retrieve and synthesize geological and geophysical information about large areas of the earth's surface and interior. Area maps are displayed on the screen, and users can zoom in and out, add, remove or change features. To make a map, users select a world area on a displayed map and then choose the features that they want to see, from coastlines, rivers, roads and cities to topography, surface geology, and subsurface geophysics. The site is a good place for students at all levels in geoscience to visualize and learn effective integration of geography, geology and geophysics.
• Cultural Maps -- Cultural Maps is dedicated to the graphical presentation of non-graphical information -- whatever that turns out to mean. At present, it has something to do with maps in the ordinary and normal sense of the term; the immediate goal is to build a digital American Historical Atlas. To the extent that maps serve as guides not only to the physical terrain but also and importantly as charts of the mapmaker's mental and cultural terrain, of the memories and desires, anxieties and assumptions he projects upon any terra incognita.
• Department of Atmospheric Sciences (Formerly the Daily Planet) -- Developed by the University of Illinois Department of Atmospheric Sciences, this Web site contains a broad cross-section of introductory information to acquaint the user with meteorology and tools used by meteorologists.
• Earth Observing System --
• Earth Watch --
• Environmental Protection Agency -- The EPA website has information of use to geographers and ecologists.
• EROS Data Center -- The USGS's EROS Data Center (also known as EDC) distributes satellite images, aerial photographs, and digital maps recording land-surface phenomena. The EDC's growing archive of earth science information--the world's largest--is used by the private sector, government institutions, and universities around the globe. The best way to access all this information is through EDC's Web site. The home page is simple and well organized, directing the user to the site map, product information, search engines, and relevant programs. One highlight of the site is the Global Land Information System (GLIS) under Products and Services. GLIS provides on-line inquiries for descriptive information about the archived data sets. GLIS contains references to regional, continental, and global land information including land use, land cover, and soils data, cultural and topographic data, as well as remotely sensed satellite and aircraft data. Through GLIS, one can evaluate data, determine availability, and place online requests for products. Inquiries within GLIS can be handled interactively by either graphically drawing areas of interest, or inputting map coordinates and/or a range of acquisition dates. Once appropriate data has been located, previews using digital browse functions allow the determination of cloud coverage or the quality of an image. GLIS inventories are reviewed daily to assure access to the most current information. The system operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week for worldwide connectivity and availability. EDC also has some educational resources available such as Earthshots, a collection of satellite images that show some environment changes such as droughts, fires, deforestation, urbanization, etc., over the last 20 years. The accompanying text is aimed at the general public. In guiding users through a vast and complex data archive, the EROS Data Center's Web site is world-class in its presentation, information content, and interactive capabilities. -- D. J. Campagna, College of William and Mary (Choice, Aug. 2001)
• Federal Geographic Data Committee -- The site for this federal agency provides links to other federal, state, university, foreign, and commercial sites giving geospatial information.
• Fundamentals of remote sensing -- Created by the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, is an exemplary tutorial. Navigation of the site is smooth and nicely composed. Additionally, its graphics and diagrams are well conceived and support the site's content wonderfully. The tutorial is arranged in a methodic format and is particularly effective: each section builds on the concepts introduced in the previous sections. The best highlights of this tutorial are the endnotes, which absolutely merit exploring. Some of the endnote links were entertaining; all were informative. There are other remote sensing tutorials available, and a good glossary of remote sensing terms can be found here. The Centre suggests, and rightly so, that the tutorial be completed in order to truly appreciate the rest of the Web site. The tutorial is intended as an overview at a senior high school or early university level and accomplishes its goal effectively. This is a skillfully constructed site and definitely worth a visit.
• Geographia -- Beautiful website. Great site for the person who daydreams about traveling to exotic locations. Wonderful images and short articles that are both informative and interesting.
• Geographic Nameserver -- Another gazetteer, this site gives telephone area code, latitude, longitude, population, elevation, and zipcode for locations in the U.S
• Geoscience Information Society -- The Geoscience Information Society facilitates the exchange of information in the geosciences through cooperation among scientists, librarians, editors, cartographers, educators, and information professionals.
• Hydrology Web: hydrology and related Internet resources -- This excellent compendium of resources for hydrologists emphasizes surface water information. Primarily a list of useful hypertext links having no real content of its own, this site is maintained by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Environmental Technology Division. Information is organized under 15 main headings. The site is well organized, highly comprehensive, and easy to use.
• INFOMINE -- INFOMINE makes access easy to all types of Internet resources of scholarly use to UC faculty, students and staff interested in Maps and Geographic Information Systems. The file contains over 500 resources including satellite images, photographs, software and data/image bases, among other resources. INFOMINE is a University of California resource and emphasizes a UC focus. LCSH-base.
• Landsat Science --
• Meteorology: the online guides -- The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's ambitious hypermedia resource on meteorology includes text, colorful diagrams, scanned and animated images, and audio and video clips. Designed for students from elementary to college age, Meteorology contains nine information modules, including severe storms, light and optics, clouds and precipitation, information on El Niño (Nino) , wind, a guide to fronts and weather maps, weather forecasting, hurricanes, and the hydrologic cycle. The information is clear, concise, and thoroughly indexed so that users can easily find additional information.
• NASA Earth Sciences Program --
• National Geographic -- Searchable and always interesting.
• National Imagery and Mapping Agency -- Geospatial and imagery.
• NIMA GEONet Names Server -- The National Imagery and Mapping Agency's database of foreign geographic feature names lists 3.3 million features and is updated monthly. It gives latitude, longitude, and designation when a place and country are entered.
• National Library for the Environment's Congressional Research Service Publications -- Search OVER 860 reports for information on agriculture, air quality, biodiversity, waste management, and other environmental concerns. And allows you to search by a specific topic in 26 categories, in addition to the newly added reports category.
• National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) -- NODC's site has a wealth of information helpful to many levels of users, some of it available online, some through described products. The site is easy to navigate, though previous knowledge or patience is required to find out where information resides. Helpful notes make maneuvering easier and even point out recently discovered data problems.
• NOAA paleo global warming -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) demonstrates the highest and best use of the internationally accessible computer network, the Internet, via this Web site. NOAA Paleo Global Warming updates and links together the critical information that impacts on the important societal phenomena related to climate variability. Data, models, maps, reports, and publications provided at the site are globally accessible to online researchers, students, and government policy makers alike. Broadly interpreted, this NOAA program aims to catalyze efforts leading to comprehensive and reliable models of climate variability.
• Paleomap project -- The paleogeographic reconstructions in Paleomap Project are a valuable resource for all students of geology--from the introductory geology student to the professional geologist. The reconstructions are presented as full-color global paleogeographic maps that include the positions of ancient mountain belts, shorelines, continental shelves, and lithospheric plate boundaries. Reconstructions are presented for the Late Precambrian through the Recent. In addition, "futurogeographic" maps offer predictions of paleogeography up to 250 million years into the future. Brief comments emphasize important geologic events during the period depicted on each map. Animated reconstructions illustrate the breakup of Pangea, movement of continental masses during the Late Precambrian and Paleozoic, development of the Caribbean region, and the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic motion of the Indian subcontinent. The site is current, well organized, and easy to navigate.
• Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection -- The Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas maintains this site, which contains a wide variety of scanned maps, including Texas, U.S., and international maps, historical maps and political maps, and city maps, all of which can be freely downloaded and printed. An extensive collection of links to other maps sites on the web is also included, as well as links to online geographical reference sources.
• Tiger Map Server -- Sponsored by the U.S. Census Bureau, this site provides high-quality, detailed maps of anywhere in the U.S., using public geographic data.
• UCB Earth sciences & map library -- The UC Berkeley Earth Science and Map Library's Internet page-set provides students, faculty, and professionals with a rich set of geography and GIS/map resources. This Internet site provides access to high quality documents of almost amazing scope and reflects the work of professional librarians; content is focused and relevant, and the site is regularly updated. Patrons can find scanned aerial photography of the Yosemite Valley from 1944 in stereo-pairs, a 16th-century map of Ireland, or a map of burned areas of San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake. Content and links reflect the mission of the library. Large-scale coverage is best for the region around San Francisco Bay, and then California. Links are available by searching within the UC Berkeley Library page (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/searchWeb) for map information and access at sites around the earth, GIS tutorials, topic dictionaries, employment opportunities, and related topics. Downloads, tested on a PC connected to a campus network, and on a PC using a 14,400 modem, were fast and trouble-free. This site was compared to similar sites for the University of Washington's map library, Harvard University's map library, Arizona State's map library, and Stanford University's map library. Though this is certainly not a representative comparison, other libraries provide users with "what and when" information, like hours, policies, floor plan, and catalog. In addition, Harvard provides users with online access to the Massachusetts Atlas, and Stanford provides a link to the USGS Groundwater Atlas for California and Nevada. The Berkeley Library is a site where users can actually work with a large number of documents. The site demonstrates the state of the art and should be bookmarked by students, faculty, and general cartophiles as a first stop in their search for online geographic information. -- E. J. Delaney, Northern Michigan University (Choice Sup. 2000)
• U.S. Census Bureau -- This is the Bureau's homepage, the basic starting point for access to online U.S. census information.
• U.S. Gazetteer -- This site allows the user to enter a place name, whereupon the server gives the location, population, and zipcode, as well as links to a map of the area and its census tables.
• U.S. Geological Survey -- The USGS is a major resource for topographical maps.
• The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Remote Sensing -- The Technical Research Center of Finland's REmote Sensing Group, has created a helpful and informative virtual library of Remote Sensing web information and data. The information collected is very specific to the Remote Sensing field and in an outline format.