Librarian
Other UTSA Guides
Acknowledgment
This guide was originally created by Rita Wilson (1948-2024), UTSA Government Documents librarian for 27 years and liaison for Anthropology, Spanish and Modern Languages, Geography, Criminology, and Paralegal Studies.
Map Databases
- SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new windowThis web-based mapping and data analysis application enables users to develop interactive thematic maps and reports using over 65,000 demographic, business, and marketing data variables by state, county, city/place, ZIP code, census tract, block group, or custom area. See: UTSA Libraries Simply Map Research Guide.
- National Map This link opens in a new windowThe National Map comprises a variety of products and services that provide the Nation with access to base geospatial information to describe the landscape of the United States and its territories. Be sure to read the pdf "about" document.
- PolicyMap This link opens in a new windowUse PolicyMap to bring sophisticated data, mapping and analytics to fields beyond traditional GIS and planning departments. From public health to sociology and law, students can use PolicyMap to create maps, reports and analyses to enable a deeper understanding of crucial areas in their fields.
- OnTheMapA web-based mapping and reporting application that shows where workers are employed and where they live. It also provides companion reports on age, earnings, industry distributions, race, ethnicity, educational attainment, and sex.
- data.census.gov (Explore Census Data) This link opens in a new windowPrimary search tool to browse and access U.S. census data and build custom, downloadable tables, charts, reports, maps and data visualizations. Includes detailed data on population, housing, economics, and geographies from the Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Economic Census and other surveys.
Topics and geographies are easy to search using the single search bar, or access more detailed data using the filters in the Advanced Search option.
Access data.census.gov tutorials.
- How to Create a Map from Scratch Using data.census.govShort video on how to create maps from Census data.
- Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowAccess to over 660,000 full-image fire insurance maps for more than 12,000 American communities. Also see Insurance Maps of San Antonio in Rare Books.
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - Library of CongressCollection of large-scale, building-level maps, depict the commercial, industrial and residential sections of some 12,000 cities and towns in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, 1867 - present. The Sanborn collection includes about 50,000 editions of fire insurance maps comprising an estimated 700,000 individual sheets. Also see Checklist of all print and electronic Sanborn Maps.
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowThousands of maps contained in U.S. Congressional documents, from 1789.. To search select Advanced Search and limit to Maps in left hand column.
Topographic Maps - USGS (U.S. Geological Survey)
- U.S. Geological Survey - MapsUSGS maps range from detailed local areas to worldwide. The maps are excellent for a wide range of uses, including emergency response, outdoor recreation, scientific research, and resource management.
- Topographic Map Symbols (USGS)A topographic map shows more than contours; it includes symbols that represent such features as streets, buildings, streams, and vegetation.
- Historical Topographic Maps - Preserving the PastDigital repository of USGS 1:250,000 scale and larger maps printed between 1884, the inception of the topographic mapping program, and 2006. USGS is the largest producer of topographic maps. Their National Geospatial Program (NGP) converted these historical printed topographic quadrangles to an electronic format (GeoPDF).
- U.S. Geological SurveyThe USGS is a science organization that provides impartial information on the health of our ecosystems and environment, the natural hazards that threaten us, the natural resources we rely on, the impacts of climate and land-use change, and the core science systems that help us provide timely, relevant, and usable information.
- USGS Publications WarehouseSearch for publications. Advanced search allows limiting by USGS publication series. Browse feature
- The National MapA collaborative effort among the USGS National Geospatial Program and other Federal, State, and local partners to improve and deliver topographic information for the Nation.
- USGS Explore Search: Maps and MappingUSGS topical directory provides an alternate way to browse USGS science programs by data, news, images, video, social media, more.
- USGS Science ExplorerTopical directory provides an alternate way to browse USGS science programs by data, news, images, video, social media, more.
Map Collections - Online
- Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection This link opens in a new windowThis resource from UT Austin provides thematic maps on the international, national, state, and local levels, many of which are printable. The collection is especially strong on Texas.
- Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, Other Historical Map Web SitesThis site out of the University of Texas at Austin is an excellent portal to a variety of high quality cartographical web sites. The links are very reliable.
- Texas Demographic Center: MapsArea, thematic, and boundary maps primarily of Texas. The Texas Demographic Center is a focal point for the distribution of Census information for Texas.
- Afriterra: The Cartographic Free LibraryAfriterra is an archive of antique maps and books related to Africa. It maintains a searchable catalog of over 2,500 high-resolution maps dating from 1480 to 1900 .
- INEGI Mapas de MexicoTopical maps and data for Mexico from Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. Instructions and tools are in Spanish.
- Census Atlas of the United States: Census 2000A variety of topics are covered in the Census Atlas, ranging from language and ancestry characteristics to housing patterns and the geographic distribution of the population. A majority of the maps in the Census Atlas present data at the county level, but data also are sometimes mapped by state, census tract (for largest cities and metropolitan areas), and for selected American Indian reservations.
- FEMA's Flood Map ServiceUse the box on the home page to find the flood insurance map for a specific city, state or address.
- National Geographic MapsView digitized versions of maps and inserts from National Geographic magazine.
- National Geographic XpeditionsCollection of one-page black and white national and international maps with accompanying PDF files for download or printing.
- InfoPlease World Atlas & Map LibraryContinents, regions, territories, dependencies, countries, states, and provinces.
- Census Bureau - Geography ProgramData maps by themes including population, gender, agriculture, race, veterans.
- Web Soil SurveySoil data and information produced by National Cooperative Soil Survey. Operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, NCRS has soil maps and data available online for more than 95 percent of U.S. counties. Also see in print Soil Survey of Bexar County (1966)
- Texas Soil SurveysEach survey consists of a soil map and separate book. The maps show many cultural features in the landscape such as businesses, churches, schools, mills, gins, and ferries. The collection embraces all Texas county and reconnaissance soil surveys completed prior to 1950.
- NOAA's Online Chart ViewerView NOAA's 1000+ U.S. coastal and Great Lakes nautical charts. These charts are updated weekly and include all of the latest Notice to Mariners corrections.
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - Library of CongressCollection of large-scale, building-level maps, depict the commercial, industrial and residential sections of some 12,000 cities and towns in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, 1867 - present. The Sanborn collection includes about 50,000 editions of fire insurance maps comprising an estimated 700,000 individual sheets. Also see Checklist of all print and electronic Sanborn Maps.
- HOLC Redlining Maps of San AntonioThe Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) was established in 1933 as a federal government-sponsored program. San Antonio was one of the cities for which "residential security maps" were created. Red color coding on these maps often outlined neighborhoods in the older sections of cities, where homeowners and tenants had lower incomes, or in neighborhoods that were made up of ethnic or racial minorities.
- Map of San Antonio de Bexar as it appeared on January 1, 1836Depicting San Antonio, Texas, shortly before the Battle of the Alamo.
- World War II Records, ca. 1941 - ca. 1947National Archives. Maps and charts, overlays, city plans, aerial photographs, photomaps, pencil sketches, and architectural drawings relating to the European, Mediterranean, and Pacific theaters of war during World War II. Records prepared by Allied armies, corps, divisions, and subordinate engineer components and collected by the Adjutant General's Office.
Video
- Face of the WorldThree-part series on DVD tells the story of map-making, from ancient times to the 20th century, demonstrating with dramatizations and scholarship the human quest to know and possess the world.
- Discovery of a New WorldFilms on Demand 2004
European exploration and conquest, beginning in the late Middle Ages and leading up to the emergence of the major colonial powers. 29"