How do I find maps?

Search for maps in the library catalog:

• Use the advanced search
• Choose map as the format even if you are looking for digital maps
• Always add a place name to your search: state, country, region, etc. 

There are several ways to find scanned maps at UChicago:

The Library's Digital Collection is organized into smaller collections based on place, theme, and date. Browsing these collections is a quick way to understand the types of maps offered online:

LUNA is an image platform that lets you for browse all the scanned maps in the Map Collection at one time. Use LUNA to:

A selection of digitized maps are in the Big Ten Academic Alliance Geoportal. Use the BTAA Geoportal to:

The Oriental Institute has many scanned maps available to view and download.

KEYWORDS

These types of maps are common in the UChicago collection, and using these as keywords may help narrow search results:

• ​Political: shows government administrative boundaries such as countries, states, and counties

• Ethnographic: thematic maps that show spatial distribution of human diversity and culture

• Geologic: shows rock units, strata, and other structural features studied in geology

• Topographic: visualizes landforms, terrain, and other ground features of an area using contours and relief, usually comes in series

• Aerial photography: photographs taken from an elevated place such as a plane, drone, or satellite

SCALE 

A map's scale is used to depict the relationship between the map and the real world.

If a map scale is 1:10,000, then one inch on the map may represent one mile on the ground. Scales for urban maps range from 1:1,000 to 1:50,000. Scales for regional maps range between 1:50,000 and 1:1,000,000.

PROJECTION

A map's projection is the 2D representation of the 3D globe.

Many types of projections exist, and a cartographer chooses one depending on what it is important to preserve in a map such as distance, area, shape, direction, or scale. 

SETS or SERIES

Map sets or series refer to a group of maps that depict small parts of a region, but when these maps are laid together the sheets can be used to show an entire region.

To find out what is available in a set, you must consult an index map. Topographic, aerial, and geologic map sets are most common.

ATLASES 

An atlas is a bound collection of maps. Atlases may also contain statistics related to the region it depicts.

GAZETTEERS 

A gazetteer is like a dictionary for maps and geographic areas. Consult a gazetteer when searching for maps to find precise names for places, geographical features, historic places, or regional statistics.

Sam Brown
Map Assistant
JRL 370
(773) 834-3347
sbb@uchicago.edu