LibGuides: GIS & Maps: GIS & Mapping Tools

Online Mapping Tools

Below are some suggestions for mapping tools you can find online. Not all tools are supported by the library, and some may require downloading or creating an account to use all features.

ArcGIS
Looking for ArcGIS? You can access ArcGIS Online using the CSUDH organization log in, or DH-Ed.maps.argis.com. This program is also installed on computers located in the CSUDH Library.

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An online mapping and GIS tool with data on a wide variety of topics including demographics, real estate, health, jobs, and more. Create, save, download, customized maps and tables, or upload your own data to map.

DiRT (Digital Research Tools) - Geospatial Data
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DiRT is directory of digital research tools for scholarly use, including a list of spatial analysis tools.
Leaflet
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Leaflet is an open-source JavaScript library for creating mobile-friendly interactive maps. Their website has several tutorials to help you get started.
Neatline
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Neatline is an Omeka plugin that lets you create complex maps, annotated images and narrative sequences. Neatline works best when you're trying to tel a story through the maps and materials you're using.
Quadrant Maps - US Geological Survey
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National Geographic created a web interface that allows you to find any quad in the United States, download and print it. Can be downloaded and printed as a PDF.
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Pick a location, then start zooming in until you see red icons. Then choose the geographically-appropriate icon and print/download a map in PDF format.
Social Explorer
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Use interactive tools to create and share: maps, presentations & tables or analyze data sets from 220 years of demographic data, 25,000 maps, hundreds of profile reports, 40 billion data elements and 335,000 variables. Current and historical demographic data can be arranged and downloaded quickly and easily.
Topo View
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Interactive open source mapping platform that allows users to easily find historic map scans from the USGS's Historical Topographical Map Collection. Maps in the collection were published between 1884 and 2006.

Map Websites

Toro GIS Hub
Find GIS maps using CSUDH data and resources for learning about GIS tools.
CIA Cartography Tracing its roots to October 1941, CIA’s Cartography Center has a long, proud history of service to the Intelligence Community (IC) and continues to respond to a variety of finished intelligence map requirements. The mission of the Cartography Center is to provide a full range of maps, geographic analysis, and research in support of the Agency, the White House, senior policymakers, and the IC at large. Its chief objectives are to analyze geospatial information, extract intelligence-related geodata, and present the information visually in creative and effective ways for maximum understanding by intelligence consumers. Since 1941, the Cartography Center maps have told the stories of post-WWII reconstruction, the Suez crisis, the Cuban Missile crisis, the Falklands War, and many other important events in history.
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Collection of declassified CIA maps collected on Flickr.
CSU Japanese American Digitization Project
Includes digitized maps of restricted zones for Japanese Americans during WWII.
Historical Atlas of the United States
A digitized version of the Charles O. Paullin’s Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States from University of Richmond. This atlas contains nearly 700 individual maps spread across 166 plates, it addresses a broad range of issues from environmental issues to politics.
Homeless Analytics Maps
Los Angeles Public Library Digitzed Map Collection
Maps of Africa to 1900
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign digitzed map collection featuring over 200 historical maps.
National Geologic Map Database
Compiled by the US Geological Survey - contains over 90,000 maps in the catalog; geologic names, charts and guidelines that can be searched by state/area and geologic age; historical topographic maps and more.
US Census Thematic Maps
USGS Topographical Maps
Historical and current

GIS Data Sources

Social Explorer
Allows users to create maps and generate reports based on demographic data from the United States Census.
UCLA GeoData Portal
Los Angeles County GeoData Portal
GIS data created, maintained, licensed, and stored by the County of Los Angeles
Data.gov Geospatial Data
U.S. Government’s open data portal for all data types including geospatial resources
DIVA GIS
Data by country
Geodata @ Tufts
Global geospatial data

True Size Map

The True Size Of... map is a free web resource that allows you to compare the size of states, countries of provinces to one another using a drag and drop interface. The size of your outline will adjust automatically as you go closer to the poles or equator, allowing a useful visual of how Australia compares to Russia or California compares to Iraq in square mileage. Read more about True Size Of map and how the standard Mercator projection maps we are used to seeing create distortions in the sizes of different land masses.

Maps of California

California Atlas
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Originally created by a group of students at Humboldt State, this atlas of California is a 50-page teaching resource with over 100 original maps, diagrams and tables.
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All pages of the map are available for download or use online. Included on the site are suggested Atlas Lesson Plans and Storymaps.
Los Angeles Mapped
A Library of Congress digital exhibition of historical maps of Los Angeles from the collections of the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.