LAND SURVEY WWW RESOURCES
 


ONLINE EXHIBITS

THE NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY
History pages include an album of surveying images, biographies, stories and tales, a historical map and chart collection - even a poetry corner.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

THE CARTOGRAPHIC CREATION OF NEW ENGLAND
An exhibition of early maps that chronicles the effects of European exploration and settlement in north-eastern North America in creating a spatial concept called "New England."
The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine, Portland  

SORAMITSU
A geographical tour of the historic city of Nara from the air.  Early use of the "grid" in field division, city planning and street addresses in an ancient capital of Japan have been documented on this graphically beautiful website. 
See: Jori System in the Nara Basin and Jo-Bo System of Heijo-Kyo: City Planning in Ancient Japan
Noboru Ogata, Faculty of Letters, Nara Women's University  

THE GREAT SURVEY
The Holland Land Company in Western New York was an important part of the "Developers' Frontier".  This exhibit includes images and primary documents.
Patrick Weissend – Curator of the Holland Land Office Museum  


EXPLORING THE WEST FROM MONTICELLO
Exhibition of maps and navigational instruments used by Lewis and Clark.  See the online maps (some available at higher resolution on a related site) and  "Observations of Latitude and Longitude at All Remarkable Points."
University of Virginia Library  

CLARENCE KING'S FORTIETH PARALLEL SURVEY
Clarence King's United States Geological Survey of the Fortieth Parallel in 1867 produced stunning scientific evidence which was captured on film by Civil War photographer Timothy O'Sullivan.   This illustrated essay on King's Systematic Geology compares O'Sullivan's photographs with romantic paintings of the West then popular.    
William H. Goetzmann, University of Texas, Austin  


CLEVELAND CARTOGRAPHY 
A rich site with early plans of the capitol of "New Connecticut", maps, historic texts, and much general info on the cartography of Ohio's Western Reserve.
William Barrow – Cleveland State University    

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SURVEY OF A TRACT IN FREDERICK COUNTY, VA
American Memory, Library of Congress

 


DATA COLLECTIONS

GEOGRAPHIC DATA INNOVATIONS
The Atlas Exhibition includes digital wetlands maps,  population and land change studies, and a pictorial on how EPA uses remote sensing and spatial information.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)


THE GEOGRAPHY NETWORK
A network and repository of geographic content including dynamic maps, downloadable data, and advanced Web services.
ESRI  

THE GREAT LAKES
An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book
The G.L. Environmental Atlas and Resource Book contains many useful datasets such as the population of areas bordering each of the Great Lakes (1900 - 1990).
Canadian Government and U.S. EPA





LESSON PLANS

MAPS AND COMPASSES
Land measurement and applied geometry for upper grade high school math students.  This extensive project includes a glossary, and sections on compasses and bearings, maps and charts, orienteering, surveying, satellite navigation, and "Taking Geometry Seriously. "   All problems and examples in metric measure.
Helen Weil - University of Queensland, Australia  


EXPLORING MAPS
Interdisciplinary materials on mapping for grades 7-12. Students  learn basic mapmaking and map-reading skills and see how maps can answer fundamental geographic questions: "Where am I?" "What else is here?" "Where am I going?"
USGS Learning Web - U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey


MATHEMATICS OF CARTOGRAPHY
In a conversational tone addressed to high school level math students, this hyptertext introduction to the math of maps asks "What is a map?" and goes on to discuss the history of map-making and pose some interesting map-related problems.
Cynthia Lanius, Rice University  


HOW MATH AND SCIENCE CHANGED GEORGE WASHINGTON'S LIFE
Designed for students who visit George Washington's Birthplace, now a National Park, this site relates historic survey re-enactments to math, geography and science. 
National Park Service

COMMUNITY CARTOGRAPHY
A week-long standards-based mapping investigation, including hand held GPS, digital cameras and map-making, and multimedia presentations.
Joseph Hoffman, West Bloomfield High School, MI. Toshiba/NSTA Laptop Learning Challenge

A LINE IN THE SAND
Using data from the June 2000 Treaty of Jeddah, students draw the new boundary between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and understand its significance.
Mapping Our World. GIS Lessons for Educators, ESRI

 


DEMONSTRATIONS

HOW TO MAKE A GUNTER'S CHAIN
A complete, illustrated do-it-yourself guide for accurately reproducing this key piece of  early surveyors' equipment.  Put together and maintained  by a computer programmer and re-enactor who presents public programs on historical land survey techniques.
David Manthey

DEGREE CONFLUENCE PROJECT
Volunteers
visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and take pictures at each location. For example, it is possible to follow the 41st parallel from a farm NE in Ohio all the way around the world, viewing the landscape at points in many locations, including Italy, Greece, China, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Alex Jarrett  


EUCLID'S ELEMENTS
This online version of Euclid's Elements uses a Java Applet to illustrate the figures in the Elements.  (Note that many towns and streets throughout the US are named for the "father of geometry.")
Dave Joyce – Clark University


GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS  
This poster, reproduced online, answers the big question "What is GIS?" and demonstrates how it works.
USGS - science for a changing world