The Owen Library contains many maps and atlases for students and faculty, including US Geological Survey topographic maps, US Forest Service maps, and National Park service maps. If you have any questions please contact Owen Library Reference and a librarian will assist you.

GIS Facilities

More information about GIS Resources and Services is available through the WSU Libraries.

Owen Map Room, 3rd floor

• Maps are included in GRIFFIN, the library catalog. To make searching for maps and GIS data easier, from the Griffin main page click on advanced search. Where it says any field type in the location you are looking for a map of, e.g., Grand Canyon. Then, where it says material type click on MAP/GIS DATA to select it. To limit to a specific library, find the location box and select the library you would like to limit your search to by clicking on it. You may have to scroll down to find the library you are looking for.
• USGS Topographic Maps are available for 12 western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.  Indices for these states are available in the Map Room, and the Index to USGS Topographic Maps is also available online.
• 7.5 minute series
• 15 minute series
• 1:100,000 series
• 1:125,000 scale
• 1:250,000 scale
• United States maps
• Historical Washington topographic maps
• USGS topographic maps for other U.S. states (various sizes)
• US National Park Service maps
• US Forest Service maps
• Geology maps
• Bathymetric maps
• World maps

Owen Reference: Atlases, 1st Floor

The reference atlas collection is located on the first floor of the Owen Science & Engineering Library. Additional atlases can be found in the general collection, and in the Atlas collection on the third floor.

• Rand McNally Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide Ref-Atlas G1019 .R3
• Oxford Atlas of the World Ref-Atlas G1021. A7545
• National Geographic Atlas of the World Ref-Atlas G1021 .N38
• The Times of London Concise Atlas of the World Ref-Atlas G1021 .T57
• Road Atlas: United States, Canada, and Mexico Ref-Atlas G1201.P2 R348
• Idaho Atlas & Gazetteer Ref-Atlas G1480 .D45
• Washington Atlas & Gazetteer Ref-Atlas G1485 .D4
• Arctic Environmental Atlas Ref-Atlas TD196 .R3 C73x
• Cruising Atlas Ref-Atlas VK995 C6 C7

Selected Owen Reference Items, 1st Floor

• Cartographic Citations Reference GA 108.7 .C53x 1992
• Guide to US Map Resources Reference GA193.U5 C62
• Practical Handbook of Digital Mapping Reference GA139 .P73

Map Resources Online

• American Memory Map Collections
• Alexandria Digital Library: A consortium of researchers, developers, and educators, spanning the academic, public, and private sectors, exploring a variety of problems related to a distributed digital library for geographically-referenced information.
• Atlas of Canada
• British Oceanographic Data Centre
• Cartography Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers
• David Rumsey Map Collection: A collection of 18th and 19th century North and South American cartographic materials including: atlases, globes, school geographies, maritime charts, and a variety of separate maps including pocket, wall,children’s and manuscript maps.
• Digital State Geologic Maps, USGS
• Early Washington Maps: A Digital Collection: developed by Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections department of the WSU Libraries and the University of Washington Map Library.
• Earth Observatory, NASA
• Geologic Maps of Western States, USGS
• Geographic Names Information System, USGS: A database of domestic (USA), foreign, and Antarctic geographic feature names
• GEONet Names Server, NGA: A database of foreign (non-USA and Antarctica) geographic feature names
• Geodata.gov
• GIS Specialty Group, Association of American Geographers
• Google Earth: a free download providing geographic information for the entire planet, including satellite images and maps.
• Historic Map Index, Broer Map Library
• INSIDE Idaho: Provides geospatial data, climate data, and atlases for the state of Idaho.
• Map Cataloging Manual
• Map History/History of Cartography
• Map Projections, USGS: A description of the different types of map projections.
• Maps and Plans: A guide to using maps and plans, from the University of Nottingham
• Mapserver: A free online mapping resource for topographic maps and charts for land, sea, and air.
• NationalAtlas.gov, USGS: The National Atlas of the United States
• National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis
• National Geologic Map Database, USGS
• The National Map: An interactive map service from USGS
• Odden's Bookmarks
• Ordinance Survey: Britain's national mapping agency.
• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas at Austin
• Prism: Provides access to spatial climate data sets.
• A Tapestry of Time and Terrain: A combination of two types of maps-geology and topography- from the USGS.
• Terraserver USA: Locate places in the U.S. and around the world using USGS topos and aerial photos.
• United Nations Cartographic Section
• Virtual Atlas of the Pacific Northwest
• Washington Place Names database
• World FactBook

Other Map and Cartographic Resources

For information about other map holdings at WSU, see Maps and Atlases in Holland and Terrell Libraries or the Historical Maps Collection in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections.