UB Libraries Promote New Yorkers' Geography Awareness

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- You're curled up in bed with three down pillows and a plush replica of Flower the meerkat when suddenly you're jerked bolt upright by the realization that you don't know how many waterfalls there are in the state of New York.

You go online. Google tells you there are 163 falls and where they are, but now you're wondering about the state's reservoirs and designated forests and how many canals, hospitals, grassy flats, swamps, schools and streams it has, not to mention islands in St. Lawrence County.

Fortunately, Michele Shular, geosciences specialist in the UB Sciences and Engineering Library, shares your obsession.

She has developed the "NYS Gazetteer and GeoData Collection," a database of digital topographical maps and gazetteer information that makes it possible to easily search and locate 38,000 places, features, and other geographic sites in New York State from your laptop.

The database is free of charge and available to the public on the UB Libraries Web site at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/nysgeodata.html.

"It permits searches to be run on geographic names, feature type, by county map, by U.S. Geological Survey quadrangle, or by a merger of multiple categories," Shular says, "and has a GIS (Geographical Information Systems) import feature that will be useful for students, technical researchers and professionals in many fields, including business, government and planning."

Hikers, backcountry skiers, snowshoers, climbers, off-road bikers, kayakers and canoers will find the maps exceptionally useful as well.

"It includes links to the appropriate feature in Google Maps," she says, "so you can locate the state's 4961 schools, 298 hospitals, 590 towers (largely radio/TV) and 427 swamps or any of the 68 mapped streams in Erie County alone."

Schular calls topographic maps "wonderful tools that provide detailed information for natural and cultural features on the ground, such as slopes, valleys, rivers, roads, and even vegetation cover.

"Whether a K-12 teacher is looking for geography class maps, or a hiker needs to print a field map, or a GIS technician requires a digital image to import into a GIS application, this database can be very useful. It serves a wide variety of needs.

"In time, it will be expanded to include maps in a variety of scales, as well as other format types of geospatial data."

Shular says the database was produced by following the lead University of Virginia librarians who developed a similar product.

"To produce the database," she says, "We electronically linked U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) digital maps archived at the UB Libraries with the New York state portion of the 'Geographic Names Information System' (GNIS), a Federal repository of official domestic geographic names maintained by the USGS."

She says the digital maps available on the site are technically referred to as "geo-referenced Digital Raster Graphics (DRGs)" and can be printed for class or field work or imported into Geographic Information System (GIS) applications.

"For example," she says, "DRG topographic maps can be combined with other geospatial data, such as Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), to enhance terrain and slope visualizations useful for site planning, land management, and earth science studies.

For questions or assistance with the NYS Gazetteer and GeoData Collection, Shular can be reached in the UB Libraries by email mshular@buffalo.edu, or by phone at 645-2947 extension 223.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.