Map Resources at UNC, and Beyond: Atlases and Gazetteers
Atlases
An atlas is a collection of maps or charts. While most of us are familiar with general atlases or ones that show major roads and cities, there are many other kinds of atlases. These materials might be devoted to a particular theme ( i.e. immigration, GNP, historical naval battles) and/or they might be devoted to a particular area (i.e. France, China, the Moon).
Three standard world atlases are the following:
- Oxford Atlas of the World
- Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World
- Atlas of the World (National Geographic)
More specialized atlases are located at Davis Library, specifically in the Reference collection or on the lower level. For assistance in using or locating these materials please contact the Davis Library Service Desk. These materials can also be located in the library's catalog. Sample searches are shown below.
Gazetteers
Gazetteers are alphabetical listings of place names. Included features can be anything from villages to streams to mountains to cities -- any important geographical feature. Gazetteers are also a useful means for finding the spelling and location of a particular place.
A variety of gazetteers are available online. Below are some you might consider utilizing in your research.
- Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names OnlineContains nearly 1 million place names representing approximately 900,000 places. The TGN is the only available automated geographical resource that is hierarchical, global in scope, and targeted at researchers, catalogers, librarians, and archivists dealing with the history of art and architecture. The logical focus of a TGN record is the "place." Each place has attributes, including names, place types and coordinates. The places are arranged in hierarchies representing the current political and physical world.
- OS Open NamesA comprehensive data set of place names, roads numbers and postcodes for Great Britain.
Gazetteers can also be located in the library's catalog. Gazetteers in the Davis Library Maps Collection can be found on the Lower Level of Davis Library. For assistance in locating or using these works, please contact the Davis Library Service Desk.
