Best of 2022 So Far – Custom USGS Maps
I’m taking the weekend off. While I’m gone I’ll be republishing some of the most popular posts of the year so far. Earlier this year I highlighted the galleries of free to use and re-use media that the USGS hosts. Earlier this week I was back on the USGS site looking in those galleries when […]
Create Your Own USGS Maps
Earlier this year I highlighted the galleries of free to use and re-use media that the USGS hosts. Earlier this week I was back on the USGS site looking in those galleries when I noticed something new to me. That something is the USGS National Map Viewer. Don’t the name fool you, the USGS National […]
The USGS Multimedia Gallery Offers Excellent Public Domain Images and Videos
The USGS Multimedia Gallery contains large collections of educational videos, animations, audio recordings, pictures, and slideshows. As you might expect, you’ll also find lots of maps in the USGS multimedia gallery. You can browse and search the gallery according to media type, year of publication, and keyword. In addition to the videos in the USGS Multimedia Gallery you can […]
Running Free Rivers
River Runner is a neat website that shows you how a drop of water travels from anywhere in the United States to the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, or the Gulf of Mexico. To use River Runner simply go to the site and click on any location in the United States. As soon as you […]
Five Collections of Historical Maps
As I mentioned in my previous post, reading this new BBC article about the rediscovery of the first 3D map in Europe prompted me to look through my archives for collections of historical maps. Here are some collections of historical maps that I’ve featured in the past and used in my classroom and or in […]
Lessons on Map Projections
The maps pages and education pages of the USGS should be bookmarked by anyone who teaches geography. One of my go-to pages within the USGS education site is this collection of 27 ideas for teaching with topographic maps. In the list of lesson ideas you will find suggestions for lessons about typical geography topics like […]
USGS Find a Feature Challenges – Outdoor Learning Opportunities
Last week I wrote about the Learning from Home resources available from the USGS. While it’s not specifically a part of the Learning from Home resources, USGS offers another selection of activities that can be used for “at home” learning. Those activities are called Find a Feature. The USGS Find a Feature challenge is a […]
USGS Offers Online and Hands-on Learning from Home Resources
Since I was in elementary school I have enjoyed looking at maps and day dreaming about the places those maps depict. I like maps so much I have a couple of USGS topographical maps on the wall in my office. So whenever the USGS emails me with something new, I immediately investigate it. The latest […]
topoView – View and Download Thousands of Historical Maps
topoView is a free service that anyone can use to find and download historical topographic maps produced by the USGS since 1880. The process of finding maps through topoView is rather easy. Simply open the map viewer then click on a part of the United States. Once you’ve selected an area you can use the […]
USGS Multimedia Gallery – Excellent Public Domain Images and Videos
Today, I want to make sure that you’re aware of some other great materials available through the USGS Multimedia Gallery. The USGS Multimedia Gallery contains large collections of educational videos, animations, podcasts, and image galleries. You can search each collection by topic, keyword tag, or year of creation. RSS feeds are available for each gallery. In addition to […]
27 Ideas for Teaching With & About Topographic Maps – From the Archive
Due to an injury and some pressing personal matters requiring my attention, posts for the rest of the week will be favorites from the archive. The USGS offers free topographic maps for most of the United States. The maps can be downloaded as PDFs through the USGS store. The maps can be used in the […]
Free Printable Maps from the USGS and National Geographic
The United States Geological Survey creates topographical maps of the United States. The USGS maps can be downloaded for free from the USGS website. The USGS website can be a little tricky to use. Another option is to use National Geographic’s USGS map portal to find, download, and print maps. On that site you can […]