ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN MAP LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
BULLETIN
ASSOCIATION DES CARTOTHÈQUES ET ARCHIVES CARTOGRAPHIQUES
DU CANADA
NUMBER 149 / WINTER 2015
NUMÉRO 149 / HIVER 2015ASSOCIATION OF CANADIAN MAP LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES /
ASSOCIATION DES CARTOTHÈQUES ET ARCHIVES CARTOGRAPHIQUES DU CANADA
MEMBERSHIP in the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives is open to both individuals and institutions having an interest in maps and the aims and objectives of the Association. Membership dues are for the calendar year and are as follows:
Full (Canadian map field)... $45.00
Associate (anyone interested)... $45.00 ($35 US)
Institutional... $65.00 ($50 US)
Student... $20.00
Members receive the ACMLA Bulletin, the official journal of the Association, which is published three times a year.
Officers of the Association for 2014/2015 are:
Peuvent devenir MEMBRES de l’Association des cartothèques et archives cartographiques du Canada tout individu et toute institutions qui s’intéressent aux cartes ainsi qu’aux objectifs de l’Association. La cotisation annuelle est la suivante:
Membres actifs(cartothécaires canadiens à plein temps)... 45$
Membres associés (tout les intéressées)... 45,00$
Institutions... 65,00$
Étudiant... 20,00$
Le Bulletin de l’ACACC sera envoye aux membres trois fois par annee.
Les MEMBRES DU BUREAU de l’Association pour
l’année 2014/2015 sont:
Views expressed in the Bulletin are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Association.
The Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives gratefully acknowledges the financial support given by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Les opinions exprimées dans le Bullein sont celles des collaborateurs et ne correspondent pas nécessairement à celles de l’Association.
L’Association des cartothèques et archives cartographiques du Canada remercie le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada pour son apport financier.
1st Vice President / 1er Vice-Président
Siobhan Hanratty
Data/GIS Librarian
Government Documents, Data, and Maps
UNB Libraries
P.O. Box 7500
5 Macaulay Lane
Fredericton, NB E3B 5H5
vice.president1@acmla-acacc.ca
Past President / Président sortant
Dan Duda
Map Librarian
Queen Elizabeth II Library
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John’s, Newfoundland A1B 3Y1
tel: (709) 737-3198
past.president@acmla-acacc.ca
Treasurer / Trésorier
Rebecca Bartlett
GIS and Digital Resources Librarian
MADGIC, Carleton University Library
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6
treasurer@acmla-acacc.ca
President / Président
Rosa Orlandini
Librarian and Head
Map Library
102 Scott Library
York University
Toronto, Ontario
president@acmla-acacc.ca
2nd Vice President / 2e Vice-Président
Deena Yanofsky, Liaison Librarian
Humanities & Social Sciences Library
McGIll University
Montreal, Quebec H3A 0C9
vice.president2@acmla-acacc.ca
Secretary / Secrétaire
Courtney Lundrigan
Instructional and Reader Services Librarian
John W. Graham Library
Trinity College in the University of Toronto
6 Hoskin Avenue
Toronto, ON M5S 1H8
(416) 978 5851
secretary@acmla-acacc.ca
ACMLA MAILING ADDRESS / ACACC ADRESSE D’AFFAIRES
Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives /
Association des cartothèques et archives cartographiques du Canada
PO Box 60095
University of Alberta Postal Outlet
Edmonton AB T6G 2S4
http://acmla-acacc.ca
ACMLA Bulletin index available at http://toby.library.ubc.ca/resources/infopage.cfm?id=187Bulletin Staff / Collaborateurs
Editor:
Eva Dodsworth
Geospatial Data Services Librarian
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
tel: (519) 888-4567 x 36931
email: edodsworth@uwaterloo.ca
New Books and Atlases Editor:
Peter Genzinger
Reference/Collections Librarian
Wilfrid Laurier University Library
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5
email: pgenzinger@wlu.ca
New Maps Editor:
Cheryl Woods
Map & Data Centre
Western University
London, Ontario N6A 5C2
tel: (519) 661-3424
email: cawoods@uwo.ca
Reviews Editor:
Sarah Simpkin
GIS and Geography Librarian
University of Ottawa
309E, Bibliothèque Morisset Library
sarah.simpkin@uottawa.ca
Regional News Editor:
Tom Anderson
Private Records
Provincial Archives of Alberta
8555 Roper Road
Edmonton, Alberta T6E 5W1
tel: (780) 415-0700
email: Tom.Anderson@gov.ab.ca
Geospatial Data and Software
Reviews Editor:
Andrew Nicholson
GIS/Data Librarian
University of Toronto at Mississauga
3359 Mississauga Rd. North
Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6
email: anichols@utm.utoronto.ca
BULLETIN DE L’ACACC
NUMÉRO 149 HIVER 2015
ACMLA BULLETIN
NUMBER 149 WINTER 2015
ON THE COVER...
Labrador [Showing Settlement in the Central Coastal Region]. [Levin T. Reichel], 1872.
Published in 1989 by ACMLA. Reproduced by the Labrador Institute of Northern Studies (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador.
Table of Contents
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE - Rosa Orlandini 2
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION - Eva Dodsworth 4
A CO-OP STUDENT’S REFLECTIONS ON LAND USE ANALYSIS - Alex McVittie 9
WHAT’S MAGIRT UP TO? CURRENT AND FUTURE ENDEAVORS - Paige Andrew 12
CARTO 2015 : INVITATION 16
REVIEWS
RDA and Cartographic Resources - Leanne Olson 23
Esri Map Book, Volume 29 - Sue McKee 24
Mapping the Nation: Supporting Decisions that Govern a 25
People - Catherine McGoveran
GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design 26
- Virginia Pow
Spatial Cloud Computing: a practical approach 26
- Vanessa Kitchin
REGIONAL NEWS - Tom Anderson 29
NEW BOOKS AND ATLASES - Peter Genzinger 31
NEW MAPS - Cheryl Woods 33
GEOSPATIAL DATA AND SOFTWARE REVIEWS - 35
Maptitude - Daniel Brendle-MoczukACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
2
As I enter the last couple of months of my ACMLA presidency, I would like to extend my huge
thanks to the Executive who have provided great leadership with Association activities, and
to the committee chairs, our officers, conference organizers, the Bulletin editor and Bulletin
authors, all of who have contributed to sustaining and improving our great association. I
am also grateful to the members who came forward to work on the new bylaw and rules
of procedure. In the next months and years to come we have a lot to look forward to!
2015 Conference and Annual General Meeting
The 49th annual conference and annual general meeting of the Association of Canadian Map
Libraries and Archives / Association des cartothèques et archives cartographiques du Canada
(ACMLA-ACACC) will be held in Ottawa from June 16th to June 19th, 2015. Our colleagues at
Carleton University will be hosting the workshops on June 16th and the conference sessions
will be held at uOttawa on June 17th to June 19th. For more information about the conference
including registration details and the preliminary program, please visit the conference
website at https://carto2015.library.carleton.ca/. We are also looking for volunteers to help
out during the conference, if you are interested please email carto2015@acmla-acacc.ca.
ACMLA at 50
2016 will be the 50th Anniversary of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and
Archives. In 1966, a small group of dedicated librarians and archivists started organizing
the first “Conference on Map Libraries and Map Collections in Canada”. The conference
had around 70 map professionals in attendance and it took place at the Public Archives of
Canada in Ottawa in June 1967. During that conference the Association of Canadian Map
Libraries was formed, and twenty years later we became the Association of Canadian Map
Libraries and Archives. Next year will be a very special year for our Association and we will
celebrate it, with a special issue of the Bulletin and a birthday party at the 2016 Conference.
Board of Directors Nominations and Elections 2015-2016
Last July our new bylaw was submitted and accepted by Industry Canada. One of the significant
changes is the structure of our Board. So, in the weeks to come, the Nominations Committee
will be struck, and members of ACMLA will receive a call for nominations for the following
positions: President, Vice-President/President Elect, Past-President, Vice-President Professional
Development, Vice President Communications and Outreach, Treasurer, and Secretary. Once the
nominations are submitted, we will be conducting elections prior to the Annual membership
meeting in Ottawa from June 16-19. I would like to encourage all members to consider running
for an elected position on our Executive.
In brief, these are the roles and responsibilities of each position.
Vice-President/President Elect: The primary role is to liaise with the Association’s members,
oversee the mentoring program along with the President, and to develop recruitment strategies.
The Vice-President/President Elect position shall serve the first year after their election
as Vice President, the second year as President, and the third year as Past President.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
3
President: Acts as the chief executive officer of the Association and presides over Association
meetings. The President’s primary responsibility is to provide leadership for the ACMLA.
Past President: The Past President is responsible for administering the Association’s awards
and applying for any available external funding that advances the Association’s goals.
Vice-President Professional Development [2 years]: This new executive position will develop and
maintain the professional development strategy for the Association, including facilitating the
planning of the Annual Conferences.
Vice President Communications and Outreach [2 years]: This new executive position will
develop and maintain a communications plan and strategy for the Association including, external
communications on behalf of the Association about issues affecting our communities, and chairing
the Communications Committee.
Treasurer [3 years]: The Treasurer manages the finances of the Association, including preparing
and presenting the budget, maintaining financial records.
Secretary [3 years]: The Secretary records the minutes of all proceedings of the Executive Board
and the Annual Meetings, ensures the maintenance of the archival record of the Association
For more details about each position, do not hesitate to get in contact with any current member
of the executive.
Appointed Positions and Standing Committees
Of course, there is more to our Association than our Board of Directors. We are always looking
for members to contribute to committee work. In addition to our established Nominations
and Elections and Awards Committees, we will be creating a Communications Committee to
support communications and outreach for the Association. Finally, we have several appointed
positions: Membership Officer, Editor of the Bulletin, Publications, Webmaster, and Regional
Representatives. If you are interested in becoming more involved with the Association, keep an eye
out for a call for expression of interest for vacant committee positions and appointed positions.
Best Regards,
Rosa Orlandini
ACMLA President
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
4
IGU 2014
The 2014 Regional Conference of the
International Geographic Union (IGU) was
held on August 18-22 in Krakow, Poland. There
were 1374 participants from 64 countries
and regions including Poland, Germany,
Japan, China, Africa, USA, Canada and many
others. The conference was organized by the
consortium of eight geographical research
institutions from Poland, and took place at
the Jagiellonian University, which celebrated
its 650th anniversary that year. The theme of
the conference was “Changes, Challenges and
Responsibility” which drew attention to the
constantly changing environment, society and
economy which encourages researchers to find
new methods to understand the changing world.
The opening ceremony was held on August
18th, 2014 in the Auditorium Maximum of the
Jagiellonian University (city centre). A number
of individuals delivered speeches, including
Dr. Jacek Majchrowski, Mayor of the City of
Krakow. Professor Leszek Kosinski gave a
plenary opening lecture on the “Relevance of
Geography”. A short piano recital was offered
by Mateusz Mateja providing participants
with a sampling of traditional Polish music.
The conference activities were comprised of
IGU commission sessions, thematic sessions,
workshops and posters. The sessions were
slotted into 31 different sub themes, or categories,
with each sub theme offering 4 presentations
per scheduled time slot. There were a total of
1171 oral presentations and 227 posters, all
of which were assigned to a specific theme.
The theme that I presented in and the sessions
that I attended was “Geographic Information
Technology in Education”. The sessions took
place in three buildings of the Jagiellonian
University Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences.
The conference provided high quality research-centered
presentations and opportunities
to meet faculty and researchers from many
countries around the world. There were
many networking and social opportunities,
from the Icebreaker, to an outdoor social
event, a gala dinner and salt mine tour.
The closing ceremony was held on August 22nd
and it concluded with a talk by Dr. Vladimir
Kolosov, President of IGU. It was announced
that IGU will be coming to Quebec in 2018.
Session Highlights and Reflections
From August 19th – 22nd I attended several
sessions that focused on teaching strategies
and using geo-technology in the classroom.
There was certainly the common theme of
instructors struggling with teaching GIS
or geo-related technology and concepts to
students. At the other end of the spectrum
another re-occurring theme was encouraging
instructors who were not very knowledgeable
in the GIS or mapping field to embed the
theme and technology into the classroom.
Both themes I have struggled with myself for
many years so these talks hit close to home and
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
International Geographical Union Regional Conference (IGU)
Report
Krakow, Poland, August 18-22, 2014
“Changes, Challenges and Responsibility”.
Eva Dodsworth
University of Waterloo
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
5
provided me with suggestions for improving my
teaching and mentoring strategy for new users.
A valuable selection of talks also provided me
with ideas for how to successfully embed GIS
technology into the classroom, offering specific
project ideas and curriculum samples. Very
importantly, the presentations provided me
with some insight as to why many instructors
choose not to use GIS. Understanding their
hurdles will encourage me to reach out in
different ways to them. Many have spoken about
the importance of creating pedagogy that will
standardize training users in GIS – both students
and teachers. Having agreed upon models and
practices is certainly something that I will share
with my colleagues with hopes of creating
standardized teaching kits for introductory
GIS sessions for students, faculty and staff.
Bringing GIS and Spatial Literacy into the
Classroom
For many years I have struggled finding
innovative and interesting ways to capture
students’ attention when it comes to teaching
GIS. Years ago, I started with a definition of what
GIS is, then I moved on to showing a live example
of what the software program ArcGIS can do.
Now I start with something simple – showing
online maps and Google Earth, my attempt at
having students relate to the technology. In fact
this approach is what my own presentation
at IGU was about, and fortunately I have
attended other talks with a similar theme at
this conference. It was refreshing to learn that
many instructors have also struggled teaching
GIS to students and learn how they have
modified their lectures and classroom activities
to find a successful way to transfer knowledge.
Some of the presentations that I found more
relative in my field of work were by faculty who
were using Google Earth to supplement the
learning experience. Although Google Earth
is widely used in K-12 classrooms, it has only
recently become a popular tool to use in the
post-secondary environment so I was happy
to hear about the different subjects that have
embedded Google Earth into their course
and project work – First Nations, second
languages, historical studies, Ancient Greece,
and digital humanities to name a few.
It was refreshing to attend presentations that
discussed specific GIS projects in classrooms.
When instructors wish to move beyond GIS
basics and create course assignments around
the technology, it enables the students to
interact with the product more. There were
three presentations that specifically discussed
geocaching. In one, a couple of instructors
from Aachen University shared the results of
their “Uni-Geocaching’ project for a course in
economic geography, a playful and fun approach
to gaining spatial orientation and research
skills. Students travelled in groups to different
locations in the city with their mobile GPS and
when they arrived at specific landmarks they
found Caches that asked them to find answers
to questions using a number of online resources
like newspaper articles, podcasts, photographs
or QR Codes. When the questions were
answered correctly, they were provided with
coordinates for the next landmark. Customized
software was created for this project and each
student had a copy on their mobile phone or
tablet. It was good to see that geocaching can
be successfully used in upper academic courses.
Another project that required “field work”
was discussed in a presentation highlighted in
a GIS workshop that is held every summer in
Hiroshima, Japan, teaching not only mapping
skills but informing students of atomic bomb
effects. Students went out and conducted their
own field work looking for signs of atomic
bombing. Then they mapped their field notes
atop of air photos using an open source GIS
program, “Chizutaro”. Combining real life
experiences (walking through locations of
bombing) with virtual enhances learning. This is
a similar approach that I see several geography
and environmental courses using as well – in
person visits and then mapping using GIS.
There really is nothing more satisfying than
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
6
seeing students engaging with the technology
and gaining so many skills while doing it. I’ve been
fortunate enough to be part of several courses
that invited me to work with the students. It can
be frustrating however when there are students
that can truly benefit from working with GIS
but the instructor is not willing to work with
the technology in the course. The following
section will speak to why this may be the case.
Teachers’ Reluctance to GIS in Classrooms
There had been several presentations that
discussed the reasons behind why instructors
may not be using GIS or mapping technology in
classrooms. Some stated that lack of regional
or national geography standards may be
the cause, or that GIS simply isn’t taught in
secondary schools and therefore there is little
interest in post-secondary courses. Some point
to lack of student interests, whereas others
point to lack of teacher interest and expertise.
A talk by two faculty from Friedrich-Alexander
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Höhnle,
Schubert) discussed research results that shed
light on why instructors may not be integrating
GIS into their course curriculum. Other speakers
have mentioned some of these reasons as well.
1)inadequate teaching examples,
2)lack of integrating GIS in teacher training at
university,
3)unsustainable further training activities for
teachers,
4)didactical conditions,
5)GIS-promoting conditions at the school,
6)lack of access to and availability of geodata,
7)inadequate software solutions, and
8)lack of co-operation and interest of the
students.
I can certainly speak to many of these as I have
had conversations with faculty, colleagues and
co-workers in the past who have discussed
many of the above reasons. The most difficult
is finding and developing adequate teaching
examples (1). This may be due to the amount
of time that it takes to prepare for the class, or
that there is simply no customized examples
available to use from teaching portals and the
lecture/activity needs to be created from scratch.
Teachers simply don’t have the time to create
customized lectures and activities for every class.
2) My own research has shown for example
that librarians who don’t pick up GIS in schools
will find it difficult to pick up while training
at work. I have argued for GIS education in
Library Schools for several years now so
that all librarians would have some level
of spatial literacy skills, making on-going
training (3) easier and more welcoming.
Promoting GIS (5) is of course a large portion
of our job responsibilities and I think it’s an
integral part of having GIS embedded into
the classroom. Many aspects of GIS need
to be promoted – the value, the uses, real-life
benefits, software, data and assistance.
Access to and availability of GIS data (6)
is one of the most important because one
can’t create a map without the layers of
the Earth, and (7) one can’t create a map
without the software. Getting buy-in from
students (8) is crucial but this is dependent
on the instructor and how GIS is introduced.
The presentation did an excellent job
summarizing the perspective of the teacher,
but also all the other aspects that the teacher
may not have control over. Relating this to
uWaterloo, there may be instructors who
have certain factors discussed above, but may
not realize that the librarian can assist with
teaching material (1), with data (6), with
promotion (5), and so forth. It was great to
see what a role the library plays in the life of
a course, and that the relationship between
faculty and the librarian is a partnership.
There was an excellent presentation offered by
a professor from North-West University South
Africa (van der Westhuizen) who summarized
geospatial abilities of geography teachers in
South Africa. He too mentioned that the lack
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
7
of training of teachers, and lack of time to learn
GIS software is a major contributor to why GIS
in not promoted in upper secondary schools.
Training for GIS Users
There were many presentations that covered
the integral role of geography standards and
how they guide proper training techniques in
both teachers and students. Faculty from Ghent
University (Ghent, Belgium) discussed the
difference between U.S. geography standards
and those in many European countries. U.S.
standards are very focused on GIS and create
many graduates from GIS programs. European
researchers describe GIS in education as
unsuccessful due to the lack of instructor
knowledge and the lack of education standards
in the curriculum. There are online programs
available to teachers, such as the iGuess
project (www.iguess.eu), but they have been
deemed by the presenter as not using specific
curriculum standards. The iGuess project is
an EU-funded project that aims at developing
teacher training courses to promote the
uses of GIS in teaching. The course contains
methodologies, guidelines, good practices
and exercises for using GIS in the classroom.
An online project that was recommended as
a starting point for teachers was Digital Earth
(www.digital-earth.eu), a portal for those using
geospatial resources to connect with others for
the purposes of learning and teaching. It aims to
network people for purposes of sharing tools,
technologies, learning and teaching approaches,
training, curricula development and more.
There have been multiple efforts made to
create a framework for teaching instructors
and improving curriculum creation and
teacher preparation. GeoCapabilities, a project
by the U.S. National Science Foundation and
the European Commission’s COMENIUS
program is one example that was discussed
to offer teachers examples of several national
standards. In my experience I have learned
that there are many online resources that offer
assistance with GIS instruction planning but
Europe has a number of teaching portals that
can assist teachers with their struggles planning
a class or developing teaching examples.
I have heard from several presenters who
have demonstrated other websites that can
be used to find sample assignments, project
templates, exercises and an entire GIS course
framework. Some are regulated by regional
geography standards, and others are simply
a sandbox for instructors to share their
work. There are some areas in Europe that
do not have concrete geography standards
or teaching styles. In Malaysia for example,
geography is an elective course in upper
secondary education, thus the number of
courses using GIS in universities is very low. At
the opposite end of the spectrum, in Portugal,
GIS was incorporated into the upper secondary
school geography classes since the early
1990s. Teachers rely on an instruction portal,
GEORED to access lesson plans and software.
GIS and Map Services Abroad
After meeting IGU participants from many
areas of Europe and Asia, I have learned that
GIS and map services are not offered in the
same way that they are in many institutions
in Canada and in the U.S. Many non-North
American institutions don’t have a GIS presence
in libraries at all. GIS services are offered
through the faculty of Geography, where GIS
is taught. It’s not common for students who
are not enrolled in GIS to actually use the
technology in other courses. GIS is considered
a subject more so than a tool, however I have
spoken with some faculty members who
are in the Sciences and they have partnered
with Geography faculty on joint GIS projects
so perhaps this trend will slowly change.
A lot of data are open so I have learned that
students and faculty simply download the data
online, or they use open data from university
portals. Again, the Library does not play a
part in collecting or disseminating data, nor
teaching how to use them in GIS programs.
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
8
Equally as surprising were two site visits I
made outside of the IGU conference. I visited
the Jagiellonska University main library
(Bibltioteka Jagiellonska) in Krakow as well as
the University of Wroclaw, in my home town,
Wroclaw (old Berlin). The library in Krakow
had a floor dedicated to maps, however the
maps were considered to be ‘special collections’
and were not open to the public. I was asked
to sit in a quiet study room, fill out forms,
know the exact name and year of the maps I
required, and then wait while a staff member
went into the storage area to retrieve the
maps for me. This is of course quite different
from the open stacks we are used to in many
North American libraries. Most library users
enjoy browsing through map cabinets to find
gems that they may not know exist, which
is not possible with a closed stack system.
In order to visit the library beyond the main
floor, I had to register for a library card.
The University of Wroclaw’s website indicated
that their map collection was housed within the
Faculty of Geography Map Room. When I went to
visit the room, it was closed as the staff member
left early. According to the hours posted on the
website and on the door, the staff member left
at least an hour before posted closing time,
which was extremely unfortunate for me as
I was not able to return the following day to
see how their map collection was organized
Concluding Thoughts
This conference has highlighted a different
perspective of GIS education for me. I feel
now that Canadians and Americans take
their geography education for granted. Some
countries have very strict education standards
and don’t permit web-based GIS learning (Dr.
Wang Chen from Taiwan presented on his
ministry standards which prohibit teaching
GIS using Google Maps because it doesn’t teach
the full potential of GIS). As mentioned earlier
researchers from Malaysia discussed how GIS is
not integrated into the school system because
geography is a non-compulsory subject in high
school. With few resources spent on teaching
geography, students perceive the subject
as dry and not interactive with technology.
There’s no question that learning GIS provides
numerous skills and benefits. One presentation
(Singh, and Kleeman, Van Bergen) discussed
a study that revealed that teaching students
geography content using GIS to deliver the
information was much more successful
in student retention, then teaching the
content using conventional methods. The
students also appeared to be much more
motivated to learn the subject matter. Another
research project also compared teaching
conventionally vs using GIS. A talk by faculty
from Utrecht University (Favier, van der
Schee) revealed that lessons using geospatial
technologies contributed significantly more
to the development of students’ higher order
thinking skills (geospatial relational thinking).
It was an excellent conference and provided
so many different viewpoints from all around
the world. Sometimes we simply assume
that the world is small and that we should
do things the way others do, but sometimes
stepping out of our culture will provide us with
inspirational ideas that may encourage positive
changes. This conference certainly was an
eye-opener to me, and I took advantage of not
only attending every session I could, but also
I had excellent discussions with the attendees
to learn more about their institutions and
the GIS services that those institutions offer.
Eva Dodsworth is the Geospatial Data Services
Librarian at the University of Waterloo library
where is specializes in teaching GIS and map-related
content to the university community. Eva’s
interests include historical cartographic research,
teaching geoweb applications and historical GIS.
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
9
A CO-OP STUDENT’S REFLECTIONS ON LAND USE ANALYSIS:
CREATING AN AGRICULTURAL LAND USE MAP OF THE
REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF WATERLOO
Alex McVittie
University of Waterloo
It was the first week of my co-op position as a
GIS Specialist at the Geospatial Centre at the
University of Waterloo, and work was going quite
well – I was working on my training package at
the time and it wasn’t overly busy with clients
yet. While I was working on answering some
of the questions in the package, I overheard
some of my co-workers discussing a request
from a faculty member to assist with creating
an agricultural land use map of the region.
Apparently the last soil survey was conducted in
1983 and in the last thirty-two years the region
has developed and changed significantly. After
contacting numerous goernment agencies, my
co-workers concluded they may need to manually
create the database using orthoimagery.
This didn’t sound like an easy task to do
by any means, but I thought that perhaps
remote sensing would do a better job of
identifying the different crop types. So before
I knew it, I was suddenly put in charge of a
large project on my second day on the job.
I prodded and poked around at various research
papers for identifying crop type using spectral
signatures, but all the papers were far beyond
my scope of knowledge, involving large complex
mathematical formulas and terminology that
sent me on long google searches leaving me
even more confused. After a day or so of this
research, my manager received an email back
from OMAFRA suggesting that we try doing
classification using the annual crop inventory
data set published by AgriFoods Canada. After a
couple quick verifications, this dataset seemed
to be the miracle solution we were all looking for.
The dataset can be downloaded either by UTM
zone or by province, and it is a 30m resolution
classified raster dataset, accompanied with
documentation explaining what each cell value
represents. I clipped the large raster data set to
the regional boundary, converted it to a vector
dataset, applied symbology and submitted it to
my manager, thinking this was the end. This was
only the beginning to a month long project with
a Master of Development Practice assignment
and workshop.
From a basic land use analysis perspective,
this data set works perfectly well – you can
see what percentage of the region is urban
and developed, which percentage is covered
by coniferous forested areas, and so on.
However, from a planning perspective, this
is far too generalized. For instance, there is a
classification of land referred to as “Pasture
and Forages” which falls under areas that
are golf courses, parks, large backyards, and
animal pastures. This causes a large issue for
determining animal productivity in the region
– you’ll end up with false information if you
account for someone’s backyard as being active
animal pasture. Furthermore, someone who is
growing corn recreationally in their backyard
should not count towards the total area of
corn being grown by farmers. This is a huge
issue that was brought up by the professor that
wanted this data for his masters class. Another
requisite was knowing how much urban area
was being used as residential land use, and
what parts were industrial/commercial. The
data set that I had created required a fair
bit of reworking, as it was far too detailed in
some ways, and not detailed enough in others.
The biggest issue that we had with classifying
the data was that we did not have parcel data
newer than 2007 for the North Dumfries
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
10
township. While we had information as current
as of 2014 for the rest of the region, we had
no choice but to use 7 year old data for North
Dumfries, which may have led to a slight
inaccuracy of the data set. To obtain the updated
land use codes for the region, I downloaded
the 2014 Teranet land use code file in tabular
format, and performed a tabular join based
on pin values, selecting the option “Keep only
matching records” instead of “Keep all records”.
This allowed us to easily see how much data
was missing and then evaluate that section
by hand to determine if it needed updating.
Thankfully, North Dumfries has not developed
any new subdivisions or areas in the past 7
years as far as I could tell, so we were able
to still use the 2007 parcels for that area. By
overlaying the updated parcels layer with
the entire 2007 parcels layer, I was able
to remove the old version of the updated
parcels by applying the Erase tool. Then I was
able to simply use the Merge tool to merge
the two layers (2014 parcels and the 2007
North Dumfries parcels) together into one
updated parcel layer. This parcel layer will
allow us to determine what falls within urban
usage (urban corn growth, large backyards,
etc) and what is actually agricultural use.
Seeing as all agricultural things are accounted
for already, I then proceeded to remove all
the parcels without a land use code (these are
primarily parking lots and road networks), as
well as the parcels with an agricultural land use
classification and an open space classification.
With these parcels removed from the layer,
I used the Intersect tool to get a parcel layer
that also included the agricultural data within
the parcel. By applying a field calculation to
the gridcode (numerical value that represents
the land use type), I added 1000 to all of these
values so that you could differentiate between
corn grown in an urban setting (1147) and corn
grown in a rural setting (147). I then applied the
Erase tool so that this area was removed from
the regional land use layer, and then merged
it together so there were new classifications.
I applied this same methodology using parks
and green spaces (obtained from the Region of
Waterloo), except this time adding 2000 to the
gridcode value. By applying this methodology to
the data set, we can now determine how much
corn is being grown in a rural setting, and how
much corn is being grown in an urban setting,
solving all the planning and land use classification
issues that were with the original dataset.
One thing to keep in mind with this data is that
AgriFoods Canada reports an accuracy rate of at
least 85%, so the data may be slightly inaccurate.
However, this is about the most accurate data
set you can have without collecting the data
yourself on the ground using a GPS unit.
Once the data was cleaned up and organized,
students in the Masters workshop were given
a four hour workshop on GIS, teaching all the
novice users how to work with ArcGIS. They had
one week to work as a team to create a land use
map of the Region using the data provided to
them. The results can be seen in Figure 1.1. This
map will be shared with the Region of Waterloo
where it will be posted on their website.
The final map consists of thirteen layers
which total 100% of the land use in the Region
of Waterloo. The breakdown of classes are:
- Woodland and Trees - 11.2%
- Water - 1.28%
- Urban Woodland and Trees - 4.75%
- Urban Farming - 4.40%
- Orchards and Vinyards - 0.19%
- Other - 1.05%
- Non Productive Land Type - 0.58%
- Grassland - 18.75%
- Rural Farmland - 38.51%
- Non-Residential Parcels - 4.72%
- Green Spaces - 1.02%
- Transportation Network - 6.32%
- Residential Parcels - 7.36%
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
11
Legend
Woodland and Trees - 11.12%
Water - 1.28%
Urban Woodland and Trees - 4.75%
Urban Farming - 4.40%
Orchards and Vinyards - 0.19%
Other - 1.05%
Non Productive Land Type - 0.58%
Grassland - 18.75%
Rural Farmland - 38.51%
Non-Residential Parcels - 4.72%
Green Spaces - 1.02%
Transportation Network - 6.32%
Residential Parcels - 7.36%
±
0 3 6 12 18 24
Kilometers
Classification of Land Types Within the Region of Waterloo in 2013
Masters of Development Practice
Map created 4 February 2015
Area of the region
1,383 square kilometers
Projection used
Lambert Conformal Conic 2SP
Data Source
Annual Crop Inventory, AgriFoods Canada
The City of Waterloo municipal data
Figure 1.1. Classification of Land Types within the Region of Waterloo in 2013.
Alex McVittie is a co-op student at the Geospatial Centre for the Winter term. He
is a second year Geomatics student in the Faculty of Environment, minoring in
Computer Science. Alex specializes in spatial analysis and database management
using ArcMap and ArcCatalog, as well as gaining high scores in Geoguessr
(https://geoguessr.com/). Alex can be contacted at ajmcvitt@uwaterloo.ca.
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
12
WHAT’S MAGIRT UP TO?
CURRENT AND FUTURE ENDEAVORS
Paige Andrew
Librarian, Pennsylvania State University
I was pleased to receive a note from ACMLA Bulletin
editor, Eva Dodsworth a few weeks ago asking if
I could share what is rattling around with your
map librarian colleagues in the United States,
and particularly those of the Map and Geospatial
Information Round Table (MAGIRT) of the American
Library Association (ALA). As the current chair of
MAGIRT I have an overall view of what this group
of nearly 300 professionals has been actively
pursuing and what we are working on for the
next year. So, let me take a few moments of your
time to highlight activities recently completed,
currently underway (especially as it applies to the
upcoming ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco),
and what we’re aiming for moving forward.
Recent Activities
Our most prominent activity since Fall 2014
has been setting up and delivering a series of
educational webinars to benefit not only map
librarians but any librarian who works with
geospatial data, maps, etc. on different levels. These
have been well-received and we are currently
setting up a final one for this spring before taking
a break and then aiming to do one summer 2015
and another in the fall. Here’s a list of what
was delivered ‒ concluding with the upcoming
webinar (you’re invited!!!!) on March 26, 2015:
January 15, 2015: “Creating Enterprise Cultural
Resource GIS Data” was delivered by Deidre
McCarthy, Chief of the National Park Service Cultural
Resources GIS Facility in Washington, D.C., http://
www.nps.gov/hdp/crgis/.
Summary: Ms. McCarthy shared information about
the United States National Park Service’s Cultural
Resource GIS Facility (CRGIS) “CRGIS has created
publicly available nation-wide National Register
of Historic Places GIS data, available for the first
time.” She shared details on different types of data
collecting, storage and dissemination activities,
including ‘pitfalls’, challenges, and successes.
February 19, 2015: “Using GeoBlacklight to Implement
your own Geoportal” was delivered by Darren Hardy,
a GIS Software Engineer at Stanford University and
Jack Reed, a Geospatial Web Engineer at Stanford.
Summary: The presenters’ goal was to “… (1)
demonstrate the GeoBlacklight technology, (2)
define and describe geospatial data holdings, (3)
discuss how you can implement your own Geoportal
using GeoBlacklight, and (4) field questions you
may have.” They also compared GeoBlacklight
capabilities to similar types of portals and stated
it “goes beyond traditional Geoportals to provide
three types of search (text, faceted, and spatial)
across a federated repository of shared geospatial
metadata, and a rich data model designed for
preservation and repository management.” Stanford
started the development of GeoBlacklight in 2013.
March 5, 2015: “Best Practices for Environmental
Data Management” was delivered by Yaxing
Wei, a Geospatial Information Scientist at
the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center
(DAAC) in the Environmental Sciences Division
and Robert B. Cook, the Chief Scientist for
the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center.
Summary: T h i s w e b i n a r “… i n t r o d u c e [ d ]
fundamental best practices on how to choose the
best format for your data, how to better structure
data within files, how to define variables and units,
how to develop data documentation so that others
can find, understand, and use your data easily” and
“…showcase[d] advanced best practices on how to
properly specify spatial and temporal characteristics
of your data in standard ways so your data are
ready and easy to be visualized in both 2-D and
3-D viewers (e.g. Google Earth).” All of this is being
performed by the presenters and their colleagues
at the ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
[Forthcoming] March 26, 2015, 3 p.m. EST: “Libraries
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
13
Geospatial Support for the Digital Humanities”
by Nicole Kong, GIS Specialist and Assistant
Professor at Purdue University Libraries.
Abstract: GIS technology and geography research
methods are bringing new opportunities for
humanities research. As a centralized place for
information discovery and access, libraries play
an important role in supporting the geospatial
needs of digital humanities scholars. In order to
develop best practices to support digital humanities’
geospatial needs, we have conducted interviews
with researchers in different departments from
within the College of Liberal Arts. These interviews
focused on the nature of their geospatial data,
frequently used tools, and expected learning skills,
which helped us to identify the GIS technology
and geography research methods that are most
important in their fields. Based on our findings,
we are taking action in three major aspects to
improve the library’s geospatial support for the
digital humanities, including teaching, research
support, and outreach. For the teaching perspective,
we are designing teaching modules and have
applied different tools for undergraduate and
graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts.
We have found that the hands-on sessions in the
libraries have attracted great interest from most
of the student groups. For the research support,
we have built collaborations with scholars who
are in different research stages. We will share
the different needs emerging from the different
stages of research in the webinar, as well as the
challenges we found with current technologies as
applied to the humanities. For outreach we have
organized a humanities theme into campus-wide
GIS Day activities, which has successfully reached
various humanities researchers considering
incorporating geospatial research into their study.
All of our webinars, with descriptions and links
to register to join (and post-webinar, links to the
webinar itself) are found on the MAGIRT Libguide,
http://magirt.ala.libguides.com/resources/
trainingsandpresentations. We also announce each
upcoming webinar on the upper right side of the
MAGIRT homepage as a “button” that will click you
through to the Libguide page, http://www.ala.org/
magirt/ where you can find the link to register. New
this year, we are charging a nominal fee ($20) for
individuals who are not members of MAGIRT in some
instances as a means to possibly raise enough funds
to at least pay for the cost of delivering the webinar.
Of course, in these cases if one wishes to attend for
free simply join MAGIRT for the nominal fee of…$20!
MAGIRT plans on continuing to deliver meaningful
and helpful webinars into the future at a rate of
perhaps one per quarter (or four times a year).
Much depends on successfully recruiting presenters
of course, so if you have an idea for a webinar you
would like to see tackled or would be interested in
delivering one, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Current/Near Future Activities
In all honesty everyone is focused right now
on two things; successfully delivering our last
webinar and finalizing many things related to
the ALA Annual Conference, which will be held
June 25-30, 2015. I mentioned the forthcoming
webinar above so will not repeat it, here’s
what we will be delivering in San Francisco:
MAGIRT Social Events: while nothing has been
finalized at this writing, we will be aiming to tour a
local map collection or similar (potentially visiting
Susan Powell and her collection at the University
of California-Berkeley), arranging a “dutch treat”
dinner and conducting our annual MAGIRT Honors
Award ceremony at a reception, dinner, or similar. We
might also arrange a visit to a local history museum
or at the Presidio (former United States Army
military base and now a National Park Service site;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidio_of_San_
Francisco). All are welcome to join us in these
festivities.
Saturday morning of the conference, a Program
sponsored by the MAGIRT GIS Interest Group
will be delivered: “Open Context and its Role in
Research Data and Publication” by Eric Kansa,
co-founder of Open Context http://opencontext.
org/ and two co-presenters, Ms. Anne Austin
and Mr. Karl Grossner of Stanford University.
Saturday afternoon of the conference a three-hour
Program jointly sponsored by MAGIRT and GODORT
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
14
(Government Documents Round Table) will be
delivered: “Data Visualization in the Library:
Collections, Tools and Scalable Services” by Justin
Joque, Visualization Librarian at the University
of Michigan and Angela Zoss, Data Visualization
Coordinator at Duke University Libraries.
These two formal programs can only be attended
by those attending the ALA Annual Conference.
Of course, MAGIRT will hold a full slate of
committee meetings, discussion groups, and
a closing Executive Board meeting over the
course of three very full conference days as well.
Moving Forward, What MAGIRT is Planning from
July 2015 and Beyond
Come July we will have a new set of officers in
place, beginning with my moving from Chair to
Past Chair. We have two officer positions up for
election in April – Vice-Chair/Chair-elect and
Treasurer – and we do have a slate for these (thank
goodness!). Current Vice-Chair, Elizabeth (Beth)
Cox of Southern Illinois University will become
the new Chair of MAGIRT, and current Secretary,
Tami Morse of the University of Wyoming will stay
on to complete the second year of her term. Once
ALA elections are completed we will announce our
new Vice-Chair and Treasurer, so stay tuned! There
will be a few changes at the committee chair level
as well. But once all the dust has settled here is a
couple of things MAGIRT is moving forward on:
- A possible new, online-only, [4th?] edition of the
longstanding Guide to U.S. Map Resources. [I question
the edition number because if we move from a print
product to an online-only product does it then
become the first edition of that online product?]
A small steering committee is working with Carol
McAuliffe, Head of the Map & Imagery Library at the
George A. Smathers’ Libraries at the University of
Florida, who made the idea a reality with a formal
proposal delivered at our August 2014 Executive
Board meeting. The goal is to take the content of the
third edition, update it for accuracy and add new
information, and then put a database of information
up on a website that will have a map interface
and interactive features for the user. Stay tuned!
- We have garnered a subscription for ArcGIS
Online and members of our GeoTech Committee
will use this for a couple of projects; to improve
and expand upon the “ALA Membership Map”
(http://magirt.ala.libguides.com/resources/
ALAmap) and to use as a tool for possibly
garnering grant funding for other MAGIRT projects.
- Our Membership and Marketing and Online
Presence Oversight committees are hard at work
on several things, notably a complete review of
our Libguide platform and content (with an eye
on possibly moving to something else such as
WordPress) to make this a more user-friendly
site, update content, and to de-duplicate content
between it and our MAGIRT homepage. They
are currently working on revising our MAGIRT
membership brochure as well, with the assistance
of ALA’s Membership Department, and we hope to
have something new to use as early as the upcoming
Annual Conference, but most certainly no later than
the 2016 Midwinter Meeting next January in Boston.
- Finally, we are in the beginning stages of moving
MAGIRT business-related documents from ALA
Archives to the new ALA Institutional Repository
(ALAIR).
Let me conclude with a reminder that our MAGIRT
website is chock full of information about us, who
our leaders are, our publications (active and past),
and even a list of Honors Award recipients over the
years (and more); found at http://www.ala.org/
magirt/. I invite you to also go through all of the
content in our Libguide as this resource is ever-expanding
and ever-changing. We welcome input
at any time and we also welcome our Canadian
colleagues to join us in our work and play, so feel
free to reach out to me with questions or needs.
Mr. Paige G. Andrew
Chair, Map and Geospatial Information Round Table
(through June 2015)
Maps Cataloging Librarian, Pennsylvania State
University (pga2@psu.edu)
Co-editor/co-founder, Journal of Map & Geography
Libraries
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
15
MAGIRT (MAP AND GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION ROUND TABLE)
PROGRAMS TO BE DELIVERED AT THE 2015 AMERICAN LIBRARY
ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE
MAGIRT is pleased to announce that we will be delivering two formal programs, both on exciting
and cutting-edge topics with presenters who are leaders in these areas, at the 2015 American
Library Association Annual Conference. This conference will be held in San Francisco, California
on June 25-30, with core activities falling on the two weekend days. If you plan on attending the
annual conference we hope you can join us for one or both of these programs. Unfortunately,
due to the overwhelming cost of equipment rental there is no plan to record these programs
for later viewing, though if ALA does record them I will be sure to share these out through this
Bulletin and other means. Both programs will be held on Saturday, June 27, 2015, and as of
this writing ALA has not made room assignments, so those will be announced at later dates.
Open Context and its Role in Research Data and Publication
10:30-11:30 a.m.
Sponsored by the MAGIRT GIS Discussion Group
Data Sharing as Publication: The research community increasingly expects access to
high-quality data, including the review, documentation, and publication of research data
contributed by scholars. One venue that addresses these and other large-scale issues,
Open Context, will be presented and discussed by its developer, Eric Kansa, PhD (UC-Berkeley)
and two scholars who have used it to publish and organize archaeological field
data in geospatial realms, Anne Austin, PhD (Stanford) and Karl Grossner, PhD (Stanford).
Data Visualization in the Library: Collections, Tools, and Scalable Services
1:00-4:00 p.m. (Part 1 from 1:00-2:30 p.m.; Part II from 3:00-4:00 p.m.)
Co-sponsored by MAGIRT and GODORT (Government Documents Round Table)
Data visualization, the use of graphical techniques to better communicate complex geographic
and statistical information, is used to interpret the results of data analysis more clearly and to
a wider audience. These techniques are being used by a wide range of disciplines. What are the
implications of these tools and techniques for library users? Part one of the Program describes the
landscape of data visualization, library services and patron expectations; part two an overview
of available tools, criteria for tools and datasets, and an open discussion about libraries services.
Join Justin Joque (Univ. of Michigan) and Angela Zoss (Duke University) to learn much more.
Paige Andrew
Chair, Map and Geospatial Information Round Table
and Maps Cataloging Librarian,
Pennsylvania State University Libraries
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
16
CARTO 2015
https://carto2015.library.carleton.ca/
49th Annual Conference of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA)
Discovering and using Cartographic Resources: A user-centred focus
************************************************************************************************
Conference organized by the University of Ottawa and Carleton University
16 - 19 June, 2015
Ottawa, Ontario
In a constantly changing information landscape, the users we serve, and their needs, are evolving
at a rapid pace. Innovations in technologies and services have allowed us to reach more users than
ever before.
Conference themes include:
• Providing access to geospatial and cartographic materials to users with accessibility needs;
• Innovative approaches to providing users with access to geospatial and cartographic
materials;
• Digitization projects and partnerships that facilitate access to geospatial and cartographic
collections;
• Collaborations outside the GIS/mapping community that facilitate access to geospatial
and cartographic collections;
• Access to datasets, government information, etc.
• Open data/open government initiatives;
• The GIS/mapping community as a user-centred group; and
• Evolving user needs.
Registration will open in April.
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
17
CARTO 2015
https://carto2015.library.carleton.ca/
49e colloque annuel de l’Association des cartothèques et archives cartographiques du Canada (ACACC)
Découvrir et utiliser les ressources cartographiques : l'approche axée sur l'utilisateur
************************************************************************************************
Colloque organisé par l’Université d’Ottawa et Carleton University
Du 16 au 19 juin 2015
Ottawa, Ontario
Dans un monde de l'information en constante évolution, les utilisateurs que nous servons et leurs
besoins évoluent à un rythme rapide. Des innovations technologiques et des nouveaux mode de
services nous ont permis d'atteindre plus d'utilisateurs que jamais auparavant.
Voici quelques-uns des thèmes qui pourront être abordés dans le cadre du colloque :
• Fournir l’accès aux ressources géospatiales et cartographiques pour les besoins
d’accessibilités
• Accès innovateurs aux ressources géospatiales et cartographiques;
• la vectorisation de cartes anciennes et collaboration entre partenaires qui facilitent l'accès
aux collections géospatiales et cartographiques;
• Collaborations entre partenaires à l’extérieur de la communauté de SIG / cartographie qui
facilitent l'accès aux collections géospatiales et cartographiques;
• Accès à des ensembles de données, à l'information gouvernementales, etc.
• Données ouvertes / initiatives de transparence gouvernementales;
• La communauté de SIG/cartographie comme un groupe axé sur l'utilisateur; et
• L’évolution des besoins des utilisateurs.
Le formulaire d'inscription sera disponible en avril.
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
18
CARTO 2015 CONFERENCE EVENTS
Icebreaker, June 16th 2015
The Icebreaker will be held in Library and Archives Canada’s newly-renovated reading room with
catering by Les Traiteurs Bytown Catering.
Banquet, June 18th 2015
We’re pleased to invite you to the annual banquet, to be held at the Cordon Bleu Ottawa’s Signatures
Restaurant, overlooking the Rideau River and Strathcona Park.
Field Trip, June 19th 2015
The field trip will take place at the Library and Archives Canada Preservation Centre, where you’ll
be treated to a behind-the-scenes look at their cartographic collections.
Registration Information (Open Soon)
Early Registration (until May 15th 2015)
Members - full conference (includes banquet & ice breaker) - $200.00
Non-Members - full conference (includes banquet & ice breaker) - $250.00
Single day - $100.00
Half day (Friday) - $50.00
Late Registration (after May 15th 2015)
Members - full conference (includes banquet & ice breaker) - $240.00
Non-members - full Conference (includes banquet & ice breaker) - $290.00
Single day - $125.00
Half day - $75.00
Other
Students - full conference (does not include banquet) - $25.00
Retirees - full conference (does not include banquet) - $50.00
Banquet single ticket - $50.00
Icebreaker single ticket - $25.00
Field Trip - $10.00
Local Arrangement Committee members:
Sarah Simpkin (chair) – uOttawa, Rebecca Bartlett - Carleton University, Carys Carrington - Carleton
University, Siobhan Hanratty - University of New Brunswick, Pierre Leblanc – uOttawa, Joël Rivard
- Carleton University
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
19
Application for Travel Assistance to the Conference and Annual General Meeting
To assist ACMLA/ACACC members in attending Carto2015 in Ottawa, ON, the Executive has set aside a small
portion of Association funds to be allocated for travel funding. Assistance will be granted according to the criteria
established < http://www.acmla-acacc.ca/docs/ACMLA_travel_funding.pdf> by the ACMLA / ACACC. For example,
members new to the Association and student members participating in the Conference will receive first
consideration; members presenting a paper will receive second consideration. We ask all applicants to first try
and find funding at their own institution.
To apply for travel assistance, please complete and submit this form by Friday, May 1st 2015 to:
Danial Duda
Map Room Queen Elizabeth II Library
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John’s, Newfoundland fax: 709-864-2153
CANADA A1B 3Y1 e-mail: dduda@mun.ca
All applications received by May 1st will be considered and successful applicants will be notified no later than May
8th of the amount of funds allocated. Late applications may be considered and supplemental allocations may be
made, if funds are available.
Cheques will be issued after the conference. A travel reimbursement form < http://www.acmla-acacc.
ca/docs/forms/ACMLA_travel_expense_claim.pdf> with original receipts should be sent to the ACMLA
Treasurer <http://www.acmla-acacc.ca/executive.php#treasurer>, no later than forty-five (45) days after the end
of the AGM (August 4th 2015).
Name: _________________________ Telephone: ______________ e-mail: ___________________________
Address: _____________________________________________________________________________________
City: ___________________________ Prov /State: _________ Postal/Zip Code: ____________________
Are you an ACMLA / ACACC member (Y/N)? _____ Are you a student (Y/N)? _____
What program / school? __________________________
How you are participating in this conference? _______________________________________________________
(presenter, attendee, workshop, moderator, etc.)
Travelling from: __________________________ Mode of travel: (plane, train, car, etc.) __________________
Cost estimate: ____________ (Note: If travelling by car, the rate is $.30/km and the TOTAL must be less than cost for public modes.)
Date of application (mm/dd/yyyy): ________________________
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
20
Historical Topographic Maps of Ontario to be digitized by
Ontario Council of University Libraries
In late 2014, funding was made available through Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL)
to digitize historical topographic maps of Ontario (at 1:63,360 published between 1905 and 1953,
and 1:25,000 published between 1956 and 1967 scales) located in the collections of member
institutions. The project aims to add approximately 800 maps to the consortium's collective
holdings over three fiscal years. The funds will permit the Geo Community (Ontario map and GIS
libraries) to hire staff at a number of OCUL libraries to conduct digitization and georeferencing
of historical topographic maps, as well as to develop best practices for including these and other
digitized map collections in Scholars GeoPortal. The project will allow more OCUL institutions to
become involved in digitization activities. Those institutions with existing scanning equipment
will take on the scanning tasks, but other institutions will have the opportunity to participate in
tasks such as metadata creation and georeferencing. This project will enhance the province's digital
collections, provide learning opportunities for member institutions, and establish best practices
for future projects to digitize Canada's historic topographic maps, both within and outside Ontario.
The historical Ontario topographic series are heavily used by researchers to do comparisons with
current maps on changes over time (then and now) of such issues as; urban sprawl, transportation
patterns, diminishing woodlots and shoreline erosion. The earliest topographic maps are not
readily available at all OCUL Geo Community institutions and this poses a hindrance for research.
This project will allow the maps to be delivered through the GeoPortal to all OCUL institutions.
While many of these historic topographic maps are in the public domain, the federal
government has no current digitization plans for older series and only the most recent
versions are available online through the Government of Canada. The digitization of these
maps removes access barriers, improves resource discovery, and provides a long-term
preservation solution to the challenges of maintaining often incomplete sets of these map series.
Cheryl Woods
Chair, Geo Community
Western University
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
21
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
22
ACMLA AWARDS
The ACMLA Awards Committee is responsible for three awards given by the Association. We
invite nominations for these awards and encourage members to participate in the selection of
the awards for outstanding accomplishments in our field.
ACMLA Honours Award
The Awards Committee invites nominations for the ACMLA Honours Award. According to
the guidelines for the award, the nominee should be a person who has made an outstanding
contribution in the field of map/GIS librarianship. The contribution may either be for a
specific activity or for general services and contributions such as continued membership in
the Association with active participation either as an executive officer, committee chairperson,
or committee member. Normally, membership in ACMLA is a prerequisite, however that does
not preclude considering outstanding non-members.
- Deadline : April 15th, 2015
ACMLA Cathy Moulder Paper Award
To be nominated for the Paper Award, which carries a $200 monetary prize, a feature article by
one or more authors consisting of at least three pages in length must have appeared in issues
146-148 of the ACMLA Bulletin.
- Deadline : April 15th, 2015
ACMLA Student Paper Award
The Student Paper Award will consist of a prize of $250 and free membership in the Association
for one year. The award includes an invitation to present the winning paper at the Annual
Conference. The Association will waive registration fees and provide a travel stipent of $250.
The award will normally be given on an annual basis to a student from Canada or studying in
Canada currently enrolled in a post-secondary institution (college or university). The essay
shall be original and unpublished and of no more than 3000 words. Priimary consideration
for the award will be given to the essay’s originality and its contribution to new knowledge
and inight. Other considerations include the author’s demonstration of the relevance of the
subject, the quality of the presentation and documentation, and the literary merits of the essay.
- Deadline: April 15th, 2015
For more information on ACMLA Awards, contact:
Eva Dodsworth
Chair, ACMLA Awards Committee
edodsworth@uwaterloo.ca
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
23
REVIEWS
Compiled by Sarah Simpkin
RDA and Cartographic Resources
Reviewed by Leanne Olson
Andrew, Paige G., Moore, Susan M., and Larsgaard,
Mary. RDA and Cartographic Resources. Chicago:
ALA Editions, 2015. 152p. $62.00 US. ISBN 978-
0-8389-1131-0.
RDA and Cartographic Resources focuses
specifically on cataloguing for cartographic
materials – sheet maps, atlases, globes, remote-sensing
images, online resources, facsimiles,
and more, under the new cataloguing standard
Resource Description and Access. The authors
explain that RDA is “the latest accepted
international standard for cataloging resources
in the library profession” and has restructured
and updated the previous Anglo-American
Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (AACR2).
The book consists of five chapters and seven
appendices. Chapter one briefly discusses
the evolution of map cataloguing standards.
Chapter two is a helpful overview of how
RDA and FRBR (Functional Requirements
for Bibliographic Records) entities apply to
cartographic resources. Chapter three leads
the reader through a comparison of map
cataloguing in AACR2 and RDA, noting what
remains the same and what has changed.
Chapter four is an in-depth exploration of RDA
guidelines and MARC feels for cartographic
resources cataloguing. Chapter five is a closing
discussion of the authors’ predictions for the
future of map cataloguing. The book covers
the latest revision of RDA (2013) and the
authors offer the caveat that RDA will continue
to evolve. The appendices provide at-a-glance
information about the FRBR model, MARC to
RDA mapping, and examples of full records for
a variety of types of cartographic resources.
The authors, all known experts in the
field of map cataloguing, assume some
familiarity with the RDA standard and the
FRBR conceptual model, as well as with the
MARC encoding standard. However, the book
is intentionally written at a level that can
be understood by those who are not expert
cataloguers or who do not regularly work
with cartographic resources. The language is
clear and terminology is defined throughout.
RDA can be incredibly overwhelming and
the authors take a friendly, reassuring tone,
helping the reader through the new standard.
Chapter Four, “Navigating RDA to Describe
Cartographic Resource Elements” is the meat
of the text at over one third of the book.
It compares relevant MARC fields to RDA
guidelines and where additional clarification
is needed, to LC-PCC best practices. Within the
chapter, the content is laid out by MARC Field
(245 Field: Title and Other Title Statements,
250 Field: Edition Statements, etc.). Each
section begins with a summary of the field
and background information. It lists which
fields are considered core (mandatory) and
which are core-if (can be local decisions), and
describes which elements belong in which
MARC subfields (for example, statement of
responsibility in 245$c), which is particularly
helpful if you “think in MARC”, as we cataloguers
say. The authors quote from the RDA guidelines
and provide many examples of potential
variations throughout each section. Complex
fields (such as the 255 field for mathematical
data – scale, projection, and coordinates)
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
24
discussed for more than ten pages. Headings
are clear and each MARC field is also linked to
the corresponding numerical RDA guidelines.
Images are used where necessary (for example,
in explaining how to measure maps) for added
clarity. A reference list at the end of the
chapter points the reader to more information.
I appreciate how well the authors have considered
different audiences. As my university’s “expert”
in map cataloguing, I’m tasked with mentoring
our cataloguing staff, training them, and
answering questions. I read the book cover-to-cover
as a part of learning RDA and preparing
a training plan for staff or students. But it can
also be used as a quick reference book while
cataloguing. My cataloguers vary from those
who are new to the field and who originally
learned cataloguing in an RDA environment,
to those who have been thinking in AACR2 and
MARC for decades. Both types of staff members
have used the book differently – some went
straight to the RDA rules, and others found the
chapter on comparing standards to be very
useful in updating their knowledge to RDA.
The examples throughout RDA and Cartographic
Resources have been invaluable to my
cataloguers. It’s very easy to open up this book
if you’re having trouble finding the “right”
RDA guideline, and to see how experts in the
field would describe a particular map element.
After I led a quick training session updating
them on the new RDA rules for cartographic
resources, my cataloguers were able to hit
the ground running with this book, and the
pages of our local copy are already dog-eared.
My only criticism is that I would have preferred
an overview in a more detailed Table of
Contents, breaking down the individual
chapters further, but since the book is small
and makes excellent use of headings within
chapters, it can be easily skimmed to get
a sense of its structure. Cataloguers will
likely make much use of the index, which is
detailed and includes references to MARC fields.
I highly recommend this book for any library or
cataloguing department with a map collection
that wishes to follow international metadata and
cataloguing standards.
Leanne Olson
Metadata Management Librarian
Western University
London, Ontario
Esri Map Book Volume 29
Reviewed by Sue McKee
Esri Map Book Volume 29. Redlands, California:
Esri Press, 2014. 136p. $24.99 US. ISBN 978-1-
58948-357-6.
This annual GIS mapping compilation from Esri
Press is in its twenty-ninth year. The maps and
map applications showcased in the book are a
selection of the best examples submitted to Esri
during the year. All maps are prepared using
Esri’s ArcGIS software. Each entry includes
a description of the map and data sources
used, and how it was produced. The maps
are international in scope and include such
categories as business, defense, environmental
management, government, health, natural
resources, planning, telecommunications,
tourism, transportation and util i t ies.
Some notable entries in this reviewer’s opinion
include the 2013 Global Flight Network, by
BioDiaspora (now BlueDot) of Toronto (page
12), and the 2013 Railroad Map of Vermont, by
the Vermont Agency of Transportation (page
112). The flight network map is a dramatic
global network image created using flight data
and airline routes. It provides an illustration
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
25
departments, Esri is able to clearly demonstrate
the widespread use of their product and how
GIS can be used to support decision making,
collaboration, education, and information sharing.
The content is organized by department and
includes several different case studies for each.
In all cases, a short project description, QR code,
and URL accompany one or several screenshots
or maps. In some cases, project benefits are
included to highlight specific achievements, such
as financial or human resource cost savings.
Being relatively jargon-free and void of most
technical language, this title is appropriate for
beginner audiences. The writing style is clear
and succinct, and with only a short paragraph
of text to describe each project, the emphasis is
clearly on the accompanying visuals. Authored
and published by Esri, the content focuses on
case studies that make use of Esri products
and is thus not reflective of the variety of other
GIS tools being used to support government
decision-making and communication.
The publication does a good job of highlighting
the many different types of analysis that can
be performed using Esri’s GIS software and
online applications. Though the descriptions
are short, links are included to give the reader
an opportunity to explore the project in more
detail. In some cases, the links direct readers to
the specific maps or applications being featured,
but in other cases simply direct the user to
the homepage for the service or department.
Adding some contextual information to indicate
the types of additional information available
at the provided links would be value added for
the reader; interactive or static maps, online
applications, downloadable data or geospatial
content, project information, or departmental
information. The screenshots and maps provided
throughout the book are visually diverse, again
showcasing a multitude of applications for
of how interconnected the world is, and how
diseases can spread globally in short periods of
time. The Vermont railroad map was created in
the style of the 1902 Railroad Commissioners
Report map. A high-resolution scan from
Middlebury College’s digital map collection
was used as a base, and overlaid with current
information. The map reflects changes in rail
lines as well as cartographic techniques over time.
There are more Canadian entries in this volume
than usual, including two geology maps from the
Alberta Energy Regulator - Alberta Geological
Survey (page 8 and 78), and a new Grey-Bruce
Map from the County of Bruce, Ontario (page 109).
This volume has the same format, high quality
colour and detail as in previous editions. The
Pew Charitable Trusts’ new Arctic Ocean
Wall Map (page 75) is used to great effect on
the volume’s cover. Esri Map Book Volume
29 is highly recommended for academic
libraries with GIS or Geography collections.
Sue McKee
Geospatial Librarian
Spatial and Numeric Data Services
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta
Mapping the Nation: Supporting Decisions
that Govern a People
Reviewed by Catherine McGoveran
Mapping the Nation: Supporting Decisions that
Govern a People. Redlands, CA: Esri Press, 2014.
144p. $19.95 US. ISBN 978-1-58948-347-7.
Mapping the Nation is a visual showcase of the
varied ways in which Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) have been used in the United States
federal government. Drawing on numerous
case studies from eleven different federal
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
26
GIS, but the resolution quality and clarity
of the images varies. While this publication
may prove a valuable resource for students
looking to get project ideas, the inconsistent
inclusion of visual aids, such as legends, may
limit the reader’s ability to effectively interpret
the maps. Novice GIS users may be intrigued
by the different uses of GIS, but may not
understand what the each map is trying to depict.
As a visually-focused showcase publication, this
book would be suitable for university and college
level library collections.
Catherine McGoveran
Government Information Librarian
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario
GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map
Design
Reviewed by Virginia Pow
Peterson, Gretchen N. GIS Cartography: A Guide
to Effective Map Design, Second Edition. Boca
Raton, FL: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, 2014.
299 p. $94.78 ISBN-10: 1482220679.
Gretchen Peterson, with over 15 years of
experience in GIS, and working as a GIS
professional, has come out with her second
edition of GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective
Map Design (CRC Press). Peterson has again
created a wonderfully concise and very readable
book looking at the principles and guidelines
needed to create effective and efficient maps
through excellent map design. The new addition
includes study questions and resources at the
ends of each chapter. The addition of this feature
allows the book to lend itself well to being a solid
text for an introductory cartography course.
This is a well thought out addition and the
questions are relevant and helpful to readers.
The resources at the end of the chapters are also
helpful when looking for further information.
Peterson has done an excellent job of providing
junior cartographers and individuals new to
the field with a firm grasp on how to design
effective maps that communicate information
in a successful manner. Peterson communicates
the information by covering a number of
topics, including map design fundamentals,
colour usage, fonts, new theories in design,
and layout. The images included in the book
are applicable to the topics and are used to
highlight her points. Peterson has created a
work that is a great refresher for any seasoned
GIS professional and an excellent foundational
tool for those growing their map design
knowledge base. Any institution that offers
cartography and GIS courses should include
this book in its collection. It is a lovely addition.
Virginia Pow
Map Librarian
University of Alberta Libraries
Edmonton, Alberta
Spatial Cloud Computing: a practical approach
Reviewed by Vanessa Kitchin
Yang, Chaowei and Huang, Qunying. Spatial
Cloud Computing: a practical approach. Boca
Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, 2014. 333p.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
316p. $160.00 US. ISBN 978-1466593169.
The role of cloud computing in a librarian’s daily
life is vital. Providing storage to archive and
manage data, the uses and scalability of that
use vary depending on the librarian’s subject
speciality and area of expertise. Instruction
librarians in map and data libraries specifically
require a complex understanding of how
geoscience data are housed and stored. A key
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
27
wonderfully comprehensive resource that is
written in quite accessible yet academic language.
As more disciplines such as Anthropology,
Economics and History begin to integrate GIS
applications into student assignments and
assessment, it is evident that spatial thinking
and its application, or more specifically, spatial
literacy, will infuse university campuses more
and more. The requirement for map and data
librarians in higher education institutions
to provide specialized instruction will only
advance. Students and academics alike are
becoming exposed to the technology, data, and
services that facilitate GIS research and Spatial
Cloud Computing: a practical approach is a
sound reference source to aid teaching. It is an
extremely clear, academically sound handbook
that integrates comprehensive planning and
multiple applications. Standing out is the way
the authors introduce the notion of geoscience
computation and the way it demonstrates
practical applications of how to best leverage cloud
services while introducing research directions
from both technology and social dimensions.
Vanessa Kitchin
Liaison/Instruction Librarian
Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
component of excellent map and data service is
deep knowledge of the context of data hosting,
archiving and application and providing a
range of services to a varied set of patrons. As
such, there are various ways that Spatial Cloud
Computing: a practical approach can benefit and
offer utility to a library collection, especially one
in higher education. Not only will students and
patrons benefit from its comprehensive coverage
of the subject but librarians will also be able
to integrate its treatment of cloud computing
concepts into their professional practice.
Written by Dr. Chaowei Yang, a professor in
Geographic Information Science at George
Mason University and Dr. Qunying Huang,
an assistant professor in the Department of
Geography at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Spatial Cloud Computing: a practical
approach considers cloud-based applications
and various use cases. In addition, more
high-level questions are considered such as
geoscience challenges, relevant discovery needs,
and ways that cloud computing can help advance
social sciences. The intended audience is equally
varied and moves from conceptual cloud users
such as instruction librarians and professors
(each chapter includes lectures slides as well
as detailed examples, source code and data that
can be used as assignments), to more practical
cloud users such as application developers.
Beyond this initial audience, the book also acts
as a reference for geoscientists and researchers
as well as a reference for IT professionals and
decision makers. In terms of content coverage,
it is laid out in five parts as follows: geoscience
requirements for cloud computing; procedures
and considerations when migrating geoscience
applications onto cloud services; installation
of different geoscience applications onto
cloud services (using ArcGIS in the Cloud
as an example); an overview of commercial
cloud services; and finally, future research
and developments for cloud computing. It is a
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
28
From the Reviews Editor:
Thanks to those who submitted book reviews and to all who have expressed interest in reviewing! I’ll
continue to request review copies from publishers - but please let me know if you have read a book of
interest to the ACMLA and would like to submit a review, and if you have any suggestions for titles/sources.
Here are the review guidelines:
ACMLA Bulletin Book Review Guidelines
Review Format
1. Bibliographic Citation
This should include: author, title, edition, place of publication, publisher, date, number of pages, price (if
known) and ISBN. Example:
Bussey, Ben and Spudis, Paul D. The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004. 316p. $80.00 US. ISBN 0-521-81528-2.
2. Content
The review should describe and critically evaluate the work. Typical review elements include: scope, purpose
and content of the work; intended audience; writing style; background and authority of the author; how the
work compares with other titles on the same subject; its usefulness as a research tool; any unique features;
and its suitability for library collections.
The length of the review is at the reviewer’s discretion, but should normally reflect the importance of the
work. A typical review is about 500 words.
3. Your name, title, institutional affiliation, city and province/state
Editorial Policy
Opinions expressed in reviews are those of the reviewer, not of the ACMLA. The Reviews Editor may make
minor edits, without communicating with the reviewer. Should the Editor determine that a major revision
is required, she will contact the reviewer for discussion.
Sarah Simpkin
Reviews Editor
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
29
REGIONAL NEWS
Compiled by Tom Anderson
Alberta
Edmonton
David Jones
david.jones@ualberta.ca
The Edmonton Map Society held its Winter
meeting on February 11, 2015 and saw its
largest turnout yet.
Andreas Korsos, cartographer and independent
researcher (http://www.arcturusconsulting.
net) spoke about his work with a 1826 manuscript
edition of David Thompson’s famous Map of the
North-West Territory of the Province of Canada,
stretching from the Fraser River on the west to
Lake Superior on the east. After his fascinating
presentation a lively discussion followed.
Presentation Summary:
Far from the careful reach of scholars and
researchers in Canada and the United States,
David Thompson’s c.1826 manuscript map
of Northwestern North America, measuring
2 x 3 metres, encompasses an area from 45
degrees to 60 degrees north latitude and
84 degrees to 126 degrees west longitude.
Because this unique manuscript map was never
engraved and no copies ever produced, it was
almost completely unknown. Located in an
archive in the United Kingdom, this outstanding
map remained elusive and inaccessible to
most researchers and scholars in Canada and
would remain so if it weren’t for the evolution
of high resolution imagery digital technology.
Andreas provided a brief presentation outlining
the replication of David Thompson’s 1826 Map
and the evolution of digital imagery and the
map’s eventual donation and placement at the
Elizabeth Dafoe Library, University of Manitoba.
For further information or to be included in our
mailings please contact: david.jones@ualberta.ca.
University of Calgary
Iris Morgan
ilmorgan@ucalgary.ca
Sectional maps, mainly of the prairies have been
scanned and are available via a Google Earth .kml
file. These 1:3 mile maps were produced from the
Dominion Land Survey (DLS) Township Plans and
used during Canada’s early settlement of western
arable lands. This project came about thanks to the
work of University of Alberta GIS Librarian, Larry
Laliberté and his team. His group scanned the historic
1:3 mile sheets in their collection and created the
shapefile of their coverage, sharing these files with
the University of Calgary, Spatial and Numeric Data
Services unit. The images were converted from tiffs
to jpegs and joined in a GIS. A few amendments and
some additional scanned maps were added before
creating this Google Earth file, with additional
comments found in the layer’s description.
The .kml file is available on our Historic
Maps Libguide at: (http://libguides.ucalgary.
ca/content.php?pid=355939&sid=5344838)
Ontario
University of Waterloo
Eva Dodsworth
edodsworth@uwaterloo.ca
The Winter term has proven to be just as busy as
the Fall term, offering library instruction sessions
across a number of disciplines and courses like
Recreation, Biology, Development Practice, and
Anthropology. It appears as though more and more
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
30
courses are interested in learning about using
ArcGIS for spatial analysis, as opposed to simple
mapping which has been the trend up until now.
Earlier this term we offered a workshop on GIS
analysis as well. Fortunately we have hired a
co-op student this term who has been doing an
excellent job offering live demonstrations in
the classrooms. This term we are also hiring
for a GIS Specialist position. This position
became vacant when Talsan Schulzke resigned
for a position in the U.S. The Geospatial Centre
has also been busy with project work. We
have been cleaning up and joining historical
Statistics Canada files; we have been scanning
photomosaics; and currently we are working
on creating a database for our GIS server so
our layers could be searched and located.
Western University
Cheryl Woods
cawoods@uwo.ca
Christine Homuth, GIS Technician, has
given 3 workshops this term: Introduction
to ArcGIS; Data Discovery; and Field Data
Collection. Christine also spoke to Geography
students about careers in GIS/Geography.
Brent LaRue, Library Assistant, has been
changing the look of our website for better
user functionality. He has updated our online
aerial photo indexes to Google Fusion tables.
And the London 1965 aerial photos have now
been digitized and added. Western Libraries
has decided to adopt LibGuides into its overall
website, so that is another area we plan to develop.
The library has installed a new gate security
system, so an upcoming project is to
put RFID tags on all of our 2100 atlases.
Although they do not circulate, the existing
combitags or tattle-tape will not be detected.
The Department of Statistical and Actuarial
Sciences in cooperation with Western Libraries
provides a Data Analytics Help Service which offers
statistical consulting 15 hours a week in the Map
and Data Centre area. In addition to their weekly
service, this term they offered 3 R workshops.
“Western Libraries (WL) strategic planning process,
FLIP: Future Library in Progress, is officially
underway. Over the next 3 months, WL will create a
plan to articulate how we will advance the vision and
strategic priorities outlined in Western University’s
Strategic Plan, Achieving Excellence on the World
Stage. We will revisit Western Libraries’ mission
and values, develop a vision for the future and craft
our strategic directions and goals. We will establish
short and long-term priorities, define what success
looks like in the future and determine how we will
measure progress and performance. We will chart
our future by engaging and involving library staff
and our user communities, including students,
researchers and faculty, as well as, campus and
community partners. Led by our Strategic Planning
Steering Committee, we will ensure there are
ample opportunities to imagine, collaborate, reflect
and learn so that we can identify opportunities
and priorities for Western Libraries to advance
student success, research excellence, community
engagement and scholarly communication.” Staff at
all levels are invited and encouraged to participate.
.
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
31
NEW BOOKS AND ATLASES
Compiled by Peter Genzinger
Archer, J. Clark et al. (eds.). 2014. Atlas of the 2012
elections. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
306 p. $90.00 CDN. ISBN: 9781442225831.
Armstrong, Lori. 2015. Mapping and modeling
weather and climate with GIS. Redlands, CA: ESRI
Press. 319 p. $49.99 CDN. ISBN: 9781589483767.
Barnes, Ian. 2014. Crossroads of war: a historical
atlas of the middle east. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press. 224 p. $44.16 CDN. ISBN:
9780674598492.
ESRI Press. 2015. Mapping the nation: building a
more resilient future. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press.
144 p. $19.99 CDN. ISBN: 9781589483910.
Hotte, Hans H. A. 2015. Atlas of southeast Europe:
geopolitics and history. Volume one: 1521-
1699. Boston: Brill. 153 p. $407.50 CDN. ISBN:
9789004214675.
Lewis, David. 2015. Windsor and Eton: British
historic town atlas IV. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
$55.00 GBP. ISBN: 9781782978282.
Parker, Joanne. 2015. Britannia obscura: mapping
hidden Britain. London: Jonathan Cape. 192 p.
$28.99 CDN. ISBN: 9780224102025.
Peterson, A. Townsend. 2014. Mapping disease
transmission risk: enriching models using
biogeography and ecology. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press. 210 p. $100.86 CDN.
ISBN: 9781421414737.
Ribeiro, Roberto M. 2014. Jesuit mapmaking
in China: D’Anville’s Nouvelle Atlas de la Chine
(1737). Philadelphia: St. Joseph’s University
Press. 172. p. $70.00 USD. ISBN: 9780916101817.
Rubalcava, Rene. 2014. ArcGIS web development.
Shelter Island, NY: Manning Publications. 232 p.
$41.99 CDN. ISBN: 9781617291616.
Sluglett, Peter and Andrew Currie. 2015. Atlas of
Islamic history. London: Routledge. 112 p. $56.71
CDN. ISBN: 9781138821309.
Summerhaves, Catherine. 2015. Google earth:
outreach and activism. New York: Bloomsbury
Academic. 208 p. $153.40 CDN. ISBN:
9781441139795.
Swift, Michael and Michael Sharpe. 2014. Mapping
the second world war: the key battles of the
European theatre from above. London: Conway.
144 p. $31.89 CDN. ISBN: 9781844862498.
Tedesco, Marco (ed.). 2015. Remote sensing of
the cryosphere. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. 432
p. $142.95 CDN. ISBN: 9781118368855.
Travis, Charles B. 2015. Abstract machine:
humanities GIS. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press. 136
p. $59.99 CDN. ISBN: 9781589483682.
Wang. Fahui. 2014. Quantitative methods and
socio-economic applications in GIS. 2nd ed. Boca
Raton: CRC Press. 333 p. $151.33 CDN. ISBN:
9781466584723.
Wong, Carolyn. 2014. Evaluation of national
institute of justice-funded geospatial software
tools: technical and utility assessments to
improve tool development, dissemination, and
usage. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation. 93
p. $20.66 CDN. ISBN: 9780833085672.
Yim, Dongwoo and Rafael Luna (eds.). 2014.
Pukhan tosi ilki = North Korean atlas. Seoul:
Damdi Publishing. 648 p. $69.00 USD. ISBN:
9788968010262.
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
32
From the Editor:
This is Peter Genzinger’s last New Books and Atlases column, and I would like to sincerely thank
him for the work that he has done in the last several years. In every issue, Peter had pulled together
content highlighting an array of interesting, current books that many of our readers have purchased
for their collections. Peter, thank you so much for being a part of the ACMLA Bulletin staff!
This is Tom Anderson’s last Regional News column, and I would like to thank him for his many
years of dedicated contributions to the ACMLA Bulletin. Regional News is one of the most popular
columns, but it is also the most difficult to compile as it solely relies on the participation of ACMLA
members. Tom has always worked tirelessly encouraging and reminding members to contribute
their interesting news stories. Tom, thank you so much for being a part of the ACMLA Bulletin staff!
Eva Dodsworth,
Editor, ACMLA Bulletin
Bulletin Position Vacancies
The ACMLA Bulletin is looking to
fill the following vacant positions:
New Books and Atlases Editor
Regional News Editor
Please contact Eva Dodsworth with
your expressions of interest.
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
33
NEW MAPS
Compiled by Cheryl Woods
Submarine Cable Map 2015
Scale: NA
Publisher: TeleGeography
Year of Publication: 2015
Middle East Telecommunications Map
Scale: NA
Publisher: TeleGeography
Year of Publication: 2014
1949 British Isles Map
Scale: 1:1,775,000
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Year of Publication: NA
North America Map
Scale: 1:9,000,000
Publisher: Raven Maps & Images
Year of Publication: NA
Nolli Map of Rome 1748
Scale: NA
Publisher: Raven Maps & Images
Year of Publication: NA
Nova Scotia
Scale: NA
Publisher: One Treasure Limited
Year of Publication: NA
Map of the Caribbean Islands
Scale: NA
Publisher: One Treasure Limited
Year of Publication: NA
The Kimberley 13th ed.
Scale: 1:1,000,000
Publisher: Hema Maps
Year of Publication: 2014
Provence Cote d’Azur
Scale: 1:200,000
Publisher: Hallwag Kummerly & Frey
Year of Publication: 2014
New Zealand
Scale: 1:1,000,000
Publisher: Reise Know-How
Year of Publication: 2015
Morocco
Scale: 1:1,000,000
Publisher: Reise Know-How
Year of Publication: 2015
South Africa
Scale: 1:1,400,000
Publisher: Reise Know-How
Year of Publication: 2015
USA, California
Scale: 1:850,000
Publisher: Reise Know-How
Year of Publication: 2015
Dominican Republic & Haiti
Scale: 1:450,000
Publisher: Reise Know-How
Year of Publication: 2015
Cuba StreetSmart Map
Scale: NA
Publisher: VanDam
Year of Publication: 2015
St. Kitts & Nevis
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
Saint Lucia
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
34
Tobago
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
Dominica
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
Grenada
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
St. Vincent & The Grenadines
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
British Virgin Islands
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
Anguilla
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
Antigua
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
Bonaire
Scale: NA
Publisher: SkyViews
Year of Publication: 2015
Revelstoke Area SE, BC
Scale: 1:50,000
Publisher: GoTrekkers
Year of Publication: 2015
Hector Lake Siffleur Area, AB
Scale: 1:50,000
Publisher: GoTrekkers
Year of Publication: 2015
Great Slave Lake North Arm, NWT
Scale: 1:150,000
Publisher: GoTrekkers
Year of Publication: 2015
Herschel Delta Coast, NWT
Scale: 1:600,000
Publisher: GoTrekkers
Year of Publication: 2015
Gros Morne National Park, NF
Scale: 1:90,000
Publisher: GoTrekkers
Year of Publication: 2014
Jasper Maligne Lake, AB
Scale: 1:125,000
Publisher: GoTrekkers
Year of Publication: 2014
Abraham Lake to Rocky Mountain House
– North Saskatchewan River, AB
Scale: 1:100,000
Publisher: GoTrekkers
Year of Publication: 2015
Clearwater River (Whitemud Falls to
Fort McMurray 1 & 2), SK
Scale: 1:50,000
Publisher: GoTrekkers
Year of Publication: 2015
Turkmenistan
Scale: 1:1,300,000
Publisher: Gizi Map
Year of Publication: 2014
Montenegro & North Albania
Scale: 1:200,000
Publisher: Gizi Map
Year of Publication: 2014
Bulletin de l’ACACC numéro 149, hiver 2015
35
GEOSPATIAL DATA AND SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Compiled by Andrew Nicholson
Maptitude
Reviewed by Daniel Brendle-Moczuk
University of Victoria
When reviewing “GIS” software, two immediate
questions come to mind. One, what is the
definition of GIS software? In other words,
what makes mapping software a GIS?
Second, are there a criteria or matrix to rate
and review GIS software against? The reason
the first question is important is because there
are a lot of mapping programs and software,
desktop and web-based, in existence. Are they all
GIS’s? Are all mapping applications, programs,
software GIS’s? Can this even be defined?
This reviewer would argue that a software or
tool that “simply” makes a map is not a GIS.
There also needs to be a critical number of
spatial analysis functions and/or tools built
into the mapping tool to make it a GIS. Another
question arises that perhaps cannot be clearly
answered; how many spatial analysis functions
does a GIS need to have in order to be deemed a GIS?
Thus perhaps the use of a GIS features criteria
grid can assist. A few different GIS software
comparison grids exist and this reviewer likes:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/cc
c?key=0Aho5SyzIJT5ydGFzUkk0SHpuYW
xWS3dKVUtvT1JFLUE&usp=sharing#gid=0
Using the above guide, and in context of what
many users want that this reviewer deals
with, I will comment on Maptitude 2014 32bit.
Operating System: Windows (only) XP, Vista, 7 and
8. In response the question “Can I use Maptitude on
an Apple Macintosh?” on Maptitude’s FAQs, they state
“yes” but one must “use virtualization software
such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop to
run Windows, or boot up the machine natively
in Windows using Apple’s Boot Camp software.”
Overall, a bit of work to get Maptitude to run on a Mac
License: A minor issue; After downloading the
1.5Gb program and 1.Gb of data, it was a little unclear
that to register the product one needs to “request
activation key” which is different from licence#.
Import / Read / Export (write) vector and
raster (image) files: On Maptitude’s supported file
formats page http://www.caliper.com/Maptitude/
DataAccess.htm, they make a distinction between
import, open and export for the more than 50 file
formats listed. Fewer export /write file formats
are listed than import/open but the usual are
possible. One exception is not being able to
export a geotif. While using the software and
opening files, it is quite troublesome not to have
the option of “all file types” rather than having
to look through the list to select a file format.
Import / Read / Export (write) database / tabular
data: A number of formats listed on the page above.
Four 3D file formats that can be opened
are also listed. Note, of all the files formats
listed, not all were tested by this reviewer.
Clip/Subset data: yes, possible with vector
data but quite important, not with raster data.
ACMLA Bulletin Number 149 Winter 2015
36
Geocoding: yes, possible although the accuracy
of the geocoding was not tested by this reviewer.
In Canada, where researchers often only have
postal codes, and postal codes change, testing
would have to be done repeatable over time.
GeoReferencing: yes; Maptitude calls this
registering an image. However, the ArcMap function
“fit to display” makes georeferencing much more
straight-forward.
Creating new geospatial data: yes; but in
comparison with FOSS (free and open source) QGIS,
with which it is even easier than ArcMap to create
a new vector file, Maptitude is confusing.
Vector functionality: Even after much searching
and trying, it is unclear if functions such as polygon-
(or area using the Maptitude term), -to-point is
even possible.
Vector spatial analysis / functionality: A number
of functions such as buffer and hotspot
Raster spatial analysis / functionality: Quite
limited. As far as this reviewer could explore, raster
functionality such as hillshade, least cost route,
slope, etc is not possible.
Projection: Supports many projections and uses
EPSG codes
WMS: Although connecting to a WMS is supposedly
possible, this reviewer could not get it to function
and a number of different services were tried. The
problem might have been that Maptitude appears to
only support 1.1.1 while many WMS’s are now 1.3.
GPS: yes, can import and map
Mapping functions: Quite a lot of mapping
functions and features such as charts, graphs and
even 3D functionality
Remote desktop access: Not possible unless a
special license is obtained
Price: Still $695 U$ which it was in 2012
Overall: Although the price has remained steady,
this reviewer is not sure $695 is a “good deal”
considering FOSS (free) GIS’s and mapping software
exist elsewhere. Plainly put, QGIS, for example,
has much more vector and raster functionality
and tools and is free. Maptitude is more than a
mapping tool, and it is a good mapping tool, (though
somewhat confusing), and it includes quite a lot of
geospatial data with some demographic data for the
country of choice. This included data is useful but
with more open-data resources available, Natural
Earth, various municipal geospatial datasets,
Census data, this reviewer would question needing
to buy proprietary GIS or mapping software
such as Maptitude which is not quite a full-fledged
GIS with extensive spatial analysis tools.
Penultimately, using Google Scholar and limiting
to articles from 2013 onwards, the term QGIS had
more than 2300 results while Maptitude had 36.
Finally then, the reader and end-user can decide.
