Nationalatlas.gov: Your Tax Dollars At Work

The National Atlas of the United States of America online is a wealth of resources for the curious and the professional alike

Wired cartographers both professional and amateur, as well as people who simply love maps and like information, have a great resource at thier command. Best of all, it’s free, and nearly completely public domain.

For years the U.S. Government has produced a great volume, the National Atlas. A compendium of geographical information both human and physical, it is a summary of knowledge gathered by the government in its various research and regulatory activities; political, agricultural, physical, meteorological, and more.

This great work is now available online, at Nationalatlas.gov. Produced by the US Department of the Interior, it offers everything from free printable maps and GIS information for professional cartographers to diverse articles on cartographic subjects.

A must-see for every visitor is the Map Maker. This web-based application takes the GIS approach to organizing National Atlas information, that is, organizing themes into layers that can be turned on and off depending on the need. An interface allows zooming and displaying in the manner of the paradigm already deployed by such well-known services as Yahoo! Maps and Google Maps, quickly providing the user with maps of any theme from Congressional districts to watersheds to West Nile Virus 2000-or all in combination.

With such a wealth of information at hand, free for the viewing, and great access, Designorati:Cartography has no problem recommending this as a must-have in any cartophile’s links list, as, indeed, it will be added here.