Data Update : Canadian Climate Dataset

After much interest from students in mapping temperature and precipitation in Canada, the Map Library has acquired the climate dataset from the National Land and Water Information Service.

The Daily 10km Gridded Climate Dataset for Canada 1961-2003 contains gridded point locations of daily maximum temperature (°C), minimum temperature (°C), and precipitation (mm) for the Canadian landmass south of 60° N. The data are georeferenced TIF images, one image for each day of the year.

More information about the dataset is available from the Map Library's data website.

Map Library gets Google Earth/Google Earth Pro 5.0

Stop by the library to try out the latest release of Google Earth 5.0. Several new features will enthral you with never seen before imagery. Dive into the ocean layer featuring photographs and videos of the deep sea. Travel to the bottom of the sea in search of shipwrecks, or marine life. Learn about endangered species, track animals and research facts that have been compiled by a number of scientists and organizations including NOAA, NASA, National Geographic Society, BBC, Monterey Bay Aquarium and many others.

Also new to 5.0 is the ability to go back in time and view historical imagery of particular geographical areas. A new clock button in the toolbar toggles a timeline controller that enables users to seamlessly view all imagery that is available for the area in the view’s extent.

Google Mars is the last of the newest additions, where high resolution satellite imagery (HiRISE imaging system) and 3D terrain of Mars replaces Earth. The layers available include Rovers and Landers, 3D Models, Terrains and more. Users gain a unique perspective of the planet, travelling through the eyes of the Mars rovers and other missions.

All of these features are available in the new Google Earth. For additional GIS features, try Google Earth Pro, also available at the Map Library.

Whitehorse Orthophoto Mosaic 2006

The Map Library has acquired a mosaic of the city of Whitehorse in Yukon. The image was taken in September 2006 and processed at a ground resolution of 25cm. The image is available in .ecw format with a size of 1.5 GB. This compressed format is compatible with ArcGIS.





This mosaic was received from the City of Whitehorse, Land Development Office in January, 2009.

Sample image of Whitehorse 2006 mosaic

Map Library Staff are now online to answer your questions!

Effective immediately, Map Library reference staff are online Monday - Friday 1:30 - 4:30 to answer your cartographic or GIS-related questions. Unfortunately, staff are not able to distribute geospatial data through this service. To start chatting live, go to http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/locations/umd/Chat.html

Please note that this is a pilot project for the winter term, 2009.

GIS Day on Wednesday November 19th

The Map Library and the Faculty of Environment are hosting UW's fifth annual GIS Day Event between 11:30 and 2:30 in the EV1 couryard tomorrow. There are lots of great activities planned for tomorrow including poster presentations, cake, door prizes and a hands-on GPS and Google Earth session. Please register for the event at : http://www.environment.uwaterloo.ca/gisday/2008/

Student Licenses for ArcGIS at $25.00

Students can now get a one-year ArcGIS software license for $25.00. Students, if you require your own copy of the program for academic purposes, please contact Sandra Laughlin in IST to purchase a copy.

Sandra Laughlin
Info Systems and Technology MC 2008
Mail: laughlin@ist.uwaterloo.ca

Collection Update

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps : Trial until November 25th, 2008

The Map Library is pleased to offer you for a limited time trial access to the American Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1867-1970. These large-scale plans provide extensive building and property information including building outline, size, shape and construction materials, height, location of windows, doors and more. Buildings include residential, commercial, industrial and other. The maps also provide street names, street and sidewalk widths, property boundaries and house numbers. The collection consists of over 660,000 maps of 12,000 American cities and towns.

This collection is available from Proquest where the maps can be downloaded and printed in Adobe PDF. This resource can be found on the Library’s website by visiting the Research Databases page , click the letter S in the A-Z browse list, and scroll to Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.

GIS Data Update :

DMTI

DMTI has released its v2008.3 CanMap datasets for Canada. The Library has also acquired a new product this year called Neighbourhood and Community Boundaries. The Neighbourhood Boundaries are only available in urban areas and Community Boundaries are available in both urban and rural areas. For more information, please visit DMTI Spatial.

City of Kitchener

The Map Library has received the annual update for Kitchener's Municipal data. Updated layers include building footprints, double and single line street network, landmarks, address points, surface waters, community trails, ward boundaries, zoning, etc.

UW Campus 2008

Received from UW Plant Operations, an updated version of UW campus data in DWG AutoCad format. Both the north and south campus is included in this 2008 update. Staff will convert the Cad files to GIS Shapefiles within the next several months.