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Get "The Scoop" on new and featured items in the map library,as well as "the scoop" on map-related resources online. Visit this site regularly to keep up with valuable and useful map items and sites. Also, send in your review and get published in "The Scoop."
Three Dimensional Maps On Display
Many people, including some military leaders, have difficulty visualizing a three-dimensional landscape, even when it is accurately portrayed on a two-dimensional map. Before World War II, 3-D models were formed of painted wood or plaster. Such models were heavy and bulky; not the kind of thing you want to carry around in a war. Early in the WW II, rubber terrain models prepared for the invasion on D-Day. These models were painstakingly hand-painted. After the war, techniques continued to improve. By 1950, a lithographic process was developed using the same color plates from which paper maps are printed. The plastic sheets are molded with heat; 250 degrees for about 10 seconds, followed by application of vacuum pressure, which conforms the plastic to the exact shape of the mold. Thus, a 3-D model is created within two minutes instead of days! Here in the Edwin J. Foscue Map Library we have some of the earliest commercially produced pieces. On display is Odda, Norway and vicinity (1950) and the Tashkent vicinity of Southwest Asia (1950). A more recent example is the third item on display; the State of Texas (1970). (Source: Ristow 1965).
United Nations Cartographic Section (UNCS)
The resources of the United Nations Cartographic Section (UNCS) are often overlooked by students and faculty desiring highly current maps covering both current events and the entire globe. The UNCS provides global coverage of war and peace zones, changing political boundaries, and much more. Not only are the maps extremely recent, but they are designed to print out on regular 8.5 x 11 paper as well. Remember to use the Acrobat Reader print command button, and not your web browser print command. Also, you may have to increase the time out settings on your printer in order to output the detail on these maps. For a quick example, select the Greater Mekong Sub region from the UNCS home page drop down menu. To see when the map was last updated, chose File and Properties in the upper left hand corner. You may be surprised to see that the update occurred within the last day or two. Go to: http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm.
Map Societies
Find a map society of interest to you anywhere in the world: http://web.ulib.csuohio.edu/SpecColl/maps/MapSoc/.
If you love maps, the Texas Map Society is a great group in our area: http://libraries.uta.edu/txmapsociety/.
We welcome your comments, questions, or brief personal reviews of materials both online and off. Submit your own "Scoop" reviews to: dyoungbl@mail.smu.edu. Please put "Scoop" in subject line. All reviews with no authorship were written by the page maintainer. Anonymous contributions will not be published, so please say "you have permission to use my name on your web page" somewhere on your e-mail, if, indeed, you are granting permission for us to do so. Your e-mail address will not be published. We hope you find this page useful, and would enjoy hearing from you.
