1. Go to the USGS Store.
2. On the righthand side of the page, under Topo Maps, click on download to access the Map Locator.
3. Search for your area of interest, either by typing in a place name or zooming in and clicking on an area on the map. For example, search for "St. Louis".
4. Add a red marker to the area of interest by clicking on the map.
5. Click on the red marker to see a pop-up showing available maps for that area. Oftentimes there will be a few options, which correspond to the paper USGS topographic map series (7.5x7.5, 30x60. etc). You can also see what year the map was created in.
6. Click download to download a zipped file to your computer.
7. Unzip and view. The file format is a GeoPDF, which contain can be viewed in Adobe Acrobat.
The
Ronald Rettner Earth and Planetary Sciences Library houses a large collection of many different
types of maps. The collection consists primarily
of maps distributed through the Federal Library Depository Program and are issued
by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Maps from state geological surveys and commercial publishers are also included
in the collection. Most maps published
after 1976 are searchable in the Library catalog except for most thematic maps.
Topographic
maps are the most common type of map; they show topography and relief of a
particular area of land. These maps can
cover a single 7.5” by 7.5” quadrangle (scale of 1:24,000), a 7.5” by 15”
(scale of 1:25,000), a 15' quadrangle (scale of 1:62,500), and selected county maps. Most but not all of the conterminous
Geologic and
shaded relief maps
The
Earth and Planetary Sciences Library collects geologic and shaded relief maps for
areas across the country and throughout the world. The areas covered and scales of the maps
vary. Shaded relief and geologic maps
can be located by searching the library catalog and the publication catalog
from the state geological survey offices. Detailed geologic maps for most
states can be found in the State Geological Survey Publications
Collection.
Base
maps and some shaded relief maps produced by the CIA are usually on an 8 ½” x
11” sheet or an 11” x 17” sheet and cover various regions around the
world. The maps are also available
online. Please note that some of the maps can be
viewed online and printed but cannot be downloaded. CIA maps can be located by searching the
library catalog.