Multimedia Resources for Geography, Geology, and Environmental Studies

Last updated August 31, 2004

Many of the links lead to public domain images though some materials below are copyrighted. Please contact the copyright holder if you wish to use them.

Agriculture

• Special Collections of the National Agriculture Library (USDA) Historical photographs, posters, natural phenomenon, homesteads, USDA History Collection. 

Environmental Science

• Earth Shots  - (USGS) Satellite images of environmental change

• Endangered Species Images - ( EE-Link) 60 images from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collection includes mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, mollusks, arthropods and plants.

• FAO Multimedia Database -searchable database of 3,000 images.

Human Geography

Cultural Geography

•   Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters 1862-1912 (Library of Congress) " This digital collection integrates two collections from the holdings of the Nebraska State Historical Society, the Solomon D. Butcher photographs and the letters of the Uriah W. Oblinger family. Together they illustrate the story of settlement on the Great Plains. Approximately 3,000 glass plate negatives crafted by Butcher record the process of settlement in Nebraska between 1886 and 1912. Butcher photographed actively in central Nebraska including Custer, Buffalo, Dawson and Cherry counties."

• Washington the Way it Was: Photographs by Theodore Horydczak, 1923-1959 (Library of Congress) "documents the architecture and social life of the Washington metropolitan area in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, including exteriors and interiors of commercial, residential, and government buildings, as well as street scenes and views of neighborhoods."

Urban Geography

• Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America, 1935-1955 Photographs by Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner (Library of Congress) over 29,000 images of architectural subjects, including interiors and exteriors of homes, stores, offices, factories, historic buildings, and other structures; concentrated chiefly in the northeastern United States, especially the New York City area, and Florida.

• Cities-Buildings Archives - archive of building styles around the world

• Levittown: Transformations of the Postwar Suburb (Hales, Univ. of Ill-Chicago) collection of images detailing the conversion of Levittown from a homogenous subdivision to a heterogeneous cultural environment.

• Levittown: Photographs from the Tekula Family - family photos documenting family life in Levittown during the 1950's

• New York Underground (National Geographic) multimedia tour of subterranean New York city.

• The Urban Landscape Digital Image Access Project (Duke University) "is a database of images from various collections held by the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University. The database contains 1000 images pertaining to the theme "The Urban Landscape," from fourteen different collections. ". 

Geoscience

Geomorphology and earth structure (See also Natural Hazards )

• "Earth Revealed" - Video series streamed online. Annenberg/CPB at learner.org

• Canadian Landscapes - a regional look at Canadian landscapes and landforms

• EarthGazer: links to other galleries - searchable database of geology-related images

• Geomorphology from Space - online version of the USGS publication

• Geology of National (US) Parks (US Park Service) Tour various national parks from the page as well as link to their Geology Photo Database

• Glaciers

  • Glacial Features of North Dakota (Un. of N. Dakota) - several excellent examples of landforms created by continental glaciation.

  • Illustrated Glossary of Alpine Glacial Landforms (Lemke & Freeman) illustrated glossary with learning activities and exercises.

• Volcanoes

  • Photoglossary of volcanic terms - USGS

  • Alaskan Volcano Observatory Photo Archive - photo gallery of Alaskan volcanoes.

  • Cascade Volcano Observatory Photo Archives - images of volcanoes and their effects mostly in the United States; Mt. St. Helen's Slide set.

  • Tavurvur Volcano Videos (USGS)

Hydrology (Lakes, rivers, glaciers, snow and ice)

• National Snow and Ice Data Center Gallery - glaciers and snow imagery

• Visualizing the Great Lakes U.S. EPA - GLNPO, - natural resources, commerce and development, issues of concern, management of parks and attractions, scenic and picturesque images of the Great Lakes

• Stream Features of North Dakota (Un. of N. Dakota) - several excellent examples of fluvial landforms.

• USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center Video Videos describing UMESC functions.

Mass Wasting

• North Dakota mass wasting features (Un. of N. Dakota) - several excellent examples of mass wasting features.

• Landslide images (USGS) Over two dozen images depicting various landslides from the United States, Peru, Puerto Rico 

Natural Hazards

• Before and After the Great Earthquake and Fire: Early Films of San Francisco, 1897-1916 (Library of Congress). Downloadable videos. Collection consists of twenty-six films depicting San Francisco and its environs before the 1906 disaster, the great earthquake and fire, and the rebuilt city.

• Landslide images (USGS) Over two dozen images depicting various landslides from the United States, Peru, Puerto Rico 

• Operational Significant Event Imagery Server - AVRR imagery of current natural events, floods, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, etc. 

Soils & Weathering

• Soil Landscapes of Canada - Agri-Food Canada - soil orders, profiles, landscapes, parent material.

• The Twelve Soil Orders - from the University of Idaho

• Erosion and Weathering - Slides and learning material

Weather and Climate

• Clouds from Space - clouds and weather systems taken from the Space Shuttle.

• National Severe Storms Lab Photo Library - tornadoes, lightning, hail, instruments, and more

• Historical Significant Events Imagery (National Climate Data Center) - hurricanes, storms, major fires, etc.

• Ocean Surface Topology

Wildlife and Vegetation

• Photo Gallery- (USGS Biological Division) - miscellaneous wildlife image (ducks, geese, elk, etc)

• Images From the National Agricultural Library's Special Collections - from the USDA rare botanical prints, plant pests and diseases, natural phenomena, homesteads etc.

• Vegetation of Wisconsin - consists of the personal teaching collection of Dr. Virginia Kline retired naturalist at the U.W. - Madison's Arboretum

Regions

•   Africa Focus This online collection is maintained on the website of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. It contains digitized visual images and sounds of Africa contributed over the years to the African Studies Program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These digital files are stored in an accessible database and provided for personal use or educational presentations.

• Alaska Photo Gallery - glaciers, vegetation, etc.

• Images of Canada - images on a variety of topics from each province

Collections - Various Topics

• "Planet Earth" - streaming video broadcast of series from learner.org. See broadcast schedule.

• Discover Canada's Geoscience Heritage (Geological Survey of Canada) - "Capture the spirit of adventure and travel back with us through text and images to discover the rich scientific heritage of our nation."  - Images of geoscientists at work, earth dynamics, arctic exploration and much more.

• Earth From Space - (C. Hamilton) a number of NASA photographs of earth from a variety of sources.

• Earth From Space - (NASA) selected photos (cities, landscapes, water habitats, etc.)  from the NASA Space Shuttle Earth Observations Photo database.

• Earth Observing System Educators' Visual Materials - clouds and radiation, ocean productivity, circulation, greenhouse gases and smoke impact, land use and land cover, ice sheets and sea level, ozone depletion, volcanoes and climate change.

• Earth Science Enterprise Image Gallery - (NASA) biosphere, El Nino, ozone, hurricanes, etc.

• Images of Earth and Space - role of visualization in NASA science.

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory Public Image Archive - JPL projects, missions and instruments, video archive, planetary photo journal.

• NOAA Photo Collection - links to NOAA Photo gallery (350 images of marine life, weather, oceans) National Severe Storms Lab. collection (250 image of severe weather -related topics), NOAA Historical Photo Collection (surveyors, scientists, sailors); Northeast Fisheries Science Center Historical Photo Archives; GOES in Living Color, and more

• NASA Photo Gallery - astronomy, earth images, ozone, oceanography, etc.

• Photography (National Geographic Society) Online photo essays. Make sure to check out the archives.

• SIR-C-X-SAR Images (Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar) - archaeology, cities, ecology, geology oceans, rivers, glaciers, and more with descriptions.

• Spacelink - On-line Multimedia (NASA)

• Visualization of of Remote Sensing Data - (NASA) hurricanes, 1993 Midwest flood, fires, and more.

• NASA Johnson Space Center Digital Image Collection - 250,000 digitized images; press photos and earth observation photos

• The Visible Earth (NASA) a searchable collection of images, visualizations, and animations of the earth 

Miscellaneous

• TerraServer - (Microsoft & USGS) thousands of air photos on the Web.

• United Nations Photos - newly released and historic UN photographs (some good for regional geography)

• Alta-Vista Image Finder - web search engine for images and audio (mostly copyrighted material)

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Created by Michael Ritter mritter@uwsp.edu. Last revised August 31, 2004