The Map Collection is one of the largest cartographic collections at an academic institution. 

It is a non-circulating collection accessible only from Monday through Friday: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, and has over 300,000 maps and charts, aerial and satellite photographs, relief models, globes, and slides. 

The collection is strong in geoscience, topographic, and bathymetric maps and charts. In 1986, the scope of the collection was broadened by the addition of Firestone Library’s large collection of contemporary (post 1918) maps in political, physical, and cultural geography. Current road maps and atlases for all countries and major cities are available as well.

Our library regularly purchases digital maps and geographic data from all over the world to help our researchers. Many of our digital maps and geographic data can be searched from our Geographic Data Portal. 

There are many that are not in our Portal but are in external hard drives. We are creating new infrastructure to move these data online. There are some geographic data we cannot upload in our Portal because of license agreements. Many of the commonly used data are stored in our data server and are shared to all the computers in the Map and Geospatial Information Center. 

If you need help in finding or locating the data, contact Tsering Wangyal Shawa, GIS and Map Librarian.

• Geology
• Geochemistry
• geophysics
• climatology
• natural resources
• land use
• soils
• water resources
• remote sensing
• topography
• political and cultural geography 
• physiography
• bathymetry
• transportation
• navigation
• urban and regional planning

• 8 workstations with 30-inch monitors loaded with GIS and satellite image processing software packages. 
• 2 large-format HP Designjet T1100ps series color printers for printing and copying maps 
• A large-format Contex color scanners for scanning maps.

ArcGIS Desktop

This is one of the most popular desktop GIS and mapping software packages on the market. ArcGIS provides the tools to do spatial analysis, data management, mapping and visualization, editing geographic data, geocoding, map projection, image analysis, and data sharing. The software is available for Personal Computers for educational uses. You can download the software.

ERDAS IMAGINE

This is one of the most popular desktop image processing software packages. It provides the tools to perform advanced remote sensing analysis to spatial modeling to create new information. It will also allow you to visualize your results in 2D, 3D, movies, and create quality maps.

MAPublisher for Adobe Illustrator

 This software allows a person to use GIS data in Adobe Illustrator software and create high-quality maps. Many professional cartographers use this software to create and publish maps.

Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

 Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are available for digital image enhancement, image retouching, image composition, and vector drawing. This software is used in our library for scanning and manipulation of various digital maps.

The Map and Geospatial Information Center will only scan cartographic materials that are in our collections and are not copyrighted or are in the public domain.  A maximum of 10 maps can be requested at one time. The order will be finished within two business days. Scanning will be done by one of our staff members. There is no self service.

• All maps will be scanned at 400 dpi and will be in TIFF format only. Our Center will not perform any further manipulation of the original TIFF files.
• Our Center will not scan fragile maps, maps thicker than 0.5 inch, or maps larger than 42 inches on one side.
• If you are not a current student, faculty or staff member, there is a flat fee of $5.00 per item no matter the size of the map.

There are 2 large-format HP Designjet T1100ps series color printers for printing and copying maps in the center. 

Printing Costs

There is a nominal fee for printing and copying a map:

1. Flat rate of $2.00 for size 8.5x11, 11x17, or 17x22 inches
2. Flat rate of $4.00 for size 24x24 inches
3. Flat rate of $5.00 for size 22x34, or 34x44 inches

The fees will be accepted in any of the following methods: student or faculty account, cash, or check payable to Princeton University Library—but not credit card.

Princeton University has a campus-wide site license to use Esri software packages. This site license allows Princeton University students, faculty, and staff to access all the free Esri GIS online courses as well as any course that “Requires Maintenance”. 

• In order to take a course that “Requires Maintenance” a person should first join the Pumagic organization using their Princeton NetID and Password. 
• After you join the Pumagic site you can take all the free courses as well as any “Requires Maintenance” GIS online courses from the Esri website. 
• If you have any questions, contact the GIS and Map Librarian, T. Wangyal Shawa.

Esri Training Website