Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps/Source materials

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Map resources.

In creating geographical maps for Wikipedia, it is often useful to have high-quality source material such as blank outline maps, Adobe Photoshop or GIMP-format images with layers, SVG files and so on. If you have such source material that you think may be helpful to other map authors, please feel free to upload it to Wikipedia and list it here.

WikiProject Resource Exchange

Blank maps

When making your own maps for a specialized purpose, check out the basic templates provided at

Public domain and free map resources

Active

  • Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. Most of the maps scanned by the General Libraries and served from this web site are in the public domain. They can be tagged with commons:Template:PCL (talk, backlinks, edit) but also needs the appropriate copyright tag which depends on the source.
  • GMT (Generic Mapping Tools) GPL'd software for generating maps. Comes with map data derived from two public domain databases.
  • United Nations Cartographic Section has many free maps in PDF format, at least some with the layers intact. However most UN maps are under UN copyright, so check before uploading. See here for their policy, this page about requesting permission.
  • USGS Maps. Every USGS topographic map available for free download from the Internet Archive.
  • OpenStreetMap - CC-BY-SA 2.0 vector map data collected by GPS
  • The Map Library - Maps for Central America and Africa. Tag with commons:Template:PD-MapLibrary (talk, backlinks, edit)
  • GinkgoMaps - Free Digital Maps published under the CC-by Licence
  • Category:Wikipedia geographic image maps
  • PAT public domain maps: world, regional, country state (US, CA, AU)

Potentially Defunct/Broken Links

  • Free World Map, GNU maps
  • Library of Congress Contemporary Maps
  • Library of Congress historical map collections
  • TIGER Map Service Creates public domain maps (in GIF format) from U.S. Census Bureau data.
  • U.S. National Atlas Creates public domain maps (in SDTS, E00, Shape and TIFF formats) from U.S. Department of the Interior data.
  • planiglobe online map creation Generates maps from public domain data. Postscript and Adobe Illustrator versions can be downloaded. Use the {{Planiglobe}} license on Commons (17 February 2014 : Planiglobe does not appear to offer this service any more).
  • Map of the Mediterranean
  • Versimap public domain maps (This website appears to have closed down.)
  • OpenGeoDB - Maps and Data of all cities in Germany (Austria and Switzerland in progress) - according to de:Benutzer:Akl (one of OpenGeoDB webmasters) all data and maps may be used under the GFDL (please backlink to http://opengeodb.de).
  • Libre Map Project - United States maps and GIS data released under the Creative Commons BY-SA license. Data includes many USGS DRG maps, TIGER/Map data, and boundary maps. (Also available at Internet Archive USGS Maps)
  • DEMIS World Map Server generates maps using public domain data with no usage restrictions
  • Geospatial One-Stop geodata.gov
  • Soviet Military Maps all in the Public Domain. One of them can be seen here. However, the Ordnance Survey has made a copyright violation claim of these maps.
  • complete CIA Factbook Reference Maps (1997 - today)
  • Maps of the countries of the world from the CIA

Countries

Afghanistan

  • Afghanistan Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Angola

  • Angola Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Cambodia

  • Cambodia Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:50,000 (US Military)
  • Cambodia Mosaic - National Topo Map 1:100,000 (JICA 2001)
  • Cambodia Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

India

  • India Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Kuwait

  • Kuwait Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Laos

  • Laos PDR Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Mali

  • Mali Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Myanamar

  • Myanmar Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Mozambique

  • Mozambique Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

North Korea (DPRK)

  • North Korea Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Thailand

  • Thailand Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Sri Lanka

  • Sri Lanka Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Syria

  • Syria Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

United Arab Emirates

  • UAE Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Vietnam

  • Vietnam Mosaic - National Topographic Map 1:200,000 Russian (Soviet Military)

Cities

  • World city maps (copyright status is the same as that for Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection above.

And you can obtain more atlas and maps from public domain encyclopedias, books and documents.

U.S. Maps

  • File:USA_Counties.svg: An SVG file with detailed nationwide state and county borders.
  • U.S. Congressional districts
  • USGS Viewer (The National Map). Several views -- topo, images, hydrological. Print to PNG. Mark up with overlays, save and reload KML data. Some bugs, but usable. All US Public domain.

History Maps

  • Talessman's Atlas of World History, an online atlas created by amateur historian Thomas Lessman. Contains dozens of world history maps free for online viewing.
  • WorldHistoryMaps.com, provides world history maps for every year from 500 BC to today.

General

See also

  • Commons:Map resources
  • meta:Maps
  • meta:Map generator
  • meta:Geographical data
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