The University of Connecticut Libraries' Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC), collects maps, atlases, gazetteers, aerial photographs, and digital geospatial data pertaining to the state of Connecticut, New England and the world. MAGIC digitizes public-domain and copyright free maps and resources in order to enable researchers to have digital access to this resources. MAGIC's is focused on "Digitizing the Past to Empower 21st Century Research" as we work to develop a interdisciplinary collection of geospatial resources and maps which focus upon the state of Connecticut. MAGIC provides assistance with GIS questions, Web Map Service (WMS), and Mash-ups utilizing data on the MAGIC website.
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Included below are the Annual Reports for the University of Connecticut Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC which highlights accomplishments and initatives throughout the calendar year.
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Included below is a listing of presentations related to MAGIC projects, concepts, and collections. Presenters include students, staff and librarians which currently work or have worked at MAGIC in the past. Links to related presentation materials are included with each presentation (if available).
Howser, Michael & Miller, Bill. “Mix, Mash, and Share: Empowering 21st-Century Research with Maps" on November 5, 2009 at EDUCAUSE 2009 (Denver, CO).
Howser, Michael & Miller, Bill. “Library Collections Meet Web 2.0 – Tools for “Wow!, Cool!, Awesome!” User Experiences” on June 5, 2009 at the New England Library Instruction Group (NELIG) annual program (Portland, ME).
Howser, Michael. “MAGIC 2.0: Discovering Research Resources in New and Exciting Ways” on April 24, 2009 at the University of Connecticut Geography Department (Storrs, CT).
Howser, Michael. “MAGIC 2.0: Maps and Geographic Data meet Interactivity” on April 17, 2009 at the Educational Technology Meeting (Storrs, CT).
Spaulding, Benjamin. Northeast Arc Users Group Spring Meeting, 2009. “Creating WMS Google Mash-Ups using Historical GIS Data from MAGIC”
Spaulding, Benjamin. Geospatial Infrastructure and Technology Association Annual Meeting, 2009. “Developing Online GIS Technology for Historical GIS”
Howser, Michael. “MAGIC 2.0 Overview” on December 11, 2008 at Connecticut Demographics Studies Advisory Committee at UConn Greater Hartford Campus (West Hartford, CT).
Spaulding, Benjamin.”MAGIC 2.0: The Development of Web-Based GIS Applications for Historical GIS Data” on October 31, 2008 at the New England - Saint Lawrence Valley Geographical Society 2008 Annual Meeting (Plymouth, New Hampshire).
Spaulding, Benjamin. Keene State College, Department of Geography, 2008. “Lying with Maps”
Spalding, Benjamin. “Recent Developments at MAGIC: Incorporating Open GIS Standards into Online Mapping Tools” on November 19, 2008 at Connecticut GIS Day at Southern Connecticut State University (New Haven, CT).
Spaulding, Benjamin. NESTVAL meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 2008. “MAGIC 2.0: The Development of Web-Based GIS Applications for Historical GIS Data”
Spaulding, Benjamin. University of Connecticut, Applications of Geographic Information Systems course, 2008.“Modeling in GIS”
Spaulding, Benjamin. Stanwicks, Sarah. & Miller, B. Northeast Arc User Group 2007. “Developing a Geographic Information System Index for Historical Aerial Photographs”
Spaulding, Benjamin. & Stanwicks, Sarah. NESTVAL meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 2007 “Developing a Geographic Information System Index for Historical Aerial Photographs.”
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Beyond our digital collection MAGIC has one of the largest map collections in the Northeast. The collection is focused on maps of Connecticut and the Northeast. The following will describe some of the highlights of our paper collection.
MAGIC houses a large collection of Connecticut town maps for each of its 169 towns. These maps include agricultural maps, historical road maps and historical census maps that come from a variety of sources. The numbers and types of maps varies for each town.
MAGIC is a repository for USGS topographic quadrangle sheets. Located in MAGIC's reading room, the maps are organized by state and are available whenever the library is open.
MAGIC's collection of regional, thematic, and historical atlases represent areas from around the world ranging from Nirenstein National Realty Atlases of the United States, Historical Connecticut Atlases, National Atlases from a number of nations, and even Atlases of Galaxies.
MAGIC also is home to a large collection of books regarding cartography, GIS technologies, historical mapping, and regional guidebooks.
The maps in MAGIC are in a number of languages such as Russian, Japanese, Arabic, and French. For more information about MAGIC's paper map and atlas collection please contact us at magic@uconn.edu.
MAGIC is committed to scanning maps from our collections to make them avaialable online and free for public use. Digitization efforts have focused on New York-New Haven Railroad maps, Connecticut geology maps, historical town maps of Connecticut, and a number of other collections. As these maps are digitized they will be made available via MAGIC's website.
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McLeod, N.(2009, October). Case Study - Geospatial Data Distribution Cadcorp web-based GIS software drives the MAGIC in Connecticut. GEOconnexion International Magazine, 40-41.
Chauvin, D. (2008). A digital archive of historical railroad property valuation maps. UCCGIA papers and proceedings, no. 5. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, Center for Geographic Information and Analysis.
Spaulding, B. D., Stanwicks, S. (2007). Developing a geographic information system index for historical aerial photographs. UCCGIA papers and proceedings, no. 3. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut, Center for Geographic Information and Analysis.
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The University of Connecticut Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC, utilizes Google Analytics, Google Feedburner, and Flickr to analyze usage statisitcs for various collections and resources provided by MAGIC. Included below are usage and digitization statistics for MAGIC.
