Maps (geographical/countries etc)

Where are some good cheap ones?

[gethan]

Hi,

I'm looking for some simple outline political maps for use in image maps - so about 600 x 600 would be fine to start off with. I went to maps.com and they are $25 each - too expensive for the amount I'll need.

I want to basically start with a world map have each continent link to a continental map, etc down to country level. Some key countries (US,UK) will then drill in further to cities and states/counties.
I guess this is the kind of thing that I should be able to get on a CD for $30? But would I be able to use the images (modified) on a site?

I went through every clipart collection I have but no luck so far.

Anyone found anything like this before - or used it?
Thanks for any help on this one :)

Gethan

[Marshall]

gethen,

Are you looking strictly for continents or one with outlines of nations? I have one that outlines the continents, but not the nations. You're welcome to use it. Let me know and I can either Email it to you or put it on a page where you can copy it from.

[Woz]

Would the CIA World Factbook [cia.gov] maps be of any use to you? I believe they are copyright free. You can download the whole book or in sections. Check the site for details.

Onya
Woz

[kapow]

Thanks Wos
I checked 'CIA World Factbook'. Very good list of maps available. It does seem to say that they are free. Can anyone confirm that it is ok to use them on a commercial website?

[Woz]

[cia.gov...]

"The Factbook is in the public domain. Accordingly, it may be copied freely without permission of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)."

I have seen them used on quite a few sites and I will be using them myself.

Onya
Woz

[gethan]

Thanks to everyone :)

Woz - fantastic find

I'm really impressed with the quality of the images and maps and information !! .. really puts the commercial efforts to shame - but then I guess if you're one of the largest govenment agencies in the world, you should ;)

[cia.gov...]
Is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. Though I'll have to simplify it down to just outlines and continent names, and then the same for the continents to countries.

Marshall - are your maps simpler - Could save me a lot of time :)

[Marshall]

gethan,

I'll send you a sticky-mail of a URL where you can see what I got.

[Rumbas]

Marshal, I'm looking for good European maps. Could you point me to your maps as well?

What I've found so far out there from a quick look it not impressive.
Oh well, the CIA factbook is great though :)

[Woz]

Rencke put me onto that one, it is what we used, and I still use, for the regional overviews. Great stuff.

Onya
Woz

[tilt]

Here's another good map site. Looks very complete with maps of the US, Europe, Asia, etc. All are public domain and many are available for ftp download too. It's at the University of Texas [lib.utexas.edu]

[kapow]

Just had a look Tilt.

"...Any commercial use of this material is prohibited without prior permission from The General Libraries..."

That cuts me out.

[gethan]

Looking closer at the Uni of Texas maps. They are mostly from the CIA - factbook again. Those that arn't are generally copyrighted which I think is where the confusion arises.

[toadhall]

Try this non-commercial map creation site:
[aquarius.geomar.de...]
for raw, blackline on white maps with optional projections, political boundaries, rivers, elevation contours. Also Odden's bookmarks, the Mother of all map resources (poor Mother...):
[oddens.geog.uu.nl...]

[Mark_A]

Re Maps

take a look at this world map, I bookmarked it as soon as I saw it because it looks great with the rollover effects (offsets a bit in netscape but still looks OK).

URL at
[cummins.com...]

Anyone know how they have done it?
Seems more complex than a simple rollover as the sections overlap?

[Marshall]

Mark,

It looks like a layer effect using z-index. If you notice, their logo image overlaps one of the roll-over images (Europe/Greenland) but is under the CIS image.

[Mark_A]

"It looks like a layer effect using z-index."

Marshall

Thanks for that.. how do I go about learning how to do that sort of thing.... I have done rolling buttons etc before (with the helps of editors and sometimes by customising the best free scripts I can find) but have not learnt anything about layers.

Oh btw is it backwards compatible.. navigation works in non Java browsers & SEs can follow (I bet not :-)

On that particular map there are two places you can effect a roll by a mouseover,
1. the text at left,
2. the map itself
And each time the map and the text element below it rolls as one.

"If you notice, their logo image overlaps one of the roll-over images (Europe/Greenland) but is under the CIS image."

Yes I did see that, also in NN4.7 the new images are much more offset in a large screen.

Still I like it and would like to know what to learn to be able to do such things.

Tips appreciated.

[Marshall]

Mark,

Give me a day or two and I'll take a hard look at it, unless someone else can do it sooner. I have to finish a design and money comes first. Nothing personal.

Anyway, I suspect the reason it's off in Netscape 4 has to do with the fact NN4 doesn't recognize margin settings in a style sheet and I didn't notice them including marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" in the body tag. Then again, I really didn't look. If I'm right, it would throw the images off about 8 pixels.

[Mark_A]

"Mark, Give me a day or two and I'll take a hard look at it, unless someone else can do it sooner. I have to finish a design and money comes first. Nothing personal."

Hey Marshall no worries :-) I can find out about layers myself no need to take another look. I just came in to do some quick SE reading in fact so am not going to be doing any maps like this in the next weeks anyhow.

"I'm right, it would throw the images off about 8 pixels."

Could be that then because it is about 8px off in NN.

Thanks for your responses and all the best with the design.

[Robert Charlton]

Woz - Almost got lost in the CIA Factbook and didn't come back. Thanks....

[Woz]

Glad to see you finally found your way to the finish line Robert. The rest and recuperation tent is over to your left, please have your fingertips examined for blisters, you have 30 minutes until the next stage of the triwebathon!

Onya
Woz