InfoGuides: Humanities GIS: Historical GIS Data and Maps

Historical GIS Data & Projects

NHGIS
US Census GIS boundary files every ten years from 1790 to 2010. Includes demographic and housing data.
Atlas of Historical County Boundaries
1969-2000 by Newberry Library. Shape or KML files available.
S4: Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences (via Brown University):
Access to various GIS projects such as MapUSA( visualizing census tract data for 1940 through 2010), Longitudinal Tract Database (1970-2000 census data within constant 2010 tract boundaries), Urban Transition Historical GIS project (1850-1940) and more. Data and tutorials related to the projects are available.
Railroads and the Making Modern America
US depots from 1840 to 1870. Download KML files
USGS Historical Topo Maps
Historical topo maps in US. Download geopdf (Georeferenced) map.
MapUSA
Maps and census data at the census tract and county level from 1940 to 2010. Data downloadable.

World Historical GIS Data
Includes the sites to historical country boundaries (2000 BCE to 1994 CE), Post WWII, & Historical Places
Euratlas Historical Political Boundaries (GMU Only)
Euratlas Georeferenced Historical Vector Data: Years 100, 500, 1000, 1200,
1400, 1600, 1800, 2000 A.D (Available Data Service Shared Drive)
China Historical GIS Data
A free database of place names and historical administrative units for the Chinese Dynasties. Download data via Harvard Dataverse.
Historical GIS data for Japan
A free database of place names and historical administrative units for the Japan Dynasties. Download data via Dataverse at Harvard.
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Download historical gis data and links to other Japan GIS resources.
Atlas of Rural Settlement in England
19th century of rural settlement in England. Shape or KMZ format
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Available in shape or KMZ files

Historical Maps: Making Map Overlays (via Univ. of Penn)
Include a list of useful tools to overlay historical maps.
LOC Digital Maps
LOC's digital map collection that includes many historical maps.
Old Maps Online
Search geographically for historical maps housed via some of the largest online map collections (a collaborative project between UK and Switzerland).
Online Map Resouces
See more resources from the Atlas and map infoguide (at Mason).
Sanborn maps
LOC's digital Sandborn Fire Insurance map collection.
WorldMap
Browse geo-rectified (georeferenced) maps (Via Harvard University).