The US Government’s National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has placed online 21,000 maps, downloadable in both JPG and MRSID high-resolution formats (see this post for several free MRSID viewers and converters). The maps are mainly historical nautical maps dating from 1655 to 2001, but there are also a fair number of Civil War battlefield maps, many of them contemporary with the war, and not all of them nautical in nature.
Map Showing the System of Confederate Fortifications on the Mississippi River (1862)
Charts are searchable by state, year, type and keywords; instructions for use are here. Other maps of interest include an extensive set of maps for Washington, DC, including the re-engraving of the 1792 L’Enfant and Ellicott plan for Washington D.C, and an 1856 map of Anacapa Island off California with a perspective view by the noted American artist James Whistler (no sign of his mother).
Other posts in the Map Graphics series
- Downloadable Large-Format Historical Maps
- Online Map Collections
- Maps Of War
- Free Blank/Colored Map Graphics
- More Online Historic Maps
- Virtual Version Of The Field Museum’s Map Exhibit
- Animated US Civil War Maps
- List Of Libraries With Map Resources
- Historical Nautical And Civil War Maps
- Online Historical Atlas Of Canada
- High-Resolution Mexico Road Maps
- Physical Map Of The World
Cool maps! But, this is what I get when I click the link:
“Sorry for the inconvenience.
The web site http://historicals.ncd.noaa.gov is temporarily down…”
Were any of the maps you were able to access georeferenced?
Site was up two days ago - presumably, it will come back soon.
None of the maps are georeferenced; I hope to cover a number of georeferencing programs in the near future.
The historical and nautical site moved to a new URL - the post has been updated to reflect that.