Note that only a small proportion of the Map Department's holdings have online catalogue records. To make a comprehensive search of our holdings you will also need to visit the Map Department to search our card catalogue. Remember also to search ArchiveSearch
The information on this page provides help for searching iDiscover (the Library's new online catalogue) for maps and atlases. The information will be of particular help if you have no specific title or author in mind. If you are looking for books on cartography or gazetteers, click here.
There is usually more than one way to construct and refine a search. Different search strategies will use different parts of the catalogue record and so may produce subtly different results, so it is usually worth trying more than one type of search.
See iDiscover LibGuide for more information on searching iDiscover, including a detailed Search for Maps and Atlases guide. Please ask a member of staff if you need help or if you cannot find what you want.
Note that some categories of material in the Map Department are never catalogued. A more comprehensive list can be found here but some common examples are listed below:
- Town plans are not all catalogued. Ask a member of Map Room staff for assistance.
- Maps in series are usually not catalogued individually. This means, for example, that the 1:50,000 Landranger map series published by Ordnance Survey which covers Great Britain in 204 sheets, has one catalogue entry not 204. Individual sheets within map series are identified using graphic indexes in the Map Room. Ask a member of staff for assistance.
- Maps in atlases are not usually catalogued individually. So, if you cannot find a suitable map in the catalogue think whether one might have appeared in a larger work such as a road or national atlas. National atlases, for example, often include a variety of thematic maps.
Searching for Maps and Atlases of a Particular PLACE
- Use Advanced search
- Select Cambridge Libraries Collections
- Select Subject from the drop down menu on the left hand side
- Make sure that the central column is set to contains
- Type the name of the place for which maps are required and the word 'maps' in the corresponding search box on the right, e.g. Cambridge maps
- This search will retrieve maps and atlases of Cambridge and parts of Cambridge. If you wish to distinguish Cambridge England from Cambridge Massachusetts add the terms: England or Mass
- This is a much more reliable search strategy than doing a general keyword search and refining your results by 'Resource Type' maps.
See also Searching for World Atlases
Searching for Maps and Atlases of a Particular TYPE
You may only be interested in maps of a particular type - geology or soils maps, for example, or maps published before 1800, or facsimiles. To find these types of map you need to use additional search terms. Some of the more commonly used search terms are listed below; they can be combined with a place name.
- Use Advanced search
- Select Cambridge Libraries Collections
- Select Subject from the drop down menu on the left hand side
- Make sure that the central column is set to contains (unless otherwise stated below)
- Type your search terms - see list below of the more commonly used terms - in the corresponding search box on the right
- The search terms can be combined with a place name, e.g. geology maps england
| early works maps | For maps and atlases (original and facsimiles) published before 1800 |
| administrative maps | |
| aerial views | |
| aeronautical charts | |
| agriculture maps | |
| archaeology maps | |
| archaeological surveying maps | |
| bathymetric maps | |
| battlefield maps | |
| childrens atlases | For children's atlases If you want maps search for childrens maps |
| cities towns maps | For collections of maps (including atlases) of cities and towns, including world wide collections. Combine with a place name - e.g. a country - for collections of city and town maps of that country |
| climate maps | |
| cycling maps | Also try bicycle trails maps |
| facsimiles maps | |
| Game Maps | |
| geology maps | |
| globes | For globes (and books about globes) |
| historical geography maps | |
| history maps | |
| imaginary places maps | |
| land use maps | |
| literary maps | |
| manuscript maps | |
| mental maps | |
| military maps | |
| nautical charts | |
| outline base maps | For outline and base maps |
| physical maps | |
| pictorial maps | |
| pictorial works maps | |
| planning maps | You could also add the terms: city ; highway ; regional as appropriate |
| railroads maps | |
| remote sensing images | |
| remote sensing maps | |
| roads maps | |
| soils maps | |
| topographic maps | For maps with topographical information (relief, settlements, etc.) at more detailed scales of ca. 1:200,000 or larger. Use with caution since some useful maps (and, e.g. town plans) may be excluded |
| tourist maps | |
| transportation maps | For maps showing a variety of transport modes. For specific transport types search for: railroads ; roads ; air travel ; harbors ; waterways ; rural transportation ; subways ; urban transportation ; etc., plus maps |
| walking maps | Try also trails maps and hiking maps |
| war maps | |
| weather maps | |
|
[as a phrase] |
For maps of the whole world. See also Searching for World Atlases |
These search terms are Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) - hence the American spelling of words like harbor. A searchable list of LCSHs is available here.
It is best to start your search with general terms and then to refine it by using more specific search terms. If you find an item that suits your needs, try searching on the subject terms present in the catalogue record for that item.
Also think, where appropriate, of substituting the word 'maps' with guidebooks - cycling and walking guidebooks, for example, often contain maps - or of dropping the terms maps / charts altogether.
Searching by SCALE
Catalogue entries for most (but not all) maps and atlases drawn at one or two scales include a scale statement in the form of a representative fraction, such as 1:50,000. To search for such items, do an 'any field' (i.e. keyword search) for 50000 (etc.).
In Advanced Search this can be combined, for example, with a Subject search for a place name.
Catalogue entries for maps and atlases drawn at more than two scales, or with no, or an unknown scale, may include scale statements such as: Scale not given; Scale indeterminable; Scales differ; Not drawn to scale - or there may be no scale statement at all.
Using PLACE-NAMES as KEYWORDS
If you do not find a map of a place by using the subject searches suggested above, try searching for the place name as an 'any field' (i.e. keyword) search, but keep the word maps in the subject search box.
Searching for WORLD ATLASES
If you specifically want a world atlas:
- Select Cambridge Libraries Collections
- Go to Browse
- Select Browse by Subject and type the word ‘atlases’ in the Search Box
- Click on to retrieve your results
- This will retrieve a list of subject headings beginning with the word ‘Atlases’
- Look for ‘Atlases (LCSH)’. Click on this to see World atlases published in the United States of America (you can largely ignore the ‘Atlases’ headings followed by other strange abbreviations!)
- If you want World atlases published in other countries add the name of the appropriate country (Australia, Belgium, Great Britain, Netherlands …) to the ‘Browse by Subject’ search box
REFINING YOUR RESULTS
It is possible to refine your results by selecting 'Resource Type' maps. However, you may miss relevant items by doing this and our recommendation is always to do a subject search in Advanced Search, as described above.
Printable Version of This Text
See Map Department Information Sheet 5C - Searching iDiscover for Maps and Atlases (a MS Word document) or ask a member of Map Department staff for a hard copy