Disclaimer & Contact:
This is a non-profit, no-ads blog on GIS data (or a GIS data directory) created as a source of information that might be useful to other GIS users. This site contains links to external, third-party websites and images – webmasters and website managers of the linked sites, please contact me if you would like me to stop linking the information – I will response to your request as soon as I can. Also, contact me if you have any comments, questions, complains and concerns – my email can be found from here (http://directory.northwestern.edu/?query=chieko+maene).
About this site:
This site is designed to assist users in finding geospatial data. Since I am in Chicago, IL, USA, special attention will be paid to the datasets in these geographic areas (Chicago, Illinois and United States) but I will also add links to international data sources as I find them. After adding datasets I know, I would like to start writing about common spatial analysis methods for GIS beginners.
Oh – “geospatial” data, to me, means any digital data with a geographic component. So, it does not necessarily mean ready-to-use GIS data (such as shapefiles) only but also include data tables & databases, scanned maps and other items that can be used in GIS !
Categories & Tags
Geospatial datasets are generally categorized by geography. Click on categories to find data for your study area – but don’t forget to check higher (or broader) geographic levels (i.e. if you need data for Ethiopia, be sure to check both “Africa” and “World – Global” categories!)
Tags are more like free-style categorized terms, which include geographic coverages, subject types and data producers’ names. I am adding these tags to describe the dataset as much as I can (i.e. who, what and where..)
My interests are:
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About Myself:
I am Chieko Maene, Maps (and GIS) and State Documents Librarian at Northwestern Univesity since May, 2007. Please contact me if you have questions. You can find my university email just by googling, or from here.
I previously worked as a Map Librarian for two years (May 2005 – May 2007) in the Government Documents, Maps and Microforms Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Library. I also worked as an Interim GIS Librarian for one year (May 2004 – May 2005) at the American Geographical Society Library of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Libraries in Milwaukee, WI, where I earned my Master’s degree in Urban Studies (MS, 1999-2001) and also a Master’s degree in Library Information Science (MLIS, 2001-2003).
My original intention was to graduate with one Master’s degree and go back to Tokyo, Japan, where I came from in 1999. BUT, I was hooked on GIS (Geographic Information System) software when a Professor, Dr. Michael Barndt, introduced us to the unique geospatial technology in the first graduate class that I took (Social Science Research Methods) at the UW-Miwalukee. After that, I purchased the software at a student discount price from ESRI ($250.00), worked with the professor at the Data Center of the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee as a non-paid intern (and as a paid intern later), took several GIS courses, basic computer languages courses and a database management course at the school, and continued to learn GIS technology and methods throughout my graduate studies.
At the same time, I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful opportunity to work for Dr. Margo Anderson for her projects on Japanese Americans, census history and statistical analysis as her RA (research assistant) for two years (1999-2001), and became passionate about the U.S. Census history and various research datasets. She also encouraged me to learn GIS and explore its use in the historical research context, such as using historical census information and local property listing information in GIS.
Another experience that I would like to note is my work as a research technician at the Center for Economic Development of the UW-Milwaukee, where I had opportunities to learn various different datasets and then process them to generate statistical reports and maps to support academic research at the Center (2002-2004).
After my RA-ship, I had a chance to work for a Digital Spatial Data Librarian of the AGS Library, Ms. (and soon, Dr.!) Patti Day, who had helped me in obtaining various GIS data for my graduate work earlier. The work at a map library finally led me to consider a job as a GIS/map librarian and I decided to enroll in the library school for another Master’s degree. I also want to thank to Ms. Stephanie Judge, then a Government Document Librarian of the UWM Libraries, for her generous support when I was a graduate school student.
I know ArcView 3.x, ArcInfo 8.0 (basic), ArcGIS 8.1-current version, and MapInfo (used at the Nonprofit Center of Milwaukee -) I also used some internet mapping software, mainly ArcIMS and MapServer, but not anymore. My workplace won’t let me publish anything on my PC..
