Super Tuesday Election Maps



Super Tuesday on the Map

ESRI, the world’s leading publisher of GIS software, has created a Story Map detailing the demographics of tomorrow’s “Super Tuesday” primary elections.  Voters in 13 states will participate on Tuesday, March 1.  Republican and Democratic primaries are shown in magenta, and Republican only primaries are shown on the map in red (Alaska and Wyoming).

Users can click through the tabs to reveal the county-level demographics in each state.  Then click on the county to reveal more detailed data about political party affiliation percentages, population, median income, unemployment rate, and the sociological makeup of the population.  The population of a county is critical:  For example, the state of Minnesota appears mostly red (Republican), but the two counties marked blue (Democratic) have a population of nearly two million people—much larger than the populations of the rest of the counties in the state.  (Click maps above to enlarge).

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library provides access to the latest GIS software from ESRI and assistance from the GIS Specialist Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 5:00 pm.  And students wishing to use the mapping programs after hours will find computers throughout Bracken Library equipped with the latest GIS software.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.



Ball State University Libraries Provide Cartographic Resources for the Classroom

Elijah of Buxton, Educational Technology and Resources Collection 

Putting Children’s Books on the Map:  Social Studies Students Using Cartography in the Classroom

Ball State University social studies teaching students are learning to create maps based on children’s books.  Students in Dr. Dorshell Stewart’s Social Studies 397 classes, Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School, are collaborating on a cartography project that they can use in their future classrooms.

The staff of the University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) provided an instructional session for the students, showing them how to create custom maps using online mapping and design software.  Students working in groups then chose a popular children’s book featuring a story or biography of a person whose life could be mapped.  Then the maps are incorporated into a lesson plan teaching history or geography in coordination with the book.  Students chose biographies of Marian Anderson, Amelia Earhart, and John Adams and books about the Underground Railroad and other historical events.

The students can print large copies of their maps using the large-format plotters in the GRMC.  And the large laminator will preserve the maps for use in the classroom for years to come.  

For more information about creating custom cartographic resources for the classroom, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Maps in the News

Places in the News:

Ball State University Libraries' GIS Research and Map Collection

Vatican City map

GRMC map of Cuba, 1911, available from the Digital Media Repository

2010 Census Atlas Available Online

Do It Yourself Cartography:  2010 Census Atlas Available Online

The Superintendent of the Census, Francis Amasa Walker, published the first statistical atlas of the United States census from 1870.  The atlas, Statistical Atlas of the United States, was published in 1874 and includes population, social, industrial, and vital statistics and maps.  The U.S. Census Bureau continued to publish the atlases through the 1920 census and then again in 2007 using data from the 2000 census with the Census Atlas of the United States.  But an atlas of the 2010 census was never published due to budget cuts.

Nathan Yau, Doctor of Statistics from UCLA, author of three books on statistics and data, and publisher of the FlowingData Blog seized the opportunity to create a new version of the popular statistical atlas.  Yau decided to create a new atlas based on data from the 2010 census, but he created the atlas in an artistic format similar to the atlas from 1874.  The result is the Statistical Atlas of theUnited States Based on the Results of 21st Century Government Analyses.  Yau produced maps depicting geology, weather, taxation statistics, transportation, education, and population statistics—age, foreign population, predominant gender, and race.

The 2007 Census Atlas of the United States is available in the Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) on the second floor of Bracken Library.

Black History Month Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

Black History Month Maps Available from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) has created new custom maps in celebration of Black History Month.  Map of the Life of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave commemorates an influential person in American history, while Hurley’s Muncie: 1950’s celebrates an influential person in Muncie and Indiana history.

The Sojourner Truth map identifies the locations of important events in this advocate/orator’s life, like her attempt to desegregate the city streetcars and meeting Presidents Lincoln and Grant in Washington, D.C.  The map also shows the locations of some of Truth’s famous speeches.

Hurley’s Muncie is being exhibited as the “Map of the Month” in the front windows of the GRMC through February and is available from Cardinal Scholar.  The Sojourner Truth map is also available for download from Cardinal Scholar.  Both maps may be used for educational research and learning and for special exhibits.  (Members of the Ball State University community may print large copies of the maps using the plotters in the GRMC).

A subject guide identifying African-American cartographic resources is also available from the GRMC.  For more information about using cartographic resources in the study of Black History, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.

Map of the Month Celebrates Muncie Black History

Map of the Month:  Celebrating Muncie Black History

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) is exhibiting a new “Map of the Month” in celebration of Black History Month.  The map, Hurley’s Muncie: 1950’s, identifies locations mentioned in the 1950’s chapter of the book A History of Negroes in Muncie by Hurley C. Goodall and J. Paul Mitchell published in 1976.

Goodall was one of the first African-American firefighters in Muncie, was the first African-American elected to serve on the Muncie Community Schools Board of Education, and was elected in 1978 to serve in the Indiana House of Representatives.  Goodall served as a visiting professor in the Department of Political Science and visiting scholar at the Center for Middletown Studies at Ball State University.  Goodall worked tirelessly to document the history of African Americans in Muncie as an author, lecturer, and scholarly researcher.

The artistic map features Black-owned businesses, schools, churches, parks, and factories important in the Black history of Muncie during the 1950’s.  Text from the chapter is provided and details important events like the desegregation of Tuhey Pool and the hiring of the first two African-American firefighters in Muncie—one being Goodall.  The map also identifies the neighborhoods of Whitely, Industry, Blaine, and Southeast.

The map exhibit is available in Cardinal Scholar and may be printed for research and learning purposes.

Goodall’s papers, oral history, and other books are available in the Archives and Special Collections.

For more information, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097 or Archives at 765-285-5078.