5 December 2001. Embassy.org offers a compilation of maps from countries and cities around the world. Select a country to begin a search for maps. 12 August 2002. The Storm Prediction Center offers a database of storm report data. It contains information about hail, high wind, and tornadoes from 1 June 1999 to present. Also find current severe weather reports and select statistical data, particularly regarding tornadoes. 11 May 2001. CNA Financial Corporation offers news and information about reinsurance issues. Find "white papers" on topics like Internet-related exposures and liabilities, reinsurance news, an annotated directory of external Web sites (including one devoted to sources of information about storms and weather), as well as a primer on reinsurance. 12 April 2002. The NASA Solid Earth and Natural Hazards Program offers this subject index of disaster-related resources. The classification of resources in this collection follows the guidelines set forth in the Disaster services section of the Taxonomy of Human Services. The collection cover disaster management (mitigation, preparedness, etc), disciplines (climates, communications, etc), organizations (FEMA, universities, etc), specific types of disasters (earthquakes, fires, etc), and more.
9 January 2002. Revised 19 March 2004. The National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering (NISEE) at the University of California, Berkeley licenses this formerly free database to Maryland-based CSA. Researchers can obtain access through CSA's Internet Database Service, which aggregates more than 70 databases. The database contains abstracts of articles on earthquake engineering and covers 1971 to present. Plan a trip by calculating driving directions. Features include optional email delivery, road preferences, total mileage, and approximate driving time. Warning: the home page makes extensive use of graphical advertising. It takes awhile to load even at 28.8 baud. The former Geographic Name Server now refers researchers to this U.S. Geological Survey site. Use it to find counties, longitude, latitude, USGS maps, places of interest (schools, post offices), population and elevation. 6 August 2002. The U.S. Geological Survey offers two GNIS databases: one for the United States and one for Antarctica. It provides geographic information about places. Discover the federally recognized name of a feature or location, its elevation, state and county, longitude and latitude, and more.
5 December 2001. To promote the 20th edition of Goode's World Atlas, Rand McNally offers 30 thematic maps and outline maps of the world, the 50 individual states of the United States, and the continents. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offers Local Climatological Data, a monthly summary of temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, wind speed and direction observations for several hundred cities in the U.S. and its territories. Summaries are available from July 1996. Need an area map? How about driving directions between two cities? Check out MapQuest! 26 September 2002. Available via FedStats, MapStats provides state, county, federal judicial district, or congressional district profiles. Federal judicial district profiles provide crime-related statistics. State, county, and U.S. profiles provide demographic, social and business statistics.
Upon selecting a state or county, locate other available statistics by following the link labeled "browse more data sets." You'll find agricultural, health (state level only), labor (state level only), crime, education (state level only), and environmental statistics. 13 December 2000. Revised 20 June 2003. This Microsoft service, formerly Mapblast, provides maps, driving directions, atlases and links to city guides, weather, phone directories and encyclopedias. Microsoft claims to have updated the maps for Europe. Other notable changes include improved driving directions and better screen print options. 6 November 2001. The U.S. Geological Survey offers a database of bibliographic information about paper and digital geologic maps, a search tool for lithologic and geochronologic unit names (GEOLEX), and a database of Geologic Mapping in Progress. Information includes where to find or order the text of citations appearing in the database. Searchers may query the first database using a number of search criteria.
Connect here for the official National Weather Service Web site. Discover weather conditions throughout the United States. Review satellite images of weather conditions. Obtain storm warnings, historical weather data, and more. 12 April 2002. The Earth Sciences Directorate and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center maintain this bibliographic database covering literature pertaining to the use of satellite remote sensing for disaster mitigation. Browse by subject, or search by keyword, to obtain bibliographic citations to professional literature.
24 March 2003. The National Water Information System (NWIS) by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) offers 100 years of historical and real-time water data. Create your own data tables in order to evaluate current water supplies or water quality. Coverage includes surface water, ground water and water quality. 12 August 2002. The National Climatic Data Center publishes the Storm Events Database. Select a state or "all" states and then enter the parameters of your query. These may include a specific county, storm type, number of injuries or deaths, amount of property damage, or more.
The database contains storm data for all storm types from 1993 to present, except for June and July 1993. It also contains data about tornadoes from 1950 to present, and data about thunderstorms and hail back to 1950. 24 March 2003. The Microsoft TerraServer provides interactive maps and aerial photographs from the U.S. Geological Survey. Search for a place (e.g., philadelphia, pa) to retrieve a list of initial maps and photos for your interactive session. You can refine the maps and photos by clicking them. When you do this, the service may retrieve another map or photo. You will know when the image source changes because TerraServer provides this information at the top of the map or photo. Discover current weather conditions and news around the world. The site features interactive radar, satellite and other weather maps, breaking news, encyclopedic information about storms of historical significance, and more. The Weather Underground, Inc. provides real-time weather data including conditions, forecasts, and advisories. Techies might enjoy some of the image technology used here.
To find historical weather data for cities the site covers, enter the city name or zip code in the search box. Then move half-way down the page to find the "Historical Conditions" box. Select the relevant date to retrieve the data.
For more in-depth historical data Local Climatological Data above. 7 November 2002. SuperPages.com provides a business directory with an interesting research feature. Create a map lets you map a town, address, or zip code and then pinpoint businesses by type or name (e.g., find hotels within a zip code, find psychologists within a certain radius of a street address). |
![tvceditor [at] virtualchase [dot] com](../images/editor_882_sm.jpg){kind=small}