Digital Maps & Mapping

This guide presents links to free map viewers and digital maps covering Oregon, the United States, and other geographic extents. This guide also highlights a number of free online mapping resources you can use to create your own map.

If you are looking for paper maps at the University of Oregon, check out the link below to a web page that describes the university's map collection:

The remainder of this page describes the basics of digital maps and map viewers. The Oregon Digital Maps page of this guide provides links to digital maps and viewers covering part or all of the state of Oregon. The United States Digital Maps page of this guide provides links to digital maps and viewers covering spatial extents in the United States. The Other Digital Maps page of this guide provides links to other digital maps and viewers of interest. The Make A Map Online page of this guide links to web sites where you can upload data and produce your own maps.

Digital maps are computer-based representations of earth phenomena. These maps may have been paper-based prior to being scanned or digitized into their digital forms, or they might have been generated digitally using computer software. Digital maps are stand-alone products that can be provided in a number of file formats, such as PDF, JPEG, or GeoTIFF. Map viewers are platforms on the World Wide Web that are interactive, allowing you to move around and zoom in or out to view the phenomena on the viewer. Some map viewers are solely interactive, while others also allow you to download digital maps (either pre-defined or user-defined).