-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Print vs Paper Gazetteers Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:23:21 -0700 From: Virginia R Hetrick PhD <[log in to unmask]> To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]> One thing that's definitely not a job related activity but something I just do from time to time with a printed gazetteer is to look at the place names and the maps where the place names are located. Mainly it's because I'm curious. For example, when all the Phil Campbells came to Phil Campbell, Alabama, last week to help put the town back together after the tornado, I was curious to find other place names that were similar (sounded like names of people). I found a bundle of them. I wouldn't ever have been able to see that kind of thing electronically without asking for a complete dump of place names in Alabama and looking through a list online is kind of boring, to be perfectly honest. Most of us fell in love with some "thing" that's geographic back when we got interested in geographic stuff, whether it was our parents' National Geographics or NGS maps that came with them or an atlas at the local public library or the Blue Men of Morocco or .... None of that seems to be as easily possible to browse electronically except when we happen on .pdf files in old NGs. I remember being in Vancouver, BC, the day QEII was crowned. A few years ago, I happened on an old NG and it had stories about the Coronation and surrounding events. At the age of 10, I don't expect I had much of a clue about what was actually going on except that we watched a fireworks show over English Bay. But, we weren't there for the Coronation celebration so we just thought that was a great bonus for us on our vacation trip to Canada. ;~) v ------------------------------------------------------------ Virginia R. Hetrick, here in sunny California Email: [log in to unmask] "There is always hope." My fave: http://www.washington.edu/cambots/camera1_l.gif There's no place like: 34N 8' 25.40", 117W 58'5.36" if you can't be at: 48N 6' 59.9" 122W 59' 54.2" -------------------------------------------------------------