Cartographic Citation Style

Cartographic Citation Style

We recommend following the guidelines outlined by Christine Kolen, Wangyal Shawa, and Mary Larsgaard Cartographic Citations, A Style Guide: Second Edition (Chicago: American Library Association, 2010). These examples use the Chicago Style (16th Edition).

Map (static) from Website

Author. Map title. Scale. “Title of website” <URL> (date accessed).

Map in an Atlas

Map author. Map title. Scale. In: Atlas author. Atlas title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Date, page.

Interactive Map created from Website

Author. Title of map created. Layers used. Scale. Name of person who generated map; using “Title of Website” <URL> (date accessed).

Citing Items from Penn State's Digital Collections

To cite items in the Penn State's Digital Collections, use the publication information as it appears on the maps and the URL displayed after clicking the “Reference URL” button at the top of the item display page.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps

Attribution example

Sanborn Map Company. City, County, State, Month Year. Courtesy of the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information, Penn State University Libraries, The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from Penn State University Libraries, https://libraries.psu.edu/about/collections/sanborn-fire-insurance-maps (Accessed Date).

Reference Citation

Sanborn Map Company. City, County, State, Month Year. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps". <https:// libraries.psu.edu/about/collections/sanborn-fire-insurance-maps> (Accessed Date).

Sanborn Map Company. State College, Centre County, Pennsylvania, June 1922. New York: Sanborn Map & Publishing Co, 1922. "Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps". <https:// libraries.psu.edu/about/collections/sanborn-fire-insurance-maps> (Accessed Date).

1861 Digital Atlas of Centre County

Walling, Henry Francis and S. D. Tilden. Topographical Map of Centre Co., Pennsylvania: From Actual Surveys. New York: S.D. Tilden, 1861. "1861 Centre County Map". <https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/maps1/id/1019/rec/1> (Accessed Date).

Separate towns can be cited as, for example Unionville.

Walling, Henry Francis and S. D. Tilden. Unionville. New York: S. D. Tilden, 1861. In: Topographical Map of Centre Co., Pennsylvania: From Actual Surveys. New York: S.D. Tilden, 1861. "1861 Centre County Map". <https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/maps1/id/1019/rec/1> (Accessed Date).

1874 Atlas of Centre County

Nichols, Beach and A. Pomeroy, & Co. Atlas of Centre County, Pennsylvania: From Actual Surveys. Philadelphia: A. Pomeroy & Co., 1874. "Atlas of Centre County, Pennsylvania: from actual surveys".<https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/maps1/id/25509/rec/1> (Accessed Date).

Items from the digital collection

Olsen, William and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. Washington, the Beautiful Capital of the Nation. Washington, D.C: Olsen, 1923.<https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/maps1/id/30109/rec/5> (Accessed Date).

Pennsylvania 15 Minute Series Topographic Maps

The 15 Minute Series Topographic Maps should be cited as separately-published static maps. For example, the map of the Altoona Quadrangle would be cited:

U.S. Geological Survey. Altoona, P.A. Scale 1:62,500. 15-Minute Series. Washington, D.C.: USGS, 1922. <https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/maps1/id/25385/rec/2> (Accessed Date).

Geospatial Data

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Pennsylvania county boundaries. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 2017. "Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access".<http://www.pasda.psu.edu/uci/DataSummary.aspx?dataset=24> (Accessed Date).

Example from SimplyAnalytics (Library subscribed database)

SimplyAnalytics (2017). Map with 2016 Consumer Expenditure Data. Name of person who generated the map; "SimplyAnalytics Database". (Accessed Date).

Example for an ArcGIS Online application

Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information. State College Change Through Time. Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information, 2017. "ArcGIS Online."

<http://psu-libs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=8b8e085ddc4746bb9dcac35c62bfd1f9> (Accessed Date).

Shapefile GIS dataset

Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information. Pennsylvania county boundaries. Centre County. University Park, PA: Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information, 2017. Using ArcGIS [GIS software]. Version 10.5.1. Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute. (Accessed Date).

Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information. State College Building Footprints. University Park, PA: Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information, 2017. Using ArcGIS [GIS software]. Version 10.5.1. Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute. (Accessed Date).

Centre County. Hydrography. Centre County, 2017. "ArcGIS Online." https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=c611558362d241ac9b5a1bf4bef3356f (Accessed Date).

Software

Environmental Systems Research Institute. ArcGIS. Version 10.5.1 Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., 1999-2017.

QGIS Development Team. QGIS. Version 2.18.14. QGIS Geographic Information System. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project. <https://www.qgis.org/en/site/> 2017.