The Texas General Land Office Launches New Map and Database Store, HistoricTexasMaps.com
AUSTIN — Today, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is pleased to announce the Texas General Land Office (GLO) has launched its new Map Store and Database, Historic Texas Maps, HistoricTexasMaps.com.
“For almost two years the GLO has worked diligently with our vendor, Keepthinking, to produce a website that is not only significantly more user-friendly, but also incorporates a new Content Management System that helps GLO staff manage the tremendous amount of metadata associated with our continuously growing collection of 45,000 maps,” said Commissioner Buckingham. “This new site will make it easier than ever for Texans to own their own piece of Texas history and will provide even better support for our constituents like land surveyors, teachers, oil and gas professionals, historians, genealogists, and anyone else interested in Texas’s rich land history found at the GLO.”
“The collaboration between Keepthinking and the Texas General Land Office (GLO) on the historic maps website is a testament to the GLO's vision for preserving and promoting Texas history. The GLO has prioritized leveraging technology to increase access to historical records and artifacts. The GLO's commitment to preserving Texas history aligns perfectly with our agency's mission, making this collaboration an ideal partnership. We are excited to have worked with the GLO to help bring this unique resource to the public,” said Cristiano Bianchi, Project Director for Keepthinking.
HistoricTexasMaps.com includes several new features and research tools:
- Researchers and Texas history enthusiasts will continue to be able to purchase reproductions of historic Texas maps online. Purchasing digital reproductions will now be an automated feature for the public as well.
- Historic Texas Maps is also newly calibrated with responsive web technology to be accessible on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, making Texas history available at every Texans’ fingertips like never before.
- The website’s homepage features a Popular Maps carousel highlighting maps with the most user engagement.
- There are additional search options, including the ability to search map titles, map numbers, dates, keywords, subjects, and thousands of newly-added named features that have never been digitally cataloged or available before.
- Search filters have been upgraded: Researchers are able to select from a range of dates to find a map instead of being limited to single year search options. Researchers can also filter results by selecting specific subjects to view records that contain subject tags.
- Users will have the ability to create profiles, allowing searches and favorites to be saved and shared.
- Researchers will have the benefit of seeing related maps, which will appear alongside records from the same collection, as well as a carousel of maps that the user may like based on search results.
- The new Showcase tab connects researchers and history enthusiasts with some of the agency’s latest archival projects, including StoryMaps, which uses ESRI ArcGIS technology to connect the past with current technologies to share interesting stories of our past in a modern way.
- The Showcase tab also highlights recently acquired maps to display the collection's growth and spotlight other digitization and educational projects.
- Maps are now easily sharable across social media.
###
More Press Releases