Geographical Search Tools  

 Zip Code FAQ 

• Only the USA has Zip Codes - most other countries have the same thing, but call them Post Codes
• Entire countries do not have Zip Codes or Post Codes - just use the country's name
• If you are non-USA, but need to fill in a web site form which asks for a Zip Code, try any of the following and see if it accepts it:
  
  
  1. Your Post Code
  2. Your Post Code with zeroes in front to make it 5 digits
  3. n/a
  4. 00000
  5. 90210

 Zip Code / Post Code Finders 

US Zip Codes - returns city, state, county name, FIPS code, area code, time zone, MSA/PMSA, latitude and longitude

• USA Counties - counties by state, detailed info. Also, enter a city, get the county
• USA Postal Sevice - Zip code finder - also here
• USA Zip Codes by County - also here
• JCS Zip Codes - a range of USA zipcode tools
• US Zip Code Areas / Distance Calculator - returns all zip codes within a radius, plus total population and population density. Also distance between 2 zip codes

Post Codes

• Frank's Compulsive Guide to Postal Addresses - he explains every system on a single page!
• International Postal Codes - huge list of useful links for dozens of countries
• Canada - find post codes from address, and reverse post code search. Similar here
• Germany - search over 20,000 postal codes (site is in German)
• UK - Royal Mail post code finder, and reverse post code search. Requries free registration - quick and painless
• Australian Post Codes
• Area Code Reverse Lookup (that is phone number area codes, US and World)

Google Maps  

If you haven't done it yet, go to Google Maps and enter an address. Other related resources:

• Google Maps Mania - unofficial blog tracking the websites, mashups and tools being influenced by Google Maps.
• Google Sightseeing - highlights of what you can see at Google Maps. There's one for Windows Live Local too, called Bird's Eye Tourist
• Wikimapia - mashup that adds notations to locations
• (MSN/Windows) Live (Local/Maps) - (or whatever it is called this week), very similar to Google, but not as user-friendly. Sometimes aerial shots have better resolution

 Global Gazetteers  

All sorts of data, like latitude, longitude, population, altitude etc

• Getty Thesaurus of Global Names - 1 million places, lots of Encyclopædia data
• Also useful for latitude and longitude is the horoscope site AstroDienst, with a database of 254,106 towns
• GEOnet Names Server - contains 3.81 million features with 5.24 million names. Not very user friendly, but has results in seconds of degrees (though often 00 or 30) and a reverse latitude/longitude look up
• Alexandria Digital Library - 4.4 million places, mostly uses GEOnet & US Geographic Survey data
• Melissa Data - nothing special or different

 USA Gazetteers  

US Gazetteer - uses data from the 1990 census, with maps and census data in the results

• A more advanced search form is at the U.S. Geological Survey site. Their database contains 2 million physical and cultural geographic features, and results include links to many digital maps, including satellite images from TerraServer
• Wealthy Zip Codes - based on average household income & average home property values
• ZipWho - lots of year 200- census stats by zipcode, but lets you search by demographics, not just by ZIP code
• City-Data - pictures, maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, crime data, weather, hospitals, schools, libraries, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, similar cities list, comparisons to averages... covers thousands of US cities

 Maps.com 

With thousands of print and digital maps available, Maps.com are easily the biggest online map store...Next best is Stanfords' Maps, based in the UK

 How Far Is It? 

Find out the distance between two places, the direction to head, the co-ordinates of each place, and maps from Xerox PARC. It is well designed and very easy to use.

Acceptable query formats:

Chicago, IL
Jakarta
40:26:26N 79:59:46W
Athens, Greece

• US Distance Finder - returns a distance in miles, "as the crow flies"

 More Resources 

• World Atlas.com - portal full of maps, flags, facts and figures
• DeLorme - professional maps and mapping software
• Map Librarian's Toolbox - for the professional
• GPS City - online Global Positioning System store
• GPS Mountain - discount GPS products
• Blank and Outline Maps - collections of blank and outline maps to print out for educational or personal use at home or in the classroom.
• Library of Congress - Portals to the World - links to authoritative, in-depth information (including geography) about many nations
• Internet Geography - an excellent resource for anyone studying high school level geography
• Keyhole - fuses high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery, elevation data, GPS coordinates, and overlay information about cities and businesses to deliver a streaming, 3D map of the entire globe.



Satellite Photos:

• VARGIS Satellite Maps - the best professional source for high-tech ultra-zoom images
• Get Mapping - UK satellite maps
• City2See - Australia satellite maps, free and for sale
• Spatial Information Exchange - free, high-res, satellite pics of Sydney, Australia
• TerraServer - free satellite maps, but only for some parts of the world, (can be searched by longitude and latitude)
• TerraFly - using the "advanced find" option, enter a street address and see an aerial view of that address. The resolution can go down to one meter. Many images date back to the 1990s, with some going back to the 1970s. Mostly USA.
• GlobeXplorer - satellite and aerial photos for sale
• Or do it yourself with a balloon for $50

Google Earth is the king, but NASA World Wind is good too, and it can have global data via a live.msn.com plug-in..

Gazetteers:

• Australia - 297,000 places
• New Zealand - 40,000 places
• UK Ordnance Survey - absolutely brilliant. High quality maps that you can print out. The best free map resource on the web
• Scotland - an encyclopedia of places, people and features - no maps or co-ordinates
• Canada - 500,000 places
• Scandinavia - free registration required
• France - place names from the Institut Géographique National. In French.
• USA Town Search - from RootsWeb
  

Free Online Maps:

• Antarctica
  National Geographic Map Machine - huge resource, variety of maps worldwide
• ShtetlSeeker - Central & Eastern Europe - uses maps from MapQuest
• SwissGeo - Switzerland - in French and German
• Maporama - online map creation on basis of input address. European based, but covers most countries.
• MapQuest  - online map creation on basis of input address. US based, but covers most countries
• MapCard - free one-day trial lets you download USGS maps. See also Charttiff
• MapTech MapServer - over 65,000 topographic maps, nautical and aeronautical charts, aerial photographs and satellite images covering the United States. Browse, view, print and email the maps for free.
• TopoZone - the Web's first interactive topo map of the entire United States, (can be searched by longitude and latitude).
• Geocode USA - enter an address, get a local map and other info
• Navigate LA - Los Angeles GIS data
• Atlas of Canada - hundreds of statistical and geographical maps of Canada and her provinces
• Shell Geostar - European mapping and route planning
• Berkeley Pathfinder - thousands of online maps, most are pre-20th Century
• Strange Maps - blog full of details on found strange maps
• Get-a-Map UK - from Ordnance Survey. You can search for maps anywhere in the UK simply by entering the place name, full postcode or National Grid reference – and print the maps or copy them for use on your personal or business web site.

Street & Road Maps:

• Whereis - Australia  - displays a map for any address in Australia
• Australian Driving Directions - from RACV
• Mappy - street-level maps for most of UK/Europe. In English + 5 other languages
• Map 24 - covers all of Europe. Used by Google UK. The same maps can be found at ViaMichelin
• 192.com - nice zoomable, street-level maps & satellite images for any UK address
• MultiMap - UK - street-level maps for any UK address, (and parts of Europe) - with links to local information
• StreetMap - UK - Ordnance Survey street maps
• NZ Maps - street maps, just Auckland so far.
• NZ - Christchurch street maps
  

Country Maps:

• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection - a great online collection of maps
• About.com - links to maps for almost every country
• GeoExplorer Outline Maps - for every country
• MSN Encarta - maps of countries
• InfoPlease - maps of countries and USA states
• Great Globe Gallery - hundreds of global views, many with serious scientific data
• Earth-Info - Zoomable globe (Java Applet) which includes CIA Factbook, some National Geographic articles, plus thumbprint size preview images and other information for over one and a quarter million satellite images ( LandSat 4, 5 & 7, Corona KH-4 and KH-5, RADARSat and SPOT Image as well as Russian DK-1). Geospatial data includes scanned maps of various scales, terrain elevation data and digital orthorectified imagery.
  

Other:

• Earth's Magnetic Field - estimated values of Earth's magnetic field, including magnetic declination
• USA Latitude/Longitude Position Finder - zoom in on a USA map
• geocoder.us - find the latitude & longitude of any US address
• Ghost Town Gallery - collection of 1300 pictures from 174 Ghost Towns and historic places in the USA
• Degree Confuence Project - The goal of the project is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. 11,000 pics (Jan 2002) and growing...
• Old Maps UK - large archive of digitized UK historic maps
• Cities Around the World - over 6,100 photographic images from the slide collections of the American Geographical Society Library.