Resource of the Week: UN Environmental Programme Maps and Graphics Library
Resource of the Week: UN Environmental Programme Maps and Graphics Library
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor
If you’re one of our regulars here at ResourceShelf, you know that we are map junkies. There is no such thing as Too Many Maps. So we are…happy, happy, joy, joy that the database at the UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics library currently contains more than 1,000 items.
What you need to know about UNEP/GRID-Arendal:
The mission of GRID-Arendal is to provide environmental information, communications and capacity building services for information management and assessment. Established to strengthen the United Nations through its Environment Programme (UNEP), our focus is to make credible, science-based knowledge understandable to the public and to decision-making for sustainable development.
OK, so that is a mouthful…typical mission statement. Actually, there’s a whole lot of stuff available on/from this website besides the maps and graphics library, including:
- Vital Ozone Graphics - resource kit for journalists
- Global Outlook for Ice & Snow report
- UNEP (coastal) Shelf Programme One Stop Data Shop
- The EarthWire news portal
- Globalis, an interactive world atlas
But we, of course, are drawn to the maps and graphics library time and again. You’ll find some surprising things here. On a recent visit, the Random Graphic of the Day (lower right side of the page) was a color coded world map: Mobile phones per 1000 people. Provided by the World Bank, this map is part of a special collection/publication called Vital Waste Graphics. But…mobile phones? That seems strange…until you consider the worldwide problem of e-waste. Something else we like — Random Graphic of the Day is available as an RSS feed.
We also liked the world Map of the Moment, at the upper left on the page — Biodiversity loss: state and scenarios 2006 and 2050. As with the Random Graphic of the Day, extensive information about the map is available right below it, including information on how it can be used “in presentations, web pages, blogs and reports,” and whom to credit.
Over on the lefthand side of the page, you can browse the library by region, by theme (biodiversity/conservation, disasters/natural hazards, freshwater, pollution, urban issues, climate change, environment and security, marine issues, poverty, waste), or by collection, e.g.
Most of the UNEP/GRID-Arendal maps and graphics have been published in a project, publication or web-site.
A simple keyword search box is here; searching for e-waste generated 164 different maps/graphics. Alas, searching for ewaste turned up nothing, so obviously this is not the most sophisticated search tool. Be resourceful and try different spellings, synonyms, etc.
Below the search box is a small collection of direct links to interactive maps, such as Globalis mentioned above. At the bottom of the lefthand navigation panel are some links to the most recent maps/graphics added to the library. These are cool; if you mouse over them, you get a preview of each item. And an RSS feed is available.
Don’t use RSS? You can subscribe to Random Graphic of the Day or Latest Graphics by e-mail, from the News and Feeds page. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you’ll find links to “Random Graphic Widgets” that you can display on your desktop, blog, MySpace page, etc.