WEB REFERENCESITES   :   GEOGRAPHY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 

The following is a combined list of links to websites, resources and reference material (eg. dictionaries, encyclopedias etc.) on the internet.  The links are arranged under the following groupings:

Current Interest Items
Bibliographic

Biodiversity, Conservation, and Ecology
Climatology
Cyber-geography
Distances
Environmental Management
GIS
Human Geography
Legislation

Map Librarianship

Maps, current
Maps, historical
Physical Geography
Place Names & Gazetteers
Political Geography & Country or Regional Studies
Pollution and Contaminants


Current Interest Items

Forthcoming Conferences

Agri-food Research Network
"Annual Meeting of the Agri-food Research Network". Auckland, 25-27 November, 2009. Hosted by the School of Environment, University of Auckland.

Australian and New Zealand Map Society Conference
Adelaide, 7-9 April, 2010. Theme: "Mapping Climate, an Environment for Change".

National Digital Forum
NDF 2009 Conference, Wellington, 23-24 November, 2009. Theme: "Being online now: culture, creativity and community".

Positioning Geography: Strategic Issues in Geographical Education
Organised by the Waikato Branch of the New Zealand Geographical Society. Hamilton, 19-22 January, 2010.

_________________

Geography of Swine Flu
The New York Times has a graduated circle world map to represent to represent suspected and confirmed swine flu. The Los Angeles Times also has a graduated circle map of North and Latin America which is navigable and can be viewed by date or in animation showing the spread of H1N1. Google has a map showing worldwide distribution of swine flu and an interesting piece about the relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu symptoms. The World Health Organisation and Wikipedia provide useful background and current information about swine flu. Information can also be found at the University of Auckland's web site.

Avian Flu Maps
A series of maps relating to the spread of avian bird flu, from 2004 through to 2008.

Cyclone Nargis - Myanmar
A page of background materials put together by the Topographic Engineering Center, US Army Corps of Engineers, in response to Cyclone Nargis flooding in Myanmar (Burma).

Deadly Maps
A collection of maps from Carnegie's "Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats". The first five maps reflect the worldwide proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and their missile delivery systems. The country maps show the major nuclear installations, both civilian and military, in each country.

Geography of a [US] Recession
An interactive map showing changing unemployment rates by county in the United States. See also a map showing, by state, the 2009 forecast change in jobs. Click on any state to see graphs showing the number of jobs, by quarter, and percent change in jobs from preceding quarter. Another interactive map shows the changing rate of unemployment in the United States from January 2007 - approximately one year before the recession began - to the most recent unemployment data available today. This map is both impressive and depressing.

Google Maps

Mapping the Global Muslim Population
This Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life publication, dated October 2009, provides a comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries, finding that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today, representing 23% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion. While Muslims are found on all five inhabited continents, more than 60% of the global Muslim population is in Asia and about 20% is in the Middle East and North Africa. However, the Middle East-North Africa region has the highest percentage of Muslim-majority countries. Indeed, more than half of the 20 countries and territories1 in that region have populations that are approximately 95% Muslim or greater. An executive summary of the report is available, and the full report (62 pages, 10MB) may be downloaded.

North Korea Uncovered
This Google Earth project offers an extensive mapping of North Korea’s economic, cultural, political, and military infrastructures.  Through the topic menu, users of this program have easy access to geographical information on North Korea’s agriculture projects, aviation facilities, communications, hospitals, hotels, energy infrastructure, financial services, leisure destinations, manufacturing facilities, markets, mines, religious locations, restaurants, schools, and transportation infrastructure.  In addition to locations of economic interest, this map also displays anti-aircraft locations, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and Northern Line Limit Line (NLL), incarceration facilities, political monuments, political residencies, military bases, and nuclear facilities. [Note that this takes a while to download].

Topo50 and Topo250 Project Updates
Later this year Land Information New Zealand will release new 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 topographical map series covering New Zealand.

United States Presidential Election Maps
A series of maps showing presidential election results from 1789 through to 2004.

World: Displaced people (at end of 2007) [map]
World: Refugees and asylum seekers (at end of 2007) [map]

Top of page


Bibliographic

Bulletin Bibliographique Spéléologique
A comprehensive list of abstracts covering Geospeleology and karstology (including by region); Biospeleology; Anthrospeleology; Palaeontospeleology; Applied speleology; Technical speleology; and Documentary speleology. An excellent starting point.

Economic and Business Geography Resources and Reading Lists
A comprehensive bibliography of resources for economic and business geography. Information is organised in alphabetical order of subject, including land use theory and resources, air transportation, retail geography, and public facilities among many others.

nzresearch.org.nz (Kiwi Research Information Service)
This website is a gateway to the open-access research documents produced at universities, polytechnics, and other research institutions throughout New Zealand. This websitecan be used tosearch for research, look up specific subjects or authors,browse the research in various ways, and keep abreast of emerging research activity.

Population Index
Published since 1935, this is the primary reference tool to the world's population literature. It presents an annotated bibliography of recently published books, journal articles, working papers, and other material on population topics. The entire published database for 1986-1998 (Volumes 52-64) is available and can be searched by author, subject matter, geographical region, and year of publication. A free-text search is now available for all issues from 1986 to 1998 which enables users to search for text anywhere in a citation, including the title, series, and abstract.

Top of page

Biodiversity, Conservation, and Ecology

American Museum of Natural History : Center for Biodiversity and Conservation 
Offers an in-depth exploration of the many values of and threats to biodiversity, and the varied ways individuals and organisations are working to preserve the world's species and ecosystems.

Australia's Biodiversity [RealPlayer]
From Australian Museum Online comes this informative presentation on biodiversity. This searchable site allows visitors to learn fun biodiversity facts (such as the evolutionary history of the platypus and the secret life of kelp forests). Features of the site include RealMedia films on such topics as the Lizard Island Research Station and Sydney's Coastal Reefs and biodiversity and forestry case studies in Australia.

Biodiversity Glossary of Terms 
Compiled by The World Resources Institute.

Biodiversity: measuring the variety of nature 
Contains discussion and graphs on the topics of Biodiversity Value, Rarity and Endemism, Conservation Priority & Gap Analysis, and Biogeography. Information is gathered by the Biogeography & Conservation Lab, a unit within the Natural History Museum. 

Biodiversity and Conservation 
Online text book developed by Professor Peter J. Bryant, at the University of California, Irvine.  Covers such topics as human population growth, biodiversity, the history of life, depletion and extinction from over-exploitation, exotic introductions, and deforestation. 

Biodiversity Information Online
Information is provided about New Zealand's native biodiversity, how it is being conserved and managed, and who is involved.

Botanical Glossaries 
This document gives access to glossaries of botanical terms on the Internet. Maintained by Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research and Australian National Herbarium, Canberra, Australia.

A Dictionary of Ecology
From acid rain, CFCs, and the greenhouse effect to the food-chain and the gene bank, this dictionary provides entries on all aspects of ecology and the environmental sciences. It covers a wide range of subjects, from plant and animal physiology, animal behaviour, evolution, environmental pollution, and conservation to climatology, meteorology, geomorphology, and oceanography. It includes developments in this rapidly evolving field, particularly in the areas of molecular ecology, conservation, and the management of habitats, and has biographical notes on eminent ecologists and other scientists.

ELDIS Biodiversity Resource Guide
ELDIS is a gateway to information on development issues, providing access to a wide range of high quality online resources. Edited and hosted by the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex (UK), this site includes a collection of subject-focused resource guides, one of which is biodiversity, with quick access to key documents, organisations, research themes, discussions and other key resources. The entire site is searchable. Perform a quick keyword search from the box at the lower left on the front page, or use advanced search. Boolean operators and stemming are supported.

Encyclopedia of Earth
The Encyclopedia of Earth is an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other's work. The articles are written in non-technical language and will be useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.

Global Invasive Species Database
Developed by the IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) as part of the global initiative on invasive species led by the Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP). It provides global information on invasive alien species to agencies, resource managers, decision-makers, and interested individuals. The database focuses on invasive species that threaten biodiversity and covers all taxonomic groups from micro-organisms to animals and plants. Species information is supplied by expert contributors from around the world and includes; species' biology, ecology, native and alien range, references, contacts, links and images.

Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR) Project
The aim of the project is to provide resources (technology, methods, and information) to resource managers statewide to aid in the fight against invasive alien species. The site contains distribution maps of selected alien species in Hawaii, the Harmful Non-Indigenous Species Database and full-text articles on alien species in Hawaii.

National Aquatic Biodiversity Information System
The National Aquatic Biodiversity Information System (NABIS), a New Zealand government operated website, is an online application using GIS tools to provide spatial and visual representation of our marine biological and fisheries management data.

Society for Ecological Restoration  
An international professional membership organisation for people researching,  practicing or interested in Ecological Restoration.  The mission of the Society is to promote ecological restoration as a means of sustaining the diversity of life on Earth and reestablishing an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture. 

Species 2000
Aims to create a Catalogue of Life, a unified catalogue of the 1.75 million known species of living organisms on earth, as a the baseline dataset for studies of global biodiversity. It will also provide a simple access point enabling users to link from here to other data systems for all groups of organisms, using direct species-links.

Understanding Environmental Issues 
WWW links to a variety of environmental topics, including Human population issues; Ecosystems and ecological communities; World food supply; Effects of agriculture on the environment; Environmental health & toxicology; Energy; Water supply, use & management; Water pollution & treatment; Atmosphere, climate & global warming; Environmental economics, and Urban environments.

UNEP-WCMC 
The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) is a collaboration between the United Nations Environment Programme and WCMC 2000 which is a UK-based charity. The Centre "provides information services on conservation and sustainable use of the world's living resources, and helps others to develop information systems of their own". The WCMC maintains databases on the world's threatened species, protected areas, forests, marine and coastal resources. It also provides National Biodiversity Profiles for a number of countries.  

Virtual Library of Ecology and Biodiversity 
Reviews internet information sources pertaining to ecology and biodiversity based on their educational value.

 


Climatology

ARM Acronyms and Abbreviations
The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program is a global change research program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). 

Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center - Acronyms and Abbreviations
Contents taken from Global Change Acronyms and Abbreviations, 1995.  Developed by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.

Climate Acronyms: Provided by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL).

Climate Change: a guide to the information and disinformation
Provided by the Society of Environmental Journalists, with the aim of advancing public understanding of environmental issues by improving the quality, accuracy and visibility of environmental reporting. Presents a nicely organized collection of annotated links to (mostly) online resources, from basic science to government agencies and organizations, to research institutions, environmental groups and more.

Climate Literacy
A U.S. federal government document that seeks to educate everyone about the Earth's climate. This document, titled Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science, presents information that is deemed important for individuals and communities to know and understand about Earth’s climate, impacts of climate change, and approaches to adaptation or mitigation. The document is based on seven essential principles for climate science.

Common Questions about Climate Change: United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization answer some of the most commonly asked questions about climate change.

Current New Zealand Weather
Links to real-time New Zealand weather stations online. Provides detailed data for 14 stations within the Auckland region (from Helensville south to Waiuku and Pukekohe), and for various stations in other parts of New Zealand. There are also links to other New Zealand weather sites.

Current Weather
Weather and climate data for the New Zealand region provided by MetVUW (Meteorology at Victoria University of Wellington). Contains the latest upper air data, weather radar images, satellite imagery From GMS-5, and Tropical Cyclone advisories for the Pacific Ocean.

A Dictionary of Weather
A Dictionary of Weather provides a comprehensive body of information about weather, forecasting, and climate terms, along with detailed illustrative examples of specific events and weather extremes. Using the list of weather records, you can also check climate data for different weather types from around the world. Key terms from the related fields of oceanography, hydrology, and climatology are covered as are the important people in the development of meteorology.

Global climate change: research explorer - the exploratorium
Designed by a team of nonexperts with advice and input from a range of scientists, this provides straightforward answers in a well-structured and concise format to some frequently voiced questions about climate change.

Global Climate Change Student Guide
This website includes chapters on the climate system; causes of climate change; empirical observation and climactic reconstruction; climate modeling; and palaeo- and contemporary climate change.

New Zealand Climate Change Programme
Information is provided on the New Zealand Climate Change Programme, and there are useful links to other sources of related information, including ministerial speeches, cabinet papers, and full text climate change publications. Other links are to glossaries of climate change and global warming terms, and to summary tables and graphs for the 1999 New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

New Zealand Climate Data
Data are available in the following categories: overview, climate summaries, mean relative humidity, mean number of days of ground frost, mean monthly sunshine (hours), mean 10cm earth temperature (°C), mean daily maximum temperatures, mean monthly temperatures, mean daily minimum temperatures, mean monthly rainfall, mean monthly wet-days, mean daily global radiation, and climate extremes. Climate station details are also available.

NIWA Online Publications
Links to Aquatic Biodiversity and Biosecurity Update, Climate-Energy Solutions Update, Coasts & Oceans Update, Climate Update, Fisheries & Aquaculture Update, Island Climate Update, Natural Hazards Update, Water & Atmosphere, Water Resources Update
Both current and back issues of each title are available.

NOAA National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)  
Produces graphs and allows downloads of meteorological data from over 800 wordwide stations. Detailed US data are also available.

Science Photo Library
A collection of 100,000 images relating to scientific, medical, technological and space themes. Of interest to geographers will be images relating to earth and environment, geology and fossils, mapping and cartography, industry (energy and mining), industry (manufacturing and commerce), pollution, and transport.

Social Anthropology and Human Geography
This is the British Academy's directory of online resources in the humanities and social sciences. It is designed as an entry point to available resources for those working in higher education and research. Links lead to a number of sites relating to earth science resources, environmental information, El Nino/Southern Oscillation information, the UK census, a database of indigenous knowledge and practices, an ethnographic atlas, a GIS dictionary, and other similar resources.

Washington Post: International Weather
Provides current detailed weather information for city, states or countries.

Weatherpost: Historical Weather Data
Provides monthly historical weather data for almost 1,000 cities worldwide in more than 200 countries and territories.

WINDandSEA: The Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Internet Locator
This site is a substantial atmospheric and Oceanic sciences list prepared by the NOAA Central Library. It lists over 800 links, each having been reviewed and annotated by a NOAA Central Library staff technical information specialist. It is intended to make searching more efficient for those concerned with oceanic and atmospheric issues

World Meteorological Organization links to Climate data sets
This WMO site provides a brief list of links to internet sites with data on climate, ice, temperature and greenhouse gases. The World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP) is a program of the World Climate Programme that facilitates the effective collection and management of climate data and the monitoring of the global climate system, including the detection and assessment of climate variability and changes.

WorldClimate: Weather rainfall and temperature data
WorldClimate contains over 85,000 records of world climate data (historical weather averages) from a wide range of sources. Information is found by entering the name of a city or town into a search box.

Top of page

Cyber-geography

CyberGEO
CyberGEO is the online site of the European Journal of Geography. It deals with the entire range of geographical concerns and interests, with no preferences for any particular school or theme. Access to the published articles is facilitated by a system of headings and key-words. For as long as is possible, access will be kept unrestricted and free of charge. CyberGEO is intended as a response to the specific needs of academic communication, by offering the possibility of a rapid exchange of information, immediate feedback on articles and events relevant to geography, on-going discussions, the latest research on specific questions, offers of results or documents, information about the availability of maps, and so on. In addition to the journal itself, a GeoWeb Services heading offers a range of geographical information (data bases, servers, journal summaries, and so on).

Cyber-Geography Research
Cyber Geography is the study of the spatial nature of computer communications networks, particularly the Internet, the World-Wide Web and other electronic "places" that exist behind our computer screens, popularly referred to as cyberspace. Cyber geography encompasses a wide range of geographical phenomena from the study the physical infrastructure, traffic flows, the demographics of the new cyberspace communities, cultural geography, the perception and visualisation of these new digital spaces. The emphasis of Cyber-Geography Research tends to be on the more quantitative aspects of measuring and mapping the geography of cyberspaces.

Top of page

Distances

Canadian Distance Guide (United Van Lines)
Simple calculator for driving distance between any two Canadian cities in miles and kilometres (for those who forget to set the odometer).

The Earth According to WGS84
A site that lists the distance between degrees of longitude at every degree of latitude. A similar table is available for every ten minutes of latitude.

Great Circle Distances Between Cities 
Allows the user to calculate great circle distances between certain cities around the world.   Cities are chosen from a pull-down menu, and the latitude and longitude for each city, and the distance between them (in kilometres, miles and nautical miles) are displayed.   There are just over 300 cities to chose from (including both Auckland and Wellington).

Great Circle Mapper
Allows you to find the great circle distance between airports. Route paths are entered according to airport code (e.g. LAX-AKL to determine the distance between Los Angeles and Auckland), or by latitude and longitude. Distances can be displayed in kilometres, miles, or nautical miles. A map showing the great circle route is also displayed.
[Here is a searchable listing of airport codes]

How Far Is It ?
This service uses data from the US Census and a supplementary list of cities around the world to find the latitude and longitude of two places, and then calculates the distance between them (as the crow flies). It also provides a map showing the two places, using the Xerox PARC Map Server.

Opel Route Planner (Opel Europe)
Route planner for Europe. User can enter starting and destination points, stops along the way, and choose either shortest or fastest route. Displays a map of the route and text description of each section with driving distance. 

Quick Map and Distance Calculator
An Applet which allows driving distances (in km and miles) between various places within New Zealand to be calculated.

Surface Distance Between Two Points of Latitude and Longitude
Allows the user to calculate distances (in kilometres, miles or nautical miles) between points on the globe by entering the latitude and longitude of each point.

Travelmate
An Australian site that gives directions for travel from any suburb or town to any other suburb or town in Australia. Distances, and a map of the route, are also given.

Top of page

Environmental Management

ACToR: Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource
ACToR (Aggregated Computational Toxicology Resource) is a collection of databases collated or developed by the US EPA National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT). More than 200 sources of publicly available data on environmental chemicals have been brought together and made searchable by chemical name and other identifiers, and by chemical structure. Data includes chemical structure, physico-chemical values, in vitro assay data and in vivo toxicology data. Chemicals include, but are not limited to, high and medium production volume industrial chemicals, pesticides (active and inert ingredients), and potential ground and drinking water contaminants.

The APEC Virtual Center for Environmental Technology Exchange (APEC-VC)
Works in the Asia-Pacific region to address environmental issues.  APEC-VC disseminates a wide range of information related to protecting the earth, split up into three main categories, global, local and programs. The local information is naturally based in the Asia-Pacific area. There is also a section called Eco-Market which is a bulletin board promoting business transactions of environmental technologies, products and services.

Arctic Environmental Atlas
An interactive atlas launched by the Norwegian Office of the United Nations Environmental Programme. Users can zoom by clicking on an area of interest or by selecting one of 40 pre-defined sub regions. Basic themes which can be viewed include topography, human impact, population density, land cover, permafrost, geology, geomorphology, tectonic plates, solar radiation and precipitation. Other available features include national and administrative boundaries, urban areas, and city/country text labels.

Biofuels Information Exchange
This site details the latest research on biofuel crops. It is possible to get in touch with experts and discuss the latest biofuel issues.

CAB International  
Founded in London in 1913 to support agricultural scientists in the Commonwealth by identifying insects and providing scientific information and technical assistance. Services have expanded to sustainable agriculture and environmental safety.

Center for Health and the Global Environment: Quarterly Review 
Experts on global environmental change summarise new scientific findings in their fields and their impact on human health (e.g. global climate change, biodiversity, toxics and air, population growth, water and food).

Department of Conservation (N. Z.)
What DOC does, and links to policies, plans and reports; summaries of relevant legislation; conservation issues, including the Biodiversity Strategy, marine and coastal conservation, the Oceans Policy, whaling, regional coastal plans, and wetlands. There is a map showing Conservation Board boundaries, along with information for each Conservancy; and a glossary of conservation terms, including acronyms, abbreviations and jargon - the Concise English DOCtionary.

Department of Conservation : Publications
PDF files of many DOC science publications are available free for downloading. Current and past titles are listed by series, and each title published since 1999 has a link to the pdf file.

ELDIS: the gateway to development/environment information 
Provides an ever increasing number of detailed descriptions of and links to a variety of information sources. You can search by subject or keyword through more 7000 fulltext documents from some 3000 organisations.  Subjects include environment management, biodiversity and conservation, climate, desertification pollution, soils and wastewater. 

Encyclopedia of Earth
The Encyclopedia of Earth is an electronic reference about the Earth, its natural environments, and their interaction with society. The Encyclopedia is a free, fully searchable collection of articles written by scholars, professionals, educators, and experts who collaborate and review each other's work. The articles are written in non-technical language and will be useful to students, educators, scholars, professionals, as well as to the general public.

EnviroLink Network 
A non-profit organisation, "dedicated to providing the most comprehensive, up-to-date environmental resources available".  This site can be searched by keyword or browsed by topic (e.g. transportation, ecosystems).  EnviroLink provides a news service with daily news alerts it provides links to green marketplace, discussion groups, archives, Green living, sustainable business. 

Environment Agency (U.K.) 
News, information, research and data about the environment of England and Wales.

Environmental Sites on the Internet 
Links to conferences, directories, general environmental sites, guides, internet tools and search engines, journals and newsletters as well as site by subject.  Developed and designed by Larsgöran Strandberg, at KTH - Royal Institute of Technology - Stockholm, Sweden. 

Global Change Master Directory 
NASA's Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) is a directory of descriptions of data sets of relevance to global change research.  Search the GCMD database for descriptions of data sets covering climate change, the biosphere, hydrosphere & oceans, geology, geography, and human dimensions of global change. 

Green Building Glossary
An alphabetical listing of terms, produced by the City of Seattle's Department of Planning and Development.

International Corporate Sustainability Reporting Site 
Gateway to corporate environmental reports available on the internet as well as articles, research papers, and seminars.  Organises websites under such topics as legislation for environmental reporting, environmental accounting, benchmarking of environmental performance, environmental attestation/auditing of environmental reports, environmental performance and shareholder value. 

National Library for the Environment  
Developed by the Committee for National Institute of the Environment this website provides links to international State of the Environment reports, 13 daily environmental newspapers as well as 332 journals. Access to over 1898 Congressional Research Service reports on a wide range of environmental issues such as pollution, biodiversity population and climate.  

Natural Resources Research Information Pages 
Subject directory for research in natural resources.  It also provides links to relevant organisations, government agencies, databases, literature, conferences and research news.

N.Z. Ministry for the Environment
The Ministry advises the Government on New Zealand’s environmental laws, policies, standards and guidelines, monitors how they are working in practice, and takes any action needed to improve them. The Ministry reports on the state of the environment, on local government performance on environmental matters, and on the work of the Environmental Risk Management Authority and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. Their website includes links to a wide range of online publications, online text about environmental reporting (including the text of The State of New Zealand's Environment 1997), the text of relevant legislation, and background data on environmental issues.

OceanLaw
This website, incorporating the Internet Guide to International Fisheries Law, contains leading resources on international fisheries law, policy and management and a discussion/mailing list on ocean affairs. The site is being expanded to cover further areas of the law of the sea. There are links to International Fisheries Treaty Database; a Case Law Compendium; International Organization Profiles; international fisheries law; a Glossary of fisheries terms; and an on-line paper series. The Internet Guide to International Fisheries Law includes links to maritime boundary issues, and summaries of national claims to maritime zones.

Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
The Parliamentary Commissioner reviews and provides advice on the system of agencies and processes established by the New Zealand Government to manage the allocation, use and protection of natural and physical resources. This site includes full text copies of recent publications from the Office.

Science Photo Library
A collection of 100,000 images relating to scientific, medical, technological and space themes. Of interest to geographers will be images relating to earth and environment, geology and fossils, mapping and cartography, industry (energy and mining), industry (manufacturing and commerce), pollution, and transport.

Social Anthropology and Human Geography
This is the British Academy's directory of online resources in the humanities and social sciences. It is designed as an entry point to available resources for those working in higher education and research. Links lead to a number of sites relating to earth science resources, environmental information, El Nino/Southern Oscillation information, the UK census, a database of indigenous knowledge and practices, an ethnographic atlas, a GIS dictionary, and other similar resources.

State of the Environment report Environment New Zealand 2007.
The second national-level state of New Zealand's environment report. Summary and Full versions (HTML). Also available as a PDF.

Sustainability Web Ring 
Gateway to websites that deal with the principles, policies, and best practices for sustainable development. Find information from around the world on how to deal with such crucial issues as: climate change, cleaner production, waste, poverty, consumerism, natural resource management, and governance.

Terms Of Environment
Defines in non-technical language the more commonly used environmental terms appearing in Environmental Protection Agency publications, news releases, and other Agency documents available to the general public, students, the media, and Agency employees. The terms selected for inclusion are derived from previously published lists, internal glossaries produced by various programs and specific suggestions made by personnel in many Agency offices. The chemicals and pesticides selected for inclusion are limited to those most frequently referred to in Agency publications or that are the subject of major regulatory or program activities.

Trade and Environment Database (TED) 
The goal of this site is "to provide a common basis for researchers and policy makers to understand issues of trade and the environment".   A searchable database of more than 450 case studies, organised by geographic region or date.  The broad issues covered are: species loss (animals and fish); multilateral trade; habitat and fresh water; pollution (air, water, oil, nuclear); deforestation and recycling. 

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

  • Browse by topic 
  • Pesticides 
  • Climate Change
  • EcoTox database data on relative risk of chemical pollutants on aquatic life, terrestrial plants and wildlife.
  • Envirofacts Data Warehouse Developed by the EPA as a single point of access to select U.S. EPA environmental data. Data sets on air, chemicals, facility information, grants/funding, hazardous waste, risk management plans, superfund, toxic releases, and water permits, drinking water, drinking water contaminant occurrence, and drinking water microbial and disinfection byproduct information. 
  • EPA's Office of Environmental Information provides information on how OEI collects information, the technology infrastructure, the analysis & public access and what they are doing to improve the quality of the agency's decisions.  

WINDandSEA 
An atmospheric and oceanic sciences internet resource locator provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Central Library. This locator was built in response to reference questions that are posed to the library and is meant to make Internet searching more efficient. Over 1,000 have been reviewed and annotated. 

The World Environment Library
Developed by the Department of Computer Science at Waikato University. It contains 400 publications (45,000 pages) of ideas and solutions in the fields of Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environmental Impact Assessment, Energy, Health, Natural Resources, Policy, Sustainable Development, Waste Management and Water.
Developed by the National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC), Wheeling, USA.

Top of page

GIS

ANZLIC
ANZLIC—the Spatial Information Council is a joint initiative of the Australian Government, the New Zealand Government and the governments of the States and Territories of Australia. The Council's stated vision is that "Australia's and New Zealand's economic growth, and social and environmental interests are underpinned by quality spatially referenced information". This site has information about ANZLIC, its publications (downloadable), its policies and products, and information about the spatial information industry, spatial data infrastructures, spatial information issues, and a number of case studies illustrating applications and services utilising spatially-related data. There is also a glossary of spatial information related terms, and acronyms, abbreviations and contractions.

Auckland Local Government Geospatial information (ALGGi) Group
This site provides high-quality aerial photography, contours, property information and electoral boundaries for the whole region, from around Wellsford in the north to Tuakau in the south.

Dictionary of Abbreviations and Acronyms in Geographic Information Systems, Cartography, and Remote Sensing
Created by staff at the University of California - Berkeley Library, this dictionary decodes abbreviations and acronyms found in various publications including maps and websites. These abbreviations or acronyms, therefore, are not necessarily authoritative or standardized in format or content.

Earthworks
A database of career opportunities for geographers, remote sensing/GIS staff, environmental scientists, climate/atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, geoscientists, petroleum scientists/engineers, geotechnical engineers and hydrologists/hydrogeologists in the academic, water, upstream oil and gas, civil and mining sectors with particular focus on the UK, North America, Europe, the Pacific Rim and Africa.

ESRI GIS Bibliography
This bibliography covers the literature of geographic information systems, science, and technology. It indexes journals, conference proceedings, books, and reports from the origins of GIS to the present. There are currently more than 78,000 entries in the bibliography, making it one of the world’s largest online repositories for information about geographic information science (GIScience) and geographic information system (GIS) technology.

Geographic Information Systems
Useful GIS site with a number of links to other sites. Good starting point for anyone needing basic information on geographic information systems.

GIS Best Practices
This "Best Practices" series is published by ESRI. "Learn how others are integrating Geography with Information Technology".

GIS Dictionary
Includes definitions for 980 terms compiled from a variety of sources which either relate directly to GIS or which GIS users may come across in the course of their work. The dictionary is also supplemented by 52 diagrams. Developed by the Association for Geographic Information.

GIS Self Learning Tool
This suite of learning tools is designed for use by students currently undertaking one or more Geographic Information Systems (GIS) courses at The University of Melbourne. Some general knowledge regarding GIS is assumed by each of the modules.

GIS Tools Online
Allows conversions to be calculated for length, area, DegMinSec to DecDeg, DecDeg to DegMinSec, degrees to radians, time to GPS seconds. There is also a scale calculator.

Index of New Zealand Geospatial Data
Geospatial information can be as diverse and varied as the uses it may be put to. Here are websites that provide geospatial information for New Zealand and examples of its applied use. Included are sources of raw data, image archives, interactive applications and more. Websites are sorted by subject and listed alphabetically.

Open GIS Consortium (OGC)
The Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC) is an international trade association that is leading the development of geoprocessing interoperability computing standards. OGC works with government, private industry, and academia to create open and extensible software application programming interfaces for geographic information systems (GIS) and other mainstream technologies. Adopted specifications are available for the public's use at no cost. The OGC produces a wide variety of documents for a wide variety of purposes. These include discussion papers, recommendation papers which may later become adopted specifications, and specifications. The site also includes, under the heading Resources, a glossary of geospatial technology terms, and OGC Cookbooks which are free, online, easy-to-use technical documents for developers.

SDI Cookbook
The Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Implementation Guide, or Cookbook, provides geographic information providers and users with the necessary background to evaluate and implement existing components of SDI. The SDI Cookbook identifies existing and emerging standards, free and commercial standards-based software solutions, supportive organisational strategies and policies, and identifies best practices. Please note the Cookbook is in pdf format.

Social Anthropology and Human Geography
This is the British Academy's directory of online resources in the humanities and social sciences. It is designed as an entry point to available resources for those working in higher education and research. Links lead to a number of sites relating to earth science resources, environmental information, El Nino/Southern Oscillation information, the UK census, a database of indigenous knowledge and practices, an ethnographic atlas, a GIS dictionary, and other similar resources.

Top of page

Human Geography

About.com : Geography
Includes weekly articles about geography, annotated links to hundreds of the best sites for maps and geographical information, an online world atlas, a glossary, weekly quizzes, a bulletin board and a chat room for those interested in geography.

Automobile Industry

  • Statistical data for the production of automotive vehicles; vehicle sales; and company statistics - vehicle manufacturers by turnover and volume, component suppliers by volume, UK owned suppliers by turnover. 
  • Statistics 1998-, relating to the Australian automobile industry, plus some background reports.

Company Information : New Zealand
A flow chart showing how to find information about New Zealand companies in the University of Auckland Library.

Company Information : International
A flow chart showing how to find information about international companies in the University of Auckland Library.

Demography and Population Studies
Links to an array of Demographic and population related sites. They include Associated Virtual Libraries, Worldwide and regional census information, Data servers, E-Journals of use to Demographers, Historical Demographic resources, and Demographic discussion lists.

Electorate Profiles (NZ)
Electorate profiles for each of the seven Maori electorates and 63 general electorates in New Zealand are published here. Electorate profiles are produced by the Parliamentary Library. Each profile includes election results, statistics about people, households and industries, and maps.

ELDIS Gateway to Development Information
ELDIS is a gateway to information on development issues, providing access to a wide range of high quality online resources. Edited and hosted by the Institute of Development Studies in Sussex (UK), this site includes 14,850 online documents, 4,500 organizations, 15,000 email messages, 32 email bulletins and 31 newsfeeds (as of February 1, 2005). Includes a collection of subject-focused resource guides with quick access to key documents, organisations, research themes, discussions and other key resources. Currently, there are guides for 28 different development-oriented topics, from Aging Populations to World Bank and IMF. The entire site is searchable. Perform a quick keyword search from the box at the lower left on the front page, or use advanced search. Boolean operators and stemming are supported.

FAO Statistics
A Food and Agriculture Organisation site providing a variety of searchable international statistics relating to water and agriculture, crops, food supply and quality, fishing, forestry, land resources potential, and a Global Livestock Production and Health Atlas.

FAS (USDA Foreign Agricultural Service)
The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) works to improve foreign market access for U.S. products, build new markets, improve the competitive position of U.S. agriculture in the global marketplace, and provide food aid and technical assistance to foreign countries. This site includes market and trade data; commodities and products data, tables, and links to other sites; country information; trade agreements & negotiations; trade capacity building and development; and more.

Geographic Dictionary
Broken up into the following sections : Climate, Communication, Development, Geographics, Industry, Landforms, Planning, Population, Regions, Resources, Tourism, Transportation, Urban and Weather.

Geographic Information & Mapping
An Auckland Regional Council site providing geographic data about the Auckland region. The site consists of various sections, including:

  • General Regional Information - a group of map services which show the features of the region, including roads, addresses and boundaries, as well as aerial photography.
  • Understanding Our Region : Urban Settlements - a site set up for school teachers, containing much information. You can compare Auckland with other regions, map 2001 census patterns, display different types of data relating to transport and growth from 1940, 1959-60 and 2001, looking at commuting and congestion, a planned scenario for dealing with urban growth, and a set of modules that look at the spread of development in Auckland since 1991.

New Zealand Immigration Chronology
A paper from the Parliamentary Library outlining key immigration events since 1840. The paper first outlines pre-1840 New Zealand before describing later events. Events are listed chronologically under six headings that summarise key historical trends.

New Zealand Industry Information
How to find industry and company information. An aid to searching Voyager (the University of Auckland Library Catalogue), for any books on a particular industry; finding recent industry news and articles; looking at industry reports, profiles and overviews; looking for company information; looking for industry association and organization websites; using an internet search engine to find additional industry overviews and global scenarios; identifying the ANZSIC code and industry description; and finding statistics including trade statistics.

OceanLaw
This website, incorporating the Internet Guide to International Fisheries Law, contains leading resources on international fisheries law, policy and management and a discussion/mailing list on ocean affairs. The site is being expanded to cover further areas of the law of the sea. There are links to International Fisheries Treaty Database; a Case Law Compendium; International Organization Profiles; international fisheries law; a Glossary of fisheries terms; and an on-line paper series. The Internet Guide to International Fisheries Law includes links to maritime boundary issues, and summaries of national claims to maritime zones.

Population and Social Integration Section (PSIS) - U. N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific 
Links to ESCAP's Population Journal and the Asia-Pacific POPIN Bulletin; directories of population institutions, research, and population experts; and a wide variety of databases.

Population and Sustainable Development
The Population and Sustainable Development website provides access to a
comprehensive collection of New Zealand population statistics provided by a wide range of government departments and agencies.  It provides authoritative information about New Zealand’s current and emerging population issues.  This website will help you find what demographic information is available, understand how to access it, become familiar with some of the key frameworks used to analyse population issues,understand some key population terms, get expert advice on how to use population information, and find sources of further information and expertise.

Population Index
Published since 1935, this is the primary reference tool to the world's population literature. It presents an annotated bibliography of recently published books, journal articles, working papers, and other material on population topics. The entire published database for 1986-1998 (Volumes 52-64) is available and can be searched by author, subject matter, geographical region, and year of publication. A free-text search is now available for all issues from 1986 to 1998 which enables users to search for text anywhere in a citation, including the title, series, and abstract.

Population Information Network, Western Asia
Links to news items; online regional publications; the latest issue of the ESCWA Population Bulletin; discussions of regional population issues; summary population data for the countries of western Asia; and to demographic, policy and socio-economic databases.

Science Photo Library
A collection of 100,000 images relating to scientific, medical, technological and space themes. Of interest to geographers will be images relating to earth and environment, geology and fossils, mapping and cartography, industry (energy and mining), industry (manufacturing and commerce), pollution, and transport.

Social Anthropology and Human Geography
This is the British Academy's directory of online resources in the humanities and social sciences. It is designed as an entry point to available resources for those working in higher education and research. Links lead to a number of sites relating to earth science resources, environmental information, El Nino/Southern Oscillation information, the UK census, a database of indigenous knowledge and practices, an ethnographic atlas, a GIS dictionary, and other similar resources.

Statistical Sources: New Zealand
A guide to convenient starting places for locating statistical information on the Internet, and in print form in the University of Auckland Library.

Statistics New Zealand
This site provides access to a variety of Statistics New Zealand data sets and textual information, relating in the main to people and households, and business and economy. Text and data for the 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings is progressively being added to the site. Much of the information is available at both a national and regional level.

Te Puna Korero Whenua Maori - Access to Maori Land Information
This site assists those conducting research into Maori land information, and explains how to access information held by Land Information New Zealand. There are links to: What is Maori land?, searching for Maori land records, organisations that can be contacted, available resources, and an explanation of technical terms. Further links are provided to explanations of LINZ's role in the acquisition and disposal of land, and LINZ's role in Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

Tourism Research - Ministry of Tourism 
This website brings together the Government's core tourism data. Included are reports, statistical data and some tourism flow maps. Researchers can add webpages etc. to the site. There are also some contact addresses and links.

Market New Zealand
This is the official export website of Trade New Zealand, the New Zealand Government's trade promotion agency. MarketNewZealand.com helps international buyers and importers find products and services from New Zealand's leading exporters. It offers New Zealand exporters a direct channel to promote their goods and services to the world. Information about exporting companies, and country and industry sector profiles, is included.

United States Census 2000 
Tables and maps of Census 2000 data; summaries of the most requested data for states and counties; rankings and comparisons with 1990 data; analytical reports on population change, race, age, family structure, housing, etc.; selected historical census data from 1790 to 1990.

World Population: a guide to the WWW
Prepared by Richard Jensen for Excelsior College, New York. This is a comprehensive collection of resources, reports, tools, lists and full-text documents, and annotated links organised by category. 

Top of page

Legislation

Biosecurity Act 1993

Cadastral Survey Act 2002

Climate Change Response Act 2002

Conservation Act 1987

Conservation Law Reform Act

Copyright Acts

Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001

Electricity Industry Reform Act 1998 

Environment Act 1986

Fisheries Act 1983

Forests Act 1949

Land Act 1948

Local Government Act 1974

New Zealand Geographic Board Act 1946

Resource Management Act 1991

Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, and Exclusive Economic Zone Acts 1977

Top of page


Subject Librarian: Geography & Environmental Science - Brian Marshall


File last updated : 19 November, 2009.
Comments and suggestions to : Brian Marshall