The index for our new digital image collection, Metro Phoenix Land Use Maps, is now available to the public here.
The Metro Phoenix Land Use Maps collection is an interactive web map that displays the geographic extent of various historic land use maps in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.
• Geographic Coverage: Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area
• Time Range: 1892-2003
• Physical Availability: In-house use only
• Digital Availability: Scanned (600dpi)
This collection contains 101 maps with dates ranging from 1892 to 2003, all of which are located within the generally defined Phoenix metropolitan area of Maricopa County and its surrounding municipalities. Among these maps are street guides, land cover maps, city plans, American Indian reservation maps, and farmland maps. All of the maps selected for this collection were categorized as land use maps based on their inclusion of detailed and diverse information about the land usage of various regions within the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.
This collection is quite expansive and therefore presented a unique challenge when organizing the web app’s visual layout. In order to provide the greatest functionality for the user, zooming in on a particular region of the map shows the smaller maps while remaining zoomed out provides an overview of the collection’s larger maps. Together, these large and small maps provide impressive historical context for the development of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area over a period of 100+ years.
We hope you enjoy exploring this collection and learning more about the history of the Phoenix metropolitan area. If you would like to view the collection in person or access the high resolution scans of any of these maps, please submit a Service Request identifying the map’s name and year and our Map and Geospatial Hub staff will prepare the requested map(s) for viewing. Be sure to visit our Facebook page for all the latest Map and Geospatial Hub updates.
- Bob Cowling – Map and GIS Intern