South Africa maps

See also: Maps (all countries)

Checklist of Online Vegetation and Plant Distribution Maps
Has links to vegetation/forest maps of Africa, South Africa, and other countries. Links to a Southern Africa forest & protected area map. Compiled by Claire Englander of the Univ. of California-Berkeley, University & Jepson Herbaria/SMASCH Project, and Philip Hoehn from the Stanford University Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/vegmaps.html

ComputaMaps (Cape Town)
Sells detailed digital maps and gazetteers of South Africa and Africa. Data is supplied in MapInfo Tables and ArcView Shapefiles. Its Africa Gazetteer (at $490) comes in MapInfo or ArcView GIS formats or as an Access database. http://www.computamaps.com/

Digital Chart of the World Data Server, Pennsylvania State University Libraries
Download the boundaries and layers of individual countries, in Arc/INFO export format, from ESRI's Digital Chart of the World data set. Includes South Africa. The web site gives a preview of the map. Maps are also created in postscript or gif format. http://www.maproom.psu.edu/dcw/

GeoAtlas
Purchase royalty-free maps and flags of the world, in Adobe Illustrator format. From Graphi-Ogre (Hendaye, France).http://www.geoatlas.com/

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Put in the name of a place and the database provides country, longitude, latitude. From the Getty Information Institute, Los Angeles, California. http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/tgn/index.html

Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century - from Matthew White
Has a map of Africa in the early 1900s showing colonial possessions, a map of the Maji Maji rebellion 1905-1906, boundaries of the former Biafra (Nigeria), Southern Africa 1968-1975, the Chad civil war mid to late 1980s, Sudan civil war 1983. M. White is a librarian, see his FAQ. The Systems of Government maps are not quite accurate. [KF] http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/20centry.htm

Johannesburg. Official Site
Official site. Johannesburg city government information, suburb / region descriptions and maps, cultural events, news, tourism & business sites, tourist tips. How the city is run. City statistics. Soweto.Alexandra Township. Maintained by the City of Johannesburg. http://www.joburg.org.za/

Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative Mapping
"LubomboMapping provides access to spatial data-sets for the Lubombo region which can be viewed and analysed using basic GIS functions." LSDI "is a regional co-operation between the governments of South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique and is aimed at accelerating development, particularly with regard to agriculture and tourism within an area covering southern Mozambique, eastern Swaziland and north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal." Has GIS data-sets for community, environment, malaria, tourism, and on-line issues of Wetlands Wire, Official Newsletter of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park Authority. Based in Pietermaritzburg. [KF] http://www.lubombomapping.org.za/

Maps.com
Sells expensive digital South African maps including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bophuthatswana, the new provinces. http://www.maps.com/

Municipal Demarcation Board
South African government body providing information on the demarcation of municipal boundaries and the delimitation of wards. Has metropolitan and district council maps (Cape Town, Durban, East Rand, Pretoria, Johannesburg, etc.), policy documents. http://www.demarcation.org.za/

National Geographic Map Machine
Its Map Machine has basic information from the National Geographic Atlas of the World (1995) and maps for each country with basic printable maps.http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/maps/

National Library of South Africa - Mapping Africa Before 1920
Site has closed. "The International Cartographic Association (ICA) meets in Africa for the first time in August 2003. Durban will play host to the week long 21st International Conference. In addition, the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography has organised a two day pre-conference symposium in Cape Town from 4-5 August, at the National Library...It will be opened by Dr. Frene Ginwala, Speaker of the National Assembly, well known for her avid interest in maps and mapmaking." Maps include the first map of Africa to be assembled from several sources and engraved in uniform size and a a map of the Cape peninsula indicating a proposed canal across the Cape Flats from Table Bay to False Bay. 1682. http://www.nlsa.ac.za/exhibition_mapping.html

Nomina Africana (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa)
"...official journal of the Names Society of Southern Africa (NSA)....an accredited, refereed journal published twice annually...". Table of contents of issues from Vol. 1, 1987. "Articles on any names-related subject are welcome, and submissions are not limited to members of the NSA." Based at the Onomastic Studies Unit, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. http://www.osu.unp.ac.za/NA_Edit.htm

Omni Resources
Sells South African maps ($6 to over $1,000) - geologic, mineral, topographic, wine map, many South African city maps, road maps, provincial maps, road atlases from Map Studio (South African map publisher). Based in Burlington, North Carolina. http://www.omnimap.com/catalog/int/africa.htm

Online Map Creation
Creates a map if you know the longitude and latitude of the geographic entity. You can put in national boundaries, rivers and channels.  You can also save the map in Postscript (EPSF) or Adobe Illustrator format. The files download in .zip format. In English and German. [KF] http://www.aquarius.geomar.de/omc/omc_intro.html

Parliamentary Millennium Project
Antiquarian Western maps (from South Africa's Parliament) and their view of Africa are contrasted with African history from an African perspective. Uses photographs of archaeological discoveries to illustrate Africa's history before Europeans arrived. Lukasa memory boards and "map" staffs are seen vis a vis Western maps. Different historical experiences influence "the way we make policy decisions and how we see our future society." Has audio files of speeches about the project by Frene Ginwala and Naledi Pandor. From South Africa's Parliament, Cape Town. Includes the Da Ming Hun Yi Tu (The Amalgamated Map of the Great Ming Empire) (1389) "believed to be the oldest map accurately reflecting the shape of the African continent." http://www.pmpsa.gov.za/
See also BBC - "Africa's Oldest Map Unveiled".

Routes Travel Info Portal
Has a map showing the South African Provinces. Click on the Province map and find a list of places: cities, towns, villages, the day's weather, and the URL of the relevant tourism board. Click on a city name and find facts about the city. Find distances between towns, find national parks and reserves, eco-regions for South Africa, the border posts by road for neighboring countries , hotels, etc. [KF] http://www.routes.co.za/index/index.html

Rumsey, David - David Rumsey Collection
Over 20 antiquarian African maps from the private collection of David Rumsey. Includes detailed descriptions. Use the right hand icons to zoom in, read map descriptions, etc. Maps cover the African continent, South Africa, West Africa, North Africa, ethnographic, etc. http://www.davidrumsey.com/

SA-venues - Maps
Tourism site, with maps showing hotels by area. Maps of game parks - reserves. See the site map for additional travel information. [KF] http://www.sa-venues.com/sitemap.htm

Samoff, Joel - South Africa Contested Transitions
Site to accompany a Stanford University seminar held Winter Quarter, 2001/2002. Includes readings, documents, audio files. An interactive South African map has layers (political, the great trek, gold mines, cities, homelands, terrain). Click on the plus sign to add a layer or the minus sign to remove a layer. [KF] http://www.stanford.edu/class/history48q/

SouthAfrica.info - Interactive Map
Has very detailed interactive South African maps. Find hotels, restaurants, educational institutions, government offices. http://www.sa.c2a.co.za/

South Africa. National Geo-spatial Information, NGI
The official national mapping agency of South Africa. Has a history of geodetic surveying in South Africa. Sells printed maps, aerial photos, aeronautical maps, digital maps, early 1930s maps of the Cape Peninsula area (Cape Town). For South African schools offers a MapPack FREE to all senior secondary schools teaching geography to Grade 12. Based in Cape Town. http://www.ngi.gov.za/

South Africa. National Spatial Information Framework
"...a Directorate in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform ( DRLR) under Chief Directorate : National Geospatial Information , it is a national initiative to co-ordinate the development of infrastructure needed to support the utilization of spatial information in decision making." http://nsif.dla.gov.za/

South African Geographical Names System
Search officially approved names since 2000, includes maps and lists of local municipalities by province. http://sagns.dac.gov.za/

Stanford University. Oscar I. Norwich Collection of Antiquarian Maps of Africa and Its Islands
Note: you must enable pop-ups to view the maps. "The maps from the Norwich Collection of Maps of Africa and Its Islands as well as the maps from the Antiquarian Maps Collection relating to Africa can be viewed online through the Humanities Digital Information Services' Luna Insight service. You can also install the free Luna Insight browser software for more fuctionality in viewing the maps. http://insight.stanford.edu:8081/BrowserInsight/BrowserInsight?cmd=start&cid=4&iia=0

Stanford University. Guide to the Oscar I. Norwich Collection of Antiquarian Maps of Africa and Its Islands, 1486-1865
Finding aid for the Norwich collection of 316 antiquarian African maps housed in the Stanford University Libraries, Department of Special Collections. This finding aid does not include antiquarian African maps held at Stanford but not part of the Norwich Collection. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt787007h3 and http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/xml/norwich.xml
See also - The Rediscovery of Africa, 1400–1900: Antique Maps & Rare Images: Exhibition of the Stanford University Libraries’ holdings of antique African maps including the Oscar I. Norwich collection, described as one the finest private collections of African maps in the world. April 1 through August 1, 2004.

Tshwane (City)
Official site. The administrative capital of South Africa. Formerly Pretoria. Has many full text documents (development plan, annual reports, municipal regulations, maps of shopping centers, Plant Ecological study of Rietvlei Nature Reserve), city budget, visitor information, detailed street maps, maps in ArcIMS Viewer, street address search, bus routes/timetables, schools, recipes, link to Wonderbroom Airport, etc. [KF] http://www.tshwane.gov.za/

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. South Africa Map

Has continent and country maps.
Africa continent: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/reference_maps/africa.html
South Africa Map: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sf.html

University of Cape Town - African Historical Maps

UCT's African historical maps and Cape Town early street plans are online. A joint project of the UCT Libraries and the Stanford University Libraries funded by The William and Yvonne Jacobson Digital Africana Program at UCT. http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/blog/news/african-historical-maps/

University of Texas (Austin), Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection

Has South African maps and links to other map web sites. The South African historical maps include the former homelands and an 1885 map of South Africa. [KF] http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa.html

Yale Divinity School. AdHoc - Image and Text Database on the History of Christianity

A Yale Divinity School faculty-library initiative, web-searchable database that contains electronic images and texts related to the history of Christianity. Contents include: Map showing locations of mission stations in Angola. (maps can be enlarged). Photographs of missionaries. Map of Anglican Church dioceses in Africa ca. 1897. Maps of Church Missionary Society missions in Africa. Map of the Partition of Africa as settled by international agreements, ca. 1891. Slave Trade Map of Equatorial Africa, ca. 1887. [KF] http://research.yale.edu:8084/divdl/adhoc/index.jsp