A fantastic resource for students, teachers, tourists, and anyone else interested in the globe, A+ Country Reports offers a wealth of information on all of the countries of the world. Like the CIA's World Factbook (last mentioned in the September 28, 2001 Scout Report ), A+ Country Reports presents up-to-date information on population, geography, economy, history, and politics. Aside from that,...

Aneki.com provides statistical facts, figures, and rankings for over 190 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, North America, Central America, South America, and Oceania. Current listings are divided into four categories -- economic, social, technological, and environmental -- and are retrieved from sources such as the CIA World Factbook and Forbes.com. Although the site has...

For readers with an interest in creating maps, the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World is a great resource. Describing itself as "the foremost collection of geographic information from around the globe," the Living Atlas offers a curated collection of maps, apps, and data layers that have been contributed by Esri partners and users. Visitors can search the Living Atlas by keyword, or they can browse...

Developed and maintained by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Atlas of Antarctic Research is intended as "a reference, an information framework, an education tool, and a research aid ... [to] promote greater geographic awareness of the continent and the digital geospatial data that describe it." Atlas parameters include Polar Stereographic...

From Natural Resource Canada comes another good resource, the Atlas of Canada Learning Resources Web site. Visitors will find a list of curriculum activities that are related to, and in some cases utilize, the interactive Atlas. The modules include, a Curriculum Guide detailing how to link the Atlas with other resources, a geography glossary, a wide array of additional links, and more. The...

The US Central Intelligence Agency last week released the 2001 version of its annual reference book the CIA World Factbook (last year's factbook is discussed in the September 1, 2000 Scout Report). The data, which are current as of January 1, 2001 in most cases, cover 266 countries as well as the "world," a category that summarizes the data overall. For each country, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe,...

The US Central Intelligence Agency has recently released the 1999 version of its well-known annual country information reference book (last described in the February 5, 1999 Scout Report). Data is available for more than 260 countries. For each country, map and flag, geographic, population, government, economic, communication, transportation, military, and transnational issue information is...

The US Central Intelligence Agency has recently released the 2000 version of its well-known annual country information reference book (last described in the September 24, 1999 Scout Report). Data are available for more than 260 countries. For each country, map and flag, geographic, population, government, economic, communication, transportation, military, and transnational issue information is...

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum was an atlas of cities around the world published between 1572 and 1617 and edited by Cologne-based cleric, Georg Braun. The atlas contained no fewer than 546 "bird-eye and map views of cities all over the world" including Mexico D.F., Mexico; Budapest, Hungary; Alexandria, Egypt; and Warsaw, Poland. The Clemson Center for Geospatial Technologies has made a select...

The Library of Congress maintains the online map collection Web site which contains maps from 500 years in seven different categories. The site, entitled Map Collections: 1500-1999, can be browsed by cities and towns, conservation and environment, discovery and exploration, general maps, transportation and communication, military battles and campaigns, and cultural landscapes. The database can be...