Springfield City Library: Library Links

Travel

Geography & Maps

Atlapedia Online: Individual country information and maps.
CIA World Factbook: Short profiles of foreign countries, including maps, statistics, flags, government information, and more.
Country Briefings: Country profiles, statistics, news, and forecasts from the Economist.
Earth Science Information Office at UMass: A division of the USGS, provides regional maps and other cartographic information.
ERSys: Using maps, charts, reports, and relevant links, Ersys covers over 2600 US cities with detailed information on demographics, environmental factors, economic indicators, housing stats, media (newspaper, television, and radio), schools, transportation, local contacts, and much more.
Geography Classroom: A directory of links for high school teachers, students and parents, concentrating on geography.
GeographyIQ: An online world atlas with geographic, economic, political, historical and cultural information; other resources include maps, flags, currency conversion as well as climate and time zone information.
Geographic Information from St. Charles City County Library District: An outstanding resource for geographic information systems, with more than 100 links to websites for maps of all varieties, live satellite images and world-wide weather.
Historic USGS Maps of New England: A collection of US Geological Survey maps of cities and towns in the New England states. From the University of New Hampshire.
Map Collections: 1544-2003: From the American Memory Project at the US Library of Congress. Collections of historical maps of cities and towns, discovery and exploration, conservation and the environment, military battles and campaigns, immigration and settlement, and more.
Maporama: Provides street-level directional maps for fifteen European nations, all of the USA, and most of Canada.
MapQuest: Maps for locations throughout the U.S. You can request driving instructions too!
Maps On Us: Request road maps and plan trips. The "what's nearby" feature provides links to attractions and facilities in the neighborhood of the address you have mapped.
WWW Virtual Library: Map History/History of Cartography: Large directory of print and web resources for the history of old maps and mapmaking. Edited by a retired map librarian for the British Library.
NationalAtlas.gov: This Atlas updates a large bound collection of paper maps that was published in 1970. Like its predecessor, this edition promotes greater national geographic awareness. It delivers easy to use, map-like views of America's natural and sociocultural landscapes. Unlike the previous Atlas, this version is largely digital.
National Geographic: Society information and especially good links to geographic and map sites. See also the National Geographic Map Machine for hundreds of interactive maps.
Oddens Bookmarks: One of the largest directories of map, mapping and geography links in the world. Use the search engine or browse the many features of this site.
Outline Maps: Printable outline maps suitable for personal or classroom use. Includes maps of continents and countries around the world, historical maps, and more. Requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader. From Education Place.
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection: Simple, clean directory of online maps for countries around the world. From the University of Texas at Austin.
USGS: Geographic Names Information System: Contains information about almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States. The Federally recognized name of each feature described in the data base is identified, and references are made to a feature's location by state, county, and geographic coordinates.

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Accommodations, Agencies, Air Fares, Car Rentals, etc.

Accommodation Search Engine: Use this handy search engine to search for hotels, B&Bs, and other accommodations around the world. You can limit your search by price, type, facilities, and other amenities as well.
American Society of Travel Agents: A membership directory of the ASTA, with links to members' web pages. Membership is an indicator of professional accountability.
Concierge.com: An excellent travel site, backed by Condé Nast Traveler magazine.
Travelocity: A long-established full-service Internet travel agency.
Orbitz: Search for airline reservations, hotels, and other travel amenities online.
Hostels.com: A directory of inexpensive hostel accommodations around the world. See also HostelWorld.com and Hostelz.com , which includes reviews by backpacking travellers. All three sites provide online reservation services.
TripAdvisor.com: Online reviews and recommendations for hotels, resorts, inns, vacations, travel packages, vacation packages, travel guides and lots more.

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Camping and Outdoor Recreation

Appalachian Mountain Club: AMC's hiking guide which includes links to local chapters of the AMC and their events.
Appalachian Trail: Provides guides and maps, and links to other resources as well as a hikers' bulletin board.
Guide to ACA Accredited Camps: Find a summer camp using the American Camp Association database. Search by location, camp name, affiliation, special needs, activities, and more!
L.L. Bean's Park Search: Find information here about state and national parks, as well as national wildlife refuges and forests.
New England Mountain Bike Association: Provides maps, guides and events for off-road biking.
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy: A guide to trails around the country with links to related resources.
Recreation.gov: A searchable database of outdoor recreational facilities managed by six Federal agencies.
ParkNet (National Parks Service): Allows you to search for parks and historical monuments open to the public throughout the United States.
PickATrail: Backpacking and hiking trails throughout the US and Europe.
ReserveUSA: The National Recreation Reservation Service is North America's largest camping reservation service, offering over 49,500 camping facilities at 1,700 different locations managed by the USDA Forest Service and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Browse the facilities available and make your reservations online.
The Trail Database: Extensive directory of walking and hiking trails around the world.
Woodalls Campground and RV Directory: Online version of the excellent print directory to commercially-owned and government-owned campgrounds throughout North America.

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Festivals, Museums, and Performances

American Zoo and Aquarium Association: Includes a directory of members throughout North America with links to their home pages.
TryScience.org: A directory of over 400 hands-on science museums around the world. From the Association of Science- Technology Centers.
Festivals.com: Festival of all varieties around the world, with a North American emphasis.
Museum Sites Online: A valuable resource for the traveler to locate museums and cultural resources around the world. Links to over 1700 American and international museum and museum-related websites.
Directorie of Rennaissance Faires and Festivals: A listing of events around the world.

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New England Sights

Springfield Library: Greater Springfield & Western Mass: Links to Western Massachusetts attractions, community resources and local government and educational sites. Boston Online Your guide to Boston.
Connecticut's official tourism site Maine's official tourism site Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism New Hampshire's official tourism site Rhode Island's official tourism site Vermont's official tourism site Virtual Cape Cod: Cape Cod's business and information directory.
New England.com Y: ankee Magazine's travel guide to New England.
MassHistory.org: The Bay State Historical League provides information about hundreds of historical museums and sites across Massachusetts.
Mass Vacation: Places to go, sites to see, things to do throughout the Bay State. Explore by region and start your Staycation right here! From the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.

National Sights

The DC Office of Tourism and Promotion: Your guide to our Capital.
New York City Convention and Visitors Bureau: New York City's official tourism marketing organization.
I-95 Exit Information Guide On-Line: Lodging and dining at any exit off I-95 from Maine to Florida.
Walt Disney World: The ultimate Disney World directory.
National Historic Landmarks: Searchable database of nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States. Includes virtual travel itineraries, theme studies, student and teacher resources, and more.
National Parks Service: Premier site for the Department of the Interior. Find a national park near you or across the country.
America's Byways: Current, detailed information on America's scenic byways, also called heritage routes, or backcountry byways. Search for byways by state or by name, and get quick facts, traveler amenities, cultural and historic features where available, maps, and other information. Not all byway sections have been completed, but this is a great site to start looking for alternative routes!
A&E Travel: Ideas for vacations and travel throughout the U.S. and the world to historic sites, events, monuments and more. From A&E, parent of the History Channel.

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Travel Guides: On-line versions of guidebooks

Favorite travel guides are online, many with the complete contents of the printed books, useful links, and bulletin boards.

Fodor's
Frommer's
Lonely Planet
Rand McNally
Rough Guides

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Other Helpful Travel Information

Access-Able Travel Source: Includes information about airport access, travel agencies experienced in serving clients with special needs, a directory of TTY numbers, a list of accessible cruise ships, and travel suggestions.
Currency conversions: View exchange rates among 164 currencies for any day from 1 January 1990 through today.
Diner City: An online guide to classic diners and the American Roadside. Browse by state.
Pets on the Go: Want to bring along your dog or cat on your vacation? Check out this searchable database for listings of pet-friendly hotels and other travel accomodations for pets. See also PetsWelcome and DogFriendly.com for more choices for your pets. Find a Pet Friendly Hotel is a list of major hotel chains, with their pet policies, from the PetLife website.
Traveler's Health from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control: Health information and warnings for traveling abroad. Search by specific destination or browse other topics, including traveling with children, special needs travelers, safe food and water, diseases and vaccinations, and more. An essential first stop for those planning to travel overseas.
I ndependent Traveler: Includes message boards, special interests, community information, advice and discount travel offers for folks who like to travel solo.
Europe for Visitors: A helpful resource for researching travel in Europe.
TravelInformation.com: Choose from travel brochures, vacation guides, maps and travel planning kits, and have them mailed to you for free. Browse the top vacation spots in the US and Canada.
U.S. Customs Service: Customs Service information for travelers, outlining laws regulating items which can be brought into or taken out of the country. Helpful for Americans going abroad or for international travellers visiting the United States.
US State Department: Provides travel warnings and other good advice for travelers, a list of US Embassies abroad and links to their web pages.
Roadside America: A wacky online guide to some of the more offbeat American tourist attractions. Browse recent features, or use Roger , the U.S. attractions database (over 8000 and growing), searchable by name, city, state, or keyword.
Roadfood: Reviews of local eateries -- restaurants, snack bars, ice cream shoppes, and more -- along the highways and byways of the United States. Browse by state or search by name.
Volunteering Vacations: Directory of organizations which provide volunteer opportunities for ecotourism, conservation, and economic and human development. From the Santa Cruz Public Libraries.

updated : July 14, 2010