A number of sites provide easy access to Census information and topographical features, but the HomeTownLocator Gazetteer is certainly one of the easiest to use, and quite a bit of fun as well. On this site, users may begin by browsing physical and cultural features of the United States, arranged by individual state. From each state listing, visitors may learn about various physical and cultural...

For those with an interest in historical US maps, this site will be of value. The Library of Congress has recently added to its American Memory Collections a small preview set of 19th and early 20th century panoramic maps, also known as birds-eye view maps. These are "nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle," and, though not drawn to scale,...

From Ash Grove to St. Louis, this fine digital collection of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from the University of Missouri covers the Show-Me State rather nicely. These maps were used by the fire insurance companies to assess the risk of insuring a particular property, and as such, they are excellent repositories of data for urban historians, planners, architects, and others. The maps show the...

Based at the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham, the 3Cities Project is "an inter- and multi-disciplinary study of the iconography, spatial forms and literary and visual cultures of New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles in the period 1870s to 1930s." At present, the site hosts a collection of essays on the three cities, information on the project as a whole, and links and information for...