December 1, 2025

UW Libraries Joins the BTAA-Geospatial Information Network

by Matt Parsons, Geospatial Data & Maps Librarian
Reposted and edited from BTAA-GIN Collection Stories 

The University of Washington Libraries has recently joined the BTAA-Geospatial Information Network (GIN). The Big Ten Academic Alliance Geoportal is open to all with the goal to support the geospatial research community by increasing discoverability and access to geospatial resources.  This work is facilitated through building and maintaining a collective open-source spatial data infrastructure featuring metadata optimized for spatial discovery platforms. The resources in the portal are selected and curated by librarians and geospatial specialists at fifteen research institutions in the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The resources include GIS datasets, web services and digitized historical maps.¹

UW Libraries representatives to the GIN are Matthew Parsons, Geospatial Data & Maps Librarian, and Allison Anderson, GIS Infrastructure Support Specialist. We are excited to begin working with our fellow BTAA colleagues and contributing to the mission and vision of the GIN.

UW Libraries has added over 3,500 Washington-related web services to the GIN

Working together with Karen Majewicz, Associate Director: Technology & Data Curation, BTAA Geospatial Information Network, UW Libraries has added over 3,500 Washington-related web services to the GIN, which included importing all the GIS data layers for regional data portals (i.e. WA Geospatial Open Data Portal) into the BTAA-GIN Geoportal.

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What is GIS?

“A Geospatial Information System (GIS) is a technology that is used to create, manage, analyze, and map all types of data. GIS connects data to a map, integrating location data (where things are) with all types of descriptive information (what things are like there). This provides a foundation for mapping and analysis that is used in science and almost every industry. GIS helps users understand patterns, relationships, and geographic context. The benefits include improved communication, efficiency, management, and decision-making.”²

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UW Libraries Map Collection

The UW Libraries map collection is  part of the Government Publications, Maps, Microforms & Newspapers (GMMN) unit located in the ground floor of the iconic Suzzallo Library. The map collection comprises over 280,000 items in total (maps, digital data, aerial photography, monographs, etc.).

A strength of the collection is the nearly 100,000 aerial photographs of Washington State, dating between 1942-2003.

The map collection also serves as a provider of GIS services to campus. Map collection GIS staff include myself (Matt), Allison, a GIS Graduate Staff Assistant, and a Student Lab Assistant. Together we assist with data discovery and use, provide classroom instruction sessions, offer workshops, do minor software troubleshooting, and host events. To learn more about our services and collections, you can visit our Geospatial Data Resources Guide and our Map Collection web page.

For the past ten years, our team has hosted  the Annual UW GIS Symposium  to highlight and celebrate the transformational role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and data visualization technologies across the University by featuring keynote speakers and short talks from the UW GIS faculty, students and staff. Each symposium is subsequently published as an Annual Proceedings and hosted on the Libraries’ Manifold platform.

We are looking forward to increasing the exposure of the UW Libraries map collection holdings through participation in the GIN and to continuing to contribute resources to Geoportal.

Learn more about the research institutions involved and the sources of the geospatial records.

1-sources: https://geo.btaa.org/  ; https://gin.btaa.org/about/guiding-principles/ ; https://geo.btaa.org/

2- https://www.esri.com/en-us/what-is-gis/overview