Alabama Maps has been providing maps online since 2000. Our goal is to provide access to the University of Alabama's map collection in the hopes of promoting and supporting geographic research and education.

Although most of our collection focuses on historic Alabama, our collection spans the entire globe from the 1600s to the mid-2010s. Highlights of our collection include historical aerial photography from the 1930s-1990s, many of the maps published by the Geological Survey of Alabama, and a unique assortment of world and regional maps.

Originally, Alabama Maps was created and maintained by the UA Cartography Lab until 2023. We thank the generosity and commitment of everyone who worked in the lab or has contributed time, content, or funds over the last two decades, as this site was made possible by all of you. In addition, many institutions have shared their maps with this project - see the full list of sources here.

This web site is divided into four main sections: the Historical Map Index, the Contemporary Map Index, the Aerial Photography Index, and Interactive Maps.
We also host the downloads for the Historical Atlas of Alabama: Volume I: Historical Locations by County and Volume II: Cemeteries by County.

FAQs

Can I get a full-resolution file of a map? Can I use it in a publication? What is the copyright?
Starting October 1, 2024 all map requests must be made through the Special Collections Request System

UA students, faculty, and staff may have the assoicated fees waived for education or research purposes.

Please see our Map Request page for more information.

Why does Alabama Maps look different?
We are pleased to announce that the University of Alabama Libraires has become the newest caretaker for Alabama Maps website, Cartography Lab assetts, and Map Library. As we work to process all this information, we appreciate your patience. The first goal is to keep the website and maps accessible – so you may notice some changes on this website over the next few months as we update the website's codebase.

The Cartography Lab used to do ------.

Service	Contact
General Questions about Alabama Maps, the Map Library, Geospatial Data, Copyright, Scanning, etc.	Please send us an email at alabama.maps@ua.edu or contact our Research Data & Geographic Information Librarian, Brittany Waltemate, at bgwaltemate@ua.edu
Poster Printing for UA Students, Faculty, and Staff	Unfortunately we are no longer able to provide printing services at this time. Please contact Crimson Copies 1815 The University of Alabama Student Center Phone: (205) 348-6544 Fax: (205) 348-4430 Email: crimsoncopies@ua.edu
On-demand or project-based Cartographic Design or GIS Analysis	Unfortunately we are no longer able to offer custom cartography and have limited access to prior projects. Please email us for additional options.
Map Requests and Publishing	Please see our Map Request page for more information.
Legal Documentation and Requests	Legal requests can be directed to Michael Aurthur, Senior Associate Dean, at maarthur@ua.edu.
Current Alabama Highway Maps	ALDOT has up-to-date official copies of Alabama highway maps for sale or download on their website.
Modern GIS data and maps	Please see our GIS LibGuide for sources.

How are the maps organized?

Contemporary Map Index
Most of these maps were created c. 2010, so they are technically contemporary, but not recent.

Historical Map Index
The Historical Map Index is a digitized collection of selected map holdings from the University of Alabama Map Library, the W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library, the Rucker Agee Collection of the Birmingham Public Library, the Geological Survey of Alabama, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and several private collections.

Aerial Photography Index
The Aerial Photography Index contains a digitized selection of historic aerial photography found at the Geological Survey of Alabama and the University of Alabama Map Library.
The photos found in this index are but a small part of the total collection of nearly 150,000 photographs. Please see our Map Requests page.

Ineractive Maps The interactive portion of this website contains a variety of web maps created c. 2012. We are hoping to update these in the future with more recent data and functionality, but until then be aware of the outdated data.

What can we do to help?
We thank the community for their continued support over the last few years during this awkward transition. Without your interest and testimonials, the future of this website would have been much more uncertain.

As we try to breathe new life into Alabama Maps, we would be appreciative to hear any support or feedback you may have by emailing alabama.maps@ua.edu.

If you have used our maps in any projects, publications, or personal research, we would love to hear about it for our own documentation!