A Guide to Resources for the Study of Charlottesville, VA
Maps | GIS | Aerial photographs | Statistics | Images | Planning Documents | City Resources Home
Digital Maps and Images
Digital Sanborn Maps of Charlottesville
- The Scholars' Lab provides access to scanned color images of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for Charlottesville from 1907 and 1920. Additional black and white maps, provided through Proquest/UMI, are digitized versions of a microfilm collection of Sanborn maps collected at the Library of Congress. The Proquest/UMI collection is restricted to UVa faculty, staff and students.
Selected Scanned Topographic Maps for Charlottesville
- Charlottesville, 1935 1:31680
- Charlottesville, 1939 1:62500
- Charlottesville, 1939 1:62500 with green shading
- Charlottesville, 1950 1:62500
- Charlottesville East, 1964 1:24000
- Charlottesville East, 1973 1:24000
- Charlottesville East, 1978 1:24000
- Charlottesville East, 1987 1:24000
- Charlottesville East, 1997 1:24000
- Charlottesville West, 1964 1:24000
- Charlottesville West, 1973 1:24000
- Charlottesville West, 1978 1:24000
- Charlottesville West, 1987 1:24000
- Charlottesville West, 1997 1:24000
Other Maps and Charts
- Historical maps of Charlottesville:
- Historical topographic maps of Charlottesville, from MapTech
- The City of Charlottesville offers maps in PDF format, including maps of zoning, school districts, tax districts, development projects, and stream buffer and flood plain areas.
- More map sources can be found on the national-level resources page.
GIS Data
Virginia Gazetteer
- If you are looking for GIS data for Virginia, we recommend starting with Geostat's Virginia Gazetteer. This is a searchable database that will allow access to several of our most commonly used GIS data sets including Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), Digital Topographic Maps (DRGs), Land Cover Data (NLCD), Aerial Photos (DOQQs) and Satellite Imagery.
Planimetric Data Collection
- Planimetric data for Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and UVa. The data described on this page is available only within the DRIS lab and only to UVa students, staff and faculty.
Other Sources of GIS Data
- More GIS sources can be found on the national-level resources page.
Scanned Aerial Photos
- This page was created by Geostat to allow users to view and download historic black and white photography of Charlottesville and Albemarle. Photographs date back to 1957.
- The Scholars' Lab has created some brief instructions on displaying planimetric data in ESRI's ArcMap software.
- The City of Charlottesville provides scanned aerial photographs from 2000 free of charge.
- More aerial photography sources can be found on the national-level resources page.
Statistical Data
- Census factsheets from American
Factfinder:
- Quick census facts for Charlottesville
- More Charlottesville data sets from the Census Bureau
- More statistical sources can be found on the national-level resources page.
Photographs and Views of the City
- The Holsinger Studio Collection includes over 9,000 photographic images of Charlottesville, the University of Virginia, and Albemarle County from the turn of the century to World War II. Rare Materials Digital Services has digitized these images and developed a searchable image database for the collection.
- Many historic images of buildings and homes in the Charlottesville area are included in the Library's digital image collection.
- Historic Aerial Photos of Albemarle & Charlottesville
- More photograph sources can be found on the national-level resources page.
Planning and Architectural Documents
- Neighborhood plans for 18 neighborhoods in and around Charlottesville, from the City of Charlottesville's website.
- Comprehensive Plan 2001 & 2006, from the City of Charlottesville's website.
- Transportation Studies and Reports, from the City of Charlottesville's website.
- Planning Resources from Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commssion.
Can't find what you're looking for at the Scholars' Lab? Try these other labs and groups around Grounds: