Maps of Panama Research Guide / Guía de Mapas

• Maps of Panama
• Additional Maps Resources

Welcome to the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' Maps of Panama Research Guide / Guía de Mapas. This is a select list of mostly freely-available resources for students, teachers, and researchers to learn about the maps resources. This guide contains information about the map collection in the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) Library, digitized maps in the Smithsonian collections available online, and other valuable map information. Please feel free to Contact Us with suggestions for additional resources or with questions.

Maps of Panama

• STRI Library Map Inventory (PDF): Download this inventory to access over 1,000 maps about the Isthmus of Panama and the Canal. These maps are available for perusal onsite in the STRI Library. strilibrarymapinventoryjanuary2018.pdf
• STRI GIS Portal: The Geographic Information System (GIS) Laboratory from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) is responsible for ensuring the proper operation of this GIS Portal. It is a tool to find, view, download, and consume geographic data quickly and easily.
• Descarga el Mapa PDF The entire catalog of the new 1:25,000 Tommy Guardia maps are now available for download as PDFs.
• "Indigenous Lands of Darién 1993: Subsistence Zones" Project // Proyecto "Tierras Indígenas del Darién 1993: Zonas de Subsistencia": Link to the published, limited-edition 1:50,000 scale maps of indigenous lands in the Darién in downloadable PDF formats. This participatory research mapping project was conducted by the University of Kansas with the Congreso Emberá - Wounaan, Cultural Survival, and Rights and Resources in 1993. (Site requires Adobe Flash. Further information about the project is detailed in this publication: Peter H. Herlihy (2003) Participatory Research Mapping of Indigenous Lands in Darién, Panama. Human Organization: Winter 2003, Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 315-331.).
• Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC): A cooperative digital library for resources from and about the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean, including Panama and the Canal and the Caribbean Map Collection.
• Report of the Isthmian Canal Commission, 1899-1901: Access digital copies of the 94 Plates (maps) produced to accompany the Report via the George A Smathers Libraries. 
• Annual report of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the year ending...: Access digital copies of the 1910-1914 Reports, Maps and Diagrams via the George A Smathers Libraries.

Additional Maps Resources

• Maps Research Guide: Smithsonian Libraries and Archives' guide to map collections, cartographic dictionaries, and glossary resources.​
• Smithsonian Map Collections Database: (SI staff) With over 40,000 digitized maps from the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, and Smithsonian Libraries'collections, this database issearchable by title, keyword, subject, coordinates, or through an interactive map. To learn more about the database, view this short video (SI staff).
• Databases for Science Research: List of science research databases from the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. Many of the databases are free access, but others require users to be onsite at a Smithsonian library or have Smithsonian network access.