National Library of Australia Releases 40,000 Hi-Res Public Domain Maps Online

From The Australian:

The Canberra library has ­released 40,000, out-of-copyright maps in what it claims constitutes the world’s biggest library of free digitised historical maps.
The surveys date from the late 15th century to 50 years ago and include the vast — maps of the globe — to the intimate — sketches of suburban backyards.
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Dr [Martin] Woods [Head of Maps Collection at NLA] said use of the collection since its soft launch at Christmas had been brisk, and in recent weeks some technological bugs had been ironed out. “Within the cartographical community this is a very big deal,” he said.
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“We provide compressed format so anybody can download them, but if anyone wants high-resolution maps they can also do that for all 40,000 maps,” he said.

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Direct to Maps Collection on National Library of Australia Website ||| Using the Collection

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