UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Situated on more than 8,500 acres with nearly 300 academic, administrative and residential buildings, Penn State’s University Park campus is a big place. As a service to the University community and the thousands of annual visitors, the Peter R. Gould Center for Geography Education and Outreach in Penn State’s Department of Geography has produced maps of the University Park campus for more than 20 years. The newly updated 2016 maps are now available for downloading and printing.
The maps are always in a state of revision to keep on top of new building construction, parking lot changes, and the renaming of buildings. As those changes are completed on the ground, the Web maps are updated accordingly.
A variety of map sizes are provided, along with a campus night map and a map of campus locations. The campus maps include an index of buildings and campus features including parking areas, bus routes and bus stops, a walking tour route, and a distance-walking time scale.
“We have tried to anticipate the various scales and paper sizes that most people need,” said Gould Center Director Jodi Vender, “so we have small, medium, and large versions of the University Park campus map. A lot of mapping has gone digital, but people may still need a printable document. PDF files, for printing and viewing on most computers, and PNG files, map images for mobile use, can be downloaded from the department website.”
“We also make subtle changes to the aesthetics of the maps to make them more readable and user-friendly. In recent years we have introduced a complete redesign of all the maps because the 3-D buildings became more of a distraction than an asset,” said cartographer Michael Hermann. “This is mainly due to the increase of smaller building such as on-campus residences, which are too small on the map to portray effectively in a 3-D form.”
The majority of campus maps now include the bus routes — a design element that didn't work with 3-D buildings because it gave the false impression that bus routes entered and exited buildings, which is not the case. The new designs are much cleaner and easier to read.
The maps are available online at: http://www.geog.psu.edu/print-campus-maps.
The available maps include:
- Large University Park Campus Guide (18-by-24-inch map)
- Medium University Park Campus Guide (11-by-17-inch map)
- Small University Park Campus Core (8.5-by-11-inch map showing central campus)
- Penn State Campus Locations (8.5-by-11-inch map showing all Penn State campus locations and major highways within Pennsylvania)
- University Park Campus Night Map (8.5-by-14-inch map showing recommended pathways for night travel on campus and safety tips and resources)
Note: Parking maps are available from Penn State Transportation Services at http://www.transportation.psu.edu/transportation/maps/parking-maps/index.cfm.