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Appendix C
Evolution of the Mapping Sciences
THE NEED FOR MAPS AND THE MAPPING SCIENCES
Human senses provide only limited means for observing and remem-
bering our surroundings. At any instant, an individual can see little more
than a millionth of the Earth's surface if standing upon it. To know more
than this requires the sharing and compiling of experience, and the devel-
opment of tools for mapping, reproducing, and distributing mapped in-
formation--processes formalized and systematized in the classic Greek
era by Eratosthenes (276-194 BCE), Ptolemy (AD 85-165) and others. In
the early modern period in the West, Portuguese navigators dominated
exploration of the wider world owing to the school of mapping and navi-
gation established by Prince Henry ("The Navigator") of Portugal (1394-
1460) at Sagres in the early fifteenth century (Ure, 1977). After regular
European contact with the Americas at the end of that century, the map-
ping sciences evolved rapidly, driven by European commercial and impe-
rial ambitions and accompanying warfare (Black, 1997). Maps and map-
ping became valuable enough to spur governments to devote substantial
resources to developing the tools needed to solve specific mapping and
navigational problems, such as the accurate determination of longitude
(Sobel, 1995).1
The history of science is full of examples of the vital role that tools
have played in advancing human understanding. Galileo's work de-
1A timeline of selected events in the history of the mapping sciences is appended to this
appendix (Table C-1).
81
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82 APPENDIX C
pended on his acquisition and further development of telescopes; today
our understanding of the cosmos is advancing rapidly thanks in part to
the Hubble space telescope. The invention of the microscope, the digital
computer, and even the camera are all significant milestones in the his-
tory of science. In numerous instances, the complexity of new tools fos-
tered new disciplines devoted primarily to advancing the tools, while con-
tributing only indirectly to advancing science through the application of
the tools. For example, the analysis of x-ray diffraction images is suffi-
ciently difficult and its results of sufficient importance in mineralogy and
molecular biology that x-ray crystallography has become a recognized
scientific discipline. Similar histories characterize microscopy, statistics,
the computer sciences, and mapping. In the same way, new mapping dis-
ciplines emerged following significant technological advances. For ex-
ample, the emergence of photogrammetry in the twentieth century de-
pended on the invention of the photograph and the airplane. Other
disciplines emerged as a result of strategic need, and the massive govern-
ment investment that followed. For example, geodesy, the science of ac-
curate measurement of Earth, was transformed as a result of the ballistic
missile programs of the 1950s.
Rarely does a change in tools result in a true revolution, and the map-
ping sciences are now experiencing only the second such revolution in
over five millennia of collective history. The first true revolution was in
response to the invention and dissemination of printing. The second is
based on the invention and application of digital electronic technology to
the mapping sciences. Prior to printing, every map was a unique hand-
drawn manuscript. With printing came the need to standardize mapping
conventions and practices, in order to satisfy the larger market for maps
that printing itself created. Similarly, digital technology has forced com-
prehensive rethinking of almost all aspects of the mapping sciences dur-
ing the last 30 years. In addition to making a large number of maps and
map-like illustrations even more widely available than did printing, digi-
tal technology offers the further capabilities of producing highly custom-
ized maps tailored to each individual user's individual specifications, and
of permitting each individual to personally produce such customized
maps. In a very short period of time, the mapping sciences have shifted
focus from producing multiple copies of identical maps expected to sat-
isfy a variety of purposes to today's emphasis on specialized location-
based information products and services synthesized on demand.
The Mapping Sciences in 1975
Of the three major mapping science sectors (academic, government,
and private), federal governments traditionally exercised dominant lead-
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APPENDIX C 83
ership in creating, sponsoring, and implementing technological innova-
tions in the mapping sector, abroad as well as in the United States. Agen-
cies in the Departments of Defense, Commerce, and Interior had large
budgets and incentives to fund improvements in mapping technologies,
leading innovators to try to satisfy agency needs. Private firms involved
in the mapping sciences, commercial map publishers, and small survey-
ing firms lagged in accepting and employing new developments.
Academic mapping scientists experimented continuously, but focused
primarily on developing and updating courses that met the needs for
professionals trained to use the evolving technologies employed by
federal agencies. Most courses were offered by individual academic de-
partments, with little or no coordination across department lines. Car-
tography, geodesy, and photogrammetry were taught respectively in de-
partments of geography, geodesy, and civil engineering or forestry. Some
surveying was taught in civil engineering programs, but much was
taught in junior or community colleges or on the job. Remote sensing
courses were taught in geography or civil engineering.
The Mapping Sciences in 2005
A short 30 years later, the widespread adoption of digital technology
has forced rapid change with no clear diminution in sight. In 2005, private
industry, using digital technology and meeting an increasingly wide ar-
ray of user demands and expectations, leads in developing and imple-
menting digital technology and in providing location-based services. Gov-
ernment agencies have undergone massive changes and are still groping
to understand their places in a new technological world. Most have come
to realize that they are now primarily spatial-data analysts, archivists, and
users and no longer data collectors and map producers. In 1975, the costs
and the intricacies of the latest mapping science technologies were cost
prohibitive for almost all organizations except the federal government,
making it necessary for the federal agencies to be data collectors as well as
mappers. Now government agencies at all levels, including some that
never had or needed spatial data, have become spatial-data providers,
users, and integrators.
This rising importance of local and state government agencies rela-
tive to federal agencies is one of the most profound outcomes of the digi-
tal revolution. The data accuracy and precision demanded by today's
larger array of users requires that data collection be done at local levels in
forms and formats acceptable to national users. Thousands of local gov-
ernments are now engaged in the collection, processing, analysis,
archiving, and visualization of highly precise and accurate geographic
data, tasks for which tens of thousands of GIS/GIScience professionals
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84 APPENDIX C
are needed. In recent years the annual user conference of the leading GIS
software vendor has drawn 10,000 to 12,000 participants, in contrast to the
2,000 or so who attended meetings of the relevant professional organiza-
tions in the 1970s.
In some respects, the academic sector has been the slowest to effect
permanent changes in response to the digital revolution. Educational pro-
grams are often deeply disciplinary in nature. Training is still done in
individual departments, each focusing only on part of the total mapping
science picture. Within academia, confusion persists regarding the ways
the scientific, engineering, and application components of GIS/GIScience
relate to each other and to traditional disciplines. In response to the strong
demand for trained GIS/GIScience professionals, many programs have
introduced coursework that stresses software manipulation skills at the
expense of the conceptual depth needed to accommodate rapid and con-
tinuing scientific and technological change. The capacity to meet the
greatly increased need for trained GIS/GIScience trained professionals
has not been put in place, leading to the worrisome prospect of thousands
of individuals using GIS software to produce analyses and visualizations
based on assumptions and techniques they do not fully understand.
Core Mapping Disciplines
The set of disciplines relevant to the mapping sciences has expanded
in the last 30 years as a result of four developments: increased availability
of affordable digital technology and data, a heightened appreciation for
the analytical power of geospatial tools, increased locational accuracy and
precision of data owing to the deployment of the Global Positioning Sys-
tem (GPS), and increased awareness of the value of the spatial data on the
part of entrepreneurs and society.
Influences of Information Technology
Information technology, particularly digital technology, has strongly
affected the core mapping sciences. Cartography has benefited from the
power of computers to support rapid editing and composition of maps in
ways directly analogous to the ways computers have enhanced the com-
position and editing of text. Today virtually all mapmaking is done on-
screen rather than on paper, although the eventual product may appear
almost identical to paper maps made long before the invention of com-
puters.
But computers have also wreaked profound and far-reaching changes
on the society that ultimately defines the need for maps and the uses to
which they are put. Mapmaking originated as a solution to the basic need
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APPENDIX C 85
to share geospatial information. The practice of printing and disseminat-
ing large sheets with symbolic representations of Earth's surface was one
solution to that need, optimized for the technology of the time. Today not
all ways of sharing information require dissemination on paper. The tra-
ditional role of the newspaper, for example, has been partially eclipsed by
television, radio, and the Internet. Roles that mass-produced paper maps
once performed, such as providing the information needed to navigate
the street network of an unfamiliar city, are now being performed by such
online information resources as MapQuest.com, which provides custom-
ized driving directions to millions of users per day, as well as printable
maps. Some new tools enhance and augment the traditional roles of maps,
while others replace them.
To understand the impact of information technology on the mapping
sciences, one must understand the role of geospatial information in soci-
ety generally. How geospatial information is acquired and used will de-
pend on particular applications; information may be delivered in the form
of a paper map, but it may also be transmitted through an online service
to a user's printer. Since the advent of information technology, particu-
larly the Internet, the tools and services available to support geospatial
information applications have expanded, and geospatial information is
now used in a host of ways that were almost inconceivable three decades
ago. Many of these uses are associated with time-dependent transactions,
in sharp contrast to traditional mapping's emphasis on the relatively static
features of Earth's surface. For example, every credit card transaction gen-
erates a record that is located in time and space.
There have been many studies of the impact of digital technology on
mapping and the potential of such new digital technologies as GIS (for
example, NRC, 1997). The tools of mapping now extend far beyond those
that provided the initial impetus for the core disciplines of cartography,
geodesy, surveying, photogrammetry, and remote sensing; and their im-
pacts on mapping generally will be far greater than their specific impacts
on the core disciplines.
As Prince Henry staffed his school at Sagres with specialists in the
mapping technology of the time, so the national mapping agencies that
evolved in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and their state and pri-
vate-sector equivalents drew personnel from the core disciplines of the
mapping sciences. Today, traditional national mapping agencies face un-
precedented challenges as they struggle to evolve in an era of very rapid
technological change. How, for example, should these agencies respond
to the potential of location-based services, the umbrella term for services
that provide information based on the current location of the user, through
mobile phones and other portable devices? Who should today's Prince
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86 APPENDIX C
Henry recruit to the modern equivalent of his school? And how should
such people be trained to be most effective in addressing these questions?
Although the four core mapping sciences--cartography, geodesy,
photogrammetry and remote sensing, and surveying--are to some de-
gree independent, they share strong commonalities, including a focus on
the common objective of mapping. Today, however, a surveying special-
ist is expected to be familiar with aspects of information technology, par-
ticularly GIS, GPS, and image processing, and possibly the science behind
information technology. Surveyors are also expected to know aspects of
statistics, and particularly error analysis and adjustment theory. The cur-
riculum of surveying programs has had to expand in recent years, with all
that implies in terms of excessive demands and information overload.
Mapping agencies clearly face difficult human resource issues in the com-
ing decade that can only be addressed with a clear vision of the new na-
ture of mapping, geospatial information, and their core disciplines.
Adding Disciplines to the Mapping Sciences
Five disciplines are particularly relevant to today's mapping sciences.
Each is an established enterprise in its own right, with a domain that over-
laps strongly with mapping:
Computer Science
Computer scientists study fundamental issues related to digital com-
puting, including its data structures, algorithms, and indexing schemes.
They address the design of operating systems, programming languages,
and database management systems. Computer scientists' interests also
extend to the principles underlying interactions between humans and
computers, and the effects of computing on society. Particularly relevant
to mapping are such computer science specialties as computational ge-
ometry, object-oriented database management, spatial databases, and
computer graphics. Conferences in these specialties tend to attract map-
ping specialists, and computer scientists in these specialties commonly
attend meetings organized by the mapping sciences. A study by the NRC's
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board examined research
needs in specialties relevant to the mapping (NRC, 2003a).
Information Science
Geospatial information is a particularly well-defined subset of infor-
mation, and it has consequently attracted the attention of information sci-
entists interested in the fundamental nature of information and its under-
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APPENDIX C 87
lying principles. Information science has strong roots in library science,
and libraries of geospatial information have become a focus of research in
the digital library community (e.g., the Alexandria Digital Library Project).
In particular, information science provides the framework for research on
metadata, cataloging systems, interoperability among archives, and auto-
mated search over distributed archives, all of which are important to the
mapping sciences given their interest in information sharing.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Because of their potential roles in the inexpensive production of
geospatial information from remotely sensed images, image processing
and pattern recognition are important technologies for mapping. For this
reason, the military and intelligence communities have invested heavily
in electrical engineering research over the past four decades. Given the
vast volumes of data that are typical of remote sensing, electrical engi-
neering also contributes to mapping science through its interest in data
compression.
Cognitive Science
Cognitive scientists study the acquisition and development of mental
abilities and their use in daily activities. As the mapping sciences have
been affected by information technology, such topics have become increas-
ingly important for two reasons. First, as geospatial information becomes
more pervasive, it is essential that information be made widely available,
including to the young, whose cognitive skills may not be fully devel-
oped, and to the disabled, particularly the visually impaired. Second, in-
teraction between humans and computers often must occur in such con-
strained circumstances as in vehicles while driving, where it is essential
that information be presented in ways that are readily understood. In re-
cent years, there has been productive interaction between the mapping
and cognitive science communities.
Statistics
Because geospatial information is an approximation toward the real
world, its users inevitably face uncertainty when using it to solve real
problems. A GPS receiver will yield only an approximate measurement
of position, for example, and a map of land use can only give an approxi-
mate indication of actual conditions on the ground. Specialists in geo-
statistics and spatial statistics are interested in mapping as an application
realm for statistical theory, and in recent years several conferences on
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88 APPENDIX C
spatial-data uncertainty have drawn mapping scientists and statisticians.
Substantial advances have been made in the description and study of
error and uncertainty in geospatial information, its propagation through
the manipulations that occur in GIS, and in its visualization (Zhang and
Goodchild, 2002).
The set of core disciplines needed for robust mapping science has
grown substantially in the last 30 years. To specialists in these additional
disciplines, the mapping sciences are often seen as offering intriguing or
unusual applications rather than as an essential parts of the discipline's
core. This focus on an application is always risky for a researcher whose
priority is advancing the parent discipline--it is too often seen as mar-
ginal and less meritorious than core research. Accordingly, researchers
pursuing such interests run the risk of being seen as marginal within their
own disciplines. Even so, spatial specialties within these relevant disci-
plines have emerged, often identified with the adjective "spatial," as in
spatial databases, spatial statistics, and spatial cognition. However sound
the basis for the mapping sciences as an application topics for these five
disciplines, or even as the basis of an important specialty, the tradition of
dividing the scientific community along well-established disciplinary
lines remains a strong conservative influence.
Geographic Information Science
By 1991, it was evident that the cumulative force of new technologies
and the engagement of new disciplines were producing a creative ten-
sion in the mapping sciences. Profound structural changes were under
way not only in the agencies primarily concerned with the production of
maps but also among the country's academic disciplines. Programs were
being reorganized to recognize both the new skills needed by mapping
scientists and the new commonalities between them. One of the most
conspicuous results of this tension was an attempt to rename some of the
components of mapping science. Two new terms emerged: "geomatics,"
constructed from "informatics" and implying a mapping science heavily
dominated by information technology, and "geographic information sci-
ence" (GIScience). In proposing the latter term to describe a new field
addressing the fundamental issues of geospatial information, Goodchild
(1992) intended to imply a strong link to GIS, and to play on the ability of
GIS to attract widespread attention.
Many surveying departments redefined themselves at this time, and
became departments of geomatics or geomatics engineering. The Univer-
sity Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) was
founded in 1996 as a consortium of U.S. research universities (http://
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APPENDIX C 89
www.ucgis.org [accessed May 24, 2006]). Several journals changed their
titles: The American Cartographer became Cartography and Geographic Infor-
mation Science, and the International Journal of GIS became the International
Journal of GIScience. A series of biennial international conferences in
GIScience began in Savannah, Georgia, in 2000, and a number of more
established but smaller conferences now address specific aspects of
GIScience.2
Since 1995, "GIScience" has come to have two distinct meanings, one
referring to the use of GIS in scientific applications and the other address-
ing the fundamental research principles on which GIS is based. In 1996,
UCGIS recognized the wider import of the latter meaning by developing
a 10-point research agenda (UCGIS, 1996), which attests to the breadth of
this emerging discipline and the complexity of geospatial technology. Al-
though subsequently augmented, its 10 research focuses remain a useful
guide to the content and academic context of GIScience:
1. Spatial data acquisition and integration;
2. Distributed computing;
3. Extensions to geographic representations;
4. Cognition of geographic information;
5. Interoperability of geographic information;
6. Scale;
7. Spatial analysis in a GIS environment;
8. The future of the spatial information infrastructure;
9. Uncertainty in geographic information and GIS-based analyses;
and
10. GIS and society.
Both "geomatics" and "GIScience" were coined in response to a per-
ceived need to reshape the academic landscape of the mapping sciences.
Their adoption signals a more holistic view of the mapping sciences and
the need to integrate content from the disciplines that have recently joined
the mapping science community. The terms carry somewhat distinct con-
notations: "Geomatics" is more strongly associated with engineering and
the surveying tradition, whereas "GIScience" is more strongly associated
with geography, information sciences, and computer science. In Canada,
geomatics is the dominant term and the focus of government policy.
2For a history of GIScience, see Mark (2003), and for explorations of its epistemological
significance see Wright et al. (1997).
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90 APPENDIX C
Governments
In 2001, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) initiated
Geospatial One-Stop, one of a series of interagency, multigovernment e-
government activities (Sidebar 1-2) designed to help users find geospatial
data. OMB has more recently asked federal agencies that are required to
have in place Enterprise Architecture plans for managing information to
consider development of a "geospatial profile" for enterprise architec-
ture planning. A "Geospatial Enterprise Architecture" (GEA) Working
Group is being formed under the auspices of the federal CIO Council
Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC) and the FGDC. This
group, while conducting some meetings in person, is taking advantage
of communications technologies by using a wiki (a collaborative website
set up to allow user editing and adding of content) as its primary way
to interact and share documents. (Sidebar C-1 and http://colab.cim3.net/
cgi-bin/wiki.pl?GeoSpatialCommunityofPractice [accessed 25 April
2006]). The GEA Working Group was not initiated by geospatial experts,
but at the behest of the general information technology community,
which saw a need to more effectively integrate geospatial considerations
into high-level agency information management efforts.
At the state level, most states have formed some sort of coordinating
council that facilitates the exchange of knowledge among state agencies
regarding geospatial data and activities (http://www.nsgic.org/ [ac-
cessed 24 May 2006]). These developments follow the establishment in
the early 1990s of the National States Geographic Information Council
(NSGIC) to provide a forum on GIS/GIScience for communications
among the states. Today other levels of government, as well as academ-
ics and private-sector representatives participate in NSGIC meetings.
The Private Sector
The same drivers of change that spurred action in the academic and
government sectors have significantly affected the private sector. It has
expanded from a handful of small, highly specialized firms 30 years ago
to hundreds of enterprises (some of them large) today. Early innovators
of GIS software focused on using aerial photographs and producing tour-
ing maps and atlases. Today firms range from software developers to
consultants and data providers, from producers of airborne digital ortho-
photographs to aerospace corporations deploying high-resolution Earth-
observing satellites, and from local firms creating vector-based recreation
maps to national data vector collection firms (e.g., Navigation Technolo-
gies or NAVTEC, Teleatlas, Geographic Data Technology). The growth
of this industry is a direct result of the pervasiveness of mapping tools
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APPENDIX C 91
SIDEBAR C-1
The Geospatial Enterprise Community of Practice
Objectives
· To establish an inclusive community of practice in order to con-
sistently integrate and promote geospatial concepts in the context of enter-
prise architecture practices;
· To develop a Geospatial Profile guidance document for the Fed-
eral Enterprise Architecture and companion documentation for program-
level implementers; and
· To conduct outreach activities and demonstrations to highlight
the application of Profile guidance in operational, multijurisdictional set-
tings.
Roles and Responsibilities
The Geospatial Community of Practice / GEA Technical Working
Group has representatives from federal, state, local government, and in-
dustry. Participating organizations are committed to providing informa-
tion and personnel resources integral to the initiative. The FGDC Secre-
tariat and the AIC provides project support, guidance, and contractor
support. Contractor support includes document interpretation and prepa-
ration, meeting synopses, collaborative workspace management and up-
dates, and interaction with the commercial sector. See draft charter for
additional information.
SOURCE: http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?GeoSpatialCommunityof
Practice. Accessed 25 April 2006.
that have led to increasing demand for location-based information and
more tools.
The private sector has created industry associations not only to pro-
mote sharing of information but also to lobby Congress and state and
local governments for various causes, including increased federal fund-
ing to the private sector as contracts (e.g., Management Association for
Private Photogrammetric Surveyors) and for enhancing funding for
geospatial activities overall (e.g., Spatial Technology Industry Associa-
tion). One of the most visible private-sector organizations that has signifi-
cantly broadened its membership over the last few years, is the Open GIS
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92 APPENDIX C
Consortium (OGC)3 (Sidebar S-3). The OGC promotes open standards4
for the GIS industry and has garnered worldwide support for its agenda
from governments, academia, and the private sector.
Other organizations, such as the ISO (International Organization for
Standards) (which considers geospatial metadata standards) and the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), also focus on standards, but from a
broader perspective. W3C develops interoperable technologies (specifi-
cations, guidelines, software, and tools) to develop the Web to its fullest
potential (http://www.w3.org/ [accessed 24 May 2006]).5 ISO covers
standards relating to everything from screws to practices for environ-
mental regulations (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage
[accessed 24 May 2006]). ISO's work relevant to GIS/GIScience has fo-
cused on preliminary aspects of international standards for GIS and for
location-based services.
The Nonprofit Sector
As GIScience has spread throughout the public and private sectors, it
has also engaged the interest of the nonprofit sector. The three organiza-
tions just mentioned (MAPPS, STIA, and OGC) are all not-for-profit orga-
nizations, with varying abilities and inclination to lobby Congress and
other governments for funding to support geospatial activities. Other
nonprofits include professional societies with specific interests in
geospatial data and technology (Association of American Geographers,
American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, American Society for
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Geospatial Information and Tech-
nology Association, and the Urban and Regional Information Systems
Association). Their conferences and journals often provide a means for
many sectors and disciplines to collaborate and interact on issues of com-
3OGC trademarked the phrase "OpenGIS" in 28 countries to enable the consortium to
position itself and its products (e.g., OpenGIS Specifications) as truly open and vendor neu-
tral.
4Open interfaces and protocols defined by OpenGISŪ Specifications support interoperable
solutions that "geoenable" (create standards for interoperability that will advance the use of
geospatial data) the Web, wireless- and location-based services, and mainstream informa-
tion technology, and empower technology developers to make spatial information and ser-
vices accessible to different applications.
5W3C members consist of private technology companies, nonprofit organizations, coali-
tions, academic institutions, and government agencies interested in working "together to
design Web technologies that build upon its universality, giving the world the power to
enhance communication and commerce for anyone, anywhere, anytime and using any de-
vice" (http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Member/List).
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APPENDIX C 93
mon interest. For example, URISA was formed after the 1960 U.S. census,
when researchers recognized the potential to develop maps from newly
available digital census data and to use GIS to analyze urban and regional
issues. It carries out its mission through vendor-neutral workshops and
publications.
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94 APPENDIX C
TABLE C-1 Timeline of Selected Events in the History of the Mapping
Sciences in the U.S.
Date Event
1790 The first census was taken, under the responsibility of Secretary of State
Thomas Jefferson. That census, taken by U.S. marshals on horseback,
counted 3.9 million inhabitants.
1807 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey established to provide better charts of
coastal waters and navigational aids for commercial interests. (They
did not begin work until 1812 and shortly thereafter became part of
the navy.)
1810 The census was expanded to obtain information on the manufacturing,
quantity, and value of products.
1820 New York state funds development of a geological survey to improve
agriculture in Albany County.
1823 North Carolina General Assembly authorizes creation of a statewide
geological survey.
1824 Congress authorizes army engineers to make engineering surveys for
roads and canals for national military, commercial, or postal
purposes.
Early 1830s Several eastern and central states establish state geological surveys.
1834 Topographical Bureau of the U.S. Army is authorized by Congress to
conduct geological investigations to construct a geological map of the
United States.
1835 Geological Survey of Great Britain is established.
1840 The census adds questions on fisheries.
1848 U.S. Interior Department is established including the General Land
Office, the Pension Office, the Office of Indian Affairs, and the
Census.
1850 The census added data on taxation, churches, pauperism, and crime.
1850 George T. Hope is generally credited with having fostered the idea of
specialized and detailed fire insurance maps in the United States.
Around 1850 Hope, who was at the time secretary of the Jefferson
Insurance Company, began to compile a large-scale map of a portion
of New York City for use in calculating fire risks. This effort became
part of Sanborn.
1853 Congress charges the U.S. Army topographical engineers to conduct
surveys to determine the best railroad route from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific Ocean.
1860 California legislature establishes a state geologic survey (the only state
geological survey that will survive the Civil War).
1867 Congress authorizes surveys of the West for geology and natural
resources along the 40th parallel under the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and a geological survey of the State of Nebraska under the
Interior General Land Office.
1867 The Sanborn Map Company, primary American publisher of fire
insurance maps was established (http://www.lib.utah.edu/digital/
sanborn/browse.html [accessed 24 May 2006]).
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APPENDIX C 95
TABLE C-1 Continued
Date Event
1869 First Rand McNally map published: The Western Railway Guide.
1870 National Weather Service (originally called the Division of Telegrams
and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce) established under the
secretary of war.
1878 U.S. Geological Survey established with a $100,000 budget and 38
employees.
1883 Sanborn appears to have begun systematic registering of maps, with
deposit copies. The sheets carrying the 1883 date are the earliest in the
Library of Congress. D. A. Sanborn dies in 1883.
1886 Dr. Herbert Hollerith conducts the first practical test of his "tabulating
machine" in recording vital statistics for the Baltimore Department of
Health. He patents this machine in 1889.
1888 The National Geographic Society is established.
1890 Dr. Herbert Hollerith's (a Census Bureau statistician) punched-card
tabulating machines are used for tabulating census data. The
machines use an electric current to sense holes in punched cards to
keep a running total of data. Sixty-three million people counted.
1896 Dr. Herman Hollerith, son of a German immigrant and Census Bureau
statistician forms the Tabulating Machine Company.
1899 Sanborn Map Company acquired Perris and Browne firm, and the name
is changed to Sanborn Perris Map Company Ltd. until in 1902 the
name was shortened to the Sanborn Map Company.
1902 The Census Bureau becomes a permanent institution by an act of
Congress.
1902 American Automobile Association formed in Chicago.
1904 Rand McNally extends its transportation business to include motorcars
and published the New Automobile Road Map of New York City &
Vicinity, the first of its kind.
1904 Association of American Geographers is established.
1909 L. P. Lowe, president of the California State Automobile Association
(CSAA) proclaims that "California is the first state in the Union to
produce a comprehensible, reliable highway map." The map, which
showed the "major" highways of California and Nevada, was sent
without charge to all members, launching CSAA's renowned
cartographic business.
1910 B. F. Goodrich, the nation's most prominent tire company, produced the
first of its series of road-sign route books. This required the placing of
"guide posts" from coast to coast, each bearing distance and
directional information beneath the Goodrich logo. This system
served the automobilist through the decade until the free, folding-
type oil company road maps became readily available. The strip map
lingered on, however, as it led the driver past the businesses of the
sponsors.
1910 International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing is
established.
continued
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TABLE C-1 Continued
Date Event
1911 IBM incorporated in the State of New York as the "Computing-
Tabulating-Recording Company, C-T-R. (The name is changed to IBM
in 1924). One of the major companies that becomes part of C-T-R is
Herbert Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company.
1917 Randy McNally implemented a road-numbering system for Illinois that
is still used today (including Route 66).
1924 The National Conference on Street and Highway Safety, whose
chairman was the Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, authorized
a committee to draft a uniform motor vehicle code for all 48 states.
Two years later, the laws were presented and adopted by the second
conference. The individual states did not move so quickly, and some
adopted the package in their own time, but a standardized code of
laws was a major achievement of effective nationwide traffic
regulations.
1924-1925 By the 1920s, commercial publishers such as Rand McNally had begun
to produce the modern road atlas. The first was published in 1924 (or
1925) and was called "The Rand McNally Auto Chum." Hammond
and Gallup produced their own road atlases, each with its own
identifiable characteristics. Clason offered an atlas featuring
spectacular cover graphics that seemed particularly suited to the
West. Jenney issued a free eastern equivalent with covers in art deco
style.
1934 American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing is
established.
1939 Within 24 hours of Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, Rand
McNally was publishing escape maps for aviators, illustrating
underground safehouses. Producing these maps on vegetable
parchment enabled captured pilots to eat the maps instead of
allowing them to fall into the hands of the enemy.
1941 American Congress on Surveying and Mapping is established.
1953 OMB issues Circular A-16 to encourage coordinated federal mapping
and surveying efforts.
1957 Sputnik, U-2 high-altitude photography for mapping.
1960 William (Bell) Fetter of Boeing coins the term "computer graphics" to
describe the work he is doing in analyzing human factors in cockpit
drawings.
1961 Dr. Edgar Horwood at the University of Washington receives tapes of
census data. At the time there was no mechanism for disseminating
digital census data (the tapes were an "internal artifact" of the
census).
1962 Horwood, Hugh Calkins, and others conduct two-week training classes
in use of census data and computer mapping (origin of URISA).
1963 Roger Tomlinson uses the phrase "geographic information system" as
part of the Canadian Land Inventory, which is subsequently called
CGIS.
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TABLE C-1 Continued
Date Event
1963 Forty eight people meet in Los Angeles for first URISA gathering. Mayor
Yorty's office gives keynote indicating commitment to incorporating
information systems and computers into public administration
process.
1963 Howard Fischer is developing prototypes of SYMAP (Synagraphic
Mapping System) at Northwestern University (related to census tape
use).
1964 GPS specifications are developed by the Department of Defense.
1964 One hundred seventy five people meet at the University of Pittsburgh
(as "second annual" URISA meeting). Ad hoc committee created to
formalize the organization.
1964 Howard Fischer starts the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics
and Spatial Analysis and continues work on SYMAP.
1966 SYMAP is "released."
1967 OMB revises Circular A-16 to outline mapping responsibilities of the
Departments of the Interior, Commerce, and State.
1967 DIME (Dual Incidence Matrix Encoding, and later Dual Independent
Map Encoding) file format is developed by Census Bureau staff
working with the Harvard Graphics Lab and the New Haven Census
Study.
1969 ESRI is established by Jack and Laura Dangermond.
1969 M&S Computing (later renamed Intergraph) started by Jim Meadlock
and four others.
1969 First spatial-data transfer standard published by Experimental
Cartography Unit.
1971 Defense Mapping Agency is created.
1972 NASA launches ERTS-1 (Landsat-1) (operations terminate in 1978).
1973 State of Maryland (John Antenucci) initiates effort to create a statewide
GIS (Maryland Automated Geographic Information System) working
with ESRI.
1973 U.K. Ordnance Survey started digitizing maps.
1973 Federal Mapping Task Force issues its report.
1974 USGS started digitizing land use and land cover maps (Geographic
Information Retrieval and Analysis).
1975 NASA launches Landsat-2 (operations terminate in 1981).
1976-1977 USGS pilots and starts producing digital elevation models (DEM) and
digital line graphs (DLG) from its traditional paper products. The
concept of the National Digital Cartographic Data Base is adopted in
1977.
1978 NASA launches Landsat-3 (operations terminate in 1983).
1979-1981 Carter and Reagan initiate and accelerate process of Landsat
commercialization.
1980 NRC Multipurpose Cadastre Report published.
1980 Federal Emergency Management Agency integration of USGS 1:2
million maps.
continued
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TABLE C-1 Continued
Date Event
1981 FICCDC (Federal Interagency Coordinating Committee on Digital
Cartography) is formed.
1982 Automated Mapping/Facilities Mapping (AM/FM) established. Name
later changed to GITA (Geospatial Information and Technology
Association).
1982 NASA launches Landsat-4 Thematic Mapper data (operations limited as
of 1992).
1983 Etak Inc. is formed.
1984 NASA launches Landsat-5 (still operational).
1985 First GPS satellites launched.
1986 First GIS/LIS (land information systems) Conference (sponsored by
ASPRS) (meetings continue through 1996, primarily cosponsored by
AAG, ASPRS, ACSM, AM/FM-GITA, URISA).
1987 Mapping Science Committee formed.
1988 NCGIA (National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis)
funded by National Science Foundation.
1990 Circular A-16 revised to include geographically referenced computer
readable (digital) data and to form the Federal Geographic Data
Committee (FGDC).
1991 USGS topographic map series is completed.
1992 NSGIC (National States Geographic Information Council ) is formed.
1992 OMB Circular A-130 is issued.
1993 NRC report Toward a Coordinated Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Nation
is issued.
1993 NASA launches Landsat-6 (satellite fails to orbit).
1994 Space Imaging is established.
1994 Open GIS Consortium is established.
1994 ISO Technical Committee 211 is established.
1994 Executive Order 12906 for developing the National Spatial Data
Infrastructure is signed by President Clinton.
1995 FGDC clearinghouse is established.
1995 FGDC metadata standard is established.
1995 MapInfo Professional Software is available.
1996 OGIS Specification V1 is established.
1999 Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite is launched.
1999 NASA launches Landsat-7 (data anomalies May 2003).
2002 Circular A-16 is revised to clearly define FGDC and NSDI efforts.
2002 Geospatial One-Stop e-government initiative is established.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
geospatial information
