Historical Topographic Map Collection- Distribution of USGS Maps- Old and New


[Music]
Greg Allord: OK. Thank you. I'm here to talk about 

the Historical Topographic Map Collection that the 

USGS is bringing forward and putting online. 

What we have is a vast collection of maps that 

officially began in IMTA before. I've been to 

IMTA before and went through in depth 

details some of the processing steps last year, 

but more as a reminder of why we're doing this.

USGS does look, with the National Geospatial Program, 

we look at it that we have a stewardship responsibility for 

these maps. A lot of effort is going into creating these maps.


Also, with the new US Topo map that has been released, 

the new-generation electronic map that we have, this 

will support the chronological layers on the past.

And again, reasons that we wanted to know, look at 

this collection and bring it forward is this is our long-term 

record. It's our documentation of the landscape as it has

been since we started mapping in the 1880s.

This gives us the potential for analysis and looking 

at what has happened during that time. With all this 

vast history, we have multiple time slices that we 

could look at, and as well for the scientists and

the non-scientists, the genealogists, the historians, 

just people looking at their local history can do this.


So we have 130 years of topographic maps that are highly 

accurate, done through a very rigorous scientific level so 

that people can look at this and perceive what is there.

And again, part of what we're doing here is creating a 

comprehensive catalog of what we have. When we 

look back going, oh, 130 years, terms like 'metadata' 

didn't exist. There was no concern then. It was a matter 

of preparing these maps to support mineral resources, 

explorations of the, especially the great West as it 

was opening up, so there was no catalog that was there. 

All these maps are no longer available for distribution,

the vast majority, and especially as we move to, 

as I mentioned, the US Topo electronic generation. 

Also, there is no single set known to exist anywhere. 

Again, these were made and printed for use, field use, people to use.

The collection was actually the circulating collection, 

and then it was locked down a number of years ago 

as an archive collection. But by then, some were 

out there and they were just never returned and used.


So what we're doing is looking to the USGS collection. 

We do have a historical archive. We're starting there, 

we're mining it, we're using it. And looking at all 

the maps that are there, we estimated that there 

will be about 200,000 topographic maps in this collection when we're done. 

But we're also working with other libraries, 

Library of Congress, different depositories that 

are there, to share data and work with them.

Again, to just review and refresh the goals of 

this project, we do want to scan the 200,000 

maps that we have. All maps, all scales. Every 

edition that was there consisted high-quality 

standards. Touch these one more time, find them, scan them. 

After the metadata, GeoReference, bring them 

forward. And again, we'll release to the USGS 

Store as well as the National Map Viewer when we get to the next stages.


Complete set of metadata, digital files. Again, 

make it comprehensive. We will house copies 

of all the electronic files that we're creating both 

with the National Archives as well as we're 

coordinating with Library of Congress. And 

we'll house an extra copy with them. And again, 

we're cross-checking and they have maps that 

we don't, we have many maps that they do not.

We will then also link with certain libraries 

throughout the country and give them any 

select segment of our collection that is significant 

to them and working with it. And emphasizing 

all files will be in the public domain. No holds barred.

Again, we're looking at, what do we have here? 

The first use, and I think it's typified here, is 

general map users that we want, and for the 

public itself. We're releasing the GeoPDF 

single-sheet maps, full metadata that you'll 

get through the USGS Store. 


And this first release that we have is for reference. 

It's for download and printing to handle the use 

case that we have for people that just wanted to 

reacquaint themselves with this collection, find the maps again.

All the maps, as you would imply from the, they 

are consistent with the US Topo, their GeoPDF 

using TerraGo technology, free tools that you can 

download, plugins, and it lets you use them in a 

spatial sense also. You can GeoLocate, GeoMeasure, 

GeoTrack your information. That's a characteristic.

And again, I mentioned metadata, the comprehensive 

information. Anything you can glean from the 

map collar is there. It seems like we have many 

maps with the same primary date, which we do. 

But over the years, they've been reviewed, new 

field edits, new printing dates that are there, 

as we moved into the '70s and '80s, photo revision, photo verification.
 06:04

So this is where you could find out, there's apparently 

many maps, though they have the same date. 

1895, 1972, there would be four or five. When 

you look at the metadata, you can tell the 

difference. Also, sometimes we get woodland 

prints, no woodland print, and special edition maps that are there.

That's one of the primary things we're finding 

with Library of Congress. We checked with the 

State of Virginia, ours against theirs, and we 

had an extra 1,000 maps that they had that we 

didn't. It turned out that there were many special 

editions with the woodland print not included. 

So they had some with woodland print, we had 

the ones with no woodland print, vice-versa. 

So again, by the special metadata, maybe 

more maps out there than we're aware of.

So again, we're looking at the metadata. 

The people need this to understand what's 

there, and we are including that and attaching 

it with the GeoPDFs. So every single map gets 

comprehensive metadata about that map. 

You can go to the attachment segment, the 

GeoPDF, click that, it will open up a browser 

window and give you all the FGDC-compliant 

metadata in a human-readable format.


Also, we're looking at, what do these maps 

need to be in the future? We have them, 

they're static, like I said, you can look at them, 

you can print them, but people are now 

embracing the GeoPDF format and they're 

coming up with different viewer technologies. 

Some of them would be, you can take many of 

the maps if they've been prepared to this 

capability, strip the collar, panel them together in a seamless view.

So we've included the map frame in the header 

of all of our GeoPDFs looking at this future 

technology that military is establishing. It's now 

coming into the private sector. You will be able 

to handle these maps together on your own

with your own software that is there. 

We also understand that GeoPDF is part of the 

segment for the general reference user, people 

who want to print it. But the geographers, the 

spatial analysts, the people that use GIS software, 

they want more. They don't want just a GeoPDF; 

they want to bring it into their layer for analysis.


And that's why the next phase of this project 

will be taking the full resolution files that we 

have in TIFF format with the GeoReference 

capability, reference files there so you can bring 

them into your own GIS, as well as looking in a

 map view or downloading directly from map.

So again, examples of why the spatial analysts 

wanted these things. The example that I pulled is 

change over time for river impoundments. Lake Cumberland, 

Kentucky, it is a series of maps that I happen to 

have here, that when the impoundment was 

created, people want to come in and look at 

pre- and post-impoundment. 

We have one research group come to us and say 

that they had, it was about 140 lakes across the 

country, and from our existing records, they had 

found about 400 map editions that they wanted 

to pull from the library to look at to understand 

pre- and post-impoundment conditions. 


Well, what we did here was we actually looked 

at the map cells, the standard 15-minute, or the 

seven-and-a-half-minute cells that we've had for 

Lake Cumberland. I did a simple extraction of 

the 15-minute maps, 625, so I covered six cells. 

We could start looking at that, or 15 cells 

for the seven-and-a-half-minute maps.

And then again, you could start looking at the 

collection here, that it goes all the way back to 

1914, obviously pre-impoundment. For Lake 

Cumberland, 625, 15-minute map. There is also 

a 1954 map and a 1978 map. It starts to give 

you this chronological layer that I mentioned.

Well, also, when you look at it, though, you need 

to look at the maps to understand it. You would 

just assume, and presume, that, OK, the oldest 

would have pre-impoundment information, the newest wouldn't. 

In this case, the 1954 edition showed the shoreline only, but in 1978, they went back and printed the contour plate 

back on the map. Again, it's kind of a reprint of that area, 

but they put the contours, which really gives you the 

detrimental view of this so you can understand the 

pre-impoundment land surface, what's underneath

the water surface at that lake. We'll find it again.

And again, I mentioned this company wanted 130 lakes, 

they had found 400 maps. By the time we were done, 

we gave them 1,400 maps. Again, looking at the collection, 

understanding the differences that are there.

Again, we understand that there are users, they just want 

to have access to all the maps, special editions, special 

projects. They're just curious what's there, they want 

to browse them, or they do want the GeoTIFFs or they want the GeoPDFs. 

So this is kind of a future step. We are in the process 

of creating a map gallery where you can just go in and

 look at these maps and get a view of what's there, 

do a general search, have them all portrayed to you 

so you can look at just the visual characteristics of the 

map and then start to make your selection for what you want.



Also then, you can understand these are 

enlargements. Are they special editions, special purpose? 

What's their unusual conditions, characteristics? 

But again, you're going to want to be able to browse 

and get the visual richness of these maps.

Part of the process we're doing that had gone 

in-depth in the past is the GeoReferencing. 

What we're doing is using every control point 

that's ever been printed on the map, 16, 45 

control points per map, looking at those, finding 

your control points, and referencing the term 

coordinates within the accuracy of the original 

maps. So we're feeling that whatever the original 

National Map accuracy standard was in that era, 

that we are retaining that and bringing it forward.

Again, the rollout, kind of a status part of this talk, 

is that we announced the existence of the product 

in January, this collection. We started to load 

up the first GeoPDFs at the National Map User's 

Conference in May to look at it. 
 12:11

Well, in the last month, walking to the USGS Store, 

we have 90,000 maps loaded now. So we're 

about halfway. And that's why we're using 

this venue for our rollout, that the critical 

mass is there for GeoPDFs that we will keep going.
And again, this website, we'll touch on it in 

a minute, this will be there for reference, 

but this also gives you the information 

about not only what states had been done, 

total number of maps by scale. So you could 

see the 124,000 is a very rich set of maps. There's 69,303 there.

So again, this gives it by scale and vintage, 

and the standard cells had been done. Again, 

we're doing the standard cell that is there. As 

I was showing you, some are older special 

editions. Things like that will pull those into 

the second round bring those forward. 

So that's where we are, just about the helm. 

A better view of this in graphic view, the green states are what's done.

The first edition loads are there for all the 

green states. It used to be the project, we're 

going which year we'd be viewing it. The 

most common question we get is, 'When do I get my state?' 

So if you look at it down at the bottom, again, 

this map is on the website, this Fall, we're doing 

all the states in yellow. This Winter, 

Winter is in Wisconsin. We'll be doing it there, 

and that will be the blue states. Then in 

Spring we'll add a few more, and by Summer 

we'll finish off Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, 

Trust Territories, Virgin Islands in the map.

And again, this schedule is up on the Web. 

It breaks it up by state name, by season when 

we intend to be done with the first round. 

We're also starting the special editions for all 

these states, the non-standard maps, and 

we'll start rolling those out early 2012. 


Again, there's many things that you can do, 

and I encourage you to look at it. In fact, we've 

got half a dozen here. So you'll see this, OK, the oldest maps. 
California. There were three of them in 1886. 

So looking at which is the oldest year is part 

of the formal topographic mapping program. 

California had three, 1:250,000. Small scale covering a large area.

And then you can start to look at the history of 

why did we do mapping in that area? What was 

going on? Well, California, I know the 

Gold Rush, they were trying to get an overview 

of national reconnaissance, so they drew a 

smaller scale, large areas, but there were three 

maps there. So it's leading toward the fact in 

1886, you had three, the next year you had 

a lot more because they were rolling forward.

The program officially began in 1884 in the 

state of Massachusetts topographic mapping. 

So these were coming out fairly well. 
 

Colorado's oldest map, we found this, 1886. 

Sometimes you have to stop and look at 

the quality of what is there, the craftsmanship that went into this.

But in this case, we will be looking for a better 

edition. It is this one that just over time we've 

lost pieces of the map. We've also lost a corner. 

That's a critical GeoReference point. 

We can extrapolate; we don't want to do that. 

We'll be going and putting out a website saying, 

"We have maps that are not optimal. 

Does somebody..." after we go through Library 

of Congress, other map libraries that we 

partnered with. But we'll be looking for 

better copies. We are going through and 

releasing them as is, knowing that 

improvements can be there down the road.

OK, Idaho. Again, 1892. Several years later, 

I mentioned California, 1:250,000, 

these are 1:125,000. Double the scale. 

They're 30 by 30-minute maps and they're 

starting to come out looking at resources 

in Idaho. So as the program matured, 

they started moving to a larger scale.


Indiana, well, 1900, a few years later, but 

they've also dropped to 15-minute maps, 

625, and reduced that. So again, you can 

look at the time vintage of this and understand, 

you go back, again, why did we do the topographic maps?

Kentucky. 1886, 125,000. But Kentucky had a 

very robust program as a state. They even 

have their own mapping office down there before 

USGS. They have many editions. Very rich history of maps there.

Maryland, well, right to 625 early on, 1886. 

Very populated area, so they went to a larger scale.

Minnesota, the oldest map happens to be in 

Duluth. The blue out there. So again, they 

went to a larger scale right away. They knew 

that there was iron ore there and they were looking for it. 


This one is actually before the program but out 

there is. OK, this is a New Mexico map. 

125,000, 1881. USGS was two years old. 

We're going to work on making a better copy of this. 

Once in a while, there will be a map that is relatively 

rare, very interesting, and we won't push forward as is. 

We will try and evaluate these critical maps and 

work with people to get better copies or work on 

improving the quality before re-releasing.

And North Carolina, the oldest map, again. 

The interesting thing is this one was labeled 

'Condemned'. Obviously, graphically, it's not 

acceptable. We'll look for a better copy. We 

have no idea what 'Condemned' means. Is this 

superseded? Was it out of print? They've 

printed a new one? We don't know. But somebody 

with nice script condemned the map. We'll go back and find out.
 18:01

Oregon, again, the oldest map, 250,000 there. Three 

years difference, this is three years before the other 

condemned map; same script. We had some librarian 

in there that was very, very intense. The map is 

superseded, my God, they're condemned.

Virginia's oldest map. And the reason I have 

Washington's oldest map up here to close this 

out is this is the map that's on the exhibit manuals. 

There's a series of them out there at the USGS booth, 

so I'd encourage you to stop by. We'll be around 

tomorrow again. We can answer a lot of in-depth 

questions. And there's material there. We'd be 

happy to talk to you of them.

So I'm going to turn it over now. Now that we 

have this collection, we're working with the USGS board to bring it forward.