Abstract
This paper examines a shift in U.S. public-sector mapping and its public perception in the first three decades of the twentieth century. In particular the emphasis will be on the first moves toward replacement of tradition-laced systems of apprenticeship and tradesmanship by more technicized approaches to mapping, eventually resulting in a technology-dependent factory system staffed by cadres of skilled and specialized workers. The effects of military financing and R&D through this period became a powerful force shaping mapping technologies both directly (through the funding of civilian mapping agencies during WWI) and indirectly (training personnel who would return to civilian sector mapping following the war). In the minds of the general public at this time, photography from airplanes became synonymous with mapping.
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Notes
- 1.
This is not intended to be a comprehensive history of the USGS topographic mapping operations during this period but rather an examination of a particular facet of their mapping practices. A more comprehensive set of historical resources (Evans and Frye ed. 2009) has been recently released by USGS.
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McHaffie, P. (2012). The Technology War, the Magical Aeroplane, and the Shift to Photogrammetry in American Public-Sector Mapmaking. In: Liebenberg, E., Demhardt, I. (eds) History of Cartography. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19088-9_6
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