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The Digital Transition in Cartography: USGS Data Innovations, 1970s

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History of Cartography

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography ((ICA))

Abstract

The 1970s were a period of data innovation in the evolution of geographic information system technology and geographic information science. Each new form of data innovated new data structures, which in a way is a new model of geographic information, providing a base for new applications of topographic map data. U.S. Geological Survey scientists were actively engaged in this data model development with at least four different objectives: the conversion of existing cartographic data from topographic maps into a dataset built from a data model that incorporated topological structure in the form of a Digital Line Graph; the building of a nationwide database of land cover, also topologically structured, but available in raster format, in the Land Use Data Analysis Program; the automation of producing graphic products including topographic maps with the Digital Cartographic Software System and the Graphic Map Production System; and terrain representation as a Digital Elevation Model, a byproduct of the orthophoto generation process and new digital production techniques. These innovations in data-model development were followed by sustained programs of nationwide data production from these efforts providing digital geographic data that catalyzed the GIScience industry in the 1980s and 1990s. The U.S. Geological Survey efforts in this area continue with the evolution of these 1970s data models to the seamless nationwide databases of today of The National Map and the new graphic product called US Topo.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Rolla, USA

    E. Lynn Usery

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  1. E. Lynn Usery
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Correspondence to E. Lynn Usery .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. of Cartography, ICA Commission on the History, Menlo Park, Pretoria, 0102, South Africa

    Elri Liebenberg

  2. , Department of History, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, 76011, USA

    Imre Josef Demhardt

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Usery, E.L. (2012). The Digital Transition in Cartography: USGS Data Innovations, 1970s. 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_7

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