NACIS 2018

A WWII Network of Female Cartographers
Presenter: Judith Tyner, CSU Long Beach
December 17, 1941 President Roosevelt signed a bill that included funds for mapping of areas deemed strategic for WWII. Training programs in military map making were organized. The assumption was that men would be the primary students; the big surprise was the number of women. The courses were instituted at women's colleges and normal schools. Women were involved in organizing the courses, providing the teaching materials, teaching the courses and, of course, enrolling in the classes and working for the newly formed Army Map Service. This paper examines the contributions and interactions of several women in the program.

Mapping Washington State’s Glacial Legacy
Presenter: Daniel Coe, Washington Geological Survey
Glaciers from last ice age left long-lasting imprints on the topography of Washington State. Geologists and cartographers have been unraveling this glacial landscape since the late 19th century. The Washington Geological Survey has recently created many new maps that build upon this rich cartographic inheritance by fusing earlier data and techniques with modern insights and technology. We will compare and contrast examples of our newest glacial—themed maps with their historical predecessors.

Operational Meteorology and the Network Theory of the Map: Telecommunications, Institutions, and Transitions
Presenter: Mark Monmonier, Syracuse University
Derived from a book now in preparation, this paper examines the symbiotic relationship between telecommunication networks and atmospheric cartography. Between the 1840s and the early twenty-first century the observation and prediction of weather in the United States evolved from postal correspondence, to the electric telegraph, to electronically switched telecommunications and the internet. Over this period an institutional network that began as a science project of the Smithsonian Institution was succeeded in turn by the Army Signal Service, the U.S. Weather Bureau, and the National Weather Service, which was restructured in the late 1990s around a network of Doppler radar stations.

The Model 501 Spatial Data Plotter: Making the Digital, Physical in the Mid-Twentieth Century
Presenter: John Swab, University of Kentucky
From globes to raised relief maps to today’s research in 3D map production, physical three-dimensional modeling has long been a critical visualization method for cartographers. While the results are useful, the costs of making such representations has historically precluded their widespread availability. Using artifacts from the Model 501 Three-Dimensional Plotter produced by Spatial Data Systems, Inc. in the late 1960s, this presentation examines the early intellectual history of digitally-created, physically-produced three-dimensional modeling. The presentation also situates the challenges of producing early physical three-dimensional modeling in relationship to larger computer-based cartography in the mid-twentieth century.

Visions of Light: Mapping Lighthouses and Other Nautical Beacons
Presenter: Harrison Cole, The Pennsylvania State University
Three maps published between 1874 and 1900 depict lighthouses on the coasts of three different countries—New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Finland. These maps not only chart the locations of the lighthouses themselves, but also their range, colors, and flashing patterns. Only a handful of lighthouse maps were created (possibly less than ten), but despite their scarcity and geographic disparity, their designs share striking similarities. My talk explores the visual and historical connections between these maps, focusing on how cartographers have depicted the ephemeral but pervasive phenomenon of light, particularly when one’s life depends on it.