Map Reader Offers Topo Maps from Yesterday and Today
We've launched a new way for users to gain a greater understanding of America's physical geography by using current and historic topographic maps. The new Set of Topographic Maps Illustrating Physiographic Features is a novel implementation of an old product idea. It’s a simple online viewer that allows you to roam your cursor across maps and images to learn more about selected geographic features and their representation on old and new maps.
of map libraries. For these and other reasons, we've begun to generate a digital replacement for the "Set of 100 Maps."
First Steps Towards a New Set
Rather than describe the new map viewer, we invite you to try the first five maps we have selected to offer in this initial release. Our plan is to add new maps every few months while enhancing the viewer's capabilities and improving its user interface. We are already
Click this image for an index to the first five maps.
The Original Set of 100
More than 50 years ago, a team of scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) selected a set of 100 topographic maps that included good examples of a wide range of physical features. The team had a twofold purpose. First, they wanted to help students of physical geography learn more about the geologic evolution of the Nation’s natural landscapes. These geologists, cartographers, and geographers also wanted to help map users gain a richer understanding of how topographic maps reveal much more about the land surface than just its shape and elevation.
The "Set of 100 Maps" was sold to schools and individuals at a discounted price. It included out-of-print USGS maps that were unavailable elsewhere and maps that were specially printed without vegetation tints to facilitate terrain interpretation. Also provided was an authoritative physical divisions map published in 1928 by Nevin Fenneman which served to set the regional geographic context for all maps in the set. A full color rendition of Fenneman's map was printed in the 1970 edition of the National Atlas of the United States®.
The original Set of 100 Topographic Maps Illustrating Specified Physiographic Features sold out long ago. Intact copies of all maps in the set are difficult to locate, even in the best
working on new features that add printing functions, map downloads, and more ways to visualize the natural geography of the United States. As always, we solicit your interests and needs as well and will be eager to learn more about your experiences and expectations. Consider this a work in progress.
Something Old, Something New
Did you know that the USGS is scanning all of the historic topographic maps it has made since 1879? Have you seen the organization's newest offering, the US Topo map? We're taking advantage of both of these endeavors as we fashion this new product. US Topo maps are included in our set whenever they're ready. These will be available for half of the conterminous United States by the end of this year. Historic maps are used extensively.
Will the new National Atlas product include the same 100 maps as the original set? That’s not likely. There were only 48 States when the first set was compiled and we will ensure that examples of geographic features found only in Alaska and Hawaii are represented in maps gathered for the new set. We also won't promise to generate 100 maps. However, we will commit to offering an online edition that is richer and more useful than the original paper collection.
July 2010
