Analytical Concepts in Early Computer Cartography and Late National Topographic Mapping in the United States

With the exception of a few individuals, academic and government researchers in the United States started the transition from manual and photo-assisted techniques of cartography to computer-assisted cartography and geographic analysis in the 1970s. Although collaboration between government and academic cartographers started from the beginning of this transition, these two groups developed differing concepts, practices, and technology. This heritage is still present in concepts of a mapping infrastructure for the country today. This study examines the transition of the national topographic survey to new technologies within the context of its institutional past and how that legacy affected government domestic mapping in contrast to the effect of the contemporary academic cartographic research.