Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/29869
NEWSLINK Civil War Map Helped Shape Policy A new special collection of maps by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) includes a map from 1861 that hinted at things to come for geographic representation of data. The “Map showing the distribution of the slave population of the southern states and the United States” is part of NOAA’s special collection of Civil War maps and charts, and it’s based on statistics from the eighth U.S. Census. “The map was among the first to use shading to rep- resent the human population,” said retired NOAA Corps Capt. Albert Theberge, the chief of reference for the NOAA Central Library. “It is a prime example of how Coast Survey science aided the Union cause during the Civil War.” (The Coast Survey, now part of NOAA, was founded in 1807 to develop nautical charts and related products.) The map helped initiate a trend of statistical cartog- raphy, effectively displaying “moral statistics” that could spur political change. For example, the map showed northern audiences that the first states to secede were those with the most slaves. In using shading to represent human population, the map’s darkest areas represent areas with the highest density of slave populations, with the order of secession corresponding closely to the map’s shade densities. The map also includes a table showing the number of slaves in each state and the proportion of slaves to total population. The NOAA connection to the map resurfaced recently when historian and NOAA employee John Cloud was working with Coast Survey cartographic products in NOAA’s Climate Database Modernization Program. Cloud discovered the A Civil War-era map—now part of a special NOAA collection—is among the first maps to use shading to represent population. connection with Edwin Hergesheimer (cartographer/creator of the map) and the U.S. Coast Survey. The map, according to historians, was used by President Abraham Lincoln to coordinate military operations with his emancipation policies. (Historian Susan Schulten helped connect the map to a Francis Bicknell Carpenter painting and, in extension, to President Lincoln’s strategy.) The NOAA map collection, “Charting a More Perfect Union,” is available at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/history/ CivilWar/index.html. Telogis Acquires Mobile Solutions Business of Intergis Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Telogis Inc. acquired assets and substantially all the business of Intergis, a Cranford, N.J.-based provider of routing, mobile resource and fleet-management solutions for small to mid-sized businesses. The move should add to Telogis’ “software-as-a-service” enterprise platform for location-based services. 8 G E O W O R L D / A P R I L 2 O 1 1 “This new acquisition positions Telogis for sub- stantial growth by allowing us to leverage our robust enterprise software platform into Intergis’ existing customer base of more than 2,000 fleets,” said Dave Cozzens, Telogis CEO. “Intergis customers will experience the enhanced benefits, broader scale, and more advanced features and functionality of the Telogis platform in conjunction with a broader suite of premium products, services and enhanced customer support.” Mobility/GPS Special Issue NOAA