3 messages.-------------------Johnnie
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>Date: Thu, 05 Feb 98 11:44:29 CST
>From: "Wendy Sistrunk" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re:future of paper maps
> Is there a future for USGS maps in print form or are there
> digital alternatives that can replace our paper collection now?
Have you ever tried to print out a map from an electronic source if you don't
have access to a fine printer? I have seen patrons in our library, enthused
over finally pinpointing a picture of a map on the internet (after much time
wading through useless hits), spend upwards of 30 minutes waiting while the
image to be printed off. Meanwhile, the paper atlas (from which no doubt the
electronic version was scanned) and photocopier stand there not four feet away.
Too, digital alternatives are only as "mobile" as the hardware on which they are
accessed dictates.
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% Wendy Sistrunk Special Projects Catalog Librarian %
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% 5100 Rockhill Rd. Kansas City, MO 64110-2499 %
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>From: Jan Smits <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 11:10:22 +100
>Subject: future of paper maps (A)
The question is not whether print or digital maps are better but
to what purpose the map collection is built and used. Though
printed maps seem to be easier to handle they can not be
integrated easily with other sources unless you make a new map
(scanning is a hybrid solution as unfortunately the image is
broken up into pixels and when more layers of information are
printed over each other as is usual some of the information is
lost as a pixel can only have one value. The scan is more
two-dimensional than the original!). Unfortunately printed maps
also cannot be broken down into the original basic data of which
they were built.
As users view the documentary world more and more as a
demand-driven infrastructure than as a supply-driven
infrastructure they need more basic information.
I read on this list many times that American university
collections discard old maps (an abhorent thought for a
depository collection, but it seems feasible in their position)
on the basis probably that
a) their users mainly need up-to-date spatial information
b) copies of older versions/material can be gotten from one of
the many depository libraries.
If my supposition is true I do not see why the collection should
not go for digital maps, provided that these products combined
with the services lent by the depository collections provide at
least the same amount of services to the users as when the
collection should own its own printed maps.
The trend in documentary services and provision of materials in
future will be more focussed on distributed fonds and technology
in a one-shop-model in which case it doesn't really matter where
they are physically conserved. At the moment this may not be
feasible yet because the necessary infrastructure
(organizational, electronical, technological) is not complete
yet. It will put strain, however, on the service-supply of
depository libraries and archives as they problably will have the
prime function of providers, especially of older material. This
will not only be true for analogue materials but also for digital
materials.
The problem of modulation/transformation/migration of electronic
objects and databases is on everybody's tongue and mind, but
there are as yet few who are willing or capable of envisioning a
solution.
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Jan Smits
Map Curator Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of The
Netherlands
Department for Cartographical Documentation (SKD)
Secretary European Map Curators Group (GdC de LIBER)
tel: +31 70 3140241
fax: +31 70 3140450
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
WWW SKD: http://www.konbib.nl/kb/skd/karto-en.html
WWW GdC: http://www.konbib.nl/kb/skd/liber/intro.htm
WWW personal: http://www.konbib.nl/persons/jan-smits/homepage.htm
Na matheis kai na matheis ap'tous spoudasmenous
To learn and still to learn from those who know
(C.P. Cavafys)
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>Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 08:46:24 -0600
>From: Lynne Raymond <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: future of paper maps
There is an opinion piece in the October 1997 issue of Geotimes (pg.5) that
addresses this issue, written by the State Geologists of Ohio, Kansas, and
Kentucky. A very basic summary of their opinion is that "the future is not
now".
Lynne Raymond
Illinois State Geological Survey
Library
At 03:55 PM 2/4/98 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I've been asked this question, so thought I'd pass it on to a larger
>audience. Is there a future for USGS maps in print form or are there
>digital alternatives that can replace our paper collection now? "Yes" or
>"No" are not adequate answers, thank you. Can you give me your perspective
>on what's available in digital format that undergraduates or the general
>public might use in place of print 7.5' topos? Here at the University of
>Rochester we are contemplating moving our map collection (39 cases of 7.5s
>and at least 20 other cases) from one building to another. Space and
>dollars are always examined closely, hence the question about digital
>alternatives. How would YOU respond to your administration?? Thanks.
>
>
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