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Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 15:10:18 -0400
From: Paige Andrew <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Fwd: Delivery Notification: Delivery has failed
Sender: Paige Andrew <[log in to unmask]>



>Colleagues:
>
>I was vacationing at home the second half of August--home being Seattle
>where my inlaws are and the Tri-Cities area of eastern Washington,
>inparticular Richland where my parents live--and ran across an article in
>the local newspaper about a California company's error on a local map. I've
>been meaning to share this with everyone but got caught up in the "catching
>up" we all go through once we return from vacation, and then yesterday's
>tragic events as well. So, just now reading the most recent WAML "News &
>Notes" online and seeing the Recent Publications section reminded me to do
>this.
>
>The map involved is a Tri-City street map which apparently covers not just
>Kennewick/Pasco/Richland but surrounding communities as well. One of the
>surrounding communities is north of Pasco on Highway 395 called Eltopia.
>The title of the article is "California map makers could use a geography
>lesson," written by Terry Hudson, and it was published in the Tri-City
>Herald newspaper on August 25th or 26th (sorry, I failed to jot the date
>down when I clipped the article).
>
>Basically, the article is a brief tale of Mr. Hudson's discovery that
>Eltopia had been marked as "Ethiopia" on the map and the amusing story of
>how he went to the little town of Eltopia, "comprising 'about 24
>households' ", to get a local reaction from an area resident as well as to
>document his own reaction. The map company in question is Performance
>Publishing Group out of El Segundo, California. I also found it amusing to
>contrast a town of approx. 75-80 residents against a nation of 65 million
>people but also realize that its not uncommon for the names of countries to
>be found scattered around our nation, a prime example is the little village
>of "Peru" just 5 miles north of where I live in Lemont, Pennsylvania.
>Anyway, obviously Performance Publishing Group needs to do a little
>fieldwork on this title and possibly other cartographic products, but we
>all know some level of error is inherent in all maps and other cartographic
>materials.
>
>If anyone would like me to fax a copy of the article to them just drop me a
>personal email with your fax number and I'd be happy to do so.
>
>Paige
>Paige Andrew
>Faculty Maps Cataloger
>   and Associate Librarian
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