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>Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 15:59:52 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
>From: Mark Thomas <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: usgs topo dates
 
 
I'm confused about the dates on the State "Map Lists" (the
xeroxed black and white lists that have superseded the old brown
USGS catalogs).  The dates frequently don't seem connected with
reality, and I can't seem to find any pattern.
 
The List has some dates in brackets and this note at the top:
"Photoinspected dates are in brackets and do not always match
the dates on the printed maps.  These photoinspected maps have
not been modified and the printed editions are still current."
What does this mean?  Does it mean that the area has been
photoinspected but the map *hasn't* been updated with the purple
overprinting?  It seems a funny way to say that it's been
overprinted with the purple, because (to me) that counts as
being modified.
 
I need to know if I can safely reorder some topos for which we
have editions in the 50s or 60s or 70s, but the bracketted date
(or even the unbracketed date) on the List is 10 or 20 or 30
years newer.  I'm afraid I'll be rudely surprised when,
expecting a photorevision, we instead get the same maps that we
already have.
 
I can't seem to verify what's going on by checking our existing
maps.  I've found that for photorevised maps the date on the
List sometimes matches the revision and sometimes the original
date.
 
More confusion:  The published date listed on our map is
frequently newer on the List by a few years.  Sometimes, it
seems, the List has the date shown in the fine print on the map
as being the latest date the information was field checked.
Sometimes, however, the publication date does matches the date
on the List.
 
Just what are the rules for the dates they put on these lists?
 
thanks,
        Mark
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mark Thomas / Public Documents & Maps / Perkins Library
   Duke University / Durham, NC  27708-0177
      [log in to unmask] / voice: 919-660-5853 / FAX: 919-684-2855
The train ...
        traditional, yet environmentally sound.  --Lisa Simpson
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