--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 08:46:56 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time)
From: Philip Hoehn <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Los Angeles County topos on web
Sender: Philip Hoehn <[log in to unmask]>

--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 07:33:14 -0800
From: William Bowen <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: William Bowen <[log in to unmask]>
To: Philip Hoehn <[log in to unmask]>


Between seventy and eighty years ago, Los Angeles County began
producing a series of 6.0', 1:24000 topographic maps of the Los Angeles
coastal plain and adjacent mountains and valleys. What makes these maps
remarkable is their detail in documenting the landscapes of the 1920s,
a significant period in the evolution of modern Los Angeles and
neighboring communities.


Almost twenty years ago I photographed the maps in a reduced black and
white form. I recently scanned these negatives, creating an archive of
600 dpi GIF files that I have loaded into the web site of the
California Geographical Survey. The archive may be found in the
Electronic Map Library (http://130.166.124.2/library.html) of the
Survey (http://geogdata.csun.edu/) at a location titled "Los Angeles
County Historical Topographic Maps"
(http://130.166.124.2/latopoh1.htm).


Each of the files contains approximately 1.6 MB of data, so you should
avoid downloading them via a slow modem connection. I am experimenting
with other levels of document resolution and other formats in order to
diminish download times for those individuals not interested in
high-resolution materials.


In the meanwhile, the maps may be downloaded as is. They will display
at VERY LARGE scale in your browser's window, requiring you to scroll a
great deal. If the file is downloaded and opened in Adobe Photoshop or
a similar program, it may be manipulated and printed as a
high-resolution document suitable for instructional and research use.


Among the treats these maps give us are the detailed contours of the
landforms and precise routes of the streets and trolley lines.
Individual buildings are shown for most areas.


Bill Bowen



Dr. William Bowen
Department of Geography
California State University, Northridge
telephone: 818 677-3528
email: [log in to unmask]
California Geographical Survey
http://geogdata.csun.edu

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phil Hoehn, Map Bibliographer
Branner Earth Sciences Library
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2210
[log in to unmask]
Phone 1.650.725.1103   FAX 1.650.725.2534
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