Contemporary Maps Research Articles

Methods for spatial and temporal land use and land cover assessment for urban ecosystems and application in the greater Baltimore-Chesapeake region

Understanding contemporary urban landscapes requires multiple sets of spatially and temporally compatible data that can integrate historical land use patterns and disturbances to land cover. This paper presents three principal methods: (1) core analysis; (2) historic mapping; and (3) gradient analysis, to link spatial and temporal data for urban ecosystems and applies their use in the Baltimore-Chesapeake region. Paleoecological evidence derived from the geochronology of sediment cores provides data on long-term as well as recent changes in vegetative land cover. This information, combined with contemporary vegetation maps, provides a baseline for conducting trend analyses to evaluate urbanization of the landscape. A 200-year historical land use database created from historical maps, census data, and remotely sensed data provides a spatial framework for investigating human impacts on the region. A geographic information system (GIS) integrates core analyses with historic data on land use change to yield a comprehensive land use and land cover framework and rates of change. These data resources establish the regional foundation for investigating the ecological components of an urban ecosystem. Urban-rural gradient analyses and patch analyses are proposed as the most appropriate methods for studying the urban ecosystem as they link ecological and social patterns and processes for varying degrees of urbanization.

An archaeological survey of Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands

In 1992 the Falkland Islands Museum and National Trust commissioned the first land-based archaeological survey in the Islands of the earliest British settlement, Port Egmont. Founded in 1765 as a base to secure passage round Cape Horn and abandoned by the British nine years later, Port Egmont was occupied briefly by the Spanish in 1770-71. Apart from sporadic visits by sealers and whalers in the 19th century the site remained deserted. The survey located nearly 50 separate features, which include defensive works such as batteries, a harbour complex, houses, barracks, and storehouses, gardens and a cemetery. A detailed study of contemporary maps and documents confirmed the function of many of these and illuminated the historical and economic context of the shortlived settlement.

The Conformal Space Projection

In the late 1970s, the Space Oblique Mercator (SOM) projection was developed by John P. Snyder, Alden P. Colvocoresses, and John L. Junkins (Colvocoresses 1974, Snyder 1977, and Junkins 1977). The SOM projection was the first ever map projection that involved a time factor relating to a mapping satellite revolving in an orbit about a rotating Earth. Hence, it could continuously display the satellite imagery. Development of the SOM projection was one of the greatest achievements in contemporary map projection studies. Some issues which relate to the space projections are still not well understood, however. For example, the SOM is not perfectly conformal and the truly conformal space projection remains unknown. In this article, a new Conformal Space Projection (CSP) for satellite imagery display is presented. The CSP has the following advantages: (1) it is a truly conformal projection; (2) the scale error of the CSP is very small; (3) it can continuously display satellite imagery; (4) it is widely applicable to different satellite orbits; (5) it can easily integrate projection computation with orbital computation; (6) its computation is fairly straightforward; and (7) it provides a new concept in developing special space projections.

Sediment‐related river maintenance: The role of fluvial geomorphology

AbstractThis paper addresses the role that fluvial geomorphology might play in the management of sediment‐related river maintenance in the U.K. Sediment‐related river maintenance refers to the operational requirement of river management authorities to remove deposits of sediment or protect river boundaries from erosion, where these compromise the flood defence levels of service. Using data collected as part of a National Rivers Authority (NRA) Research and Development Project it is possible to identify the geomorphic causes of problems, and engineering responses to sediment‐related river maintenance (SRRM) in England and Wales. The Project identified the management problem as widespread and often treated in isolation from the causative processes. Geomorphological guidance is shown to be both relevant and complementary to conventional engineering practice through its ability to identify the cause of a SRRM problem. A methodology for conducting a geomorphological survey, or ‘fluvial audit’, is presented, which synthesizes historical data on the catchment land‐use and channel network, with contemporary morphological maps to present a statement of the location and type of sediment supply, transport and storage within the river basin under scrutiny. The application of geomorphology to two contrasting SRRM problems is explored using case studies from two catchments: the River Sence, a fine sediment system, and the Shelf Brook, a coarse sediment system.

Point of Reference

GEO-SONIC (1988) is an artwork for computer that explores sound, language and geographics. It is a collage of sounds, speech and calligraphy from around the world that leads the participant in associative global dreams and journeys. Sounds sampled by the artists are digitized and played back, juxtaposed with on-screen visual imagery (by use of a track-ball activated cursor). Visual elements include calligraphy from written language around the world and digitized historical and contemporary maps. GEO-SONIC equates geographic place with sound, language and symbols, and explores the relationship of sounds and visual symbols with people. It includes Aeolian pigeons from Bali (flutes attached to birds), the Brooklyn Bridge (before it was paved over), donkey caravans from Nepal, New York City fire sirens, Minnesota prairie tornado sirens, Thailand tribeswomen calling pigs, Indonesian frogs and Venice church bells.

Piedmont Farmer: The Journals of David Golightly Harris, 1855-1870 (review)

276CIVIL WAR HISTORY president, a "... low-bred Southerner, consequently an essentially uncivilized man ..." (354). The editors and the press deserve commendation for the splendid work on this volume. The statement on editorial policy clearly lays out how the editors went about their work. The notes fully identify persons mentioned in Olmsted's correspondence. The contemporary illustrations and maps of California are carefully matched to Olmsted's observations of such places as San Francisco, Yosemite, and Mariposa. Victoria Ranney's introduction concisely explains Olmsted's business affairs at Mariposa, and Charles E. Beveridge, in a short comment, helpfully links Olmsted's "Pioneer Condition" to his earlier social survey work at the Sanitary Commission. The editors also took great care to explain how they reconstructed the fragments of "The Pioneer Condition." This is an important series, and libraries should make every effort to collect all the volumes. Those interested in western history should also take note of a side to Olmsted they may not have known existed. James W. Oberly University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Piedmont Farmer: The Journals of David Golightly Harris, 1855-1870. Edited by Philip N. Racine. (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990. Pp. x, 597. $49.95.) "The journal will be as a looking glass into & to see the past as far as my farm & means are concerned," David Golightly Harris exclaimed on New Year's Day 1868 (454). Harris, a small slaveowner from the South Carolina Upcountry, kept a series of journals between 1855 and 1870. Wofford College professor Philip N. Racine has produced a beautifully edited edition of them, adding an edifying introduction, complete annotations , genealogical charts, maps and photographs. Never as successful as his wealthy father, David Harris lived with his wife Emily and their seven children in a small three-room house, located in Spartanburg District, S.C. Harris, a piedmont farmer, raised mostly foodstuffs with the aid of ten slaves. Piedmont Farmer traces the family through the coming of the war, the war, and the beginning of Radical Reconstruction. When the war came, Harris's first priority was to his farm and family. Taxes, inflation, and shortages soon took their toll. Forced to speculate in the selling of yarn, Harris explained in April 1863, "I do not like to be called a speculater, but I want to make some thing to live upon" (286). Age forty-five, he was able to avoid service until the Conscription Act of July 1863. "Parting with my family will be worse than meeting the yankeys," he predicted in March 1862 (238). He served only six months and later hired a substitute. At one point Harris won a furlough home by capturing a notorious deserter. BOOK REVIEWS277 If most white Southerners, like Harris, went to war to protect their families, then the war itself undermined their rationale for going. Particularly moving are the passages in the journal written by Emily. The task of running the farm fell squarely on her shoulders. Her travails included sickness, a troublesome overseer, recalcitrant slaves, escaped Yankee prisoners in her gin-house, and the threat of an attack by deserters. "A few more years of this kind of life will wear me out," she wrote in November 1864. "I feel old and miserable and ugly. ... I expect no more rest this side [of] the grave. The wants of the family are never satisfied and their wants weigh heavily on me" (350). She even began doubting her sanity, recalling that one of her mother-in-law's objections to their marriage was insanity in her side of the family. The Piedmont Farmer deals with a whole host of important issues, including the treatment of slaves, the adjustment to Reconstruction, and the impact of taxes on white families before, during, and after the war. Harris did not free his slaves until August 1865. He was subsequently unable to find suitable renters, white or black. For Harris one thing remained constant: the burden of taxation. He ended his journal on March 5, 1870 with: "Taxes has come again & as usual, little or no money" (496). We are indebted to Philip Racine for making these important journals available to us. Edmund L. Drago College of Charleston The Creation of...

Lunar and planetary cartographic research at the university of western ontario

Two research projects are in progress at the University of Western Ontario in the area of lunar and planetary cartography. The first addresses a problem unique to space exploration, the mapping of bodies with extremely irregular shapes. Shapes are determined by modifying a triaxial ellipsoid until its limb and terminator reproduce those seen in all available images, given appropriate orientation and lighting. Morphographic map projections are used for maps of such bodies. The second project involves documenting the history of lunar and planetary cartography, supported by bibliographic research and collection of contemporary maps. Part of this work involves identifying very old lunar maps. Possible examples include rock carvings 4500 years old from Knowth, Ireland and sections of medieval mappaemundi.

The deserted village of Eske, East Yorkshire

ABSTRACT A combination of documentary sources, measured ground survey, fieldwalking and aerial survey is used to reconstruct the history and morphology of the former riverside village and township of Eske in the Hull valley of Holderness, East Yorkshire. The account describes the changing layout of the medieval village (which included a planned extension containing building platforms and crewyards), its ‘long-strip’ arable field system, carrland meadows, pastures and turbaries, drainage works and boundary features, together with details of landholding and organisation. The evidence for medieval plot layout, building construction, house types and crewyards is discussed in the context of other sites in eastern England, and changes in village morphology and agriculture are considered in the context of regional environmental and climatic change. The village was substantially depopulated during the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and its later history, which featured extensive marshland reclamation, is outlined and illustrated by contemporary maps. An appendix lists central government sources commonly used to provide quantitative data for comparative wealth and population of English rural settlements. The field survey was grant-aided by the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries and publication was grant-aided by the Council for British Archaeology.

Reorientation of Historical Maps of Old Fort Niagara Using Computer-Assisted Cartography

Since 1979 researchers at Old Fort Niagara (established 1726) in Youngstown, New York, have attempted to rescale and interpret historical maps and compile a composite showing where structures have been built within the parade area over the three centuries of the fort's history. This mapping work relates to an archaeological and historical research project focused on studying local and regional history, experimenting with nondestructive means of gaining information, and comparing field data with documented sources. While a vast corpus of contemporary maps was retrieved from French, British, Canadian, and American archives, these documents, drawn at various scales and for various purposes, exhibited such differences and planimetric skewing that they proved difficult to compare. Although initial studies of the available maps led to a general understanding of the fort's development, only with data from excavations and infrared studies and the application of computer-assisted cartography could the researchers determine actual building locations relative to the modern parade. The computer-assisted process also allowed depiction of remodeling phases of individual structures and enabled topological changes to be plotted. The decipherment of maps might be considered the initial step in an archaeological study of a historic site. Such cartographic studies were, however, more effective at Old Fort Niagara when excavation results and related infrared studies were used as supporting data for rescaling and realigning antique maps for comparative purposes.

A Cultural Interpretation of Inuit Map Accuracy

A Cultural Interpretation of Inuit Map Accuracy

LOWERING OF THE HUMUS CONTENT OF CHERNOZEM SOILS OF THE RUSSIAN PLAIN AS A RESULT OF HUMAN ACTION

The article surveys the extent and causes responsible for reduction in the humus contents of fertile chernozem soils in the European USSR. Comparison of a soil humus map compiled by V. V. Dokuchayev in 1883 with contemporary soil maps permits compilation of a map showing areas of most intensive humus loss over the late Tsarist and Soviet periods. Although the entire chernozem belt exhibited some degree of humus reduction, maximum losses have occurred in upland areas throughout the belt and in its eastern portion (translated by Andrew R. Bond).

Mechanical Arts & Merchandise: Industrial Espionage and Travellers’ Accounts as a Source for Technical Historians by A. P. Woolrich, and: Ferrner’s Journal 1759/1760: An Industrial Spy in Bath and Bristol ed. by A. P. Woolrich

146 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE the rubric “power,” Stapleton has systematically included works on hydraulic power and prime movers, but he has omitted Louis C. Hunter’s Waterpower in the Century of the Steam Engine (Charlottes­ ville, Va., 1979). One may question whether the kind of guidelines Stapleton has fol­ lowed are always adequate, however. For example, I would argue that conceptual rather than technical guidelines are necessary to trace the most important literature on the history of engineering the­ ory because so much of it lies outside the immediate purview of his­ tory of technology. Be that as it may, Stapleton’s bibliography is a useful guide to a complex and often disparate body of scholarship. Eda Kranakis Dr. Kranakis is a member of the Science Dynamics Department at the University of Amsterdam. She is currently completing a monograph on suspension bridges in France and the United States during the first half of the 19th century. Mechanical Arts & Merchandise: Industrial Espionage and Travellers’ Ac­ counts as a Source for Technical Historians. By A. P. Woolrich. Eind­ hoven: De Archaeologische Pers (Zeelsterstraat 147, NL-5652 EE Eindhoven, The Netherlands), 1986. Pp. vi+154; illustrations, notes, appendixes, bibliography. FI 27.50 (cloth)+handling; FI 20.00 (paper)-(-handling. Ferrner’s Journal 1759/1760: An Industrial Spy in Bath and Bristol. Ed­ ited by A. P. Woolrich. Translated by A. den Ouden. Eindhoven: De Archaeologische Pers, 1986. Pp. iv+55; illustrations, notes, index. FI 7.50 (paper)+handling. A. P. Woolrich believes that historians of technology have under­ utilized travelers’ accounts as sources. He provides us with a gen­ eral essay on their virtues and uses (focusing on European accounts in the 18th and early 19th centuries) and with an edition of the jour­ nal of the representative of a Swedish merchant in the metals busi­ ness. Woolrich promises soon to publish a full bibliography of travelers’ accounts, and he has a useful preliminary list appended to Mechanical Arts fc? Merchandise. Travelers’ accounts are certainly a magnificent source for the his­ tory of technology, and there are relatively few modern editions com­ pared to the number of accounts available. Often they contain detailed, critical descriptions of particular sites and processes—de­ scriptions that may have no parallel in the records of owners, opera­ tors, or inventors. Equally important, they may illuminate our under­ standing ofthe international flow oftechnical information, national or cultural differences in technological style and viewpoint, and tech­ nological transfer. Woolrich is interested in travelers’ accounts mostly for the specific information they contain. He argues that the history of technology TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 147 has become dominated by the study of “the impact of technology on society” and that the “history of the techniques of manufacture” has been relatively neglected. He thinks that much of what has been written about techniques has been “bad history” because it has not recurred to primary sources. Recognizing the dearth of techni­ cal information in company records and personal papers, Woolrich maintains that travelers’ accounts are an excellent alternative. He states that they are often “the observations of trained contemporar­ ies” and may serve as an important check on received history or as the basis for developing new information. As Woolrich demon­ strates with the Ferrner account, the names, dates, and locations re­ corded by a traveler may be combined with contemporary maps, illustrations, and local records to improve our knowledge of impor­ tant industrial sites and processes. At the same time, Woolrich recognizes that travelers’ accounts must be viewed critically by historians. In the instance of Ferrner’s journal, Woolrich notes a number of features that constrain our free use of the text: difficulties in translation, contradictions of appar­ ently established facts, and the survival of the journal in a polished “literary” version without the original notes from which it was de­ rived. But Woolrich’s criticism is largely that of a user of the accounts and does not inform his role as editor. He is either unconcerned about or innocent of modern editing standards. In Mechanical Arts & Merchandise, he gives almost no hint of the issues that arise in pre­ senting travelers’ accounts so that they can be used...

A review of soil and geological maps of the Nepean River terraces, NSW

SUMMARY The Nepean River terraces are a sequence of Tertiary and Quaternary alluvial deposits to the west of Sydney, NSW. In the last 85 years over 20 soil and geological maps covering the area have been produced. Errors and interpretations introduced in early regional scale maps were perpetuated for over 40 years despite numerous new editions. Regional scale geological maps in the 1950s and 1960s failed to take account of good detailed work by geographers, soil surveyors and geology students. Detailed geological and soil stratigraphic mapping in the past 10 years drew attention to these problems and has highlighted the important contributions made by the earlier detailed studies. New interpretations can now be tested against a substantial body of data. Contemporary regional soil and geological maps have taken account of these detailed studies and so present a more consistent approach than in the past.

RECONSTRUCTING A RETAIL TRADE AREA: TUCKER'S GENERAL STORE, 1850-1860

This paper outlines a historical trade area reconstruction methodology using daybooks, contemporary plat maps. and manuscript censuses. From limited extant data, historical trade areas of an 1850s Massachusetts general store can be defined by patronage frequency maps and the simple Reilly's Law of Retail Gravitation model. Historical trade areas can clarify the development of retailing, customer mobility, and the role of general stores in central places and their hinterlands.

Views of Haarlem: A Reconsideration of Ruisdael and Rembrandt

Jacob van Ruisdael's landscape views of the Haarlem vicinity juxtaposed with linen-bleaching fields and Rembrandt's Goldweigher's Field manifest pride in that city. The name “Haarlemmer bleek” (Haarlem bleach) was given to any linen bleached around Haarlem or neighboring communities. Only Haarlem-affiliated bleaching was depicted in such painted views even though the industry existed elsewhere. These images are analogous to contemporary maps in format — that of a bird's-eye view — and in function — depiction of a city's landmarks and industries. The unique market for Ruisdael's and Rembrandt's imagery resulted from the international success of the “Haarlemmer bleek” which was praised in poetry and city histories.

Excavations at Aldgate, 1974

AbstractThe site lies to the south of Aldgate High Street and to the east of the Minories. It was used for sand- or brickearth-quarrying in the 12th century, but for most of the medieval period was open land. The first major development took place in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and was represented by substantial, though fragmentary, lengths of wall. Nevertheless, much of the ground probably still remained open, since it was used as a tip for refuse from a nearby slaughter-yard and for waste and crucibles from a factory producing Venetian-style glass.The most significant remains to be uncovered were parts of a row of terraced properties which were built in the 1670s and demolished in the mid 18th century. To the south of these lay a further building whose cellar was the only room surviving. All these structures are visible on contemporary maps; the archaeological evidence shows that they included both domestic units and workshops involved in clay tobacco-pipe manufacture and, possibly, metalwor...

The completion of the replication map of the Mycobacterium phlei chromosome.

New facts about the replication map of Mycobacterium phlei chromosome are summarized. Replication positions of two genes located in marginal regions of the replication map, ile close to the origin and ser near the terminus, were determined. Known positions of replication of some genes were defined with more precision within 2.5--5-min intervals using the method of sequential mutagenesis in synchronized cultures (leu, met, bac, pyr, stm, tet, cyc, his). Replication positions of genes responsible for the biosynthesis of thiamine and resistance to tetracycline and vancomycin were further identified. The contemporary replication map contains replication positions of 24 genes.

Contemporary Statistical Maps—Evidence of Spatial and Graphic Ignorance

Statistical maps are now produced in greater numbers and by persons in a wider range of disciplines than ever before. It is unfortunate that this increased production has not been accompanied by an improvement in map quality. All too frequently, contemporary mapmakers evidence a lack of understanding of the primary function of statistical maps, the symbolic language of mapping, and the effect that data manipulation plays in map communication. Coupled with these deficiencies there is a general lack of appreciation of the basic elements of graphic design. Furthermore, the expanded use of the computer in mapmaking seems to be related to and may even foster low quality since programmers are generally untutored in cartographic design and communication.

The American Revolution in Maps

The scholarly research and publication stimulated by the upcoming United States bicentennial celebration already has produced a number of valuable works on source materials. Maps, ordinarily one of our most neglected classes of documents, have been receiving something like their fair share of attention. The six works reviewed here are a mixed bag, varying greatly in length and content, but all of them are valuable for the light they shed on the acquisition and documentation of geographic intelligence during the Revolutionary period. Included are a detailed study of one of the most important of those mapmakers, Lewis Evans; a campaign memoir richly illustrated with contemporary maps; catalogs describing two American map collections notable for their Revolutionary War materials; an index to maps used as illustrations in books and journal articles on the Revolution; and finally, a folio of Revolutionary War map and chart facsimiles, accompanied by an extensive gazetteer of contemporary place names culled from the maps. Walter Klinefelter's monographic study, Lewis Evans and His Maps, brings to light a number of obscure, but significant, aspects of surveying and mapmaking in the colonies. Particularly interesting is the picture we get of the mapmaker as entrepreneur and political arbiter. In those days before industrial specialization the

Briefer Notices

BRIEFER NOTICES By Henry J. Cadbury Six Weeks Meeting 1671-1971; Three Hundred Years of Quaker Responsibility, by Winifred M. White (Friends House, Euston Road, London, 1971, 119 pages, illustrated). This sprightly and full account of what George Fox called "the prime meeting of the city" exploits the very complete records of that meeting in connection with the very numerous meeting properties in greater London. It does for our generation what Beck and Ball, London Friends Meetings, 1869, did a century ago. The end papers supply a contemporary map and an ancient one. There is a good index. Though concerned mainly with outward things, like physical properties and finances, the human and spiritual interests of metropolitan Quakerism shine through. * * * The Quakers as Type of the Spirit-Centered Community by William P. Roberts, S. J., is a Ph.D. thesis accepted by Marquette University in 1968. It is obtainable in mimeograph form as No. 1 in Catholic and Quaker Studies from 1110 Wildwood Ave., Manasquan, N.J. 08736. The author selects features of Quakerism justifying the title and corresponding features in the Catholic tradition both in the middle ages and in the Second Vatican Council. * * * Russell Mortimer has edited for publication by the Bristol Record Society in 1971 the Minute Book of the Men's Meeting of the Society of Friends in Bristol 1667-1686. The contents of these minutes is of great variety and interest. Few similar books have been published, none so early in date, or representing a city meeting. The editing, introduction, and indexing are exemplary. * * * Fred Haslam has published a record of nearly half a century of the various aspects of Canadian Quakerism with which he has been intimately connected. On a small scale they correspond with parallel matters in modern Quakerism elsewhere. The intimate but objective account will be suggestive to readers in other areas. The full title is A record of experience with and on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends in Canada and with the Canadian 126 BRIEFER NOTICES127 ecumenical movement, 1921-1967, with some thoughts for the future. No publisher is mentioned. * * * Friends in Central America by Paul C. Enyart (William Carey Library, South Pasadena, Calif., 1970, 186 pages) is an informative account of the evangelical Friends missions in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala which in late 1970 were established as the Central America Yearly Meeting of Evangelical Friends Churches. It compares Friends with other evangelical churches in the area and analyzes various factors in the growth of the Friends Church there. It is a wide ranging discussion richly illustrated with maps, charts, etc. * * * Prudence Crandall; an Incident of Racism in NineteenthCentury Connecticut, by Edmund Fuller (Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Conn., 1971, 113 pages) provides at last a full and well-documented account of this Quaker pioneer against racism in education. * * * Louisa, Memories of a Quaker Childhood, edited by Evelyn Roberts (London, Friends Home Service Committee, 1970, 53 pages), is an illustrated pamphlet or "Quakerback" dealing with the vivid memories of Louisa Hooper, 1818-1918, related when ninety-nine years old, to a grandchild. England and Quakerism were quite a bit quainter in the days before 1836 to which these reminiscences apply. * * * "The Civil War Diaries of Anna M. Ferris" were edited by Harold B. Hancock and published in Delaware History, IX (April, 1961), 221-264. The writer was a Friend with many Quaker contacts. She is called "a strong Republican and deeply interested in military affairs," and her observations "colorfully and sharply written." The original manuscripts are some at Swarthmore College and some at the Historical Society of Delaware. Frederick J. Wagner contributes to the Bulletin of Bibliography, XXVIII (1971), 84-87, 118, 141-144 an extensive bibliography on the Quaker-born novelist J. H. Shorthouse (1834-1903). He was baptized into the Church of England in 1861. His best known novel, John Inglesant, was published in 1887. 128QUAKER HISTORY In Pennsylvania History, XXXIX (1972), 1-19, Edward J. Cody tells the story of the early Pennsylvania Quaker controversy: "The Price of Perfection: The Irony of George Keith." The familiar features seem to the author to illustrate the self-defeating character of religious aims like those of the Quakers. They found...