The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-05-15
Lessons Learned "0ver There"
to Re Used in Making
Of Maps.
WORK NOW WELL UNDER way
r'an worked Out by Which v,r,ou.
Government Boards Will Coon.
crate In Making Large Scale
Map Of Country.

q New York.-While drawino ~
summary of intelligence for a corns If
Fmaneuver in France last winter tho
ofhcer in charge found himself in mood
OF little outside information. Turn.
ing to his sergeant, he said "Serpeant
where Is the island of st. Helena p,
Sir" said the sergeant, II do NOT
know; but If the colonel will furnish
me with a car and hachured man
IN find it, =
our three armies went to tha front
win supply Of maps which contrib
uted nightly to our success. Last
July. says the New York Post. the en-
gineering council called President Will
sons atteRtion to the lack of co-ordina.
mon In the map-making agencies of
this cf1-'ntry. The matter was not
pigeon lied; various bureaus were re-
quesfet to confer and decide upon a
general plan by which The work could
be sr' ed on most expeditiously and
withour overlapping or duplication.
To Map 100000 Square Miles.
10 make large-scale maps of over
three million square miles of TERRITORY
IS gigantic task. But 1t is hoped and
believed that it will be achieved One
danger lies in REORGANIZATION. There
are at present no fewer than eleven
map-making and three map-using
boards operating under government
control. 1t will readily be seen that
the bureau of soils needs one kind of
map. the bureau of Indian affairs an
other. But. except for highly special
lied work. the United States geological
survey would seem to be the logical
body to prepare the standard topo-
graphic maps. 1t has its own photo
photographic and engraving plants. and
the maps it has already produced have
been declared by experts to be the
equal of any.
!. 1t is safe to assume that 1t was the
excellence of detail of the maps fur
nished us by the allies that led the
conference to feel that to do the work
for the whole country as France or
Germany had done it would take too
! much time. Better a map with few
"details now than one with all In the
distant future. One-third of the area
of continental United States. exclusive
OF Alaska. has already been mapped in
this fashion. The establishment of
basic horizontal and vertical controls
is about half completed. And a plan
has been worked out by which the vari-
bus boards will cooperate. Making the
personnel permanent will do much to
standardiZe the work.
Aerial Surveying.
Reyisions are to be made as fast as
changes due to development occur.
There is to be central information Of
y ice, not simply for the benefit Of the
bureaus concerned, but for the general
I public as well. The general scale rec
4 commended is 80 500; where larger or
/ smaller scales are desirable special
corps will be appointed. Aerial survey
ing is to play an important part.
Graphic scales in English and metric
units will be printed on all maps pre-
pared for general use, as well as dia.
gram of the control on which the map
Is based, together with date of survey
and location of all permanent marks
That each map will explain the sym.
bols used hardly needs to be pointed
out.
In modern warfare the map is more
4 powerful than the sword. Germany
u knew this. Prisoners captured from
the Germans could locate any object