The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-01-19
AND CEODETIC survey
PARTY MAPPING FLORIDA KEYS
Members Conducting Ae-
tivities Are Located
In Federal Building In
Key West

work in mappine ne Fiasid.
Keys fsom ksy Large - ksy wsst
ard inslsdine the sasirs ares Il
Flsrida By ssd shss psssisn Fl
the mainland fFen nafnss seund
to Cape Sable is ns~ bsins ssn.
dssssd By the q. 5. cssss aad
csodssis survey, and - ssms psF.
tioas 81 the wosk has hssa som-
plsssd the survey party = isssisa
in Key West with rooms n ihs
Federal building.
The work Is being done under
the supervision Of Lieutenant :.
X. Mccarthy, chief Of the party,
and under the personal supervision
Of Lieutenant John c. Mathisson.
who is an expert In the art Of
aerial photography and who, when
seen today. was busily engaged IN
making the compilation Of ono
part of the map.
This Kind Of work II not 70 be
confused with what Is known a.
"aerial mosaies," Lieutenant Math-
isson explained, in Which 4 series
of photographs are trimmed and
fitted. each 10 tie other, To pro-
duce a photographic picture Of TIE
terrain.
Large sheets Of specially pre-
pared nitro cellulose are used.
The sheets are approximately 20
by 4G inches in size. The pro-
lection lines. parallels Of lonRi-
tude and meridians Of latitude are
drawn on the sheets and the posi-
ton of the detectives Is detctrmin-
ed from a central point.
Camera Has Five Lens
The camera used in this work
has five lens and the assembled
photograph has the appearances Of
a perfect Maltese cross. The photo
graphs are made on "a scale Of
10000. which means that a dis
lance of one foot on the ground
is represented on the celluloid
sheet by a distance Of 100000 Of
a foot, and the accuracy with
which this work is compiled h
held 20 a probable error Of tvo
meters. and this means that no
point Of importance. for charting
purposes is permitted Co be out
Of position by more than 1915
inches. On the cel'uloid sheet this
distance Is represented By a tine
2 Of a millimeter long. Which h
.O05 inches long.
Since the wor q war this braBch
of engineering. known a. Photo.
grammetry, was developed UNI
I der peaee-time conditions aud
with the use Of new inventions
and in aerOplanes construction.
which made possible the good or
der Of accuracy with which these
are compiled from aerial poto-
graphs.
: There are eight Of these air
photo parties operating az this
time and al are on the Atlantic
coast. The future mapping pro-
gram. IL il said, will probably IN
clude complete Topographic
compilation Of the United States.
} This will be most likely done. -
is stated, by the various govern
ment agencies using this method.
To Give Accurate Chart
4 The result Of the survey which
is now being conducted wil be 20
give an accurate chart Of the wa
ters Of Florida Bay showing al the
channels in which the sh0al boats
that commonly use these waters
can navigate with safety. as well
a. the exact position and shape Of
every least Key in the archipelago.
The work. il is estimated, will COW
er a period Of nine months.
The group Of members Of the
Coast and GeOdetic Survey nov
located in the office Of Key West
for this work. is composed. in ad-
dition TO Lieutenants Mccarthy
and Mathisson, Lieutenant Fred
Natella, Ensign p. A. Weber and
Craftsman J. J. Giordano. When
asked by The Citizen, Lieutenant
; Mccarthy said there were no field