Research Catalog

Title

Charting the unknown : how computer mapping at Harvard became GIS / Nick Chrisman.

Author

Chrisman, Nicholas R.

Publication

Redlands, Calif. : ESRI Press : Independent Publishers Group (IPG) [distributor], c2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiv, 218 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.); 23 cm. +

Summary

• "Charting the Unknown: How Computer Mapping at Harvard Became GIS tells how early programming ventures like SYMAP, SYMVU, POLYVRT, and others culminated in ODYSSEY, the prototype for modern GIS software. Author Nick Chrisman, who joined the Harvard Laboratory in the early 1970s and was there for ten years, carefully documents how Howard Fisher, a retired Chicago architect, started the Lab with grant money from the Ford Foundation in the mid-1960s. Over the next twenty-six years -- through cycles of decline and rebound, and various crises of direction -- the Lab was a magnet for some of the world's most inventive and innovative young computer programmers and mapmakers.
• Many, like Chrisman, have since become leaders in GIS-related education, research, and software engineering. Illustrated with numerous maps, drawings, diagrams, and photos, Charting the Unknown's twelve chapters are supplemented with a CD that contains three historic short films showing animated visualization. In addition, the CD contains videotaped interviews and a speech featuring some of the Lab's key figures, including Allan Schmidt, former executive director of the Lab; Eric Teicholz, founder and president of Graphic Systems; Jack Dangermond, founder and president of ESRI; Scott Morehouse, director of software development at ESRI; as well as the author.
• Charting the Unknown is an important historical record for GIS researchers and programmers interested not only in technical details but also larger institutional issues. It also relates an engaging story for 'GIS generalists' interested in learning more about their shared culture and heritage in the ever-evolving field of spatial analysis and computer mapping"--Jacket.

Subject

• Harvard University
• Geschichte
• Geographic information systems
• Digital mapping
• Geographic Information Systems

Genre/Form

CD-ROMs.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-204) and index.

System Details (note)

• System requirements for accompanying CD-ROM (PC): Pentium processor-based PC or compatible ; 128 MB RAM ; Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP or higher ; Apple QuickTime version 7 or higher ; Adobe Acrobat Reader ; internet connection ; web browser ; CD-ROM drive.
• System requirements for accompanying CD-ROM (Macintosh): 400 MHz G3 processor or faster ; 128 MB RAM ; Mac OS 10.2 or higher ; Apple QuickTime version 7 or higher ; Adobe Acrobat Reader ; internet connection ; web browser ; CD-ROM drive.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Founding the laboratory for computer graphics -- SYMAP -- Environmental planning -- Spatial analysis -- Graphic expressions -- Decline and rebound -- On the topological path -- ODYSSEY -- Parallel developments -- Crisis of direction -- Modest continuation -- Enduring traces.

ISBN

• 1589481186 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 9781589481183

LCCN

^^2006017397

OCLC

• 69671936
• SCSB-11714668

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library