Maps in Our Lives August 10, 2009

The Library of Congress presents 'Maps in Our Lives,' an exhibition in recognition of a thirty-year partnership between the Library's Geography and Map Division and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), the nation's primary professional organization dedicated to surveying and mapping activities. This exhibition explores four constituent professions represented by the ACSM - surveying, cartography, geodesy, and geographic information systems (GIS) - and draws on both the Library's historic map collections and the ACSM collection in the Library of Congress. The exhibit also features a video that provides a historical and spatial comparison of the surveying maps featured in this exhibit. These maps are overlaid with contemporary GIS data of the same area and show the power of GIS in presenting and interpreting landscape over time.