November, 1974 of the cities, counties, and special .districts, our first impulse is to . wonder why, with all this wealth of maps from the "higher echelons;" the lower levels need to do any mapping at all. The facts seem to be, that the beautiful Federal and state maps, though known, used, and appreciated, often fail to come to grips with the day-by-day needs of the little people. The big drawback of the Federal mappings is the length of their revision cycle. Twenty years, and sometimes thirty or forty, elapse before a given map is updated. In times like these, such periods are simply too long for people responsible for police, fire, school, and other public services at the local level. The state mappings have a shorter revision cycle (five years or nearly that), but each series lacks something the local authorities need The State Highway county series, for example, lacks road names except on its enlargements of congested areas; and these, as we have remarked, are rendered almost illegible by the airphoto background (Highways has made, for its own use, a map of each county showing road names, and these maps can be had by special order, but they still seem not to suit the locals; perhaps because they show only roads, nothing else. The ideal road map shows quite a bit of detail other than roads.) The Columbia Region Associated Governments, CRAG for short, turns out a truly prodigious output of maps, mostly in connection with its long-range planning. Some are quite beautiful, printed in ten colors, and up to highest standards artistically, but useless, of course, in the here and now. For present-day use CRAG has developed a monstrous map in three yard-wide sheets each many yards long, designed to cover the entire metropolitan area. My first impression of this map was favorable. It was accurate and it was updated from week to week as news of changes came in. Lately, though, I have heard opinions of this map that disturb Future Report Page 15 me. Apparently the street and road names were begun in too frail and spidery a style, and these fragile letters are beginning to erode from the original drawing. Illegibility is the cardinal sin in the world of maps, and CRAG seems to have committed it. I am sorry to see this expensive three-sheet map go down the drain, as the idea was good. Perhaps the drawing can be salvaged yet, with the street names replaced or heavied up. Had the CRAG map been adequate, obviously the emergency services of eastern Washington county would not have had to finance a parallel mapping of their part of the CRAG area, this time with street names clear and legible. Many cities and counties issue their own home-drawn maps, some of which are barely legible, others excellent. No library stocks them; one must make a pilgrimage from city hall to courthouse throughout your area of interest. Prices range from free to several dollars. Private mapping continues to develop, in spite of the existence of so many public maps. Oil companies hire Rand or Gousha to turn out city maps on an assembly-line baSis; some are quite good. The best, or at least most inclusive, map of the metro area is to be had from Mobil and Union stations. Others are ·also good but do not extend quite so far into the outskirts. The rural property map is the specialty of Metsker of Tacoma. This firm maps each of the 75 northwestern counties in a cycle hovering around 15 years. All but the smallest lots are mapped with owner's name. The Tscheu Company, of Portland, turns out rural route maps. They can be had in county-atlas form, complete with a list of the rural taxpayers in the subject county. -Bob Benson €NGINEERING ) 12 Shattuck St. Nashua, N.H. 03060 (§eo LOGY ) Nomadic Furniture, 2 Pantheon Books, $4.95 Victor Papneck (Design for the Real World) and james Hennessey (with Papneck, Nomadic Furniture, 1). Excellent how-to-build simple furniture. Pelton Wheels Alternative Power Systems P.O. Box 124 Custer, Wash. 98240 We now have a small supply of cast steel Pelton type turbine wheels. Also complete units and units in all stages of construction, for people that want to use their water power now; also we would like to form an association of people to help people develop s<?me hydroelectric systems at lowest cost possible. see also Energy, Agriculture {tuTURES Range: 5-20 year futures .Prime characteristics: ) • Choice over alternative futures-choice is available over alternative opportunities the future offers, if awareness of alternatives exists in the present. • Revolutionary change implementable in this time frame, from directed evolutionary (small) changes initiated today. • Almost anything imaginable may be brought about in this time frame. • The future available in this time frame is invertable and shapable today. • Today's decisions can solidify this future time frame. (Earl C. Joseph, The Futurist, August, 1974) $75/yr. Semi-monthly report on future planning, technological developments, energy situation. Entry example: A Comprehensive Energy Bibliography National Technical Information Service Springfield, Va. 22151 Published by NASA. $6 bibliography, quarterly reports $4 per issue, or $15/yr. General Catalog Hillcrest Publications P.O. Box 395 McDonald, Ohio 44437 This catalog paints a disturbing picture of hard times, city survival during the famine to come, food storage, guerrilla warfare, plant identification, the PoorMan's james Bond Free. ·ro· ....... ~ ) , -.;,;;;;;..,: e BURNING IY GLASS By 1985 we probably will be dependent upon imports for more than half of our supplies of 9 of 13 basic industrial raw materials, including iron ore, bauxite and tin. (speech, Gov. McCall) ) see also Education The Geological Society of the Oregon Country Attn: Secretary P.O. Box 8579 Portland, Or. 97207 Lectures, field trips, earth science seminars, workshops. $10 membership (within 30 miles of Portland), $7 junior. $7 and $3 over 30 miles. Monthly newsletter. see also Education, Agriculture @ovERNMENT ) Department of Environmental Quality 1234 S.W. Morrison Portland, Or. 97205 229-5696 Laboratory and applied research. $192,000 State Emergency Board planning funds for moving lab to Portland State University, in better quarters. The Job Impact of Alternatives to Corps of Engineers Projects. University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana Center for Advanced Computation Urbana, Ill. $4.50 paper/$1.45 microfiche A projection of the economic result of a possible shift of $1.13 billion from the Coxps of Engineers budget to 5 alternative projects: 1) national health insurance; 2) Social Security payments; 3) mass transit development; 4) construction of waste treatment facilities; and 5) general tax relief. NSF/RA/N-73·052 Order from: Documents NTIS U.S. Dept of Commerce Springfield, Va. 22151 (L.J.) continued on page 16
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