WEBVTT Kind: captions; Language: en 00:00:24.001 --> 00:00:29.001 Since the historic voyage of Columbus, the science of map making has played a 00:00:29.001 --> 00:00:33.001 leading role in the birth and development of America. Through the intervening 00:00:33.001 --> 00:00:38.001 centuries, map information concerning this great country has grown with ever 00:00:38.001 --> 00:00:44.000 increasing rapidity. More power to those first explorers and early pioneers who 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:49.000 crossed strange oceans, blazed new trails, discovered new lands, new mountains, 00:00:49.001 --> 00:00:53.001 new rivers, new forests, and recorded their findings for the benefit of those to 00:00:53.001 --> 00:00:59.001 follow. Map making in the olden days was like painting a masterpiece, a slow, 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:05.000 laborious, and highly specialized task requiring the utmost skill and patience. 00:01:06.001 --> 00:01:11.000 Map making today has the speed of our modern streamlined methods, but it is still 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:17.000 a highly specialized occupation. Today, the finest maps, formerly the prized 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:23.000 possessions of the privileged few, can be had for the asking. Presto, and right 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:27.001 at their fingertips, modern motorists can have an information bureau on any road 00:01:27.001 --> 00:01:33.000 they may wish to take. But how many of us ever stop to think what a tremendous 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:38.001 task it is to keep constant check on the millions of miles of roads in the United 00:01:38.001 --> 00:01:45.001 States? The biggest catch in making roadmaps is keeping them 00:01:45.001 --> 00:01:50.001 up to date. Modern map makers have solved this by developing a trick method of 00:01:50.001 --> 00:01:57.000 printing. Revised maps can be put out every two weeks. By this method, maps can 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:02.000 have their faces lifted without fuss or feathers. Here's how it's done. Every 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.000 time a road is to be built or repaired, symbols showing its progress are 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:11.001 overprinted onto the latest edition of the regular roadmap. The map companies, 00:02:11.001 --> 00:02:16.001 expert draftsmen, spend all their time checking road reports and drawing in 00:02:16.001 --> 00:02:21.000 symbols indicating latest road conditions. These symbols are first drawn on 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:26.000 transparent sheets laid over the original master map from which all roadmaps of 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:31.001 that district are made. This particular symbol, for instance, shows that certain 00:02:31.001 --> 00:02:37.000 roads are under construction, but that detours are provided. This symbol will be 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.001 drawn over every road that fits this classification 00:02:39.001 --> 00:02:41.001 at the time the map goes to press. 00:02:41.001 --> 00:02:46.000 But wait a minute. How does the draftsman know all this? It's a cinch he can't 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.000 walk every mile of every road in the United States. Well, somebody has to. Who is 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:52.001 this fellow with the seven league boots? 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:59.000 This work is done by fieldmen, road scouts who each year travel the equivalent of 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:05.000 many round trips to the moon. As a rule, these map detectives work in pairs. One 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.000 man driving the car as the other plots road changes on a special chart book. 00:03:09.001 --> 00:03:13.001 Notations are carefully checked against special instruments to ensure complete 00:03:13.001 --> 00:03:18.001 accuracy. Drawing a straight line in a moving automobile on a bumpy road is one 00:03:18.001 --> 00:03:24.001 job that calls for a steady hand and a car that smoothly cooperates. These road 00:03:24.001 --> 00:03:29.000 changes, when carefully drawn to scale in the graph books, are now ready for the 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:34.000 big leagues, the master detour maps in the drafting rooms. Here is another type 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:39.000 of symbol often found on up-to-date detour maps. This one indicates road under 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:45.000 construction but open to traffic. In other words, drive with care. Automobile 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.000 club scouts like these also run down valuable road clues. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:54.000 These men often do two jobs at once. Besides gathering data for the latest detour 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:58.001 maps, they also check new findings against old United States Geological 00:03:58.001 --> 00:04:00.001 Survey topographical sheets. 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:06.000 On these, they not only indicate the topography of the land, drawing in all 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:11.000 mountains, canyons, and rivers, but they also check official mileage figures from 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:15.000 point to point, comparing them with those already listed on the survey sheets. 00:04:15.001 --> 00:04:20.001 Since many of these were drawn up from surveys made over 30 years ago, some roads 00:04:20.001 --> 00:04:23.001 are found to be longer or shorter than their birth certificate shows. 00:04:24.001 --> 00:04:29.000 Being a road scout is no soft snap. Driving around Death Valley in the summer 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:34.000 isn't found in the pink tea section of the book. But it's all in a day's work 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:35.001 as far as these boys are concerned. 00:04:36.001 --> 00:04:40.001 Years spent in the wide open spaces have toughened them to take the worst 00:04:40.001 --> 00:04:42.000 old man weather offers. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.000 Just put on your sun goggles and take a peep at that thermometer. 00:04:46.001 --> 00:04:52.001 It's only 115 degrees in the shade. What shade? Draw two, 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:54.001 Jake, for the boys in the back oasis. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.001 Lucky thing their camel does need a drink though because 00:04:57.001 --> 00:04:59.000 the water supply looks pretty slim. 00:05:01.001 --> 00:05:06.000 One of the many things these auto club scouts keep tab on is the rise and fall of 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:10.001 elevation at certain points. Since the earth's surface is constantly changing, 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:15.001 like the crust of a baking pie, they often discover that what was low down on 00:05:15.001 --> 00:05:17.001 earlier surveys is now on the up and up. 00:05:18.001 --> 00:05:21.001 Elevations are recorded with an aneroid, a special 00:05:21.001 --> 00:05:23.000 altimeter like those used on airplanes. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.001 This aneroid is so sensitive to atmospheric pressure, it registers changes 00:05:28.001 --> 00:05:30.000 of elevation in inches. 00:05:30.001 --> 00:05:34.000 This reading is then checked against the altitude figure on 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:35.001 the geological survey benchmark. 00:05:36.001 --> 00:05:39.001 These benchmarks found all over the United States list 00:05:39.001 --> 00:05:41.000 elevations for each locality. 00:05:42.001 --> 00:05:46.001 If the road scout's elevation is at outs with a benchmark reading, he makes a 00:05:46.001 --> 00:05:49.000 notation of the difference and sends it to the geological 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:50.001 survey headquarters in Washington. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:56.001 In the meantime, there are many more roads to be covered, so the boys better step 00:05:56.001 --> 00:06:02.000 on it or they'll take a look at [... ] department and road construction companies 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:06.000 also do their stuff and giving much valuable information for keeping maps up to 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:12.001 date. This particular symbol, road closed to traffic means just what it says. 00:06:13.001 --> 00:06:17.001 When you come up to bad news like that, there's only two things left to do, get a 00:06:17.001 --> 00:06:24.001 tractor or turn back. Well, here comes someone now. Is he going to be 00:06:24.001 --> 00:06:28.001 sore when he has to go around by pumpkinville? Hey, mister, turn 00:06:28.001 --> 00:06:31.000 around. Next, next, you can't do that. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:36.000 Oh, this gent's no tourist. He's the highway superintendent to 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.000 see how the new road's shaping up. 00:06:38.001 --> 00:06:42.001 There are countless men throughout the country just like this highway official, 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.001 who in gathering data for their own use contribute much helpful 00:06:46.001 --> 00:06:48.001 information to the makers of roadmaps. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.001 This gradeometer, for example, registers the pitch of the 00:06:53.001 --> 00:06:55.000 grade the car is resting on. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:00.000 When recorded on the highway department survey map, this data will be sent to map 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:06.000 company draftsmen along with blueprints of the road being built. Yes, it's swell 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.001 teamwork on the part of everyone that gets speedy, accurate information for 00:07:10.001 --> 00:07:17.000 modern roadmaps. Daily, these men sail into their jobs unmindful of grueling road 00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:21.001 and weather conditions. Scenes like these multiplied thousands of times are 00:07:21.001 --> 00:07:26.001 continually taking place throughout the length and breadth of America. Each man 00:07:26.001 --> 00:07:31.001 adds his piece to the ever-growing and ever-changing jigsaw puzzle that makes up 00:07:31.001 --> 00:07:37.000 a road map. Speed is essential, particularly in the case of detour maps. Speed in 00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:39.001 getting the news on the map while it's still news. 00:07:39.001 --> 00:07:42.001 Speed in revising it when the roads are again open to traffic. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.000 When all this last-minute road information has been transposed to the overlay 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:54.000 sheet, the sheet is removed and placed in a special vacuum frame. A huge camera 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.001 then photographs the overlay onto a glass negative. This negative is 00:07:58.001 --> 00:08:03.000 photographically transferred onto a sensitized zinc plate, which after having its 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:07.000 face washed in an acid solution, is ready to be inked and locked on the press. 00:08:08.001 --> 00:08:11.001 This press swiftly overprints the detour symbols onto the 00:08:11.001 --> 00:08:13.000 latest standard roadmaps. 00:08:13.001 --> 00:08:17.001 These in turn are automatically cut and folded to the proper size, 00:08:17.001 --> 00:08:19.001 ready to give folks a good steer. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:27.001 Yes, map making has changed, has kept pace with a changing America. Modern maps 00:08:27.001 --> 00:08:32.000 guide us over the modern roads of the land, over great super highways such as the 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:34.000 famous new Pennsylvania turnpike. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:39.000 Modern maps taking today's motorists where they want to go, when they want to go, 00:08:39.001 --> 00:08:42.001 quickly, comfortably, and safely.