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Charting the Unknown: How Computer Mapping at Harvard Became GIS | 
 enlarge | Author: Nick Chrisman
Publisher: Esri Press
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 913179
Format: Illustrated
Media: Paperback
Pages: 280
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 1589481186
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.285
EAN: 9781589481183
ASIN: 1589481186
Publication Date: July 1, 2006
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Product Description
In 1965, scientists and artists converged at the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis to think about using computers for mapping. Though people were experimenting with computer mapping in other parts of the world, the "birth of GIS" has connections to the Harvard Lab. Richly illustrated with fascinating maps and other historical documents from the lab's archives, this is the story of what is now a multibillion-dollar segment of the computer software industry. Also featured are some of the lab's alumni, including Allan Schmidt, who pursued cutting-edge research to apply emerging technologies to demographics and land-use change, and Jack Dangermond, who saw commercial potential and founded the Environmental Systems Research Institute.
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| Customer Reviews:
An Important Book October 16, 2006
L. C Silvern (Clarkdale AZ)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book reconstructs the time period between 1965 and 1991 and recaptures what it was like to be a part of the collection of researchers, programmers, secretaries, students, and artists, who played a part in creating what is now called Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It is really the story of architect Howard Fisher who, while at Northwestern University, conceived of the idea of using digital computers for mapping in the graphics domain of software programming. It presumes to be about the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis, but more importantly it is about the people who populated the Laboratory. The author not only identified and connected the dots...he identified thousands of additional dots representing people and events and connected all of these to each other and to the major dots!! This obviously was a system project to synthesize all of the known elements during 1965-1991....
This is an authentic, highly accurate, and exquisitely analytical historical account of the evolution of the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis which was located organizationally in the Graduate School of Design and incorporated architecture and community planning. The author has devoted considerable time and effort to rummage through numerous boxes and files of documents, videos and records, and to conduct many interviews with the individuals to verify the elements of his story. One can conclude that the volume is based on fact and has not relied simply on human memory and anecdotal evidence....
Chapter 1 follows Howard Fisher as he assembled the coalition of alliances that brought the Laboratory into being in 1965. It provides some context for other university centers of innovation where computer mapping and geographic information systems were under construction in the same period....
Chapter 2 describes the development of SYMAP (SYnagraphic MAPping), the software that served as the primary focus for Fisher's efforts. By 1970 Jack Dangermond, a graduate student of landscaping architecture, had utilized SYMAP to produce a number of regional air pollution studies. This work was to lead later to his creation of the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) which was eventually destined to become a leader in GIS.....
Chapter 3 examines the efforts of Laboratory staff to use computer tools for environmental planning, leading away from SYMAP toward a set of grid-based analytical software. These efforts included examining environmental planning concepts developed at other universities including the University of Wisconsin (Phillip Lewis) and Pennsylvania State University (Ian McHarg). McHarg's text, "Design With Nature" was considered as one of the foundations of subsequent GIS practice; (Note: The reviewer met Professor McHarg later in 1983 when he was invited to Sedona, Arizona, for discussions on community planning for the proposed City, and was aware at that time of his contributions at the Harvard Laboratory.). An outgrowth of the Delmarva Project (Carl Steinitz) was GRID (David Sinton) made available by 1969; this software also used FORTRAN subroutines and eventually led to IMGRID to be followed by MAP (Map Analysis Package). One must keep in mind that computer systems were being modified and expanded affording the researchers at Harvard opportunities to redesign these experimental software programs to fit into the new operating system configurations....
Chapter 4 covers the theoretical realms of spatial analysis developed under the leadership of William Warntz. Considerable attention is given to theoretical geography as it evolved at the Laboratory, including the fact that the University had years earlier abolished the Department of Geography! Geography had returned to Harvard with a mathematical 'division of sets' underpinning called The Sandwich Theorem. In 1968 GRASP (Generation of Random Access Site Plans) was created by Eric Teicholz depicting architectural floor plans using vector graphics displayed on hardcopy plotter output and graphics screens. This led to OTOTROL, COMPROGRAPH, and ARK-2 There was a great interest in creating software packages which could generate architectural applications softwre with a strong mathematical emphasis....
Chapter 5 explores the developments made possible by expanding computer display beyond the line printer. The early Laboratory rose to about 40 staff around 1970 and declined to six by 1972. One of the better known participants was Ivan Sutherland hired as Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering. His Sketchpad concept for graphics using a lightpen, based on his earlier lightgun effort in SAGE at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, allowed the user interface with mapping programs to be improved. During this period OTOTROL was developed. Subsequently, SYMVU which dealt with 3-dimensional surfaces, evolved largely due to the influence of Frank Rens. Another graphics approach named CALFORM was introduced as well. There was a significant impact from the U.S. Census Bureau's DIME files resulting in a reexamination of topology theory. A little later, ARPANET was utilized and interactivity began to emerge as a significant technique in the time-sharing toolkit. Much of this experimentation relied on newer hardware invented by Tektronix and other engineering firms. The man-machine interface was becoming more prominent despite esentially monocolor screen displays....
Chapter 6 covers the period of transition, decline, and rebuilding. It is essentially a reporting of how technical proposals were written, grants were obtained, experimentation was conducted, results were reported and evaluations occurred, and how this spiral path either went positive or negative. One of the major reasons for Lab decline by 1972 was simply that funding dried up. Many researchers decided that their career paths should take them to other universities to continue their work in spatial analysis and to teach; some entered the world of GIS as illustrated by ESRI (Jack Dangermond) and Caliper (Howard Slavin). A few hung on as budgets shrank working with Allan Schmidt. An expansion of ideas occurred when The Defense Intelligence Agency contracted with the Lab using Kindler Associates as an intermediary since Harvard wouldn't permit any classified (secret) contracts. The Central Intelligence Agency's public domain World Data Banks also were involved in some of these projects. The departures of Fisher and Warntz were also accompanied by a diffusion of staff personnel into other parts of the University and outside. A University Committee published an Evaluation Study in 1974 which eventually would result in a major change in Laboratory direction: the Harvard faculty wanted a Laboratory serving internal requirements and not one oriented to the outside....
Chapter 7 deals with the emergence of a topological approach to cartographic data structures, a development that began the next period for the Laboratory. About this time, the author joined the Laboratory and developed POLYVRT which could easily convert geographic base files. This led to the design for GEOGRAF which was essentially a database manager. This fit nicely into the CODASYL (COnference on DAta SYstems Languages) network database technology. Topological data structures for cartographic products was emphasized. A pilot project, Urban Atlas, based on this for the U.S. Census Bureau's Geography Division was undertaken in 1975. Then the EATDIME processor renamed CYCLONE based on dynamic memory allocation was created which opened the door to much larger projects. A new direction for the Harvard Laboratory had been achieved....
Chapter 8 explores the ODYSSEY system of software produced in the late 1970s. Initial thinking began in 1976 when the author and colleagues used CYCLONE as a starting point to design ODYSSEY. This development continued through 1981 and is described in fairly great detail including flowcharts used to illustrate the strategy. ODYSSEY served as the prototype for the modern geographic information system and is easily understood by readers with an elementary comprehension of topographic mapping and GIS....
Chapter 9 covers the diverse collection of projects and products that occurred alongside the ODYSSEY project. By 1980, the Laboratory was again at a point of great accomplishment and unknown potential, at a peak higher than in 1970. Many products ancillary to ODYSSEY were created including BUILDER for 3D architectural rendering, SEURAT for terrain display, and ARTIST for sketching. Monocolor screens gradually were replaced with color displays which used Tektronix and AED terminals....
Chapter 10 examines the conflicts over the direction of the Laboratory's work and the decline that followed. The commercialization of ODYSSEY is described including a report recommending the entire intellectual property of the Lab be transferred to a for-profit company. The use of the Harvard name became an issue. By 1981 it became clear the Lab was changing and departures were prominent....
Chapter11 describes the final period of the Laboratory and its disappearance in 1991. The Lab was to continue for 10 years operating at a modest level of performance mainly in research. Very quietly in June 1991 the Laboratory ceased operaton....
Chapter 12 reflects on the lasting aspects of the Laboratory and why it still matters to the science and practice of GIS. The most enduring traces are of the more than 130 people who created the concepts, wrote the programs, debugged the software, and made it all work for more than 25 years. A few have passed away but most continued their careers. They had dedicated their lives and intellectual energy --- they had fallen in love with the Laboratory!! As the Lab faded from view.... the world of GIS began to open.
Each chapter ends with notes on the materials cited in that chapter. A complete bibliography appears at the end of the volume. An accompanying CD contains movies produced by Laboratory staff and recent interviews with some who were associated with the Laboratory....
It is reading recommended for community and urban planners, geographers, map-makers, GIS users, and architects and should be mandatory for students enrolled in GIS curriculums....
Leonard C. Silvern
Systems Engineering Laboratories
Clarkdale AZ
This is an important book August 18, 2006
An Old Geographer (CA United States)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Nick Chrisman has preformed an important service for the geospatial community with this book. It is a very compelling story of early days of the development of GIS and computer cartography. This is the story of the Harvard Lab but Nick makes it abundantly clear that the events at the Harvard Lab were not the only things going on with computers and maps at the time. He gives credit where credit is due and does a good job of giving the impression of the intellectual ferment of the times, with important ideas and insights coming many people, from freshman to senior scientists. It must have been wonderful to have been a part of such an event/place/process. I hope that this book is widely read by the GIS community, but I think it also is an important addition to the literature of the history of science and technology.
The story of the decline and end of the Harvard Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis provides insight into campus politics and the debate over the role of a university in commercialization of intellectual property.
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