Dave Knipfer Reflects on His First Year as Owner
Welcome to the first edition of the Mapping Specialists online newsletter, the next step in the evolution of our company newsletter. We are very pleased to be launching this new form of communication with you, our clients. While many of you enjoyed our printed newsletters in the past, this digitally delivered newsletter will allow us to keep all of you informed of important developments in a timely manner. And we save a few trees in the process. So, welcome.
What a challenge all of us face in these difficult economic times. I purchased Mapping Specialists, Ltd. (MSL) on January 5, 2009, right in the middle of the national financial crisis. I have been with the company since October of 1986, and consequently I can relate to the changes and challenges all of you are facing. Never in my wildest dreams did I picture a year like the one we just experienced. Like many companies, we have downsized and become “leaner and meaner,” as they say. Through this period we have focused on services that our clients need the most: quality cartography, editorial services, research, and database development. Additionally, we have and are developing services that we see our clients needing as the economy recovers–web development, Adobe Flash and Flex programming, animations, etc. The bottom line is, I’m happy to report that we are still here and plan to keep serving you well into the future.
If there is a bright spot in all of this turmoil, I believe it is opportunity. As the economy recovers, opportunities will present themselves. I wish I had a crystal ball and could tell all of you what those opportunities are going to be, but of course I don’t. I do know that the staff here at MSL is ready to help you turn your opportunities into realities and move all of our companies forward.
I wish all of you the best of luck as this year continues to unfold.
We value your feedback, so please let us know if you have any comments about this newsletter or our company.
– Dave Knipfer, President/Owner, Mapping Specialists, Ltd.
The Ultimate United States Road Atlas
Explore America with The Ultimate United States Road Atlas! New from Hema North America, this 224-page atlas offers colorful, easy-to-read maps with seamless coverage coast-to-coast in a convenient, spiral bound format protected by a durable cover. Presenting complete, updated road information as well as thousands of points of interest such as parks, museums, and historic sites, this atlas is the perfect companion for travels near or far. Detailed shaded relief for the entire country, plus city inset maps and comprehensive, small-scale mapping of the Northeast Corridor, help you find your way. And with complete latitude and longitude on every page, it’s the perfect complement to your GPS navigator.
The Ultimate United States Road Atlas also helps make your trip planning fun and easy. A 24-page Traveler’s Guide includes information and maps of your favorite National Parks, as well as top picks for outdoor adventures, natural wonders, family fun, entertainment, culture, discovery, and unique examples of Americana—all highlighted on the atlas pages. And, unique among major American road atlases, the top of each map page describes several easy-to-find points of interest, featured on the page below. This beautiful atlas makes an excellent gift for travelers and anyone who loves maps.
Hema North America is a division of Hema Maps, a leading map producer and distributor in Australia. To create The Ultimate United States Road Atlas, Hema employed Mapping Specialists. We spent two years developing an entirely new road atlas that sets a high standard for comprehensiveness, data quality, and clarity.
Electronic Graphics Capabilities
For 26 years, Mapping Specialists, Ltd. has been at the forefront of providing the cartographic and graphic services that our clients require. Electronic publishing advances at a rate that amazes us. What was once thought to be the stuff of science fiction continues to appear at trade shows and on Web sites almost daily. Adaptation is the key to keeping up.
We have always made our best effort to adapt to the publishing market’s ever-changing demands. At one of our management team’s annual strategic planning meetings in the late 1990s, we decided to expand the diversity of our services and capabilities. Our managers assumed that a major technology shift would occur and that our client mix would change significantly. The result was that several new markets emerged as avenues to explore. This not only limited the risk from relying too heavily on one or two industry sectors, but also helped broaden our menu of services to make ourselves available to more companies. Within just a few short years, we offered large format printing, print-on-demand services, and finishing, two lines of retail products, and we created our GIS department.
That process also set the stage for continued upgrades and additional services for our existing markets. As computer hardware and software advanced, we kept pace. One Adobe representative told us at a conference that cartographers always seem to be the ones who push the software and hardware to its limits. The latest versions of the Adobe Creative Suite and other software allow us to create maps, graphics, and interactive illustrations that we once could only dream of assembling. We have some samples of some of those in our Web portfolio. Not only are there examples of static maps and illustrations that we have created, there are also several electronic graphics. Animated and interactive maps and illustrations are well within the scope of our core services. In addition to static maps and graphics, we have been creating electronic illustrations for other subject areas such as the sciences and mathematics.
Our team has also provided electronic and Web interfaces for a number of our clients. These include kid-friendly interfaces for elementary students as well as more sophisticated platforms for the high school and college markets. Please contact us to see additional examples of these. That soon led to the development of a series of educational games geared toward fourth through sixth graders which are posted on our Web site.
As the publishing world changes and evolves, Mapping Specialists, Ltd. has also continued to adjust as necessary to provide the best in quality, service, and technology to meet our clients’ high standards.
Editorial Director, Tim Carter, Retires
From Aachen to Toad Suck, Tim Carter has probably mapped it. After more than 30 years in map publishing, Tim will retire on May 31, 2010. He has been Editorial Director of Mapping Specialists for the last 14 years.
Tim, a Michigan State University graduate, cut his teeth as a classroom teacher. He began his career in cartography with the National Geographic Society as a research cartographer compiling place names for the Atlas of the World, 5th edition. He and Tom Gray were the first to complete the transliteration of Chinese place names from Wade-Giles to pinyin for a U.S. publication. His byline appeared on more than 10 supplement insert maps for National Geographic and on the masthead of the magazine. The role of map content editor for the Historical Atlas of the United States was a crowning achievement.
Tim also held management positions with Rand McNally and H.M. Gousha. At Gousha he was Editorial Director for the USA Today Golf Atlas. Golf, until recent years, has been Tim’s favorite pastime.
After the demise of Gousha, Mapping Specialists offered Tim the position of Editorial Director. This afforded an opportunity to return to his Great Lakes roots. At MSL, Tim led the editorial efforts for dozens of clients. This has been very challenging since no two clients have the same specifications or content, but each expects a high level of accuracy. A great challenge indeed!
Tim and his bride of 39 years, Denise, have no immediate plans other than walking their youngest daughter, Elizabeth, down the aisle in June. They have two other adult children, Curt and Heather. Tim will remain rather busy as an alderman and president of the city council in Stoughton, where they live.
The spring veggies are in, the weeds need tending, and Tim and Denise look forward to a bountiful harvest. And don’t be surprised to see both hailing passersby from the lantern room of a Great Lakes lighthouse. Go Green!
Mapping Specialists’ Maps in Prize-Winning Book
As you probably know, MSL staff work on a wide variety of cartographic projects—GIS, textbooks, highway maps, and everything in between. We’ve also been pleased over the years to create maps for a number of trade books issued by major publishers. When our clients gain special recognition for works that we helped them create, we’re even happier. But we didn’t expect what happened with The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, by T. J. Stiles, published in hardcover by Alfred Knopf, a unit of Random House, in early 2009.
The book, a detailed biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt—who earned a vast fortune with steamship lines and railroads—won the National Book Award for nonfiction last autumn. Then in April the book also won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. The First Tycoon has received glowing reviews in major publications across the country, and is now available in paperback from Vintage Books.
MSL created six black and white maps to supplement the text, using content specifications provided by the author, and edited copy accompanied by map size and style guidelines from the publisher. The maps range in scale from a street map of Manhattan showing growth of the city over the decades during the 1800s, to a map of North and Central America depicting Vanderbilt’s steamship lines. Our staff created the maps using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop software, which we use for most of our production work.
The First Tycoon is one of several major books issued recently that have contained MSL maps. For example, The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today, by Ted Conway, is another notable book that Random House enlisted our assistance to produce. We are, of course, always happy to see authors reach print with their work, and enjoy working with publishers to ensure timely, cost-effective production. But it’s particularly nice to see authors and publishers recognized for their efforts.
Ultimate Road Atlas Wins Best Atlas
/in NewsPress Release
Mapping Specialists is pleased to announce we were the recipient of the 2010 Best Cartographic Design of a Map Series or Atlas (Press Copy) for the Ultimate United States Road Atlas published by HEMA Maps. The Esri Map Gallery is perhaps the largest map competion in the world so we are very honored to receive this First Place Award.
# # #
Press information contact:
Mapping Specialists, Ltd.
3000 Cahill Main
Suite 220
Fitchburg, WI 53711
Phone 608.274.4004
Fax 608.274.9689
MSL Wins International Special Achievement in GIS Award
/in NewsPress Release
Each year, GIS-industry leader Esri awards an outstanding group of users who have set new standards in the GIS community with their Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award. Thousands of nominations are made by ESRI employees, and the award winners are hand selected by Jack Dangermond, owner and president of ESRI.
This year Mapping Specialists was honored to be one of the few to recieve a Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) award from ESRI. Candidates included federal, state, and local governments as well as universities, & non-profits from all over the world. Over 300,000 organizations were considered this year for the award.
ESRI is recognizing Mapping Specialists our production of Hema Atlas as well as other high profile cartographic products such as the Earth Atlas, and working directly with ESRI staff to review their exporting, printing, cartography, and a host of other tools to help push GIS into the publishing industry.
# # #
Press information contact:
Mapping Specialists, Ltd.
3000 Cahill Main
Suite 220
Fitchburg, WI 53711
Phone 608.274.4004
Fax 608.274.9689
Newsletter October 2010
/in NewsWe’re Moving!!!!
While moving an office is no easy task, I think we are in pretty good shape. With a little planning and organizing the move should go smoothly. It’s been 23 years since our last move, so the biggest challenge is sorting through literally decades of accumulated “stuff.” Some call this stuff cartographic memorabilia, while others—including myself—fondly call it junk. Though some of it truly is junk, we have found items that bring back memories of a bygone era in cartography. Scribers, scribe coat, clear Mylar, drafting pens, opaque—all remind us of how labor-intensive mapmaking once was. And the early versions of software, data tapes, and archaic hardware make us appreciate the relative speed and efficiency of modern computer mapping. Many of these pieces will find their way into a small “History of Mapping Specialists” display at our new facility.
So, if you try to contact us via phone, fax, our website, or email Friday through Sunday, November 5–7, and either can’t get through or we are slow in responding, you’ll know what we are up to. You can expect us to be back up to full speed on Monday, November 8th. At least that is the plan—wish us luck!
– Dave Knipfer, President/Owner, Mapping Specialists, Ltd.
MSL Wins “Special Achievement in GIS Award” from Esri
MSL was among a select group of organizations honored as a result of a nomination process that started with recommendations from Esri staff to a company awards committee, which then forwarded a select group of entries for personal review by Esri founder Jack Dangermond. Eligible organizations include federal, state, and local governments, as well as private companies, universities, and non-profits from around the world that use GIS to produce their map products. Winners had no knowledge of their nominations until notification of their selection for the award by Esri staff.
The Ultimate United States Road Atlas is the first seamless, continuous-scale road atlas of the United States created using ArcInfo® software from Esri, incorporating an extensive GIS database to power the map while implementing Esri tools to replace old manual workflows. The result has been improved cartographic quality and quicker map production, all while maintaining data integrity.
MSL also received a second honor at the User Conference, an Esri Map Gallery award for “Best Cartographic Design: Map Series or Atlas—Press Copy.” An expert panel of cartographers and map designers reviewed hundreds of maps on display by invitation in the annual Esri Map Gallery at the User Conference. A PDF with the complete set of this year’s winners, including MSL’s entry, is available at the link below.
MSL Store
HEMA Maps
More about MSL’s “Special Achievement in GIS” award:
2010 ESRI International User Conference — SAG Award Winners — MSL
And the entire list award winners:
2010 ESRI International User Conference — SAG Award Winners
New Atlas Presents Comprehensive View of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
“A dramatic step forward in the cartographic representation of the slave trade.” —John Thornton, author of Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800
“A groundbreaking text for both beginners and advanced students.” —Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
This is just a sample of the advance praise for the Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by David Eltis and David Richardson, to be published in November by Yale University Press. The work presents the first comprehensive, modern atlas by two leading experts in the 350-year history of the slave traffic involving Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The work contains almost 200 maps that Mapping Specialists created just for this volume.
The atlas presents in map form the data contained in the online Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, which includes records for nearly 35,000 slaving voyages, roughly 80 percent of all such voyages. The database is the product of decades of work by an international team of scholars who compiled and verified information about individual slave ship voyages. MSL worked for over four years with the authors, as well as with an advisory panel and staff at Yale University Press, to develop the maps reproduced in the atlas.
Many of the maps also have accompanying charts, designed to enhance understanding of additional elements of the slave trade. Additionally, the atlas contains a selection of illustrations and contemporary literature, including poems, letters, and diary entries, depicting the human side of the story underlying the slaving data presented.
For Mapping Specialists, Ltd., every client is important, of course, but our work on the Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade has been among our most significant projects in terms of its potential impact on scholarship as well as its appeal to general audiences. We are extremely honored that Yale University Press and the authors chose MSL to create the maps for this groundbreaking work. The atlas will be available for purchase from the press on November 8.
More information:
Yale University Press
The Transatlantic Slave Trade Database
Newsletter May 2010
/in NewsDave Knipfer Reflects on His First Year as Owner
What a challenge all of us face in these difficult economic times. I purchased Mapping Specialists, Ltd. (MSL) on January 5, 2009, right in the middle of the national financial crisis. I have been with the company since October of 1986, and consequently I can relate to the changes and challenges all of you are facing. Never in my wildest dreams did I picture a year like the one we just experienced. Like many companies, we have downsized and become “leaner and meaner,” as they say. Through this period we have focused on services that our clients need the most: quality cartography, editorial services, research, and database development. Additionally, we have and are developing services that we see our clients needing as the economy recovers–web development, Adobe Flash and Flex programming, animations, etc. The bottom line is, I’m happy to report that we are still here and plan to keep serving you well into the future.
If there is a bright spot in all of this turmoil, I believe it is opportunity. As the economy recovers, opportunities will present themselves. I wish I had a crystal ball and could tell all of you what those opportunities are going to be, but of course I don’t. I do know that the staff here at MSL is ready to help you turn your opportunities into realities and move all of our companies forward.
I wish all of you the best of luck as this year continues to unfold.
We value your feedback, so please let us know if you have any comments about this newsletter or our company.
– Dave Knipfer, President/Owner, Mapping Specialists, Ltd.
The Ultimate United States Road Atlas
The Ultimate United States Road Atlas also helps make your trip planning fun and easy. A 24-page Traveler’s Guide includes information and maps of your favorite National Parks, as well as top picks for outdoor adventures, natural wonders, family fun, entertainment, culture, discovery, and unique examples of Americana—all highlighted on the atlas pages. And, unique among major American road atlases, the top of each map page describes several easy-to-find points of interest, featured on the page below. This beautiful atlas makes an excellent gift for travelers and anyone who loves maps.
Hema North America is a division of Hema Maps, a leading map producer and distributor in Australia. To create The Ultimate United States Road Atlas, Hema employed Mapping Specialists. We spent two years developing an entirely new road atlas that sets a high standard for comprehensiveness, data quality, and clarity.
Electronic Graphics Capabilities
For 26 years, Mapping Specialists, Ltd. has been at the forefront of providing the cartographic and graphic services that our clients require. Electronic publishing advances at a rate that amazes us. What was once thought to be the stuff of science fiction continues to appear at trade shows and on Web sites almost daily. Adaptation is the key to keeping up.
We have always made our best effort to adapt to the publishing market’s ever-changing demands. At one of our management team’s annual strategic planning meetings in the late 1990s, we decided to expand the diversity of our services and capabilities. Our managers assumed that a major technology shift would occur and that our client mix would change significantly. The result was that several new markets emerged as avenues to explore. This not only limited the risk from relying too heavily on one or two industry sectors, but also helped broaden our menu of services to make ourselves available to more companies. Within just a few short years, we offered large format printing, print-on-demand services, and finishing, two lines of retail products, and we created our GIS department.
As the publishing world changes and evolves, Mapping Specialists, Ltd. has also continued to adjust as necessary to provide the best in quality, service, and technology to meet our clients’ high standards.
Editorial Director, Tim Carter, Retires
From Aachen to Toad Suck, Tim Carter has probably mapped it. After more than 30 years in map publishing, Tim will retire on May 31, 2010. He has been Editorial Director of Mapping Specialists for the last 14 years.
Tim also held management positions with Rand McNally and H.M. Gousha. At Gousha he was Editorial Director for the USA Today Golf Atlas. Golf, until recent years, has been Tim’s favorite pastime.
After the demise of Gousha, Mapping Specialists offered Tim the position of Editorial Director. This afforded an opportunity to return to his Great Lakes roots. At MSL, Tim led the editorial efforts for dozens of clients. This has been very challenging since no two clients have the same specifications or content, but each expects a high level of accuracy. A great challenge indeed!
Tim and his bride of 39 years, Denise, have no immediate plans other than walking their youngest daughter, Elizabeth, down the aisle in June. They have two other adult children, Curt and Heather. Tim will remain rather busy as an alderman and president of the city council in Stoughton, where they live.
The spring veggies are in, the weeds need tending, and Tim and Denise look forward to a bountiful harvest. And don’t be surprised to see both hailing passersby from the lantern room of a Great Lakes lighthouse. Go Green!
Mapping Specialists’ Maps in Prize-Winning Book
As you probably know, MSL staff work on a wide variety of cartographic projects—GIS, textbooks, highway maps, and everything in between. We’ve also been pleased over the years to create maps for a number of trade books issued by major publishers. When our clients gain special recognition for works that we helped them create, we’re even happier. But we didn’t expect what happened with The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, by T. J. Stiles, published in hardcover by Alfred Knopf, a unit of Random House, in early 2009.
The book, a detailed biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt—who earned a vast fortune with steamship lines and railroads—won the National Book Award for nonfiction last autumn. Then in April the book also won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. The First Tycoon has received glowing reviews in major publications across the country, and is now available in paperback from Vintage Books.
MSL created six black and white maps to supplement the text, using content specifications provided by the author, and edited copy accompanied by map size and style guidelines from the publisher. The maps range in scale from a street map of Manhattan showing growth of the city over the decades during the 1800s, to a map of North and Central America depicting Vanderbilt’s steamship lines. Our staff created the maps using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop software, which we use for most of our production work.
The First Tycoon is one of several major books issued recently that have contained MSL maps. For example, The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today, by Ted Conway, is another notable book that Random House enlisted our assistance to produce. We are, of course, always happy to see authors reach print with their work, and enjoy working with publishers to ensure timely, cost-effective production. But it’s particularly nice to see authors and publishers recognized for their efforts.
HEMA Ultimate United States Road Atlas
/in NewsNow Available!
Explore America with the Ultimate United States Road Atlas! New from Hema North America, this 224-page atlas offers colorful, easy-to-read maps with seamless coverage coast-to-coast in a convenient, spiral bound format protected by a durable cover. Presenting complete, updated road information as well as thousands of points of interest such as parks, museums, and historic sites, this atlas is the perfect companion for travels near or far. Detailed shaded relief for the entire country, plus city inset maps and comprehensive, small-scale mapping of the Northeast Corridor, help you find your way. And with complete latitude and longitude on every page, it’s the perfect complement to your GPS navigator.
Find it in the MSL Store!
Archives
/in NewsMSL Games Presents – Spin to Win
Mapping Specialists is pleased to announce the arrival of its second online game
Spin to Win is the second release by “MSL Games.” This is our first multi-player game designed for the family or the classroom. As with all MSL Games, Spin to Win is both educational and fun. More importantly, Mapping Specialists can load whatever questions you supply. The sample game, based on geography, can be played on our home page at www.mappingspecialists.com. All MSL Games take up small footprints, use low bandwidth, and run on virtually all computers that have Flash Player 9. MSL Games can be purchased individually or licensed to host on your server.
For more information on MSL Games contact msl@mappingspecialists.com. If you would like to try your hand in World Geography, go to www.mappingspecialists.com and click on Spin to Win. New games will be released soon so check the Web site often.
2009/02/13 14:57 · adamd
County Map Updates and Sale
The 2009 Dane County and 2008 Rock County atlases and wallmaps are now available. 2008 Dane (spiral-boound only) and 2007 Rock atlases are now on sale, limited quantities available!
New pricing: Rock County Atlas is now $15.95, Green County Atlas is now $12.95.
As of the 2009 Dane County Atlas, we no longer sell a binder edition. We will still sell binder updates, for those who have purchased binder atlases in the past.
2009/02/10 12:01 · William Kyngesburye
MSL Games – For the Web
Mapping Specialists is pleased to announce the arrival of MSL Games
MSL Games marks the launch of what will be a series of both static and custom games to be played on the World Wide Web. Sample games are hosted on our home page at www.mappingspecialists.com. MSL Games take up a small footprint, uses low bandwidth, and runs on virtually all machines that have FLASH Player. The games will be able to be purchased individually or licensed to host on your server.
2008/12/01 15:03 · adamd
News Products & Some New Pricing
We are now offering Natural Earth maps of the world and the U.S., and EarthView maps of the continents, created by Tom Patterson.
EarthView/Natural Earth II maps of the world portray the physical features of the earth as they would be seen from space. These maps are highly detailed and are available in nine different views centered on each of the seven continents, the North Pole, and Oceania. Available with or without national boundaries.
The Natural Earth II map of the world portrays the physical characteristics of the earth in a visually-appealing, highly-detailed way. Available with or without national boundaries.
The U.S. Physical Map of the contiguous 48 states shows the major physical features of the U.S. in detail. Based on elevation data collected by the Space Shuttle, rendered in a unique plan-oblique relief view. Available with or without labels naming significant features and major cities.
All maps are laminated and are available with optional hanging strips attached.
Prices for framed Lake Wall Maps are now as follows: $90 for small size, $125 for medium size and $175 for large size.
2007/11/01 15:30 · William Kyngesburye
MSL Online Store is live!
Our online store is now ready. All Mapping Specialists products are available for purchase online. The one limitation currently is that tiled topo quads cannot be ordered online, yet, but we’re working on that.
We will be expanding the store in the coming months to include other products that we sell, such as the DeLorme state atlases, and other products that we are licensed to sell.
2007/05/04 11:03 · William Kyngesburye
New MSL Web Site
Welcome the the new Mapping Specialists web site! New look, but still familiar. We changed from custom, mostly static pages to a weblog-based system. This makes it easier to update the site and post news items, like this one. The site is completely searchable also – find those old Newsletter articles easily. (Currently the content search and lakemap search are separate.)
The news items are also available by RSS newsfeed. Most browsers will show an RSS icon that a site has a newsfeed available – check it out and bookmark it. Currently new/updated lakemaps don’t show up in the newsfeed (unless a news item is added), but I’m working on that.
There may still be a glitch here or there. Let us know if you find any problems.
2006/06/03 14:39 · William Kyngesburye