The National Archives and Public Records

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the huge cartographic holdings of The National Archives (TNA). It continues by outlining the procedures by which records are selected for permanent preservation by TNA.     

THE KEEPING OF SURVEY RECORDS

Abstract

Although the title of this paper may appear to some to refer to a rather humdrum subject which hardly deserves much serious thought or consideration, it is the writer's experience that the vital necessity for keeping clear records of survey work in a permanent form in which they can easily be referred to at any future time is not always sufficiently appreciated by those whose duties do not involve constant or frequent reference to the records of old work. Accordingly, the following notes and suggestions, which are based on practical experience, may be of service in drawing attention to a matter which is really of great practical importance.     

ELIMINATION OF ERRORS OF LATITUDE AND REFRACTION IN THE PAIRING OF AZIMUTH OBSERVATIONS

Abstract

In a previous Article (Empire Survey Review, ii, II) I described a simple graphical method for the elimination of latitude error in observations for azimuth. It was pointed out that the ideal method of adjustment of azimuths would be a simultaneous elimination of both latitude and refraction errors and, with that in view, a purely theoretical method of such an adjustment was demonstrated in the last paragraph of the article. It has now occurred to me that a fairly simple mathematical solution is possible.     

“BUGS” THAT BITE THE SURVEYOR

Abstract

The preservation of health is of paramount importance to the surveyor, who often has to carry out his work in a tropical or subtropical climate, and soon, discovers that loss of time through sickness means uneconomical surveying. It is not realized by everyone that enormous casualties are still caused among modern armies by disease; the best way of illustrating this fact is to quote figures for the last thirty years.     

A Dealer's Perspective on the Future of Paper Maps

Abstract

The paper discusses changes that have occurred over the last 15 years in how maps are sold, where they are sold and who is buying them. The emphasis is on the situation in the United States of America, but developments in Europe and the United Kingdom are also included.     

TIDAL OBSERVATIONS IN CEYLON

Abstract

I. IN a Report which appeared in the Empire Survey Review, vol. i, no. 5, a short account was given on pp. 227-8 of the tidal observations which had been taken in Ceylon up to that time, with special reference to the selection of a datum for the geodetic levelling of the Island. The automatic tide-gauges at Colombo and Trincomalee were maintained in action till January 1934, giving five years of simultaneous continuous records of sea-level. The resul ts of an analysis of these observations may be of interest to readers. Where necessary, statements and figures appearing in the Report mentioned above will be repeated here, to make this account complete in itself and to avoid troublesome cross- reference.     

RADAR CONTROLLED AIR SURVEY PHOTOGRAPHIC OPERATIONS IN AFRICA 1946–1952

Abstract

In 1943, the Colonial Research Committee accepted a proposal submitted by the Colonial Survey and Geophysical Committee to the effect that a Central Colonial Survey Organization should be established to undertake geodetic surveys and topographical mapping, publish the work completed, hold the required equipment and maintain the necessary records. In order that such an organization, if approved, could commence to operate as soon as possible after the end of war, a detailed scheme for same was called for by the Colonial Research Committee.     

EVOLUTION OF LAND RECORDS

Abstract

Owing to delays at this end in the preparation of the paper on “The direct use of vertical photographs in Zanzibar for cadastral purposes”, for which apology is due to Mr. Chambers as well as to readers, its publication has been regretfully deferred. We are using the opportunity to publish the Bibliography which could not conveniently appear with our opening paper last April, and to accompany this with an outline of some early and feudal developments in land records which we hope may help to interest a wider circle of land surveyors in this feature of cadastral work. For experience in many countries has impressed on us that the effective record of rights and duties pertaining to land, particularly in parts of the world less stably patterned agriculturally and more closely divided than England, has suffered grievously from a divorce between the legal and the technical aspects of cadastral record and between its operation and effects as sought on parchment in legislatures and the administrative offices of governments and as realized in daily practice by landholders and cultivators on the ground itself.     

Coloured Roads on Ordnance Survey First Edition 1 : 2500 Plans and One-Inch Maps 1897–1935, and the Rights Of Way Disclaimer

Abstract

In 1892 a government committee of inquiry into the Ordnance Survey suggested that the Survey should make a distinction between public and private second class roads at the one-inch scale. This study is confined to England and Wales and looks at the nineteenth-century practice of colouring roads on the large-scale plans, and compares the representation of coloured rural roads on early Ordnance Survey one-inch maps with near contemporary highway records of the county of Huntingdonshire, sixteen rural district councils in six counties and an estate in Suffolk. The results show that all but four of the coloured roads on the one-inch maps in these areas are recorded as publicly maintainable highways.     

Reviewing the discoverability and accessibility to data and information products linked to Essential Climate Variables

ABSTRACT

Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) are geophysical records generated from systematic Earth Observations associated with climate variations, changes, and impacts. ECVs products support the data and information needs of international frameworks and policies such as the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We map the main networks and initiatives publishing ECVs, by presenting an overview of existing satellite-based ECVs, their general data creation characteristics, discoverability and accessibility methods from an end-user perspective. We investigate key initiatives providing or coordinating access to ECV data records, such as the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS), Joint Working Group on Climate (WGClimate), the Remote Sensing Systems (REMSS), and the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI). We find that ECV data discovery and access is difficult and time consuming due to the lack of common data and metadata catalogues. In addition, the selection of fit-for-purpose data records by end-users requires the implementation of interoperable standards and scalable data infrastructures to allow the generation of tailored applications and data-driven information products in support of decision-making processes.     

Tracking desertification on the Mongolian steppe through NDVI and field-survey data

Abstract

Changing environmental and socio-economic conditions make land degradation, a major concern in Central and East Asia. Globally satellite imagery, particularly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, has proved an effective tool for monitoring land cover change. This study examines 33 grassland water points using vegetation field studies and remote sensing techniques to track desertification on the Mongolian plateau. Findings established a significant correlation between same-year field observation (line transects) and NDVI data, enabling an historical land cover perspective to be developed from 1998 to 2006. Results show variable land cover patterns in Mongolia with a 16% decrease in plant density over the time period. Decline in cover identified by NDVI suggests degradation; however, continued annual fluctuation indicates desertification – irreversible land cover change – has not occurred. Further, in situ data documenting greater cover near water points implies livestock overgrazing is not causing degradation at water sources. In combination of the two research methods – remote sensing and field surveys – strengthen findings and provide an effective way to track desertification in dryland regions.     

Spatiotemporal characteristics of white mold and impacts on yield in soybean fields in South Dakota

ABSTRACT

White mold of soybeans is one of the most important fungal diseases that affect soybean production in South Dakota. However, there is a lack of information on the spatial characteristics of the disease and relationship with soybean yield. This relationship can be explored with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from Landsat 8 and a fusion of Landsat 8 and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images. This study investigated the patterns of yield in two soybean fields infected with white mold between 2016 and 2017, and estimated yield loss caused by white mold. Results show evidence of clustering in the spatial distribution of yield (Moran’s I = 0.38; p < 0.05 in 2016 and Moran’s I = 0.45; p < 0.05 in 2017) that can be explained by the spatial distribution of white mold in the observed fields. Yield loss caused by white mold was estimated at 36% in 2016 and 56% in 2017 for the worse disease pixels, with the most accurate period for estimating this loss on 21 August and 8 September for 2016 field and 2017 field, respectively. This study shows the potential of free remotely sensed satellite data in estimating yield loss caused by white mold.     

Some reflections on cartographic design

Abstract

The author reflects on some of the main influences on map design which occurred during his own working lifetime in cartography. These include the post-World War II developments in graphic arts technology and the impetus these gave to what is now regarded to 'traditional' cartography; the design challenge of the photomap; theory and research in the nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties and finally the digital transition.

The use of powerful digital systems to experiment with cartographic design, and the improvements in design standards which expert systems may offer to noncartographers are regarded as important prospects in the immediate future.     

TWO SIMPLIFIED CHECKS

Abstract

The usual method employed is to plot or to compute the traverse from each end; the poin t having the same coordinates in each route is the station where the gross angular error occurred. There is, however, a method of finding the error by plotting the traverse one way only. Let us consider the traverse having the known terminals A B (see Fig.). Suppose that the error occurred at the point P and that the final point obtained (plotting the traverse from A) was B′ in place of the correct point B. We can easily see that the triangle PBB′is isosceles, and that therefore a straight line bisecting BB′at right angles will meet the traverse in the required point P.     

PERSONALIA

Abstract

The death occurred suddenly on 2nd February, 1935, of Mr. WILLIAM ERNEST BARRON,of Fort Jameson, Northern Rhodesia. Mr. Barron, who was 55 years of age, held the Certificate of Land and Mine Surveyor of the School of Mines, University of Otago, New Zealand, and the Mine Surveyor's certificate of competency, Transvaal, and in 1913 was licensed as a surveyor in Northern Nigeria. In 1921 he was licensed as a surveyor for private practice in Northern Rhodesia. He was for over four years Chief Surveyor to the Van Ryn Gold Mines Estate, Ltd., and for two years to the Bantjes Consolidated Mines, Ltd., and for some time to Modderfontein East, Ltd. He was first employed in Northern Rhodesia as Mine Captain in charge of survey work at Broken Hill Mine, and from 1923 to 1928 was engaged by the Rhodesia Broken Hill Development Co., Ltd., in the survey and setting out of all work in connexion with that Company's Hydro-Electric Power Scheme at Mulungushi. Upon the completion of this work, in which Mr. Barron showed the greatest skill and accuracy under difficult conditions, he was engaged by the North Charterland Exploration Company as surveyor, and at the time of his death he was carrying out the survey of that Company's Land Concession, an area of 10,000 square miles on the south-eastern border of Northern Rhodesia. By his death the survey profession has lost an able and keen personality, and he will be greatly missed by the many friends he made in this country. He leaves a widow and son to mourn his loss.     

TRIGONOMETRICAL HEIGHTS AND THE COEFFICIENT OF TERRESTRIAL REFRACTION

Abstract

Mr. A. J. Morley has contributed a series of articles in the Review (E.S.R., iv, 23, 16; iv, 25, 136 and vi, 40, 76) on the adjustment of trigonometrical levels and the evaluation of the coefficient of terrestrial refraction with a view to ascertaining how other Colonies and Dominions deal with these problems. This object is very commendable as several problems concerning both the observational and theoretical sides arise in height determinations, regarding which there is not much guidance in the usual treatises on the subject.     

COMPENSATION AS A CONSEQUENCE OF TWO KINDS OF ROCK STRUCTURE

Abstract

The following points occurred to me when reading the interesting paper on crustal equilibrium in E.S.R. No. 23. The principle of compensation or isostasy necessarily involves the idea of two different kinds of rock structure—one strong, the other weak or in extreme cases fluid; for example, there is the familiar case of the strong iceberg resisting change of shape in the liquid sea. In dealing with crustal problems of the earth then, we should make up our minds which part is to be considered as strong, e.g. the granite crust, and which part as weak or fluid, e.g. material at a depth x km. (say roo km.); by weak or fluid I mean that a possibility exists of horizontal movement.