Charting New Transportation Environment

Demands for transportation are moving into areas that not only call for a considerable increase in conventional mapping and surveying capabilities, but pose many unconventional problems and technology requirements. These are illustrated by examples of transportation ventures now active or under study. For example: unusual environments (icebreakers, civilian submarines), technology (gravity vacuum train, National Air Space System), and requirements (automatic vehicle location, Dial-a-Bus). The growing contribution of computer-assisted map production using regional banks of computer-compatible geocoded socio-economic, geographical, and physical data for route planning and production of graphics is emphasized. Remote sensor technology, such as side-looking radar, infra red photography, are shown to add another dimension of capability to mapping large areas quickly, to revealing features not obvious from on-site examination, and to obtaining data cheaply. Their possible application to other areas such as urban transportation planning is considered.