THE Second Pan American Consultation on Geography and Cartography took place in Rio de Janeiro, August 14 to September 2, 1944. This meeting, the second of its kind, was of far-reaching importance to the progress of mapping in the Americas. The First Consultation had been held in Washington, September 29 to October 14, 1943. The American Geographical Society acted as host for the United States, and the Commission on Cartography of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History acted as joint sponsor, and organized the Consultation. Broad lines for the program of mapping improvement in the Hemisphere were drawn. The First Consultation was attended by technical representatives from the countries of North and South America. In the Second, all of the American nations, with the exception of El Salvador, Haiti and Nicaragua, were represented. The Brazilian Government joined the Pan American Institute in sponsoring the Second Consultation, and the general program outlined in the First Consultation was further refined, and specific recommendations as to immedi ate and future procedure were made.

The nations of the American Hemisphere have, for the most part, always been conscious of the need for more and better map information. The need for maps of certain classes, notably aeronautical charts, has been critical since the beginning of the Second

World War. For while the excellent maps compiled by the American Geographical Society were fortunately complete and available for most of Latin America at the beginning of the war, the need of charts for air transport and related purposes made it necessary to fly over and photograph large portions of the Southern Hemisphere. Further, aeronautical charts prepared in some South American localities by the Germans before the war were found to be not only inaccurate, but apparently purposely so.

The lack of map information in some areas, and the unreliability of the information in others, called for a tremendous effort in the production of aeronautical charts. The job was undertaken by the United States Air Forces, in cooperation with the other American nations concerned. The series of aeronautical charts which resulted was prepared in a remarkably short period of time. Furthermore, the charts are of such a high standard that they constitute a milestone, in the geographic progress not only of the Hemisphere, but of the entire planet.

But mapping interest and accomplishment in the Americas is by no means a recent phenomenon. On the contrary, it dates far back in history. The voyages of Columbus and his successors produced maps of the lands they touched, and into which they and the conquistadors speedily entered. During this, the Colonial Period, the ac

cumulation of information gained by these explorations gradually built up, at least in outline, maps of a large portion of the Hemisphere. In what has been called the Reconnaissance Period, the work of von Humboldt and other European geographers and scientists made further addition to this accumulating map information. With the gaining of independence, each of the American nations embarked, in greater or lesser degree, upon national programs of surveying and mapping of its own territories. Preceding these three periods of American mapping development there was mapping accomplishment of a more primitive kind, in the pre-Columbian American cultures. Primitive man has always drawn maps, and these progressed in America from rude outlines and pictures traced in stone to the maps on parchment and cloth, typified by those which the Aztecs painted on such material, and which were copied, with their original symbols supplemented by Spanish language notations, even after the Conquest.

To the three post-Columbian stages in American map progress we may now add a fourth. It is evident that the colonial, reconnaissance, and national periods have been followed by an international period, in which map affairs must be considered on a cooperative basis by all the nations of this hemisphere. Furthermore, it is now perfectly obvious that American interest in maps does not stop with the hemisphere. In many respects it is necessarily world-wide.

In the Second Consultation, the technical sessions were organized around five principal discussion topics. These were: geodesy and astronomy; aeronautical charts; topography and aerophotogrammetry; hydrography; and cartography and geography. Two half-day sessions were devoted to each topic. All sessions were conducted as open. meetings of the Commission on Cartography. They were attended by members of the

Commission and by other technical delegates and observers from the participating nations, and by delegates and technical observers from Brazil. Discussion leaders for each topic were selected from the Brazilian delegation, and the writer, as Chairman of the Commission on Cartography, acted as general chairman for all discussion sessions.

Credit for the organization of the Consultation, and for the efficient manner in which its business was carried out, goes to the officers and staff of Brazil's National Council on Geography, of which Ambassador José Carlos de Macedo Soares is President, and Dr. Christovam Leite de Castro is Secretary General. The Council also arranged an Exposition of maps, charts and survey data produced by the various American nations represented, which was an outstanding feature of the Consultation. An indication of the size and extent of the Exposition may be obtained from the fact that one entire floor of the new Serrador Building was needed to display the maps and photographs brought by the various delegations.

The delegates were given the opportunity of meeting President Vargas and other of ficials of the Brazilian Government, and of visiting and inspecting Brazil's various official cartographic agencies. In addition to the National Council on Geography itself, visits were made to the Geological Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Hydrographic Service of the Navy, and the Geographic Service of the Army, all in Rio de Janeiro. The delegates were also given the advantage of the trip to São Paulo and the seaport city of Santos, and to two other communities in the São Paulo region, Campinas and Rio Claro. visits were made to the Geographic and Geologic Institute of that State, as well as to the Technological Institute.

In São Paulo

A most interesting feature of this trip was the visit to Volta Redonda, Brazil's new steel city. Delegates were given the opportunity to see not only the offices and plant of the Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional, but also to inspect the housing and other admirable facilities of the city.

In final plenary session of the Consultation, held at the close of the technical discussion sessions, many resolutions, some very specific in character, were enacted. These resolutions, and the discussions upon which they were based, are now in process of publication by the Brazilian Government in cooperation with the Pan American Institute. Certain of the recommendations contained in these resolutions deserve special mention.

As an indication of the real interest which each of the American nations feels in the

progress of mapping in its own area and in the Hemisphere, a resolution was adopted urging that each nation contribute, in addition to its regular quota payments to the Institute, an additional amount for carrying on the work of the Commission on Cartography. The Institute was also requested repeatedly to serve as the central agency and international supporter of various surveying and mapping activities which its Commission on Cartography has initiated, through the First and Second Consultations and through the work of its traveling secretary, Dr. André C. Simonpietri.

At the First Consultation the Commission was urged by the delegates attending to set up three permanent committees, to be concerned with geodesy, aeronautical charts, and topographic mapping, respectively. The Second Consultation reiterated this request,

and further recommended the establishment of a Committee on Hydrography and a Committee on Cartography and Geography. The purpose of the latter is to study and to promote the mutually profitable relationships between the two fields.

The resolutions relating to geodesy and astronomy urged the nations represented to proceed with all possible speed with work of this character, and to connect their systems of triangulation and precise leveling across their borders, so that a continental framework of geodetic surveys may be completed as soon as possible.

In respect to aeronautical charts, much interest was visible, as was to be expected. The work of the United States Government was especially commended, and the Consultation went on record as favoring the adoption of the 1:1,000,000 aeronautical chart produced for military purposes on a standard sheet size of 22′′ x 29′′, as the standard aeronautical chart for the American Hemisphere.

It is worthy of mention that at the recent International Civil Aviation Conference convened in Chicago November 1, 1944, this chart was adopted as the world standard. The fact that the nations of America, including Canada, had already agreed upon it for the Hemisphere was undoubtedly a factor in this decision.

Topographic mapping was also the center of much interest, since such maps are not only of tremendous value in themselves but form the bases for practically all other maps, such as geologic maps, soil maps, and vegetative cover maps. The airplane that has brought the nations of the Hemisphere into such close relationship has also made possible the aerial photography which so greatly expedites map making. Upon the general basis of geographic knowledge which is furnished by the aeronautical charts, maps of larger scale can be planned. By the use of

the photographs employed in the compilation of the aeronautical charts, and by additional aerial photography where necessary, larger scale topographic maps may be actually constructed. Greatly increased progress in topographic mapping is to be expected. Brazil was one of the first nations to practice photogrammetry, or the art of making maps from photographs, and the rapid progress of map making by this method in Brazil seems assured.

The Brazilian nation has also done splendid work in hydrographic charting. Close cooperation with the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy, and with corresponding offices in the other American nations, has contributed greatly to this. Discussions on hydrographic charts resulted in resolutions which called for the Commission's Committee on Hydrography to proceed along several specific lines. For example, it was urged that all of the information essential to navigation, such as depths and navigation hazards, and notices to mariners, be classified as public information, and speedily disseminated. It was also urged that aerophotogrammetry be used in the preparation of the charts of shore areas, and of off-lying danger zones as well. Taking cognizance of the increased accuracy which modern methods of hydrographic charting have made possible, it was recommended that hydrographic surveys be extended to greater distances from the shore, even to the extent of going beyond the continental shelf.

In recognition of the close relationship of surveying and mapping to geographic science in general, the Consultation urged that the Committee on Cartography and Geography, to be created by the Commission, study the relationships between these fields, and develop methods for improving and extending the service which cartographic science can render to geography. The Con

sultation also suggested to the Pan American Institute of Geography and History that it create a Commission on Applied Geography, for the purpose of enlarging activities in

this field.

The practical results of this Second Consultation are both general and specific. The value of international meetings, in which persons professionally and officially interested in a particular science or field of endeavor can become acquainted with each other, is now well recognized. Acquaintanceships are formed, ideas and information. are exchanged, and this not only increases the effectiveness of each for service in his own nation, but advances the technique and enlarges the service it can render internationally. As the result of acquaintanceships so

formed, actual agreements for international collaboration in the making of aeronautical charts, for example, have been perfected. The habit of neighboring nations' conducting topographic and other surveys at or near their common borders upon a joint cooperative basis is rapidly increasing. Not only are ideas and specific information on technical methods exchanged, but, as the result of these Consultations and of the continuing work of the Institute's Commission on Cartography, technical instruments. and equipment of various kinds are being exchanged by and between nations. The value of discussion and agreement in respect to standards of charts and maps for international use in the Hemisphere has already been mentioned in connection with