Charting History

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• | Updated: 10:14 am ET January 07, 2010

An act of Congress established the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS) February 10, 1807. Originally called the Survey of the Coast, it was a Bureau within the Treasury Department for 72 years before moving under the Navy Department for 26 years. In 1903 C&GS became a Bureau within the new Department of Commence and Labor. The name was changed from Survey of the Coast to the Coast Survey in 1836 and then became the Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1878.

In 1832, nautical chart production and distribution began. A basic chart drawing was engraved on a stone or copper plate surface that was then placed in a flat press. Black and white impressions were made laboriously by hand and were furnished to other government agencies at no cost while some were sold to the public to recover some of the production costs. In 1842, C&GS obtained its first copper plate printing press. A chart of New York Bay and Harbor issued in 1844 was the first to be printed with the finer definition possible from a copper plate engraving. By 1860 about 10,000 copies a year were being produced and distributed and by 1863 during the Civil War, 66,000 charts and maps were issued.

Color printing was introduced to C&GS in 1862. Two colors on maps in critical war zones provided better readability and were later extended to more and more charts and maps. Between 1842 and 1905 charts were printed from copper plates engraved in reverse, and power presses were adapted. In 1905, photolithography was introduced. Lithographic stones containing photo impressions were used in special flat bed presses. This allowed many impressions to be made from one inking and the use of multiple colors was facilitated. It was now possible to use dry paper and eliminate much of the distortion encountered while using the previous printing method. In 1916, the aluminum printing plate was adopted. This possessed the advantages of the lithographic stone with flexibility that permitted its use on a rotary press. From 75,000 copies printed in 1900, production increased to 330,000 in 1916.

In 1926, the Department of Commerce (DOC) began the production of aeronautical charts in order to promote interstate air commerce. The responsibility for seeing that charts were produced was assigned to the recently formed Aeronautical Branch. This Branch shortly thereafter became the Bureau of Air Commerce and then the Civil Aeronautics Administration. We know it today as the Federal Aviation Administration. Because C&GS was in DOC and was a well-established charting organization, the production of the required aeronautical charts was assigned to them. It was determined that the personnel of C&GS who were already well trained to produce accurate nautical charts would have little difficulty producing accurate aeronautical charts as well.

The first series of maps published by C&GS designed for air navigation was known as Strip Airway Maps. The series consisted of 31 charts covering the main air routes of the United States. Depicted on the charts were topographic and cultural features as well as aeronautical data. This aeronautical information included airports, beacon lights and distance and direction lines, the forerunner of the airway system. Radio navigation facilities were shown as they became operational. The first map in the series was published June 27, 1927 and was titled "Air Navigation Map #105." It covered the route from Kansas City, MO to Moline, IL. First editions of these 31 strip maps were published between 1927 and 1936 and sold for 35 cents. It became obvious very quickly that these Strip Airway Maps were not going to provide adequate coverage and that complete coverage of the United States would be needed. Today's familiar Sectional Chart was born.

The first Sectional Chart, covering the Chicago area, was published in December 1930. It was entitled "United States Airway Map 1k-16." It took until 1937 to complete the series and excluded Alaska and Hawaii. The Sectional Chart Series showed topographic and cultural information that could be used in visual ground reference navigation. Additionally, there was radio facility data. These charts covered much less territory than the charts of today and were printed on smaller sheets of paper. They were printed on one side while the reverse side contained a complete legend, index to adjoining charts, and airport diagrams. These Sectional Charts sold for 40 cents.

Between 1935 and 1946, the forerunner of the 1:1,000,000 scale World Aeronautical Charts, called Regional Aeronautical Charts were published by C&GS. There were 17 charts covering the conterminous United States and 11 charts covering Alaska. Each chart covered the area of six Sectional charts showing radio facilities and depicting topographic, hydrographic and cultural detail. As you would expect, Sectional Charts were the base source for the conterminous United States Charts. During the period from 1935 to 1938 there was a special printing of the Regional Aeronautical Charts with a chart for night navigation printed on the backside. In February 1941, the U.S. Army Air Force contracted with C&GS to produce a Western Hemisphere series at the scale of 1:1,000,000 consisting of 120 charts.

The first Instrument Approach and Landing Charts for airports were published in 1928 in a series of airway bulletins. They were really just sketches and diagrams. In 1930, C&GS began publishing these sketches on the back of the first editions of the Sectional Charts. In 1941, C&GS began work on a series of Instrument Approach and Landing Charts designed to serve the pilots' needs when approaching an airport on instruments under conditions of low visibility and also to serve as a visual chart after break-through form instrument conditions. An experimental chart of Washington, D.C. printed in black with red overlay was developed for evaluation. After this evaluation, a series of 158 Instrument Approach and Landing Charts (AL-RNG) was published in 1943. The charts combined an approach and a landing chart printed back-to-back on 8x10.5 inch paper. The series of 158 was expanded to 483 charts by 1949. The approach chart was published at the scale of 1:250,000 and portrayed the region within a 10-mile or more radius of the airport. It included the standard approach procedures when officially established. The landing chart was normally at a scale of 1:31,680 and depicted in more detail the area in the immediate vicinity of the airport. The airport pattern, runway lengths, elevations, lights, buildings, etc... were shown. These charts were designed primarily for making a standard instrument approach utilizing procedures prescribed for the Low/Medium Frequency (L/MF) four-course radio range system. The charts were to be revised whenever changes affecting the safety of the aircraft occurred. They were intended for use in conjunction with the Radio Facility (RF) Charts.

The first RF Charts were published in 1942 by C&GS in a bound book format. These bound books covered the conterminous United States and adjacent airways. The series was designed specifically for instrument navigation and was an outgrowth of previously published dual-purpose charts (early editions of visual charts), which indicated radio facility information as well as topographic features. These new charts depicted civil airways, control zones, radio facilities, etc., and thus provided all the information needed by the pilot for en route instrument flights. In 1946, C&GS assumed full responsibility for publishing a RF Chart series. The series consisted of 37 basic charts covering the conterminous United States in loose-leaf letter size form and an additional 8 chart enlargements covering congested areas. In March 1949, a new layout of enlarged scale charts was designed. This series covered L/MF airways of the United States with 59 basic charts and 13 enlargements for congested areas. Shortly thereafter, the series was expanded to cover Alaska with a series of 14 new charts.

In 1951, a new series of Very High Frequency Omni-directional range (VOR) charts was designed and published as this new system was implemented in the airway network. There were 58 basic charts covering the United States with 12 enlargements of congested areas. The VOR System of airways was designed to replace the L/MF System as the necessary ground and plane equipment became available. This replacement, however, took several years and consequently was necessary to portray both systems for a lengthy interim period.

The demand for C&GS aeronautical charts increased substantially during World War II (WWII). By 1943, the demand had gone from 464,000 to 11,775,000 charts printed and distributed. The principal consumers of these aeronautical charts were the Army and Navy Air Forces. Many special charts were produced by C&GS during WWII. One of the most critical needs, which appeared early in the war, was for detailed target charts for use in bombing military and industrial objectives. A primary requirement was that a chart be produced quickly when needed. C&GS produce charts for 1812 targets during the war. In connection with target chart production, considerable research was done in developing a target perspective chart for portraying a perspective approach to the target. Conventional charts depict the area covered, as it would appear from a point directly overhead. The target perspective charts were designed to show the aviator the appearance of the terrain as seen ahead when coming in over target. The charts were prepared for approaching each target from several different directions.

In addition to the Target Charts, C&GS compiled and published several other special aeronautical products during WWII. Early in the war, a series of 43 planning charts at the scale of 1:5,000,000 covering the entire world was started for the Army Air Force (AAF). The charts were needed for planning long-range flights. By using the same bases, it was possible to produce efficiently a similar series of world outline charts all of which were in considerable demand by the military forces.