Applied Geographics, Inc. Records
Scope and Contents
The Applied Geographics, Inc. records consists of maps dated 1940-2017, bulk 1991-2017, that were created or held by Applied Geographics, Inc. (AppGeo), a GIS consulting firm in Boston, Massachusetts. The bulk of the collection consists of maps created by the firm through computer-assisted mapping for government agencies or private sector clients, on topics such as water resources, land use, open space, infrastructure, transit, and real property. It also includes manuscript maps, aerial images, printed screenshots of map programs, and graphics about GIS use. A portion of the collection consists of materials not produced by AppGeo that were used for reference by the company, including maps produced by MassGIS; maps produced by other GIS firms; and traditionally published maps.
Dates
- circa 1940-2017
- Majority of material found within 1991 - 2017
Creator
- Applied Geographics, Inc. (Organization)
Language of Materials
Materials primarily in English with some materials in Spanish and German.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research. Please contact the Leventhal Map and Education Center to make a research appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
Items in this collection may be subject to copyright restrictions. In most cases, the Boston Public Library does not hold the copyright to the items in our collections. It is the sole responsibility of the user to make their own determination about what types of usage might be permissible under U.S. and international copyright law.
Applied Geographics, Inc.
Applied Geographics, Inc. (AppGeo) is a GIS consulting firm in Boston, Massachusetts that provides GIS strategy, implementation assistance, application development, and computer-aided mapping. It was founded in 1991 by Joan Gardner, Michael Terner, and David Weaver, who had all helped initiate and were employees at MassGIS, a state agency that coordinates GIS across Massachusetts and provides GIS and mapping support to agencies. In 2022, AppGeo became a subsidiary of Sanborn Map Company.
AppGeo's early work included needs assessments, implementation plans, feasibility studies, aerial flyover projects, website development, and contract work for municipal agencies and private companies, as well as contract work for various Massachusetts agencies including the Department of Agricultural Resources, the Department of Conservation & Recreation, and the Water Resources Authority Environmental Quality Department. In the mid- to late 1990s, AppGeo was hired by several US federal agencies for GIS work and web applications, including the US Army Reserve, the US Navy, and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) administered by the US Geological Survey. In the early 2000s, AppGeo was an early member of the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation Level Data Working Group and did work in support of Homeland Security data development. Also in that timeframe, FGDC hired AppGeo to develop templates and guidelines for GIS strategic and business planning, which led to many states contracting AppGeo to develop and often implement GIS plans and to educate state officials on metadata use and standards.
Extent
8 Cubic Feet (38 folders, 1 reel, 2 rolls)
Arrangement
The records are organized in 15 series. Series correspond to categories assigned by the donor. Arrangement within each series was kept in original order.
- Coastal
- Commercial
- Environment
- Facilities
- Map Selection
- Marketing
- Municipal
- Real Estate
- Transportation
- Atlases
- Municipal Atlases
- MassGIS
- GIS non-AppGeo
- Non-GIS
- Oversize
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Applied Geographics, Inc., 2019.
Processing Information
Materials are grouped into series corresponding to drawers or locations in which maps were stored at AppGeo. Cataloger maintained original order as received by the library from the donor so some maps may not fit into the assigned categories.
Processing Information
This electronic finding aid is transcribed from legacy data. In many cases, transcriptions were not verified against collection materials at the time of transcription. As a result, this finding aid could be incomplete and might only reflect a partial understanding of the material.
Statement on harmful description
Archival description reflects the biases of time periods and cultures in which it was created and may include direct quotations or descriptions that use inappropriate or harmful language. Creator provided descriptions may be maintained in order to preserve the context in which the collection was created and/or used. Legacy description and potentially offensive content may be made available online until a collection can be reprocessed because the access that they provide to primary source materials is uniquely valuable to the research community at large. Our efforts to repair outdated descriptions and to describe our collections more equitably are iterative and ongoing.
- Aerial photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Applied Geographics, Inc.
- Atlantic Coast (U.S.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Boston (Mass.) -- Maps Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Cartography Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Cartography -- Computer programs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Cities and towns -- Massachusetts -- Maps Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Computer cartography Subject Source: Local sources
- Computer-assisted maps Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Consulting firms -- Massachusetts -- Boston Subject Source: Local sources
- Digital mapping Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Digital prints Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Geographic information systems Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Land use -- Maps Subject Source: Local sources
- Manuscript maps Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Maps (documents) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- MassGIS (Office : Mass.)
- Massachusetts -- Maps Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Negatives (photographs) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Zoning -- Maps Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Applied Geographics, Inc. records
- Author
- Lauren Chen
- Date
- 2022 January
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
About this library
Part of the Boston Public Library Archives & Special Collections Repository
