The canyoncourier has a story on National Geographic Maps based in Floyd Hill, Colorado. An independent company called Trails Illustrated was bought up by National Geographic in 1997, “the society’s first-ever outside acquisition and one of very few agencies it maintains outside of Washington, D.C.” The article goes on to describe the process of mapping wilderness and recreation areas.

A couple of interesting quotes from the article:

“A good map is a dream device.”

Since its first map in 1915, “National Geographic has become one of the world’s three leading private cartographic institutions, alongside American Maps and Rand McNally.” Well, I’ve heard of Rand McNally, but American Maps is a new one to me.