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file on tape. The resulting colors replicate those other 
wise achieved at USGS using open-window plate negatives, 
conventional mechanical screens, and the same four process 
ink colors. These differences in the two dot systems are 
visible only under a hand lens. Other differences are 
more easily detected, but result chiefly from cosmetic 
changes. The square-dot version in brighter colors on 
coated paper was printed by the contractor in time for use 
in the preliminary EIS, but it lacks the area measurement 
table in the later version. The conventionally angled dot 
version in somewhat softer colors on conventional USGS map 
paper does contain the area measurement table, and is more 
nearly to scale. It is the version used in the final EIS 
and the CRREL report, and is the only one distributed by 
the USGS Western Distribution Branch. Black-and-white 
versions at scales of 1:250,000 and 1:1,000,000 have also 
been produced as byproducts of the laser printer without 
further reprocessing of the data base in the computer. 
The data file can also be viewed and further analyzed on 
interactive video display equipment in a research labora 
tory at USGS. 
The production of this map demonstrates a succession of 
five stages of automated thematic cartography applied in a 
problem-solving context: (1) capture of spatial data in 
multispectral format by sensors aboard Earth-orbiting 
satellite; (2) interpretation and classification of spatial 
data; (3) geometric transformation of the spatial data; 
(4) area measurement of classes by areas specified by the 
user; and (5) conversion of the spatial data to yet another 
multispectral format for map publication by four-color 
process printing. 
Preparation of the Arctic NWR Vegetation and Land Cover 
Map was made possible by the collaboration of three 
agencies. The results appear in their separate publica 
tions. Authorship of the vegetation and field review are 
by William Acevedo (Technicolor Government Services, 
serving the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
Ames Research Center) and Donald Walker (University of 
Colorado, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, under 
the sponsorship of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold 
Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory). Design of 
map and statistical products is by Leonard Gaydos and 
James R. Wray (U.S. Geological Survey). The USGS effort 
was augmented by staff and facilities of the Eastern 
Mapping Center, the Western Mapping Center, the EROS Data 
Center, one contractor, and the headquarters staff of the 
National Mapping Division's Office of Geographic and 
Cartographic Research. 
The arctic map is one more step in a continuing effort to 
apply emerging technologies to pressing environmental 
problems and the need for increasingly responsive ways to 
manage Earth resources. Foreseeable future operational 
and developmental efforts include the following: (1) 
preparation of interim maps of vegetation and land cover 
by standard map quad in northern Alaska as part of a 
nationwide inventory; (2) preparation of a larger scale 
special vegetation map of a drilling site area west of