JAN 22, 2016
JERRY DAVICH

Lake County Surveyor Bill Emerson Jr. received an email from a 12-year-old boy with a rare request.

“I absolutely love collecting maps as a hobby and I was wondering if you happen to have a paper map of Lake County, Indiana?” wrote Jonah Hurwitz. “If so, do you mind mailing one to me?”

What kind of kid still collects paper maps in this day and age?

“I was a map geek at that age, too. And I still am,” said Emerson, whose corner office on the third floor of the county government building is filled with maps.

When I told him about the long-anticipated release of the new book, “Mapping Indiana: Five Centuries of Treasures from the Indiana Historical Society,” he couldn’t wait to take a peek at it. More than a decade in the making, the oversized book features 107 of the most dynamic and treasured maps from the organization, just in time for the state’s Bicentennial celebration this year.

“While the maps are pretty to look at on their own, I would love for people to read the essays and learn why these diverse maps were created for exploration, navigation, tourism and so much more,” said Amy Vedra, director of reference services for the Indiana Historical Society. “The essays really highlight the importance that mapmaking has played historically, as represented by so many different types of maps.”

The Griffith native, who attended Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, was excited to be a contributing author and essayist for the book, as well as someone who helped select some of the maps. Yes, another map geek among us.

What is it about maps that have fascinated us for centuries yet continue to do so in the Digital Age? Is it their historical influence? Functional importance? Directional guidance? Ageless reliability? Possibly all of the above and more.

“There is so much to learn from maps,” Vedra said. “Some maps are ridiculously incorrect in their geographical representation, but it was so interesting to research why and how this occurred. One map included in the book shows a mountain range in Indiana, and we all know that is really off base.”

Emerson thought it may be really off base for him to hang a wall map in aparatment while he was in college, but he did so anyway. I also have a large map hanging on the wall of my home. It’s a colorful map of Northwest Indiana with push-pin labels of all the sites, cities and happenings that my lady and I have visited since we met.

I view it as a conversation piece more than a map, though it aptly maps out our history together. Emerson instantly understood such a casual, decorative purpose for a map.

“It’s almost art, in a way,” he said, noting a similar wall map of the area that’s hanging in his basement.

“Maps have more layers than I thought,” he explained while browsing through the massive “Mapping Indiana” book. “

He probably could have breezed through it for hours if I didn’t keep interrupting him with questions about maps, both for his profession and his passion. A civil engineer by trade, he later earned a law degree at Loyola University in Chicago before running for the county surveyor position a couple years ago.

Since being in office, he still uses traditional paper maps every once in a while, though his staff is in the process of scanning and digitizing all the frail, outdated maps.

Vedra said it’s not known exactly when the first map found its way into the Indiana Historical Society collection, but it’s likely as early as 1830, the founding year of the organization. Since then, the Society has actively collected cartographic gems, many that are featured in the book.

For example, a map showing all the “unsold lands” near Lake Michigan, circa 1838, and maps of public surveys, places to visit (such as the Indiana Dunes in 1948) and Indiana’s first state highway map, circa 1919.

The scope of the maps ranges from “Old World” views of North America to more contemporary views of Hoosier cities and counties, with many maps designed to be as artistic as they once were functional. One map shows important events and places in the life of Abraham Lincoln. Another one, from 1833, shows the country’s then-territorial boundaries under the wings of a patriotic eagle.

“I have always loved maps and thought many of them to be very beautiful, but also very informative,” Vedra said.

We need maps. We use maps. We share maps. (For instance, check out this site: www.oldmapsonline.org) However, we don’t often enough appreciate them for their layered usefulness.

Whether it was a wrongly folded Rand-McNally map blowing in the wind during a car ride, or a GPS-based guidance program guiding us to our next appointment, maps are still charting our future. They always have. Always will, in some fashion.

Today’s digital maps, using global satellite coordinate technology, can precisely track us at a specific point in the time and space continuum. With our smart phones, we have all become a form of those “YOU ARE HERE” signs at malls and amusement parks.

Because of this, they continue to hold us spellbound, regardless of our intelligence or age.

“I thought it was really cool that this young man is so passionate about mapping at that age,” Emerson said, referring to that 12-year-old boy’s request for a county map.

The young boy inside the 33-year-old Emerson emerged while showing a map of Lake County and a correction line to a township along County Line Road.

Why is a correction line needed?

“These correction lines are necessary because of the curvature of the Earth,” he eagerly explained, noting the county’s GIS system at https://lakein.mygisonline.com/.

After reading this book and talking with map geeks like Emerson, I learned that maps not only document our past and guide our present, they also chart our future.