Ever Wonder How Maps Get Made?

We've come a very long way since Grenville Dodge surveyed -- by hand -- more than 10,000 miles in the 1860's to plan the route of the first transcontinental railroad.

Last week, on my way back from Omaha (where the Union Pacific, the railroad for whom Dodge did the surveying, is based) I ran across a Navteq survey SUV near Alta Vista, Kansas.

Today, surveying is quite a bit easier. They use a large, and highly precise, GPS antenna and combine it with six cameras in the dome. The GPS signal is linked to the photos and everything is digitized.

You can read details of the process here.