Subject: Trip Report: USGS Headquarters<br/>
Date: Jun 06, 2003 @ 22:03<br/>
Author: Andrew T. Patton (&quot;Andrew T. Patton&quot; &lt;andrew@...&gt;)<br/>
<a href="10348.htm">Prev</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Post in Topic&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="10350.htm">Next</a>&emsp;[<a href="topic10345.htm">All</a> Posts]<br/>
<a href="10348.htm">Prev</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Post in Time&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="10350.htm">Next</a><br/>
<br/><br/>
<div id="ygrps-yiv-570066019">On May 20th, I became a home owner when I purchase a condominium in<br/>
Reston, Virginia. On my numerous trips from my old apartment to my new<br/>
condo moving my possessions, I passed by an entrance for the US<br/>
Geological Service. Curious about it, I did some research on the web<br/>
and determined that this was the headquarters for the USGS and that<br/>
they had a map store on the premises.  So today I went over to see<br/>
what was available.<br/>
<br/>
Getting to the store was a bit of an ordeal as I had to go through<br/>
security similar to what you go through when you travel by air now.<br/>
First I had to go to a guard house to get a visitors pass to park in<br/>
their lot. Next I had to go through a metal detector and sign in as a<br/>
visitor (In the process getting a sticker to put on my shirt<br/>
indicating that I was a visitor). But I finally made it to the store.<br/>
<br/>
They have a map of every quad in the US in various scales. Most cost<br/>
USD 7 each. They also had a computer setup with a large color printer<br/>
that let the user make a custom map of any place in the US for USD<br/>
7.95. I chose to make a 1:24000 map centered on my home. It came out<br/>
well on a platicized piece of paper 11&quot;x17&quot;. <br/>
<br/>
I played around with the computer and centered on Point Roberts. The<br/>
store manager saw where I was look and mentioned the history of the<br/>
place. He also mentioned Northwest Angle and its history.<br/>
<br/>
-Andrew<br/>
<br/>
BTW about .5 mile/1 km away from the USGS Headquarters is a large<br/>
complex of buildings with a sign indicating that they are offices of<br/>
NIMA (The National Imagery and Mapping Agency). I found it quite<br/>
interesting that the offices of the two mapping agencies are located<br/>
so close to each other. NIMA Headquarters is in Bethesda, Maryland.<br/>
--<br/>
Andrew T. Patton (<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:andrew@...">andrew@...</a>)<br/>
Travelogues and Photos at <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.AndrewPatton.com">http://www.AndrewPatton.com</a> - Latest Entry: Brazil</div>