Ben McCown always knows where he's going.

As a kid, he loved art and math and hoped that would direct him in life. Now, McCown uses his talents to help those trying to figure out where they're going.

McCown is Franklin County's cartographer. He makes maps.

"Eighty percent of what government does can be mapped," McCown said, naming data, taxes, weather and wealth.

"A map tells you a story," McCown said. "It is a living, breathing document."

McCown, who has seven globes of varying sizes in his office, is updating Franklin County's next map, to be released around June 1.

He uses geometry, trigonometry and several computer programs to detail the county's 12,159 roads. The coming map has over 1,500 changes from the current map. McCown uses different font sizes and colors, line thickness and the help of graphic designer and co-worker Mark Williams to make the map pretty.

A map is an information-filled snapshot in time.

"It's to get around, to visit, shop, travel," Franklin County Engineer Dean Ringle said.

The theme of the new map is roundabouts, an increasingly popular circular replacement for some intersections. Each of Franklin County's 49 roundabouts is included in the new map.

Roundabouts also are a good example of why maps have to be updated.

"We're kind of a filter for everything that comes in," McCown said, citing new roads, street-name changes, new subdivisions or widened or realigned streets.

The oldest map in Ringle's office is from 1842. On it, Franklin County "went all the way up to Lake Erie and as far south as Ross County," he said.

Maps showed each property owner's name until 1895, when the plots became so subdivided that the type was too small to read easily.

McCown uses many sources to update the map. There have been times he was unaware of a street-name change or new subdivision until he saw it in the news. If there is a discrepancy on a street name, McCown has to make sure which is correct before it gets on the new map.

"There's a lot more hand-in-hand intergovernmental cooperation," McCown said, noting that he uses information from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, Franklin County auditor's office, Ohio Department of Transportation and others. "I have to verify all the changes."

Done incorrectly, maps can cause strife.

"It's a big change if it used to be a dead end, and (now) it's not a dead end," Ringle said.

Maps, he said, can cause hurt feelings that create bitter rivalries. He pointed to the mistake made in the 1700s, when mapmakers placed Lake Erie too far north. That led to a heated dispute between Ohio and Michigan about which state could claim Toledo.

"We say what was a surveying and mapping rivalry turned into a (college) football rivalry," Ringle joked.

As with many other things, technology has changed mapmaking.

Original maps often depended on topography and natural markers such as rivers and animal paths that were the interstates of their time. The beginning of the United States was mapped largely by surveyors using 33- and 66-foot lengths of chain. In 1982, GPS was first used. In 1992, aerial photography was incorporated into the map. The new digital map that will be available online is so detailed that the bases at Huntington Park can be seen, McCown said.



"We have, through the years, gotten to an accuracy point and printing process where you can see holes on golf courses," Ringle added.

Paper maps were the framework for Google's cybermapping that can be viewed on smartphones, iPads and other electronic devices, Ringle said.

"A lot of people think maps are going out," McCown said. "They're more ubiquitous than ever."

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kperry@dispatch.com

@kimballperry