Names. What’s in a name? We have two interesting names which are
often a subject of conversation: Mentor Software and The Casual Cartographer.
As my garage was already occupied with many great treasures of years past (i.e. junk),
Mentor Software got started in my basement; the basement being occupied by a slightly
lower density of past treasures. Our initial computer system was an AT&T Unix PC, and
the business plan was to provide consulting, training, and custom programming to the
millions of new Unix users sure to be abandoning the PC with its 640KB RAM and 32 megabyte
disk limitations. Thus, I was to be a mentor to the exploding Unix community, and
adopted the business name of Mentor Software Company.
After several non-existent, paychecks, the business plan was broadened to include just
about anything legal and moral. Shortly thereafter, Robert
White and I joined forces to form Mentor Software, Inc. which would specialize in
custom software development. Robert exposed our talents to the oil and gas industry which
lead to bidding a custom programming project requiring the conversion of latitude and
longitude to UTM coordinates. "UTM coordinates? Sure we can do that!" At the
time, I didn’t know a UTM from a BVD; but we bid the project anyway. Famous last
words: "We’ll never get that job anyway."
Surprise, surprise! We got our first significant contract and I was on my way to
becoming a cartographer of sorts. Fortunately, the first book I checked out was also the
best available; John Snyder’s Map
Projections Used by the USGS. Pretty much unintentionally, I was committed to becoming
a cartographer, and in rather short order.
A Casual Cartographer? Originally, use of the word accidental was contemplated; but it
wasn’t quite right. A perusal of Roget’s Thesaurus produced 20 or so
alternatives. Casual was chosen as, according to Websters’s, it implies:
"resulting from or occurring by chance", "without intent",
"occurring without regularity", "occasional". I found that all of
these phrases described the situation I found myself in eleven years ago, and the
situation many of our clients find themselves in today. That is, individuals who had no
intention of being a cartographer, but were obliged to become such due to circumstances
largely beyond their control. So today, we publish our newsletter for all the "not by
intent", "occasional", "every one in a while" cartographers out
there.
