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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Mapmakers Alaska Making it easy for cartographers, landmen and geoscientists to do their work Susan Braund Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at,” posited French philosopher-writer and bon-vivant Oscar Wilde.
Maps from Mapmakers Alaska may not ever feature Utopia, but they are near-legendary in the state. The depth and accuracy of oil and gas data available through the company is unparalleled. The mapmaking office is often the first stop for those desiring information about the industry, especially newcomers to the state.
Spark plug Brit Lively is the driving force behind the long-time Alaska business.
Mapmakers Alaska has served the industry in Alaska for 25 years and was the first to provide locally produced full-color maps.
Lively admits to a passion for geography throughout her school years. To see the world and seek adventure was her dream. When relatives invited her to come from Germany to Alaska, she jumped at the opportunity. Her first job in Alaska was as exploration clerk and draftsman at an oil company. To her surprise, her boss commented that his suspicions had proven true — her German heritage meant that she was “technically inclined.” “That man’s compliment launched my career and shaped my future,” says Lively.
Her entrepreneurial spirit surfaced after marriage and the arrival of three children. Living north of Anchorage in the Matanuska Valley with only one family car, she looked for a way to work from home. Her brief stint with the oil industry helped her recognize a need for maps specific to Alaska oil and gas. She contacted local printers for prices and asked potential clients if they would buy the specific map she had in mind. With enough affirmative replies she hit the ground running and The Mapmakers set up shop in the old log cabin next to the Lively home. Geologic maps The Mapmakers’ first project was to redo and color several U.S. Geologic Survey open file reports — barely legible drawings and writings from field work. The second project was to compile a geologic map of Alaska from various available sources.
During the days of the Alaska Land Claims Settlement Act, there was massive who-what-when confusion in the state. No Bureau of Land Management maps were available to visualize the land withdrawals and everyone was clambering for current information.
In her usual roll-up-your-sleeves style, Lively took it on. “We made a map from the description of the various land designations in the federal register. In the process, however, we noticed unclassified white space here and there and some descriptions which did not make sense. So, we went to BLM and showed them the discrepancies which we suspected were the result of faulty descriptions, hoping that they would give us a contract to review and document their federal register entries for errors. They declined, and eventually came out with their own map with the questionable areas in yellow with the new classification of ‘D-2’ withdrawals. When we published our second edition with the changed federal register descriptions, a BLM adjudicator told us, to our delight, “I don’t how you did it, but how come your map is more accurate than ours?”
The Mapmakers’ first joint-venture was based on the above projects. Working with mining geologist Chuck Hawley, the company produced a land status map overlaid with the geologic map, and a mineral resource map and report, which was widely used throughout the industry and became an important document in the D-2 lands hearing process in Washington, D.C. Lease maps After one of the big lease sales in the early ‘70s, Locke Jacobs, fabled Alaska oil lease man extraordinaire, arranged for Mapmakers to produce and print 10,000 colored maps showing lease holdings by company. Lively said, “Jacobs and one of the major companies gave me the lease information and the printer tutored me on color separation techniques. I had to learn a lot, quickly.” The maps were a success, giving Mapmakers far-reaching recognition. The maps were widely used by the industry, state and federal agencies and investment houses worldwide, bringing attention to the exploding oil exploration activities in Alaska.
Mapmakers continued publishing colored lease maps of the North Slope every couple of years, then on an annual basis in addition to their custom maps. Wherever lease sales were held, you could count on seeing a map soon after, from the Navarin basin to the Gulf of Alaska.
Resiliency reigns
The adage “when one door closes another opens,” could be Brit Lively’s modus operandi. “During the mid-1970s Mapmakers was also providing monthly updates of coal prospects — information of high interest to the mining industry. When the state coal prospecting permits program terminated, in addition to a temporary stoppage on some oil and gas programs, her business slowed to a crawl. Putting the underused equipment to work, Mapmakers began providing typesetting and graphic design services, then invested in more equipment and established a subsidiary “Mapmakers Printing.” The print shop with seven employees in downtown Palmer served the Matanuska-Susitna business community for 10 years.
Lively also worked in partnership with the land use planning firm “Planning Inc.” where she was asked to do an independent comparative analysis to find the best location for Alaska’s future capital if it were to be relocated, and wrote publications on agriculture, mining, tourism and how the concept of the Coastal Zone Management Act applied to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. She undertook a comprehensive tourism survey, participated in a timber classification study, and produced socio-economic profiles of 25 communities in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. While keeping Mapmakers barely above water making the occasional oil and gas lease map as well as tourist and street maps, she served on contract as executive director for Palmer Economic Development Authority from 1990 to 1994. “When I started, many buildings in Palmer stood empty. When my contract came to an end, there was not a single commercial building left waiting for an occupant. And two large companies whom I had tried to entice to come to Palmer, have recently made the move — 10 years later.” Alaska oil and gas data by subscription As the Alaska economy recovered, Lively was ready to go back full time to focus on oil and gas maps once again. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of bulky pre-press equipment for offset printed maps had become obsolete. Mapmakers, with sleek computers and slick mapping software, replaced The Mapmakers.
Currently, the main thrust is to provide updated maps and data for all active oil and gas provinces in Alaska in a GIS environment. It lets an individual or large corporation work with any Mapmakers-designed and copyrighted “GIS-Alaska oil&gas” project right off the CD, or import it into other programs they use.
“Oil and gas mapping has changed from paper maps to integrated data maps,” Lively says. “While attractive and informative paper maps are still an important part of what we do, the primary objective today is to have accurate, up-to-date and consistent data. We want to make it easy for cartographers, landmen and geoscientists to do their work.
“Our associates help us gather and provide the diverse bits and pieces from which we craft the complete mapping and GIS projects, but I am the primary contact with our clients and industry-specific agencies. The responsibility for the final product is mine. I have always been grateful for praise and compliments. Who isn’t? But, I have learned to be really grateful when a client points out a mistake. Corrections make our product that much better and makes us that much more reliable.”
Having the assurance of a subscriber base makes it possible to maintain and continually improve company products. Lively is very appreciative of the rapport Mapmakers Alaska has built with the many professionals in the industry who have taken the time to guide them with suggestions and advice on content, format and presentation.
“We depend on the suggestions from our customers and what they feel we should be doing. Working together, our customers can depend on us to be there long-term.”
Editor’s note: Susan Braund owns Firestar Media Services in Anchorage, Alaska.
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