MAPS

WALTER ISAACSON
Leonardo Da Vinci

Page 343

"Acting as an artist-engineer, Leonardo had devised a new military weapon: accurate detailed, and easily read maps. Over the years , visually clear maps became a key component of warfare. For example, the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (originally known as the Defense Mapping Agency) had 14,500 employees and an annual budget of 5 billion dollars in 2017. Projected on the walls of the headquarters are maps combining accuracy and beauty, some of which bear a striking resemblance to Leonardo's map of Imola."

Campus Springfield VA, Ft. Belvoir

 

"Anyone who sails a U.S. ship, flies a U.S. aircraft, makes national policy decisions, fights wars, locates targets, responds to natural disasters, or even navigates with a cellphone relies on NGA."