WEBVTT - Episode 1: The Cartographer

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Season four of On the Job, a podcast

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<v Speaker 1>about finding your life's work. On the job is brought

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<v Speaker 1>to you by Express Employment Professionals, a leading staffing provider

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<v Speaker 1>that employs nearly six hundred thousand people annually across more

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<v Speaker 1>than eight hundred franchise locations in the US, Canada, and

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<v Speaker 1>South Africa. Our long term goal is to help as

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<v Speaker 1>many people as possible find good jobs by helping as

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<v Speaker 1>many clients as possible find good people. In these uncertain times,

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<v Speaker 1>it's more important than ever to take care of ourselves

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<v Speaker 1>and our loved ones to do what we can to

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<v Speaker 1>stay healthy and productive. Express Employment Professionals will be with

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<v Speaker 1>you every step of the way. We understand what it

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<v Speaker 1>takes to land a new position at a top employer

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<v Speaker 1>or start a new career in today's job market. Plus,

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<v Speaker 1>we never charge a fee to find you a job.

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<v Speaker 1>And just like finding a job, finding the best people

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<v Speaker 1>to fill open positions in your company requires more than

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<v Speaker 1>sorting through applications. It takes real people, real interviews, discovering

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<v Speaker 1>the skills you need. At Express, we find people for

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<v Speaker 1>jobs and companies of all sizes and industries, from the

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<v Speaker 1>production floor to the front office. Express No's Jobs Get

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<v Speaker 1>to Know Express. This season, we're speaking with folks who

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<v Speaker 1>are finding their professional stride in a tumultuous job market

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<v Speaker 1>and learning how to double down on their skills and

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<v Speaker 1>their experience to overcome challenges. We'll bring you inspiring stories

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<v Speaker 1>of people making themselves essential, an important skill set in

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<v Speaker 1>any economy. Today. For on the Job, we look at

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<v Speaker 1>a profession that you might not have thought was still

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<v Speaker 1>around cartography. I went and sought out a modern mapmaker

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<v Speaker 1>to talk to him about the job, how it's changed

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<v Speaker 1>over the years, and the beauty of finding your own

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<v Speaker 1>way in the world. Vermont on the first really warm

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<v Speaker 1>sunny spring day of this year, I got in my

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<v Speaker 1>car fifteen, I took out my Big Road Atlas Londonderry,

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<v Speaker 1>and I set out to find half good Pond, Half

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<v Speaker 1>good Pond. Here we come Before COVID nineteen. I was

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<v Speaker 1>on a cross country trip and right towards the end

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<v Speaker 1>I started using this big Road Atlas I had in

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<v Speaker 1>the car instead of the GPS on my phone, and

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<v Speaker 1>it made a world of difference. I felt so much

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<v Speaker 1>more present and was so happy to not constantly be

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<v Speaker 1>looking at a phone. In a lot of ways that

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<v Speaker 1>the data we have on our phone is just data.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just a couple of lines and maybe some nasty

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<v Speaker 1>looking font. This is Tom Harrison. He is a cartographer,

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<v Speaker 1>a map maker. But something interesting about looking at a

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<v Speaker 1>map and say, oh, this is the landscape around me.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going through, Um, you know, Newtown, but right here,

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<v Speaker 1>about five miles away is old Town. I wonder what

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<v Speaker 1>old Town looks like five more miles do we take it? Right?

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<v Speaker 1>Tom is the reason I'm looking for Half Good Pond.

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<v Speaker 1>He's got his own company called Tom Harrison Maps. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>the entire company. He lives and works in San Rafael, California,

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<v Speaker 1>just north of San Francisco, and I've been producing shady

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<v Speaker 1>relief topographic maps for hiking and backpacking for over thirty years.

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<v Speaker 1>I had been using my atlas around the country in

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<v Speaker 1>places that I'd never been before. But after talking with Tom,

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<v Speaker 1>I looked on the map to see if there's anything

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know about right where I grew up, southern Vermont,

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<v Speaker 1>and I saw Half Good Pond not even twenty miles away.

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<v Speaker 1>It was right off a road that I've driven a

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<v Speaker 1>million times. Oh, I think I just went past it.

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<v Speaker 1>I'd grown up hearing about it, and I heard it

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<v Speaker 1>was beautiful. I just never went I never realized it

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<v Speaker 1>was right there. Guy. See this is where it gets tricky.

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<v Speaker 1>But I live in a very rural area. So on

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<v Speaker 1>the map, half Good Pond is just in a big

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<v Speaker 1>green patch off the main road. It's all country roads,

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<v Speaker 1>so it might be a little lost. Tom says, that's

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<v Speaker 1>the beauty of maps. Sometimes you gotta figure it out exactly. So,

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<v Speaker 1>even though you're you're making these things so people can

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<v Speaker 1>orient themselves in space, you hope people still wander and

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<v Speaker 1>get lost a little bit. Yeah, very much. You don't

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<v Speaker 1>have to know everything, and some things are better off

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<v Speaker 1>just being part of the discovery of your day. Where

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<v Speaker 1>is it? I'll be honest, I was really surprised doing

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<v Speaker 1>research for this show and finding out that not only

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<v Speaker 1>is matt making still an occupation, but there is a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of work out there for cartographers. All there's tons

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<v Speaker 1>of the tons of it. I mean, McDonald's has cartographers

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<v Speaker 1>really well. You know, if you want to put a

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<v Speaker 1>McDonald someplace, you want to find where the nearest school

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<v Speaker 1>is and and figure out what's the cheapest real estate

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<v Speaker 1>you can buy. Nearest schools, the kids can walk there

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<v Speaker 1>for the lunch break and all the kind of stuff

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<v Speaker 1>that everybody needs to know where things are. And that's

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<v Speaker 1>what cartographers do. Tom designed beautifully ndered and shaded maps

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<v Speaker 1>mostly for hikers. And while I might have assumed that

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<v Speaker 1>advancements in technology would put people like Tom out of work,

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<v Speaker 1>it's actually opened up tons of cartography jobs all over

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<v Speaker 1>the world. Any planning department in any city uses cartographers.

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<v Speaker 1>Like when you put a new subdivision in and you're

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<v Speaker 1>trying not to upset the people that live there, you

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<v Speaker 1>need to show why that is not going through the

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<v Speaker 1>local cemetery and why I won't affect the spot at

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<v Speaker 1>ol population and blah blah blah. A cartographer has to

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<v Speaker 1>find that data put on the map for the planner

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<v Speaker 1>to say, Okay, here's what we're going to do. And

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<v Speaker 1>that's designing both printed and digital maps for the public

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<v Speaker 1>to see. And if you're thinking, okay, but I've never

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<v Speaker 1>needed a cartographer, I've got GPS. Well, a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>the base maps that your GPS uses are made by cartographers.

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<v Speaker 1>If you think about it, GPS just gives you a

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<v Speaker 1>latitude and a longitude doesn't show you where you are.

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<v Speaker 1>You ever look at a GPS on your phone when

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<v Speaker 1>you don't have any service and you're just a blue

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<v Speaker 1>dot in the middle of a gray grid. That's what

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<v Speaker 1>you or GPS would always look like without the Toms

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<v Speaker 1>of the world. Wow. So okay. So any company who

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<v Speaker 1>is expanding and building new stores, any apps that use geolocation. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>everyone needs mat makers, don't You don't see them very

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<v Speaker 1>much because you're kind of behind the scenes, but they're

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<v Speaker 1>out there. Tom was born in nineteen forty seven in Bakersfield, California.

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<v Speaker 1>He grew up there. He was a boy scout. He's

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<v Speaker 1>a pretty adventurous kid. He loved hiking and exploring and backpacking.

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<v Speaker 1>Did you ever get super lost as a kid? Is

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<v Speaker 1>that why you do what you do? I've never been lost.

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<v Speaker 1>I've been confused a few times. Not lost. That's good.

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<v Speaker 1>That means you're a good mat maker. I don't know

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<v Speaker 1>if I trust a mat maker who gets lost regularly.

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<v Speaker 1>In the sixties, Tom went to college for a semester,

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<v Speaker 1>but it wasn't his thing At the time. The Vietnam

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<v Speaker 1>War was in full swing, and in nineteen sixty six

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<v Speaker 1>he decided to join the army instead of getting drafted,

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<v Speaker 1>so he could at least choose where he wanted to go.

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<v Speaker 1>There was something going on to someplace called Vietnam. I thought, well,

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<v Speaker 1>let's mess go see what's going on over there. So

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<v Speaker 1>you kind of went on an adventure basis. I picture says,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a big, long backpack trip. How that's turned out.

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<v Speaker 1>I was okay till the day I got shot, and

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<v Speaker 1>that after that not so much. The first six months

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<v Speaker 1>Tom was in Vietnam, he didn't see much action, but

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<v Speaker 1>then another company got ambushed in a nearby village and

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<v Speaker 1>so they brought in the rest of our battalion surrounded

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<v Speaker 1>the village. There was a firefight that lasted through the night,

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<v Speaker 1>and the next day they got word that there was

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<v Speaker 1>a battalion of North Vietnamese nearby, so they started to

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<v Speaker 1>pull back. As we're pulling back, somebody wagh in the

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<v Speaker 1>weird decided to walk through artillery back to cover us,

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<v Speaker 1>and a walking back too fast, too far, and I

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<v Speaker 1>got hit by shra friendly fire. Yeah, funny fire. Tom

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<v Speaker 1>got sent home with a purple heart and spent about

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<v Speaker 1>a year in the hospital. He soon met his future

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<v Speaker 1>wife back in the States, and even though he wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>a fan of college, he decided to use the benefits

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<v Speaker 1>from the gi built to go back and get his degree.

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<v Speaker 1>The courses I hated the least were geography. He was

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<v Speaker 1>outdoors and I had this curiosity about the world and

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<v Speaker 1>how things were made, how geology and weather, and a

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<v Speaker 1>geography tended to cover a lot of those areas. Kind

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<v Speaker 1>of the same reason you went to Vietnam. You were

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<v Speaker 1>looking for adventure. Yeah. Right after graduating he became a

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<v Speaker 1>park ranger in the Redwoods area around San Francisco. He

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<v Speaker 1>loved the outdoors, but he got tired of the bureaucracy.

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<v Speaker 1>So after six years he went got his masters in geography,

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<v Speaker 1>and he was figuring out what to do next. While

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<v Speaker 1>it was a park ranger, people kept asking where can

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<v Speaker 1>we get a really good map of the park? And

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<v Speaker 1>parks aren't in that business, he says, the Park Service.

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<v Speaker 1>They make very basic maps, rough sketch of the campground

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<v Speaker 1>where the bathrooms are, maybe a little bit of history,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's sufficient for most people, but a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>people really want to know more about it. They want

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<v Speaker 1>to know the elevation and trails and the mileages and

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<v Speaker 1>you know that kind of stuff. You know, here's a

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<v Speaker 1>business here someplace, somebody should do this. I didn't know

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<v Speaker 1>any better, so after I got my master's degree, I

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<v Speaker 1>just started making maps. More on Tom's story after the break.

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<v Speaker 1>A strong work ethic takes pride in a job well done,

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<v Speaker 1>sweats over the details. This is you. But to get

0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:26.800
<v Speaker 1>an honest day's work, you need a response. You need

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<v Speaker 1>a callback, You need a job. Express Employment professionals can

0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.600
<v Speaker 1>help because we understand what it takes to get a job.

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<v Speaker 1>It takes more than just online searches to land a job.

0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.600
<v Speaker 1>It takes someone who will identify your talents, a person

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<v Speaker 1>invested in your success. At Express, we can even complete

0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.760
<v Speaker 1>your application with you over the phone, will prepare you

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<v Speaker 1>for interviews, and will connect you to the right company. Plus,

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<v Speaker 1>we'll never charge a fee to find you a job.

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<v Speaker 1>At Express. We could put you to work with companies

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<v Speaker 1>of all sizes and industr race from the production floor

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<v Speaker 1>to the front office. Express Nose Jobs, get to No Express.

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<v Speaker 1>Find your location at expresspros dot com or on the

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<v Speaker 1>Express Jobs app. Tom Harrison started by doing what he knew.

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<v Speaker 1>He started making detailed hiking maps of the San Francisco

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<v Speaker 1>area that he'd grown up and they weren't very good,

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<v Speaker 1>but nobody else had anything like it. So I kept

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<v Speaker 1>selling maps and getting customers. You know, after a while

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<v Speaker 1>I had a business. When he started in the eighties,

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<v Speaker 1>all of Tom's maps were done completely in pen and ink.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean when I was in grad school. The Macintosh

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<v Speaker 1>should first come out, Oh black and white, so cool,

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<v Speaker 1>So everything gots by hand. He would get all the

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<v Speaker 1>maps and guidebooks that he could find on an area

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<v Speaker 1>and to hiking trails. And I look at him and

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<v Speaker 1>go back and forth and say, whoa, Okay, this is

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<v Speaker 1>a government map, and that's probably a map, and the

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<v Speaker 1>two guidebooks, but they don't agree here, here, and here.

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<v Speaker 1>He'd go and do more research looking for were maps

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<v Speaker 1>do agree. He'd make a ton of calls. But sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>when there was just no way to get an accurate

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<v Speaker 1>read on a map, he'd go and figured out himself.

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<v Speaker 1>Just put on the hiking boots and go out and

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<v Speaker 1>hike the trail. So I'd get him a jeep, go

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<v Speaker 1>out and hike the trail for a couple of days

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<v Speaker 1>with a major wheel, and make my notations. And he

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<v Speaker 1>ended up with these super accurate, beautifully rendered topographical maps.

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<v Speaker 1>He copied a bunch and started selling them. Around the

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<v Speaker 1>immediate area, map stores, backpacking stores, boat shops, any place

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<v Speaker 1>that would sell a map of the area I was doing.

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<v Speaker 1>His first maps were well received. One map store said

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<v Speaker 1>they take a dozen, but said he should really think

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<v Speaker 1>about talking to a distributor if he was going to

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<v Speaker 1>make any profit. I didn't even know what a distributor was.

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<v Speaker 1>They put him in contact with one and he sold

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<v Speaker 1>more maps to her. That distributor put him in contact

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<v Speaker 1>with another in La. He said he didn't really need

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<v Speaker 1>any maps of the San Francisco area, but I need

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<v Speaker 1>a map of this and this and this. So I

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<v Speaker 1>went back and I made a map of this and

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<v Speaker 1>this and this. He said, great, keep doing it. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>what else I need. Other companies started seeing his work

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<v Speaker 1>and asked him if they buy his maps for their stores,

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<v Speaker 1>And after about seven years of doing that, it got

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<v Speaker 1>to be the point where I need to help in

0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.080
<v Speaker 1>the business. So I asked my wife to quit her

0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.920
<v Speaker 1>job and she came to work with me. His wife

0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.480
<v Speaker 1>started on the business side of the operation. She handled

0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:16.560
<v Speaker 1>the fulfillment service that they ran out of the garage

0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.200
<v Speaker 1>for a while, and after thirty four years, Tom's maps

0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.520
<v Speaker 1>can now be found in huge outfitting stores like ARII

0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:28.120
<v Speaker 1>with maps of Death Valley, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, the Palisades,

0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:36.560
<v Speaker 1>and tons of others over the years. The biggest thing

0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.960
<v Speaker 1>that's changed in Tom's business is the technology, which she

0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:43.280
<v Speaker 1>says has actually made the occupation of matt making far

0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.640
<v Speaker 1>more accessible to anyone interested in doing it. For one thing,

0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.920
<v Speaker 1>it's made our life much easier and much smoother. I

0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:51.880
<v Speaker 1>don't need to bend over this light table all day.

0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:53.560
<v Speaker 1>I can sit down in front of a laptop and

0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.240
<v Speaker 1>do it there. There are plenty of hard skills that

0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.240
<v Speaker 1>are a must when going into cartography. You definitely have

0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.480
<v Speaker 1>to know Adobe Illustrator, and you have to know how

0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:08.200
<v Speaker 1>to use GIS software. Gis geographic information system, basically software

0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.800
<v Speaker 1>where you can analyze, manipulate, and manage geographical data. You'd

0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.120
<v Speaker 1>almost I have to have a reasonably decent understanding of

0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:19.200
<v Speaker 1>printing and how colors are put on paper. Essentially, you

0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:21.400
<v Speaker 1>can create a beautiful map on the computer that might

0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.600
<v Speaker 1>not translate to the printing press. Yeah. But all of

0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.760
<v Speaker 1>these hard skills aside, there's one thing that hasn't changed

0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.600
<v Speaker 1>at all since Tom first started out. In order to

0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.160
<v Speaker 1>be a good map maker and love what you do.

0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.200
<v Speaker 1>What you really need is curiosity. You need to know

0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:44.280
<v Speaker 1>understand that what you see and digital data isn't always correct.

0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:54.080
<v Speaker 1>You have to always question everything. What's the truth? Doesn't

0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.440
<v Speaker 1>say what the name of the road is on the map.

0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.560
<v Speaker 1>What is your favorite thing about making maps? You know?

0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.920
<v Speaker 1>For me, maps are a kind of a way of meditation,

0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:15.120
<v Speaker 1>very zen, like I can I completely clear on my

0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.640
<v Speaker 1>mind of anything else. I don't think about any of

0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:20.840
<v Speaker 1>the problems or issues. I'm just focusing on a map.

0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:26.920
<v Speaker 1>I think this is a lover's lane taking a left

0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:33.000
<v Speaker 1>on Los And for some reason, that single minded focus

0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:41.360
<v Speaker 1>makes my life easier and clearer. There's something that that's

0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.640
<v Speaker 1>very interesting about having yourself spatially oriented to to landscape

0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:54.840
<v Speaker 1>around you. Oh there it is have good pond recreation area.

0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.360
<v Speaker 1>But something about looking at the map and say, oh,

0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:02.400
<v Speaker 1>I always wondered where that was, And then you're out

0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.600
<v Speaker 1>there and you're it's like you put it in your mind,

0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:07.960
<v Speaker 1>both the map and the landscape, and they come to

0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:12.680
<v Speaker 1>come together, and it's it's sort of embeds itselves and

0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:25.320
<v Speaker 1>our special memory. For some reason, it's actually pretty warm. Yeah,

0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:28.880
<v Speaker 1>it's like phones make you the center of whatever you're

0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:33.400
<v Speaker 1>doing wherever you're going, and maps allow you to exist

0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:36.680
<v Speaker 1>as a smaller part of something bigger. Yeah. Yeah, the

0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.640
<v Speaker 1>phone is throw I'm right here, but a map is like, oh,

0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:46.200
<v Speaker 1>all that's out there. Yeah, I'm I'm in the middle

0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:56.720
<v Speaker 1>of all this. There's no one out here. There's a

0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:04.960
<v Speaker 1>really slight breeze, really little ripples on the pond. Can't

0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:16.560
<v Speaker 1>believe I've never been here before. To see Tom's maps

0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.440
<v Speaker 1>and learn more about him, you can go to Tom

0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.440
<v Speaker 1>Harrison maps dot com. For On the Job. I'm Otis Gray.

0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:29.560
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening to On the Job, brought to you

0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:33.000
<v Speaker 1>by Express Employment Professionals. This season of On the Job

0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:36.480
<v Speaker 1>is produced by Audiation and Red Seat Ventures. The episodes

0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.840
<v Speaker 1>are written and produced by me Otus Gray. Our executive

0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:42.880
<v Speaker 1>producer is Sandy Smallens. The show is mixed by Matt

0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.440
<v Speaker 1>Noble for Audiation Studios at the Loft in Bronxville, New York.

0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.520
<v Speaker 1>Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Find us on iHeartRadio and

0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.920
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts. If you liked what you heard, please consider

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<v Speaker 1>rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever

0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.320
<v Speaker 1>you listen. We'll see you next time. For more inspiring

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0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:11.760
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