COLORADO SPRINGS, CO The Sanborn Map Company, Inc. (Sanborn) is well known by its customers as a cutting-edge technology firm, but its rich history often surprises many. Founded in 1866 to produce fire insurance maps, modern-day Sanborn offers high-tech mapping services that include mobile and aerial light detection and ranging (LiDAR), aerial oblique imagery and orthoimagery, 3-D visualization, autonomous robotic indoor mapping, FAA-approved unmanned aircraft system (UAS) services, and more.

"It's highly satisfying to note our strong technology leadership position in today's market while at the same time reflecting on a host of achievements comprising our 150-year legacy," said John Copple, Sanborn CEO. "It's a little-known fact that Sanborn even made key contributions to America's World War II efforts."

Celebrating Storied Success

Copple refers to when the company secretly housed classified Allied invasion maps critical to the D-Day invasion of Normandy in its historic Pelham, New York, building. That building is 110 years old this year and Westchester County has declared April 20 as "Sanborn Map Building Day" to honor both the building and company anniversaries.

Sanborn's legendary fire insurance maps are distinctive because of their sophisticated set of symbols that precisely and clearly convey complex information. The Library of Congress Sanborn map collection includes some 50,000 editions of the maps comprising an estimated 700,000 individual sheets dating back to 1867. The maps depict commercial, industrial and residential sections of some 12,000 cities and towns across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Focus on Innovation Drives Technology Leadership

Continually extending its rich mapping tradition, Sanborn remains positioned at the forefront of modern geospatial technology. The company pioneered the collection and delivery of digital orthoimagery. It's now at the leading edge of collecting and processing high-resolution oblique aerial imagery and designing derivative products.

The firm boasts one of the world's premier oblique imagery collections, which is growing by leaps and bounds. In 2015, Sanborn added approximately 2.8 million new images to its Oblique Imagery Solutions database and provides proprietary tools, such as Sanborn Oblique Analyst software, so its customers can extract the maximum value from the imagery.

Sanborn also offers 6-inch resolution orthoimagery covering the entire continental United States in both natural color and infrared products, and has one of the industry's widest range of 3-D, off-the-shelf mapping products. These include 3D Buildings, a suite of modeling products designed for 3-D visualization and geographic information system (GIS) applications; 3D Cities for virtual city implementation; and CitySets, which comprise digital datasets covering the core downtown areas of most major U.S. metropolitan areas.