Sanborn Maps 

History:

The practice of creating fire insurance maps originated in London in the late 18th century. In the U.S., Daniel Alfred Sanborn, a civil engineer and surveyor, began creating these maps in 1866. He founded the D. A. Sanborn National Insurance Diagram Bureau (later The Sanborn Map Company) in 1867. The company became the dominant publisher of fire insurance maps for nearly a century, producing maps for approximately 12,000 cities and towns across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. While originally intended for the insurance industry, the Sanborn Map Company still exists today, focusing on geospatial products.