From the Publisher

By Elizabeth Valk Long

Sometimes when you want something done right, you just have to do it yourself. That's why TIME uses a powerful computer program that chief of cartography Paul Pugliese and associate graphics director Joe Lertola helped develop to produce many of the eye-catching maps that grace our pages each week. Pugliese and Lertola teamed up with software expert Daniel Strebe to create Geocart, which can instantly project everything from a panoramic view of the globe to a detailed look at an individual state. When used with another program called Adobe Dimensions, Geocart can swiftly produce 3-D-like images of any part of the earth's surface.

Our staffers and Strebe launched their program last year and formed a company, based in Pugliese's home in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., to market it commercially. Buyers have so far included the U.N. and Rand McNally.

Innovation comes naturally to Pugliese and Lertola. Both are born tinkerers. Joe, who joined TIME in 1983, has been creating his own programs since desktop computers first became popular. "New graphics techniques have always fascinated me," he says, "and the computer offers any number of new procedures. Once I started designing on a computer, I just couldn't keep away from it." When he is not working on maps, Joe uses his technical wizardry to create composite images like the illustration of a heart poured from a test tube on the cover of our Feb. 15 issue.

Pugliese, who arrived at TIME in 1976, brings a passion for accuracy and considerable creativity to his personal and professional life. He has built two homes from the ground up, including his present one. A lecturer and the creator of maps for hundreds of books, Paul designed the wall-size maps for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, scheduled to open in Washington this spring. All that is not to mention the more than 1,000 maps he has done for TIME. Small wonder that his car sports customized license plates that read MAP ONE. "When I give lectures," Paul says, "people often ask, 'Aren't you afraid the computer will replace you?' I say, 'No, the computer is a tool that gives me much greater flexibility to do what I want. That can be a lifesaver, especially when I'm on deadline.' " And especially when the tool includes the high-powered program that Pugliese and Lertola helped bring about.