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Contact iGage, Company History

By email orders@igage.com
By telephone +1 801 412-0011
By fax +1 801 412-0022
By mail iGage Mapping Corporation
1545 South 1100 East STE 1
Salt Lake City UT  84105
In person 1545 South 1100 East STE 1 (the basement)
Salt Lake City Utah 84105

We are located in the basement, on the East side of 11th East, the next building South of the sewing machine shop. There is off-street parking on the east side of the building.

From Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), 11.8 miles, 12 minutes (16 minutes rush-hour):

Mile

Instruction

For

Toward

0.0

Depart near Salt Lake City on Airport Exit (South)

0.2 mi

 

0.2

Keep LEFT onto Ramp

0.7 mi

I-80 / City Center / Ogden / Provo

1.0

Take Ramp (LEFT) onto I-80

3.3 mi

I-80 / Ogden / Provo

4.2

Turn off onto Ramp

0.3 mi

 

4.5

At exit 121, take Ramp (LEFT) onto I-15 [I-80]

2.6 mi

I-80 / I-15 / Cheyenne / Las Vegas

7.1

At exit 307, take Ramp (RIGHT) onto I-80

3.0 mi

I-80 / Cheyenne

10.1

At exit 126, turn RIGHT onto Ramp

0.2 mi

UT-181 / 13th East / Sugar House

10.3

Turn LEFT (North) onto SR-181 [S 1300 E]

43 yds

 

10.3

At I-80, Salt Lake City, UT 84106, stay on SR-181 [S 1300 E] (North)

1.1 mi

 

11.5

Turn LEFT (West) onto Kensington Ave

0.3 mi

to bottom of street

11.7

Turn LEFT into parking lot, just East of Sewing Machine Shop. Park in back, or on street.

30 feet

 

11.8

Arrive 1545 S 1100 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84105

 

we are in the basement of the building directly South of the sewing machine shop

SUMMARY
Driving distance: 11.8 miles
Trip duration: 12 minutes
Driving time: 12 minute
s

History:

What is an 'iGage' and Why Does it Sell Maps and Professional GPS receivers?

iGage Mapping Corporation began as a small engineering company in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in early 1996, iGage began by providing electrical engineering design and software services for industrial and automation customers.

+
Eye + Gauge => iGage

The word 'iGage' is a play ('Eye Gauge') on the machine vision, non-contact measurement devices that were the basis of our core products. The name was coined long before iEverything and eEverythingElse become popular. Over the years we have come to regret our trendy name, we are just boring engineers. It always appeared to be too difficult to change our name to something more descriptive like 'Light, Radio and Chemical Based Measurement Tools and Systems'.

iGage is responsible for many of the infrared absorption gas measurement devices that check automotive emissions; the gas analyzers for oxygen concentration measurement and calibration used in hospitals and industry; several lines of high speed laser based measurement tools for the non-contact measurement and control of wire, fiber and cable extrusion; motorized valve testing equipment; and lots of other nifty, but equally unexciting tools and devices.

In March 1998 Mark Silver, an iGage engineer, built a software tool that allowed him to view all the 7½ minute quadrangle maps in the North Eastern corner of Utah where he fishes. Mark paid his way through the University of Utah fighting range fires for the Bureau of Land Management in Vernal Utah. He loves maps, and he had always dreamed of making a tool like 'All Topo Maps'. Originally he called his hobby 'iTopo' and it intrigued everyone who saw it. He soon expanded it to cover all of Utah.

By August 1999, Mark was literally burning up the iGage office CD-ROM burner making copies for his friends and their acquaintances. In October 1999, Mark decided to have a couple hundred copies made to give as Christmas gifts. He learned that it was about the same price to press 1,000 sets as it cost to burn 100 so he made a simple User's Manual and some cover art then had 1,000 sets of CDs pressed and assembled.

Mark spent several weeks giving maps sets away, pulling the front covers and autographing them as if he was a famous rock-star. Very quickly it became evident that he would not be able to give them away fast enough to satisfy everyone who wanted a copy so he convinced three local retailers (Denali, Utah Idaho Map World and the Utah Geological Survey store) to retail 'All Topo Maps'.

When 'All Topo Maps' was released, there was no competition and no comparable products to set a price against. Mark decided that $100 was a fair price that he would be willing to pay for the two-disk set. Within a couple of weeks the concept of a simple, reasonably priced consumer mapping tool was proven. Hundreds and hundreds of copies were quickly sold. The 1,000 original map sets barely made it through Christmas.

Four-disk Utah sets followed and surrounding states were completed.

Selling maps is a lot more fun than building gas measurement systems, so iGage had a GPS interface tool written, improved the resolution and viewing software and released several new states (Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming.) Soon we had sold over 5,000 copies of All Topo Maps to consumers, and to our surprise other engineers. More states and nifty mapping tools like BigTopo followed. Eventually we had sold over 200,000 copies of 'All Topo Maps' with a registered user list exceeding 75,000 customers.

In September 2000, all of iGage's mapping products, employees, equipment and technology were acquired by 'Igage Mapping Corporation'. iGage Mapping Corporation is wholly owned by employees.

John, the proprietor of Denali (one of the largest retail points of sale) was hired and is now the director of iGage.

Why Topographic Maps?

Topographical maps are the basis for almost everything that our society does. Early maps guided exploration. Later maps formed the basis for land sales, plat maps and land ownership. The topographic map series is one of this nation's finest treasures, a resource of uncountable value. The series was paid for by citizens for their benefit, it should be available in a concise, friendly form for everyone to use at a reasonable price.

Topographical maps are art. Each map has been painstakingly generated by hundreds of artisans, each improving on the work of their predecessors. When you hang a quadrangle on your wall and look your favorite place you don't see a paper map. Your mind sees the places you have been, the mountains, hills, streams and lakes. You can instantly remember those hikes you took 20 years ago and the events that occurred on them. The maps, like fine art, are more than paper and ink.

The Fall of Topographic Maps

Since 2010, Google mapping products have become the go-to source for consumers and professional users. Much the same as 'All Topo Maps' lead to the demise of paper topographic maps, Google Mapping products have taken most of the share of all mapping products.

As of 2016, only two of the many players in the digital topographic mapping business remained (us and one competitor). In March 2017 iGage stopped marketing 'All Topo Maps'. Support is expected to stop in March of 2020.

It was by accident that iGage fell into the role of providing digital mapping and survey solutions. At the time of this writing we have served millions and millions and millions of maps. Hopefully our mapping products provided extreme value, and simple to use map gratification for the map needy and the truly map obsessed.

Over the past years, we have become a supplier of Mapping and Survey GPS equipment representing the linage of Thales-Magellan Professional-Ashtech and Spectra Precision products. In 2013 we began a relationship with CHC to produce the X90-OPUS receiver which has extended to a complete line of iGage mapping and survey grade precision GPS equipment. We are now one of the largest suppliers of GNSS equipment in the USA.

We are not a big outfit, so your comments and suggestions make an immediate difference! Don't hesitate to drop us a note if your have a great idea or hate our guts and want to let us know about it. You will get a quick response!

Our Name and Apple Inc's 'iEverything'

One of the most common questions that we are asked is 'How come Apple has not forced iGage to change its name?'

The iGage company (originally a DBA, now a Corporation "iGage Mapping Corporation") was registered in the State of Utah on July 3, 1996. At the time, any existence of Apple products bearing the 'iXXX' name was unknown to us. For reference the iMac-G3 was introduced August 15, 1998 (two years after our origin) and the 'IMAC' trademark is dated June 2000 (four years after our origin.)

In early 2000 we were contacted, by phone, by someone representing themselves to be counsel for Apple. We informed them that we think our business registration predates their trademarks. We have never been contacted again.

The iGage name is kind-of unfortunate. The original intent of 'measurement by looking not touching' worked well for our gas analyzers and still works well for our GPS lines. If we had known in 1996 that our name would be hip and trendy, we probably never would have never chosen it. But it is far too late to change now. Hip and trendy we remain (...just kidding: no one would ever describe iGage as hip, trendy or cool.)

Good mapping to you!

iGage Mapping Corporation
1545 South 1100 East #1;  Salt Lake City UT 84105 USA
Voice:
+1 801 412-0011 Fax: +1 801 412-0022
email
orders@igage.com   General iGage Information