Bethpage mapmaker keeps close on eye on LI

You may never have seen Geomaps International Inc., a small company in a nondescript building on Central Avenue in Bethpage. But Geomaps most likely has seen you, or your home or your business.

Geomaps is the only Long Island-based company involved in the arcane science of photogrammetry, which is the business of making high-resolution maps from photographs. The maps are used by shopping-mall developers, civil engineers and builders who want a clear-eyed view of what's on or near their property.

The thing about Geomaps is that even though it is one-of-a-kind on the Island, it has been suffering in the weak economy, since it is closely tied to the construction industry, said company president William Crawbuck.

Geomaps pared its staff in half in 2009, to nine people currently, and business has been down since 2007. "We've been in a long, stretched-out recession," said Crawbuck, who bought the company in 1987 after being an employee. "We saw a severe drop [in business], the worst I've ever seen." But, Crawbuck said, he now sees "a small pickup," but added it's too early to call it a turnaround.

The thing also about Geomaps is that it is such a cool company. Its mappers sit in darkened rooms looking at 3-D images of land and water. Thousands of photos are taken by an aerial surveying company hired by Geomaps. Good weather and scant foliage are a help.

The unlikely happens. The other day, a Geomap survey of a small, uninhabited island in Jamaica Bay revealed what appeared to be a dead body. Crawbuck was stunned and alerted the New York City Police Department. "That's the first body we ever came across," Crawbuck said. An NYPD spokesman said a police helicopter checked the island but saw no body.