Heavily relied on. Within an hour's drive of 25 million people. Frequented by more visitors each year than Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon combined. Drinking water supplies for more than 4.5 million people. And lacking "an identity in the public consciousness." So it goes for the Atlantic Highlands region stretching from northwest Connecticut through New York and New Jersey and into Pennsylvania, writes James Gorman. It's about two million acres of public and private land, "developed and undeveloped, dotted with reservoirs and parks, but under intense development pressures." And facing more and more 10-acre "McMansions," he reports. "Unlike, say, Adirondacks or Berkshires, 'Highlands' is not a name that strikes familiar chords," writes Gorman, adding that activists are now undertaking a branding campaign to try to change that. An important new tool in the effort are geographical information systems (GIS) that translates data into maps "so that forest coverage or population density can be seen at a glance and combined in maps that give an immediate sense of what is occurring in a given area and what may be done." (See: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/08/science/earth/08CORR.html?tntemail0)