The Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey ( BGPS ) data for a six square degree region of the Galactic plane containing the Galactic center is analyzed and compared to infrared and radio continuum data .
The BGPS 1.1 mm emission consists of clumps interconnected by a network of fainter filaments surrounding cavities , a few of which are filled with diffuse near-IR emission indicating the presence of warm dust or with radio continuum characteristic of HII regions or supernova remnants .
New 350 \mu m images of the environments of the two brightest regions , Sgr A and B , are presented .
Sgr B2 is the brightest mm-emitting clump in the Central Molecular Zone and may be forming the closest analog to a super star cluster in the Galaxy .
The Central Molecular Zone ( CMZ ) contains the highest concentration of mm and sub-mm emitting dense clumps in the Galaxy .
Most 1.1 mm features at positive longitudes are seen in silhouette against the 3.6 to 24 \mu m background observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope .
However , only a few clumps at negative longitudes are seen in absorption , confirming the hypothesis that positive longitude clumps in the CMZ tend to be on the near-side of the Galactic center , consistent with the suspected orientation of the central bar in our Galaxy .
Some 1.1 mm cloud surfaces are seen in emission at 8 \mu m , presumably due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons ( PAHs ) .
A \sim 0.2° ( \sim 30 pc ) diameter cavity and infrared bubble between l \approx 0.0° and 0.2° surrounds the Arches and Quintuplet clusters and Sgr A .
The bubble contains several clumpy dust filaments that point toward Sgr A ^ { * } ; its potential role in their formation is explored .

Bania ’ s Clump 2 , a feature near l = 3° to 3.5° which exhibits extremely broad molecular emission lines ( \Delta V > 150 km s ^ { -1 } ) , contains dozens of 1.1 mm clumps .
These clumps are deficient in near- and mid-infrared emission in the Spitzer images when compared to both the inner Galactic plane and the Central Molecular Zone .
Thus , Bania ’ s Clump 2 is either inefficient in forming stars or is in a pre-stellar phase of clump evolution .

The Bolocat catalog of 1.1 mm clumps contains 1428 entries in the Galactic center between l = 358.5° to l = 4.5° of which about 80 % are likely to be within about 500 pc of the center .
The mass-spectrum above about 80 M _ { \odot } can be described by a power-law \Delta N / \Delta M = N _ { 0 } M ^ { -2.14 ( +0.1 , -0.4 ) } .
The power-law index is somewhat sensitive to systematic grain temperature variations , may be highly biased by source confusion , and is very sensitive to the spatial filtering inherent in the data acquisition and reduction .