The Art of Mapping - cartography.org.ukgreatest railway maps, brimming with wonderful designs,...

Looking for volunteers6

Letter to the Editors7

UKCC Paris Report20

Global MapAid

Winter 2011 – £3.00

The Art of MappingSee pages 8 – 9

CITIES OF THE CLASSICALWORLD

An Atlas and Gazetteer of 120Centres of Ancient Civilization

Colin McEvedyISBN: 9781846144271Allen Lane, £25

A unique history of the cities of theclassical World, with 120 speciallydrawn, to-scale maps.

A labour of love for many, manyyears, Cities of the Classical Worldwas created by Colin McEvedy and completed upon hisdeath by his family and close friends.

From Rome to Constantinople, Thessaloniki to York, drawing on an enormous number of reference materials,some rare and others never translated into English, this isa unique perspective on each of these ancient centres.

Just published

GREAT RAILWAY MAPSOF THE WORLD

Mark OvendenISBN:

9781846143915Particular Books,

£20

A beautifully illustrated, detailed and unique history of the World’sgreatest railway maps, brimming with wonderful designs,history, facts, anecdotes and data as well as full colourreproductions of every map.

Trains have been running for two hundred years. The history of the railway is also the history of Britain – andFrance, and America, and Japan, and Russia, amongstmany others. Yet, this is the first ever collection of thediversity of World railway cartography ever produced.

2 • Winter 2011 / Maplines Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

From the Editors

As your Maplines team compiled this latest feast of cartographic delights it struck me as interesting howoften we see or hear reference of maps being linked

to art or vice versa. Our wonderful cover image and featurearticle on The Art of Mapping is an obvious case. But as I began to delve a little deeper, the more I read, the moreexamples I found and this lead me to question what othernatural values the fruits of our labour provides?

Maps clearly, first and foremost, are intended as navigational aids, but as I hear time and time again frominterested onlookers, people are also drawn to maps simplyto look and admire the result as a whole. At university, when I was asked to submit thesis proposals for my MSc., I contemplated an analysis of the mapsheet as a piece ofart. I am convinced that the choice the cartographer makeswhen positioning the map features and geographical extenton a sheet can add to its overall artistic value and I was interested to see whether this could be measured in someway. However, such compositional freedom is not always possible in a sheet series.

Should you have an interest or a view on this topic we wouldlove to hear from you and we can kick off the debates earlyahead of next year’s Symposium, which features sections onvisualisation and art in cartography. We hope you enjoy thepages ahead and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Adam On behalf of Lynda, Martin, Adam and Mark

Maplines Editors

Editorial Contact details:Senior Editor: Lynda BaileySenior Editor, Design & Production: Martin LubikowskiEditor: Adam KingEditor, Design & Production: Mark Sansom

[email protected]

Deadline for copy for the Spring 2012 edition is 14 February

The views expressed in Maplines are those of the Editors andContributors and not necessarily those of the BCS.

If you would like to sponsor the Maplines Quiz please contact the Editors.

© The British Cartographic Society 2011

Illustrations in this issueFront Cover: Emma Johnson.'Dislocation: Time and Place' (mainimage). Peter Dykhuis 'Inventories'(detail) both images courtesy of TAGFine Arts.p4-5 Courtesy of MapAction.p8-9 Jonathan Parsons 'TerminatorMaquette', Jeremy Wood, My Ghost,

Elsayed - Twist Question full (extract).All images courtesy of TAG Fine Artsp14-15 Stowe map courtesy of StoweArea Association. Compass rosescopyright Resort Maps.p16-17 Intergraphp24 HARVEY MapsAll other photography copyright: Lynda Bailey,Martin Lubikowski, Mark Sansom, Adam King or the BCS

The Magazine of the British Cartographic Society

Volume 17, 3rd Issue, Winter 2011

Registered Charity No. 240034

Summer QuizThe winner of our Summer quiz is Alison Ewington.Congratulations Alison , your maps are on their way.

Summer quiz solution1 Statue of Charles I. Plaque marks the spot from

which all distances from London are measured2 1:5684 (precisely!!)3 St Peter's and Milan Cathedral (apologies – the

question should have referred to Florence Cathedralas the third largest Christian church in Italy and notas we stated, in the World)

4 3.99 degrees

As your President I was invitedby the Earl of Selborne GBEFRS, Chairman, and members

of the Foundation for Science andTechnology to the Learned andProfessional Societies’ AnnualLuncheon, on 7 October at theHouse of Lords. The Foundation'spurpose is to provide a neutral platform for debate of policy issuesthat have a science, engineering ortechnology element. The Foundationorganises dinner/discussions andworkshops on relevant issues whenparliament is sitting. Soon after anevent a two-page summary is posted on the Foundation’s site, www.foundation.org.uk and later areport appears in the Foundation'sjournal.

So, in my best bib and tucker I went to London; entry to the House ofLords was to be through Black Rod’sGarden Entrance, then through security, hence the badge, acrossThe Royal Court and into the reception and dining area over-looking the River Thames.There were about sixty people at theluncheon from a wide range of organisations and charities coveringoccupations such as builders’ merchants, teachers, chemists,mariners, mathematicians, engineers and medical scientists;the only person I knew was PeterChapman-Andrews, Director of RoyalInstitute of Navigation.

Appropriately, the after-lunch speakerat this year’s event was Andrew HindCB, Editor of Charity Finance and formerly Chief Executive of theCharity Commission. BCS is, ofcourse, a charity and CouncilMembers are Trustees of theSociety. This is important asTrustees have and must accept ultimate responsibility for directingthe affairs of their charity andensure that it is solvent, well-run anddelivering the charitable outcomesfor which it has been set up.

Andrew Hind began by telling us thatthere are over 200,000 charities inthe UK, over 1 million people givetheir time to charitable work, thereare 750,000 paid staff and the‘business’ is worth £50bn a year.The first formal charity was set up inthe sixth century in Canterbury. Butback to more recent times, therecession has had an effect on charitable contributions. The largewell-known charities such as theRNIB and RNLI have coped comparatively well as have the small charities but the mid-sizeorganisations have suffered most.An issue which the CharityCommission had considered andwas still being discussed waswhether or not trustees should bepaid. It would be difficult to correlateperformance and pay; neverthelessit might encourage people to join charitable boards.

We were reminded that charitableorganisations must reach out tothose outside their membership inorder to maintain their charitable status. We, in BCS, do this throughour Better Mapping series of eventsand more recently through theRestless Earth schools initiative. At lunch, I sat next to Sir GeoffreyChipperfield KCB, a FoundationCouncil Member, who was particularly interested in our RestlessEarth programme and asked for mybusiness card. Whether anything will come of it – we’ll have to waitand see.

A Very Happy New Year to All

Peter JollyBCS President

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk Maplines / Winter 2011 • 3

Notes from our President

The Society's President, Peter Jolly, presented theNational Geographic Society New Mapmaker Awardto Mike Wilburn, a mapmaker at the University of

Oregon, for his entry 'Mount Rainier: A Climber's Paradise'while on a recent visit to Redlands.

Overall the judging panel considered that Mike's work provides an attractive and informative introduction to theclimbing routes of Mount Rainer and their use. The useof graphics and choice of colours both add to the overallattraction of the piece. The panel noted that the designworks well at sizes from A3 up to A1. Mike later attendedthe BCS AGM in London (pictured).

National Geographic New Mapmaker Award

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk4 • Winter 2011 / Maplines

Since 2004, MapAction hashelped in 25 emergencies including the Asian tsunami,

earthquakes, volcanoes, floods andtropical storms. It can deploy a fullytrained and equipped mapping teamanywhere in the World, often within afew hours of an alert.

‘But before we can respond to a disaster, our first need is for information. Where are the affectedpeople? Where are the reliefresources? Who is doing whatalready?’ explains Chief Executive ofthe charity, Nigel Woof.

MapAction delivers this vital information in the form of maps. ‘Byconveying a shared operational picture,our maps play a crucial role in delivering humanitarian aid to the rightplace, quickly,’ he says.

An age-old tradition for 2011The cartography world has existed eversince humans felt the need to explorethe world and record what they found.But now, in the 21st century, withalmost all of the planet mapped andrecorded in minute detail, map technology is still surging ahead. Today,cartography is at the centre of aid provision for global disasters and emergencies. ‘We have harnessed thepower and portability of modern technology – particularly geographicalinformation systems (GIS) and satellite

location systems (GPS),’ Nigel continues. ‘We can gather informationon the ground, combine this with satellite images, and produce maps inthe field, delivered directly to the rescue and relief agencies themselves.

‘In a perfect world, we would haveaccess to a fast, high-quality, high-resolution, large format printer everywhere we work. But, of course,that’s not possible. We can’t take largeformat printers out in the field – asmuch as we’d like to. But when we dohave access to good printing, it’s invaluable. The potential to use Océtechnology with 24 hours’ notice, isgreat. Our UN partners find that havinga large-format map on the wall allowsthem to see the whole geography of an emergency site in order to visualiseit and plan accordingly. When you arrive at an operation centre in anemergency, a map is the first thing youwant – it becomes a hub for teams towork around and adds a lot of focus to people’s thinking as to how best torespond.’

A map allows a clear operational picture before entering hostile environments where MapAction volunteers can’t depend upon technology. A map that fits in someone’s pocket or that can be laidout for teams to coordinate around isfar tougher and more reliable than apersonal computer screen.

Maps for tough environmentsA printed map taken out into a disasterzone needs to be tough. It will be usedin unpredicatable environments, heldup in the rain, dropped on the floor,submerged in mud and folded manytimes, and still needs to be legible. Inshort, it needs to be the marine of theprinted world, and Océ’s CrystalPointtechnology is fast becoming the mostsought-after product to achieve this.Found in the Océ ColorWave 600,which is six times as fast as a liquidinkjet printer, it is rapidly setting newstandards for on-demand map printingfor organisations such as MapAction.Map-printing technology in the past hasoften compromised on accuracy – ariver and road that might be parallelcan look as if they overlap. Yet OcéCrystalPoint technology can distinguishthe finest of details.

Maps on demandAt this very moment, MapAction isresponding to the current crisis in Libyausing maps printed on the OcéColorWave 600 at ESRI (UK), the UK’sleading provider of GIS technology. GISallows organisations to view, analyseand visualise data in order to revealrelationships, patterns, and trends. Thecompany understands the importanceof high-quality maps and is workingwith Océ to utilise CrystalPoint technology. It provides a service for itscustomers (one of which is MapAction)to create a customised map centred on

At the beginning ofMarch, the aid charityMapAction deployedresponse teams toassist with the humanitarian crisis inLibya. On the afternoonof 3rd March, the charityused an Océ ColorWave600 to print wall mapsfor the team to take toCairo that very evening

Rapid Mapping

a particular area of interest, printed ondemand on the Océ ColorWave 600.Just like MapAction workers did underhigh pressure in order to respond tothe crisis in Libya, customers can create their own map and take it homethat same day.

‘Getting the right aid to people acrossand beyond Libyan territories poses ahuge challenge of humanitarian intelligence gathering, planning andlogistics for international aid agencies,’explains Nigel. ‘MapAction teams willgather and communicate vital information about the rapidly changingpicture within Libya and at its borders,using maps as the focal point.’

We may have explored many depthsand heights on earth and mapped

most of the world many times over, butthere are still exciting times ahead forwhat must be the best-of-the-best whenit comes to cartography. And Océ, itseems, is once again proudly at theforefront of this development.

Océ is paying a contribution toMapAction for each new placement ofthe Océ ColorWave 600 installed in aGIS/Mapping environment in 2011 andaims to donate £20,000 in 2011.

Courtesy of Richard TurnerOcé

First published in Océ's magazine'Dialogue'

Crisis Mapping

Maplines / Winter 2011 • 5Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

• It uses a hard resin toner that canbe applied by melting it, turning it to a jelly and jetting it on to anyuncoated media

• It can be applied to anything fromvery inexpensive plain white paperand recycled bond, to specialistmaterials for applications that

require more durability such asTyvek® (DuPont). An uncoated Tyvekprint is virtually indestructible

• The composition of the toner andthe nature of the crystallisationprocess that bonds to the mediameans the result is a resilient andwater-fast finish

• Exceptionally accurate and intricatedetail is achieved – vital for cartographers and mapping companies

• The four points of reference for a printed map – quality, clarity, resolution, resilience – are all ticked

Crystalpoint Technology: the Facts. Why is it perfect for rapid mapping?

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk6 • Winter 2011 / Maplines

Population Mapping

The mission of Global MapAid(GMA) is to scientifically mappopulations to identify poverty,

providing a tool to help governments,business people and developmentorganisations to target and plan efficient intervention strategies to lift people out of poverty. Our impartial maps inspire and encourage the best chances forbankrolling of sustainable jobs andsmall businesses.

In addition to the vital need to create maps to show where sustainable jobs are needed, GMAresearches the numbers and typesof jobs that will match local marketneeds. So, our maps are about creating a passion with numbers:

GMA was started at StanfordUniversity in 2003 and since thenhas been operational in severalpoverty hotspots including SouthAfrica, Indonesia and Afghanistan,winning the support of our Patron,Nobel Winner, Desmond Tutu.

The Global ProblemThe World is facing a unique set ofproblems, and one of the biggest ishunger related poverty which UNICEFclaims kills over 10 million childrenper year.

The Global SolutionTo beat hunger-poverty, the creationof meaningful wealth creating jobs isan imperative: ‘Teach a man to fishand you feed him for a lifetime…’

Due diligence is required, firstly toexamine and map the number ofpeople below the poverty line.Secondly to examine and map thetype and number of sustainable jobsthat could be created to yield themaximum chances of success.

Businessman sets PrecedentDuring the 1890s many Londonerslived in terrible poverty. CharlesBooth was a wealthy businessmanwho believed that social reformershad over-estimated that 25% of thepopulation lived below the povertyline. He paid for a scientificsurvey to prove the matter once andfor all and the subsequent LondonPoverty Map 1898 showed thatabout 33% of Londoners lived inabject poverty. This scientific discovery raised the level of debatesin Parliament and throughout thecountry’s leadership.

Within 20 years of his 1889 map,the British government set up astate old age pension and massivelyincreased universal education possibilities and initiated huge slumclearances, all of which began to create a workforce that was happier,better equipped and very much

more economically productive.

Where will ‘today’s Charles Booths’come from, to show the way forWorld Leaders ?

We are looking for new CharlesBooths, to partner with us in specificlocations, and build a meaningfullegacy.

Global MapAid – a call to action…

1889 London Poverty Map – Clerkenwell Central London

2000 Bartholomew road map – Clerkenwell

Volunteers needed

CONTACT US NOW

+44 7951 958758 [email protected]

Zero Maps

Blindness

Lethergyof Networks

Inaction

Maps

Vision

Inspirationof Networks

Intelligent

Action

Global MapAid

Iwas interested in the Editorial inthe last issue of Maplines wherethere was debate over the use of

the term ‘transit’, whether we shouldbe concerned about standardisationof terminology and how we deal witharticles from international authors.Standardisation has always been amajor issue in cartography – shouldwe or shouldn’t we fix the specifications of our maps. In favour,it potentially makes them easier fora wide audience to use without having to repeatedly refer to the legend; against is that standardisation stifles innovationand development. Standardisationhas been successful in certain areasof mapping, such as hydrographic &aeronautical charts, but there is nosuch thing as the ‘standard’ topographic map, even if many of uscan easily read one from almost anycountry without having to refer to thelegend for most things.

Standardisation, it would seem,works where there is a professionalneed for maps and a strong regulatory body, such as the IHO orICAO, but, despite many suggestionsover the years, not for things liketourist or economic maps.

Returning to terminology and tying inwith the Notes from the Carto-Guruon legends, I have recently reviewedseveral papers on automating mapdesign by French authors, written inEnglish for publication in journals orconference proceedings. They oftenuse the phrase ‘designing the maplegend’ in a way we would not in normal English usage. I would takethis phrase to mean the organisationof the elements in the legend, deciding on the order or grouping ofsymbols, the use of columns, typesized for various captions and explanations, etc. However, in theseFrench articles ‘designing the legend’ clearly means somethingquite different. They use it to refer todetermining the form, dimension andcolour of the symbols for the map,something I would call the ‘symbolspecification’. Their view is that once

the legend is ‘designed’ the attrib-utes are then automatically appliedto the map. I often say to my students that it is easy to design amap legend, but much harder todesign a map. The reason for this isthat in the legend the symbols areseen in isolation; they are easy topick out and only have to contrastwith the plain background. Once they are in a map context, they arecompeting with other elements andsomething that can be clearly identified in the legend may becomedifficult or impossible to distinguishin the map. So, good legend designis important to effective map use,but it does not mean the map will bewell designed. I have no problemwith the concept of automaticallyapplying a set of specifications to adataset to produce the map, onlywith the terminology used.

Internationalisation does pose manyproblems to cartography & GIS.There has been a great deal of workdone in recent years on developingontologies to try and better definethe content and meaning of data in databases, but we are often confronted with fundamental problems, such as the use of thesame term to mean different things.For example, in the UK we use theterm pavement to refer to the part ofa road where pedestrians walk. Inthe US the pavement is the road surface and pedestrians use theside-walk. Clearly a navigation system directing pedestrians to usethe pavement in the US could havedire consequences.

While I don’t think many readerswould be confused by the use of‘transit map’ to refer to what we inthe UK would call a ‘public transportmap’, neither do I think an international audience would be confused by using our conventionalterm. Others however may wish tobe more pedantic and suggest thatin BCS publications we should avoidcreeping Americanisation by the useof ‘color’ and other such spellings(although I note ‘colour’ is used in aheading – presumably inserted by an Editor).

David ForrestUniversity of Glasgow

Maplines / Winter 2011 • 7Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

Letter to the EditorsWhat’s in a w

ord? Or you

say transit and I say....

Last month, the Air Gallery onDover Street played host to an eclectic but beautiful

collection of maps, curated by theIslington-based art dealers and publishers TAG Fine Arts. From a mapof the UK made of recycled computercomponents, by Susan Stockwell, toimaginary drawings of spidery citygrids by Robert Walden, none of theexhibits in The Art of Mapping couldbe called accurate or useful in the traditional sense. Instead the 22artists responsible for the worksmade them to ask questions, to pushthe boundaries of mapping while celebrating the discipline’s undeniablebeauty and artistry. Launched as partof the London Mapping Festival andaccompanied by talks and events, theexhibition brought together art lovers,map enthusiasts and those workingin the industry to explore the potentialof the medium.

Some of the artists involved arealready well known in the UK. GraysonPerry and Stephen Walter (who bothshowed ambitious works at the British

Library’s Magnificent Maps exhibitionlast year) were represented, andSimon Patterson’s iconic ‘The GreatBear’ – a reworking of Harry Beck’sLondon tube map – was on loan fromthe London Transport Museum.Others such as Heidi Whitman andDahlia Elsayed were showing theirwork in London for the first time. Overhalf the pieces were brand new commissions, representing their latest forays into the world of mapsand cartography.

Many of us, however appreciative ofmaps, have a rather inconsistent relationship with them. Maps crop upin daily life with a mundane frequencythat makes them easy to take for

granted, but at the same time weactively celebrate others as covetablevisual items. Ironically it is often verydifficult to pinpoint exactly when andwhy a map crosses the line from practical object into work of art. Manyof the artworks on display began lifeas relatively undistinguished ‘everyday’ maps; cut, reshaped orpainted over by the artists, they weretransformed into something unique.

This playfulness and experimentationwith the look and content of mapsspilled over into the events thataccompanied the display. In a paneldiscussion organised by TAG andLondonist.com, the academic JamesCheshire showed a series of


��


inventive, colourful maps of Londondepicting data such as transport use,the distribution of common surnames,and the levels of industrial or commercial activity in different areas.

Though made for research purposes,many of them possessed an impressive beauty of their own. Taxi driver John Kennedy gave theaudience a spoken tour of the citystreets, conjuring up a mental map by simply describing the journey outloud.

In the same discussion StephenWalter explained how his artisticmaps had developed from a fascination with suburbia and thehumdrum signs and symbols we seearound us every day, while in a separate artists’ talk on Saturday 19 November Claire Brewster, DahliaElsayed, Susan Stockwell and HeidiWhitman explained the inspirationbehind their own work. The variety oftheir influences was surprising: fromClaire’s interest in the unruliness ofnature (in contrast to mankind’sordered maps) to Dahlia’s attempts tomap out a story before writing it, toSusan’s interest in recycling and politics, to Heidi’s exploration ofhuman imagination and the processes of the brain, all came fromcompletely independent angles. In the end, that was one of the keymessages behind the exhibition:maps are indispensable to us not justbecause they are useful. We lovethem because they engage us, actingas springboards to discuss and discover all kinds of different thingsabout our world.

Many of the maps from The Art ofMapping will be on show at theLondon Art Fair in January 2012, andthe majority of the work is currentlyavailable to view and purchase at TAGFine Arts’ permanent space inIslington, London.

For more information or to view thecatalogue, visit their website or contact the gallery.

TAG Fine Arts, Unit 129a BusinessDesign Centre, 52 Upper Street,

London N1 [email protected]

020 7688 8446www.tagfinearts.com

London Mapping Festival

World War Zee (or is it Zed?)Brad Pitt has recently been filminghis new film, World War Z, inGlasgow. Glasgow city centre wasdressed to look like Philadelphia.Part of the street furniture includedcity centre maps. I took a photo of one that I thought other cartographers may find amusing. The British spelling of Centre is usedrather than the US spelling (Center)!

Craig [email protected]

10 • Winter 2011 / Maplines

Omnium Gatherum

Recently published by HausPublishing this fictional account ofthe events leading to the discoveryof the New World by ChristopherColumbus, narrated by his brotherBartholomew, gives a wonderfulinsight into the life of cartographersand mariners in the fifteenth century. Highly recommended.ISBN: 9781906598938.

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

A new take on the London Tube map

One of the more unique interactive city maps we have seen to date is theReykjavík Center Map, an online map of Iceland’s capital. Yes, it’s a pushpinmap, but it uses an isometric projection (which I’ve seen in some Chinesemaps) and the base map is a veritable work of art – it’s not at all computergenerated, and it looks like a watercolour. Snorri Þór Tryggvason, who workedon the map with some friends and sent me the link, wrote, ‘The mapmakingtook two years and over 3,000 hours to complete,’ and I believe him. See itfor yourself on: www.reykjavikcentermap.com

Reykjavík Center Map first appeared on The Map Room: A Weblog About Maps on June 26,2011. Copyright © 2011 Jonathan Crowe. Distributed under a Creative Commons licence.

For a zoomable – and legible –redesigned London ‘Tube’ map byMark Noad, see: www.london-tubemap.com

The designer’s intention, accordingto the colour-illustrated article byTariq Tahir in the aptly-titled Metro,was to redraw ‘the Tube map so thatit shows the routes and distances

between stations more accurately.’Noad, commenting on the traditionalHarry Beck 1931 map, calls that ‘abrilliant piece of information design’but believed it needed an update.On his redesigned map he says,‘This is not intended as a replacement to the official version –it is simply another way to look at it.’

Try this on-line FM 100 Hue test to see how good your eyesight is at discerningcolours: www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77&Lang=en


a miscellaneous collection of people and things

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The Lost Rivers of London #11Ravensbourne: the RiverRavensbourne rises at Caesar’s Wellin Keston, flows through Bromley,Lewisham and Greenwich and isjoined by several tributaries, amongwhich the beautifully named RiverQuaggy (also known as Kyd Brook).It ends in the Thames in GreenwichReach (also known as DeptfordCreek), west of Greenwich proper. In 1580, Queen Elizabeth I knightedFrancis Drake on board the GoldenHind in Deptford Creek after his circumnavigation of the globe.

Published earlier this year The Map Reader is a portable BCS Symposium! It is packed withinformation on all aspects of thecurrent cartographic scene. It hasfive sections containing contributions by a host of authorititive authors. The sectionsare Conceptualising Mapping,Technologies of Mapping,Cartographic Aesthetics and MapDesign, Cognitions and Cultures inMapping and Power and Politics ofMapping. To get an up-to-date picture of the state of our craft, thisis a reference that must be on your book shelf.ISBN: 9780470742839.

Spotted in Oxford by our eagle eyed President. This is one of three Miniswhich have OS 1:50,000 mapping wrapped round them showing the area inwhich a letting agency operates.

Whilst in Florence in the summer Martin spotted this shop window. Everyitem here is decorated with maps. Leather goods and all. Obviously the fashion conscious Italians think highly of maps.

Maps in unusual settings

Contributions to Omnium Gatherumare always welcome. If you have anymap-related stories, facts orannouncements pleasesend them to MartinLubikowski on theEditors’ email address,see page 2.

Check out this fascinating website, picked up by David Barbour ofStirling Surveys. It is the BritishGliding Assoc and it has some interesting 3D maps of the UK

showing which areas most glidingtakes place in.

www.gliding.co.uk/sailplaneandglid-ing/recentarticles.htm#SG1

Website Watch

12 • Winter 2011 / Maplines

For the first time, BCS took itsRestless Earth workshop on the roadwhen we held a day long session atthe Lampton School in Hounslow.The morning session was devoted toyear 10 students studying GCSEGeography at Lampton, in the afternoon we delivered the workshopto a mix of Lampton students andthose from six other local schools.Overall, 140 students attended,which was certainly a different experience from delivering to thirtystudents at the 2011 Symposium.To cope with the large number ofstudents at each workshop wearranged for support from eight BCS volunteers from the DefenceGeographic Centre, without whomchaos would have ensued.

The workshop has been designedwith specific reference to post disaster mapping and the way that itcan be used to support EmergencyResponse Teams. Currently it focuses on the earthquake disasterin Japan with the exercise itself centred around the city of Sendaiinvolving a series of practical activities that integrate good mapdesign with GIS technology.

The workshop supports both Edexceland AQA Physical Geography modules entitled The Restless Earth,specifically the following key ideas: • Earthquakes occur at

constructive, destructive and conservative plate margins.Features of earthquakes: epicentre, focus, shock waves.

• The effects of earthquakes andresponses to them. Primary andsecondary effects; immediateand long term responses.

• Tsunamis are a specific secondary effect and can havedevastating effects in coastalareas. A case study of a tsunami– its cause, effects and responses.

The day was very tiring, but veryrewarding. Although the final products showed a huge variety ofapproaches to solving the problem,every group had incorporated elements of the solution and hadcome up with some innovative waysof portraying the information. Welldone to Team R from the LamptonSchool who were judged the bestmap in the morning session and The Green School from Isleworthwho were adjudged the winners inthe afternoon.

We have had a very positiveresponse to these workshops. We will be conducting furtherschools-based events during theyear on a country-wide basis, withplanned events in Altrincham andChatham already being discussed.

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

Res

tles

s Ear

thWorkshop at LamptonSchool, Hounslow


The British Cartographic Society willbe holding its Annual Symposium for2012 at the Basingstoke CountryHotel from Wednesday 13th to Friday15th June 2012.

The title of the Symposium and ouroverall theme is ‘Mapping The GlobalVillage’ and potential speakers areinvited to submit papers on the topics below. As the world getsready to converge for the Olympics inLondon, we are keen to ensure thatwe reflect this in the Symposium andwould welcome papers on globalissues.

• Olympic Mapping – mapping thathas been generated to supportthe Olympics, either for London2012 or outputs that were generated to support previousgames.

• Transport Mapping – with severalnew renderings of the traditionaltube map this year, we are interested in hearing proposalsfor other ways in which the mapping of transport networkshas been dealt with.

• Visualisation – how is cartography used to help us visualise and interpret the landscape. We would like todevelop the theme to illustratehow to render information tomake it inclusive and easilyunderstood.

• The ‘Art’ in Cartography – the useof maps in art or as art.

• Keeping up with the times –papers on the way in whichaccess to so much data and different ways of presenting itand using it have changed thecartographic landscape and whatis likely to be the next ‘big thing’.

• Mapping Political Change – afterthe creation of the new country of South Sudan, we would be interested in papers that coverhow changes have been mappedover time, including the portrayalof boundaries and borders andthe way in which place namescan have a fundamental role to play.

• Open Data – more and more geographic data is being madeavailable to both the professionaland casual user and we would beinterested to have papers onwhat the change in access hasmeant and how the data is being used.

The latest information on theSymposium can be found at: www.cartography.org.uk/symposium

Pete JonesChair, Programme Committee

Mapping the Global VillageBCS Symposium 2012

Events

Atrip to another country is invariably a ‘busman’s [sic] holiday’ for a geographer or

cartographer. You will almostinevitably need to use maps, if justto navigate a metro system on a citybreak, and you cannot help but befascinated by the natural and cultural landscapes you encounter.As you enter hotels, shops and galleries you are constantly bombarded by adverts, leaflets, andbrochures containing maps. Our family fly-drive holiday to NewEngland was no exception. By theend my suitcase was nearing its limitwith the added weight of mapspicked up along the way! But arefree maps worth their weight inexcess bagage?

Just to set the record straight, I haveto admit to being a SatNav virginprior to the trip, hard to believe inthis day and age, but true (my only

previous experience was as a passenger in an AA breakdowntruck!). The SatNav was much

appreciated as we negotiated themanic Boston traffic. As my prep for the holiday I had only read BillBryson’s ‘A Walk in the Woods’, concerning his trip along theAppalachian Trail - this had prepared me for bears and poisonivy, but not for death-dealing monster-trucks – thankfully US driving is actually very civilised onceout of Boston. The SatNav rarelyfailed us, although when it did, it hadus spinning in circles. The voice wasfemale (probably a member of theTea Party from her tone), so

expletives, when required, weredirected to ‘she’/‘her’ rather than‘it’ – it is interesting how easily weanthropomorphise a piece of

software. The other saving grace wasour trusty ‘Rand McNally RegionalMap of New England’ (‘One inchequals approximately 8.9 miles’)which I’ve hardly looked at, but whichmy trusty navigator (Mrs V) used tokeep a suspicious eye on theSatNav’s advice.

But back to business – what carto-licious experience was on offerto the traveller seeking help andadvice on their journey? Well... a

pretty mixed bag of the good, thebad and the ugly! I deliberately didnot undertake a scientific survey, butsimply picked up maps as I foundthem in hotel foyers, informationcentres and such like. My haulamounted to some thirty-plus maps(I am sure it could have been many,many more if I had been trying harder – for goodness sake I wassupposed to be having a break fromwork!). These ranged from detailedlarge scale maps leading you from aparking area to the site of fossiliseddinosaur footprints in a road cutting,to smaller scale guides to the ’attractions and services’ of a wholestate (thank you Maine!). I am goingto focus my attention for the rest ofthis article (in an earnest attempt ata critique of map design!) on thelocal ‘free’ maps designed to helpthe tourist negotiate the towns andcities of New England.

The most ubiquitous of these mapswere those produced by ResortMaps, and could be picked up atmost of our stops (we drove northfrom Boston, via Salem and

Portland, to Bar Harbor, before turning inland to Vermont, then heading south through NewHampshire to Massachusetts, andthen back to the coast at RhodeIsland and Cap Cod). The mapsappear to be totally individual andhand drawn, with some nice localtouches, for example the sails of awindmill (Orleans, MA.), a clipper(South Yarmouth, MA.), and a snow-flake (Stowe, Vermont) incorporatedinto the design of the compassroses. These street maps proveduseful for the most part, even fordriving, especially in dense urbanareas. Their only major failing wasthe lack of true scale and direction,which occasionally had us walkingsomewhat longer between attractions, through rather tediousand humid suburban streets, thanwe had anticipated. While clearlyreliant on sponsors and with numerous adverts around the margin

(Bloody Mary’s at the Pancake Man,on Route 28), this did not detractfrom these quirky and individualmaps. I give a nine out of ten forgenerally utility and fun design –ours were worked hard.

Almost all the other maps were

‘one-offs’ as far as I could make out.Some like the map of Boston andCambridge ‘sponsored by the FaneuilHall Marketplace’ were just horrible– in this case poorly reproduced andbadly cropped so that informationwas missing at the edges, it didn’tinspire confidence. While others likethe Shopping Map and Guide for Mt.


‘Rounding Cape Cod by Clip Art’tourist maps of New England

Washington Valley, were a testamentto a lack of design value attested bybeing covered in ugly, generic ‘dragand drop’ images of cyclist, treesand hikers. Fortunately, others likethe ‘Main Street Chatham’ mapdesigned by Eden Fox (I could notfind any more examples, despiteGoogling them!), were little gems (aneight out of ten for this one). TheirChatham map folded out from a neatpocket sized item to a handsome4x28 inch strip map (with resonances of John Ogilby!).

Most of the maps did not stray toofar from the bounds of cartographicdecency. One which I rather liked,but was not favoured by Mrs V, wasan almost abstract map of Stowe(Stowe Area Association, Vermont).The roads and the rivers whichformed the main linear features weredrawn as vibrant twisted ribbons and the symbols used for individualsites were colourful, clean and intuitively easy to understand. Thischimed well with the ‘sophisticated’ arts and crafts message of the location the association was tryingto sell.

In comparison, the drab black andwhite photocopied map available

from the Provincetown Chamber ofCommerce (Cape Cod), anothervibrant centre of the arts, compares badly with its inlandcousin (coloured, but hardly moreexciting versions exist on the web). If Provincetown must stay monochrome, they could take a lesson from an elegant blue onwhite gallery and restaurant mapproduced by the Wellfleet ArtGalleries Association (Cape Cod). A clear and simple road map (solidblue roads on white, with white lettering) is adorned with neat illustrations, including a quirky compass rose composed of fourinterlocking fish! This was perhaps my favourite for its clarityand simplicity.

Another favourite (another nine outof ten), although a much more elaborate production, was the lovingly depicted oblique pictorialview of ‘Salem Maritime NationalHistoric Site’, produced by theNational Parks Service. Reminiscentof the highly informative fold-outmaps and illustrations of theNational Geographic, this ‘map’ provides a beautiful rendering ofSalem’s wharfs and surroundings,with numerous other illustrations of

artefacts, a cross-section of a typicalEast Indiaman (the ship John), and aworld map trade routes. Why can’tall maps be this good?

Peter VujakovicCanterbury Christ Church University

(Co-convenor BCS Design Group)


Alex and Peter are keen to promote further events and

are looking to develop asteering group and regionalnetwork of Design Group

members to facilitate this.

Please contact:[email protected]

[email protected]

Map Design


In October 2010, Hexagon, a leadingglobal provider of integrated design,measurement, and visualisation

technologies, completed the purchaseof Intergraph Corporation. BringingIntergraph into the same family assome of the biggest names in geomatics, such as ERDAS, GeoMax,Leica, and Novatel, raised the profile of Hexagon within the geospatial community and generated plenty ofquestions around intent, potential, and opportunity.

Hexagon's technologies measure withgreat precision and rapidly provideaccess to large amounts of complexdata that is visualised via engineeringand geospatial software. Purchasingcompanies such as Leica GeoSystemshad given Hexagon a firm hold in theearth-based remote sensing arena. The addition of Intergraph brings a richset of capabilities for analysis, datamanagement, visualisation, and dissemination. In addition, Intergraphand Hexagon complement each otherwell in their geographical areas of business.

From Sensor to InternetMany users of geospatial solutionswere already using technology from different parts of Hexagon. OrdnanceSurvey Ireland (OSi) has used Leicahardware, first the Wild brand and nowwith Leica SmartNet Network RTK.Since the introduction of the ADS40

large-format digital camera in 2005,OSi has provided imagery at 25cm resolution for national map updatesand orthorectified imagery of urbanareas with a 25cm resolution. It alsoallowed the DSW700 film scanners toengage in systematic scanning of theorganisation’s film archive into datamanagement software. The softwarethen provided automated and accessible long-term storage and management of digital imagery files.

The ALS50 airborne laser scanner isengaged mainly on commercial activities, including flood mapping,height data for orthorectification andinfrastructure design projects. OSi’sphotogrammetry and remote sensingdepartment primarily uses LeicaPhotogrammetry Suite (LPS) with theair triangulation application (ORIMA).The data extraction for map update isPRO600 embedded in LPS.

With ERDAS APOLLO, OSi implementedOGC® compliance in its data storagemodel with a Service OrientedArchitecture (SOA) to support the management and distribution of information within the organisation.Having an image-serving capability wasparamount for OSi, one of the reasonsit selected ERDAS APOLLO. The software offers on-the-fly geoprocessingthrough a powerful implementation ofthe OGC Web Processing Service(WPS) specification. End-users can

execute robust and complex geoprocesses; an end-user can run an entire model, such as change detection, site analysis, or elevationchange that is completely containedwithin a single WPS. In addition,Intergraph has plans to incorporate a photogrammetric data model intoERDAS APOLLO, simplifying the workflow from the desktop to the enterprise.

Enterprise Data ManagementMore recently, a Consortium, led byIntergraph Corporation and including1Spatial and Snowflake Software, successfully completed the delivery of the Geospatial Data ManagementSystem (GDMS) to Great Britain’snational mapping agency, OrdnanceSurvey.

Ordnance Survey’s national geographicdatabase describes more than 440 million individual features, includingevery road, building, pillar box, andfield. Each year, more than one millionchanges to the landscape need to bemeasured and assimilated into thisdatabase using data sources thatinclude field surveyors, remote sensingcommercial data capture companies,and other national agencies. This creates a data management task ofextraordinary complexity and volumethat requires efficient planning, control,and processing.

Corporate Member Focus

Hexagon Multi-faceted and Multi-talented

The new GDMS system provides anintegrated, enterprise wide solution forthe management, planning, coordination, and control of OrdnanceSurvey’s data capture and productionactivities, using state-of-the-art softwaretechnologies from the three partnercompanies.

The system had to meet challengingand exacting requirements for both performance and process control. Ithas been developed to support up to600 staff and 5,000 update jobs daily,

which can involve the retrieval of up to36 million map feature records and theposting of 300,000 updates. After formal acceptance in December 2010,followed by successful pre-productiontrials, the new system achieved a successful ‘Go Live’ in July 2011 andis now in full production mode. Mostsignificantly, the system will ensureconsistency between Ordnance Surveyproducts and will enable it to developnew, innovative products to addressboth current and future businessneeds. Combined with OrdnanceSurvey’s deep knowledge and experience of its data, it provides asturdy and effective platform for thefuture.

Spatial Data InfrastructureThe City of Bilbao selected Intergraph’sSpatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) solution to provide a definitive geoportal source of spatial informationwithin the municipality and equipemployees with key tools to supportdecision-making, such as map-baseddata searches, analysis, and editing.SDI facilitates simple and efficient datasharing and collaboration with othergovernmental agencies through

standards-based information exchange.For the public, Bilbao’s geoportal,named GeoBilbao, offers a fast andsimple way to access information andservices using a Web browser, withoutthe need to install software. Its development involved the consolidationand migration of several existing onlineservices and integrating them with themunicipality’s website to support publicinformation services. This project alsoestablished a common developmentenvironment for the city’s map-basedWeb applications that leverages the

standardised components of the newportal. These resources will helpensure simple, flexible, and sustainableintegration of both internal systemsand public access e-government services.

‘Citizens can now access a diverse setof geo-referenced information (e.g., traffic density, parking occupancy rate,video camera feeds) using real-timedata,’ says Manu Roibal, CIO, BilbaoCity Council. ‘Using Intergraph’s SDIsolution, Bilbao citizens can also obtaininformation on public facilities andinfrastructure, Wi-Fi zones, acoustic levels, and maps of electromagneticemissions.’

National MappingThe Netherlands’ Kadaster LandRegistry and Mapping Agency(Kadaster), has been working withIntergraph since 2006, using theGeoMedia® and TerraShare® productportfolios to gather, store, and displaylarge quantities of geospatial data,including aerial, satellite, and otherimagery. The role of the organisation isto collect data on registered propertiesin the Netherlands, record the data in

public registers and cadastral maps,and make the information available tobusinesses, government officials, andthe public. Kadaster responds to morethan 20 million requests for information each year. TheNetherlands’ National Mapping Agency,which produces geographical maps ofthe Netherlands at various scales, alsoforms part of the organisation.

‘Our mission is to provide customerswith fast, reliable, and up-to-dategeospatial information for a wide rangeof property transaction and land-useneeds,’ said Tom Dijkstra, director ofservices with Kadaster. ‘Due to themassive volume of requests we receivefor such information, we would havebeen less successful without the powerful, flexible solutions and supportfrom Intergraph. Based on its innovative, open product platform andexperienced, dedicated professionals,

Continued on page 19...


People • Companies • Products

In the Summer Maplines, I said I would contact Corporate members after the summer break.Sadly, due to business pressures,I have not been able to do this...yet! I will now be contacting you all in November to ask you to takepart in a survey to find out whatyou think of BCS; its strengthsand weaknesses, the opportunities and threats thatexist and which things you feelgive the best value and benefitfrom your membership.

I hope the results from this survey will enable BCS to ensurethat its offering in terms of newscoverage, communications andmembership benefits remain relevant to you all in the future.Thank you for your ongoing support!

John Pepper Corporate Liaison Officer

Now that I am firmly exiled inthe United States after myescape from UK academia and

lure to the DArc Side of Redlands,CA I’m beginning to explore the cartographic landscape of NorthAmerica more closely. This inevitablymeans getting involved in the variousmeetings and conferences that takeplace on this side of the pond tomeet with like-minded carto-geeks ofwhich there are quite a few! So inOctober I packed my bags anddeparted the sunny climes of mynew home in Southern California forthe rather wintery Madison,Wisconsin for the North AmericanCartographic Information Society(NACIS) annual conference. It was abit of a struggle to locate where I’dpacked all my UK winter clothing (it’s just shorts and sandals in SoCaldude!) but I duly wrapped up and got going.

NACIS, founded in 1980, comprisesspecialists from a wide range ofmapping backgrounds. In somerespects the academic contributionis greater than we normally get atthe BCS Symposium but it may bethat the attendance, about 600 people, simply magnified their contribution. I had plenty to keep mebusy including a couple of presentations and some workshops.

Pre-conference begins with a one-dayPractical Cartography session whichinvolves a day-long plenary styleevent with 20 minute sessions by

individuals and organisations exploring particular practical issuesin cartography. Some offer tips andtricks, some explore new ways of working, some offer more conceptualideas. It’s a good format and thevariety makes for an enjoyable daythat touches on almost every aspectof modern cartography. I contributed,along with some of my new Esri colleagues, demonstrating some ofthe new cartographic capabilities inArcGIS. I got to deliver a live demousing only the internet which waseither brave or stupid. Luckily theinternet held out and it all worked toplan. Interestingly, over half of the sessions dealt with web cartography.This should serve as a warning tocartography…this is where we’reheaded both in terms of publicationformat and also design and production environments. Print is notdead…but the balance is shiftingrapidly and unabated.

The conference proper ran over twodays with three parallel streams andthe organisers had done a very goodjob organising papers and sessionsinto patterns that made sense soyou weren’t faced with the usual conference dilemma of choosingbetween two sessions competingequally for your interest. I had a couple of co-authored papers andwas also invited to represent BCS ona panel discussion of geospatialorganisations. Other panelists represented included NACIS, theAssociation of American

Geographers (AAG), CanadianCartographic Association (CCA),Cartography and GeographicInformation Society (CaGIS),International CartographicAssociation (ICA) and WhereCAMP.We had a lively discussion as it became clear that there weremany overlapping interests and alsoissues facing the different organisations. Issues of relevance,outreach, education, membershipand participation are commonthemes as cartography struggles toadjust to LAG (Life After Google).

While the undeniable impact of thelaunch of Google Maps on 8 February 2005 has been toreignite the world’s interest in maps,cartography and cartographic organisations have been slow toreact to grasp the opportunities presented. While large corporationssurge ahead in their mappingendeavors, paradoxically, cartographyhas faced a period of uncertainty as it struggles for identity and purpose (as it did when GIS firstappeared in the 80s/90s). The factwe have so many organisations (andthe UK is no different) is part of theproblem and it was refreshing to seethe North American organisationslook far more positively on the ideascollaborating than we’ve managed inthe UK in recent times. Issues ofidentity and suchlike are no differentto those that always get cited whenwe look at possibilities of holdingjoint events (or, dare I say it,


NACIS 2011

Colo(u)ring outside the lines

merging) with other UK societies tocreate a stronger unified frameworkand network but the difference inNorth America is they seem willingto find ways to deal with them. BCS initiatives such as Better Mapping,the Restless Earth schools programme and the Introduction toCartography book were well receivedand, of course, it wasn’t difficult todemonstrate the importance of BCSgiven its history and Journal.

The NACIS conference theme was‘Does design make a difference?’This was familiar territory for megiven recent Symposium themes andalso the BCS Better Mapping seriesI have been fortunate to contributeto. It was reassuring that many ofthe same ideas and themes we’veexplored in the UK in recent yearsare also those that concern ourNorth American colleagues. Therewere plenty of sessions that tackledthis issue and explored what it is wemean by design, can maps be madewith an absence of design and iscartography more about artistry thanmechanistic construction. In the agewhere anyone can be a mapmakerone of the outcomes of this debateseemed to be that those who seethemselves as cartographers arebeginning to refer to themselves asdesigners. So perhaps what differentiates cartographers from theworld of map makers is the ability tobring design to their craft.

There were a good number of newpeople in attendance and a mark ofthe changes in cartography was nomore evident than in the sessionorganised and run by Google thatincluded five people who work withGoogle, none of whom had any cartographic background. Only a fewyears ago they wouldn’t even haveattended yet here they were takingcentre stage orchestrating a discussion on online mapping.Someone amusingly asked what youcall a room of non-cartographers.Answer? Google. Yet here we were, a room full of people who have beenmaking maps for decades having todeal with this massive shift. These,and people like them, are the oneswho for years have shaped the cartographic community; people whohave formal cartographic training butare now immersed in an epoch of

web mapping. To that end, I helpedrun a well-attended Saturday workshop which gave people hands-on practical experience of new web mapping capabilities. Both sessions were lively anddemonstrated an open-mindedapproach to developments in theseareas (notwithstanding the minorityof inevitable naysayers!).

Most people attended NACIS tolearn something and I’m fairly sureeveryone took away something ofpractical value. I certainly did.Horizons were widened and manynew friends were made. I also got toappreciate that the social side ofconferences in the US is as ‘healthy’(or unhealthy if you prefer) as in theUK and after four days enough wasenough. NACIS is, most of all, acommunity of friends who share acommon passion and the conferenceis their opportunity to get together tocelebrate this. It’s like the BCSSymposium but as with most thingsin the US, it’s super-sized. The organisation was excellent and theexperience was enjoyable. A nicetouch were the random ‘ribbons’ wewere given to add to our delegatebadges. Mine said ‘I color outsidethe lines’ which apart from the obvious spelling error was particularly appropriate…maybe itsuggests I’m some sort of radicalcartographer? My favorite other ribbon said ‘My ribbon is better thanyours’. Next year’s conference is inPortland, Oregon and I’d stronglyencourage any UK carto-geeks looking for a good excuse to visit thenorth-west US next year to considermaking NACIS your excuse.

What did I learn about Madison,Wisconsin? Well it’s a crazy collegeparty town and they seem to eatcheese with everything given it’s thedairy state of the US. Trouble is…UScheese is awful stuff. Next timesomebody comes to visit me, please bring a decent block ofmature cheddar.

Kenneth Field @kennethfield

Esri, Redlands, CA


NACIS 2011

...continued from page 17we have selected Intergraph as a long-term partner in serving our customers’ needs and continuallyexpanding our capabilities and leadership in this field.’

Hexagon StrategyInnovation is fundamental inHexagon’s long-term strategy forgrowth and profitability. Through successful R&D and sound knowledge of customer needs,growth is created by unique productofferings that save resources andincrease competitiveness for customers. Hexagon invests morethan 10 per cent of net sales inresearch and development and typically renews its product portfolioevery 18 months. When identifyingtechnology gaps in the product portfolio, Hexagon compares the costand benefits of developing the technology in-house with acquiring acompany that can provide Hexagonwith the technology needed. Aspectssuch as purchase price, resources,and time to market are factored intothat evaluation process. Hexagonapplies an aggressive acquisitionstrategy. Since 2000, Hexagon hasimplemented some 70 acquisitionsand performed about 50 divestmentsof non-core activities. Acquired businesses add new technologiesand know-how to the Hexagon product portfolio, and strengthen theoverall offering to customers.

Many Parts, but One WholeHexagon’s extensive set of productsand services work together to provide customers with a constantflow of updated information. With the acquisition of Intergraph, Hexagon’sportfolio now covers all aspects of the design, measurement, and visualisation technology market –from capturing three-dimensionaldata from ground, air, and space, toprocessing data and creating, managing, and delivering informationvia GIS and CAD solutions. By providing complete end-to-end workflows, our customers are able to transform raw data into usefulinformation to help make informeddecisions.

www.hexagon.com, www.intergraph.comwww.leica-geosystems.com,

www.erdas.com


Overall ICC 2011 was seen to be a success. There

were 1430 delegates and a total of 1720 attendees, including exhibitors, exhibition entrants andaccompanying persons.Given the current economicenvironment, this is a positive outcome. Also a positive sign is that thetechnical exhibition, whilenot large by conferencesstandards, was bigger thanhas often been the case atICCs. There were, of course,negative aspects – the lackof seating in the lunch area(and indeed the lack of foodon some occasions) and it

is probably best not to say any moreabout the expensive ‘Gala Event’ whichraised strong comment from many.

The map exhibition was extensive witha wide range of maps on show,although the majority tend to be topographic or in the tourist/leisurearea. The lighting in the exhibition areawas variable with the UK allocated areafortunately being one of the better litspots. There was also an extensive collection of atlases on show and facilities for viewing digital submissions. This latter aspectremains problematic; the ICA need tothink about how best digital mappingcan be better incorporated into theexhibition. Despite a relatively poorresponse to our request for contributions, the UK faired well winning in two categories: Ken Fieldwon best Thematic Map for his‘Beautiful Game’ cartogram (also aBCS award winner) and Harper-Collinsalong with joint publisher the WorldBank won best electronic educationalproduct for their e-atlas of GlobalDevelopment.

The General Assembly itself is split into two sections, the first on Sundaybefore the conference starts and thesecond on the last day of the event.The first session focuses on passingon information and various discussions, with all significant decisions voted on in the second session. This split givesNational Delegates the opportunity toreview material, discuss issues andconsider how best to cast their votes.There were few contentious issues thisyear. Who should best representBulgaria: the newly formed BulgarianCartographic Association, or the Unionof Surveyors and Land Managers?Although the USLM are long standingmembers of ICA and have regularlypaid the subscription, there was astrong feeling that they did not adequately represent cartographic interests and were not communicatingICA information effectively withinBulgaria. ICA statutes make it clearthat where an appropriate cartographicsociety exists, they should normally bethe national member; only where sucha society does not exist or seek to bemember should other organisations beaccepted. One can see that a parallelcould have existed in the past in theUK where the Royal Society was the UKmember, not BCS, although in our casethis was resolved in a more amicablemanner.

ICA finances remain healthy, withreserves in the order of €185,000. Thebudget for the coming four year periodwas set at €190,000, representing asmall deficit of €5000. Some concernswere raised about setting a deficitbudget, but this in part reflects theneed to demonstrate to the Swedishtax authorities, where ICA is registeredas a charity, that the organisation isindeed meeting its charitable obligations and is not year on yearaccumulating surplus funds. The

Assembly understood this andapproved the budget. The US NationalCommittee proposed enlarging the taskof the ICA Publications Committee toinclude handling the outreach activitiesof the ICA. The Executive had referredthis to the Statutes Committee, whohad rejected the proposal, suggesting a slightly modified remit for thePublications Committee, but also theestablishment of an OutreachCommittee. There had indeed been significant outreach activity in recentyears, but the Executive agreed that formation of a specific committee with this remit would enhance this important role of the ICA. The US delegate was satisfied with this outcome and withdrew the motion on the understanding that the Executivewould co-ordinate such activities until a formal Outreach Committee could beestablished at the next GeneralAssembly in 2015.

The Swedish Cartographic Society presented a major substantive motion to encourage the UN to specifyan ’International Year of the Map’. ‘The Swedish Cartographic Society support the ideas to be proposed tothe United Nations and to ICSU for an International Map Year and theintention is to celebrate theInternational Map Year in 2015, andalso that as many countries as possible organise several Map Daysthat same year.’

The ICA Strategic Plan for 2011-15 was introduced and will become theoperational objective for the newExecutive.

All Commissions and Working Groupsare expected to submit reports to theGeneral Assembly, and the majority didso. This poster display, which was available for all delegates to see forthe duration of the conference, and

From

Par

is...

subsequently on the ICA website, wasvery useful and better organised thanprevious reporting. The UK did ask forsome feedback from Executive in futureon the performance of Commissions;each Commission has a designatedExecutive contact, so it should be possible for such feedback to be provided for the benefit of the GeneralAssembly.

The focus of the second day of theGeneral Assembly is voting. There wasa single nomination for President andseven for the seven Vice-Presidentialpositions, so voting was a formality.Prof Georg Gartner of Austria was elected President and the V-Ps are:Derek Clark, South Africa; Menno-JanKraak, The Netherlands; SukendraMartha, Indonesia; Paulo Menezes,Brazil; Anne Ruas France; TimothyTrainor USA; Liu Yaolin, China. The position of Secretary General &Treasurer was slightly more problematic. The UK had nominatedDavid Fairbairn for a second term, butdue to work commitments, this nomination had to be withdrawn at alate stage. Constitutionally there wasno guidance on how to handle such asituation as the period for nominationswas closed. It was agreed that thenomination of the outgoing Executive,Prof. Laszlo Zentai of Hungary, beaccepted and he was duly elected withunanimous support.

The list of Commissions proposed forthe period 2011-15 is too extensive toinclude here, but all proposals andtheir terms of reference are availableon the ICA website. From a UK per-spective, we have chairs of 4 commissions, two of which are newand one which was previously aWorking Group: Map Design – KenField; Maps & Society – Chris Perkins(2nd term); NeoGeography – SteveChilton; and Open Source GeospatialTechnology – Suchith Anand (formerlyWorking Group chair). The UK is alsowell represented by Commission Vice-chairs: Digital technologies for cartographic heritage – AlastairPearson; Generalisation & MultipleRepresentation – William Mackannes;Geovisualisation – Jason Dykes;History of Cartography – Peter Collier;Use & User Issues – David Forrest.Although there sometimes seems to bea lack of visibility of cartographicresearch within the UK, clearly what

does go on is well respected and making a significant contribution on the international stage.

The final vote was the destination forICC 2015 when the next GeneralAssembly is scheduled to be held. Bidshad been received from Brazil (Rio deJaneiro) and the United States(Washington). There is no doubt thatthe US bid was more professional andfar more comprehensive in terms ofhow the conference would be managed, costs, facilities, etc. TheBrazilian bid focused more on theappeal of the destination as somewhere to visit! I had several conversations with people about thebest option; most liked the idea of Rio,but thought Washington would be amore focused and better organisedevent. The UK voted for Washington fora variety of reasons, including cost, butin what I am told was a close call, themajority went for Rio! So, we will beheading for South America again in2015.

Normally in addition to the two General Assembly sessions, there is amid-week meeting of the ICA Executiveand National Delegates to discussissues on a less formal basis. Due tothe packed Paris programme, such ameeting had not been scheduled. Inresponding to comments about thisomission, the EC agreed that followingthe formal business, an open sessionof discussion amongst national member delegates would be held sothat issues raised by delegates couldbe passed to the new EC for action.Key matters raised included: the needfor closer control and interaction withCommissions by EC liaison officers; thewish to see ICA’s activities in Africagiven a higher priority; and that ICAseek full membership of ICSU

(International Council of ScientificUnions).

Despite the somewhat unwieldy waythe General Assembly works, in orderfor all nations to feel included and toallow time for issues to be gestatedprior to voting, it is hard to see howelse it could work. The need for simultaneous translation, time forcounting votes and allowing all to have their say, does make it seem inefficient, but overall the objectives of the Association are being achievedand ICA does appear to be engagingmore widely and effectively with stakeholders, which is the most important outcome.

As the UKCC sets out on its next fouryear term leading up to the GeneralAssembly in 2015, the BCS are carrying out a review of UKCC operation, membership and financing.Recent, and sudden, changes in thefinancial support from the Royal Societyresulted in the BCS significantlyincreasing its financial support to thenational delegate. While the increasedUK activity in chairing and vice-chairingCommissions is to be welcome, thereneeds to be clearer guidance on whatsupport is available and what feedbackis expected to the UK cartographiccommunity for those supported inthese international endeavours. BCSmembers will have received theNational Report as the third issue ofThe Cartographic Journal of this year.Compared to previous reports, this is a disappointment due to a lack ofresponse to calls for input. Similarly,while we had an interesting and successful contribution to the mapexhibition, there were barely more submission of maps than the spaceavailable, despite many more interesting maps being published in theUK in the qualifying period. We aim toaddress these issues in the review,which will be discussed by UKCC inJanuary and presented to BCS Councilin February. If you would like to contribute thoughts on how the UKCCshould operate, on how the UK shouldinteract with the international cartographic community, or simply provide some view on ICA activities,please do get in touch.

David ForrestChair, UK Cartography Committee

[email protected]


UKCC Report

The Language of Mapscolloquium on 23-25 Junemarked the end of the 15-

month AHRC-funded 'LinguisticGeographies' research project, thethree-way collaborative initiative involving Queen's University Belfast,Oxford's Bodleian Library, and King'sCollege London. The event was heldin the Bodleian, and was attended bysixty delegates from nine countries representing numerous differing disciplines. All shared an interest inmaps, and how maps work.

The colloquium saw the launch of the project's web-resource,www.goughmap.org, as well as presentations on some of the project's findings, particularly the palaeographical and linguistic studyconducted by Elizabeth Solopova(Bodleian Library). The two wellreceived keynote lectures were givenby the project's advisory panel members, Jeremy Smith (University of Glasgow) and Peter Barber (British Library), both of whom spoke on topics connected with theGough Map.

Emerging from the colloquium werethree themes that connected a number of the papers:

First we can read maps as 'Maps oflanguage', for example through thepresence of particular vernacular languages used by cartographers onsome historic maps, such as on theGough Map and Fra Mauro's MappaMundi, both of which were maps examined by speakers at the colloquium. There are also modernmaps of medieval vernacular languages, such as the LinguisticAtlas of Late-Medieval English thatJeremy Smith used and examined inhis keynote paper in relation to theGough Map's linguistic geographies;

Secondly we can identify 'Languageon maps', evidenced through thepresence of extracts on maps takenfrom literary texts, for example,whether influenced by or derivative ofpilgrim or travel accounts, such asthose by John Mandeville or MarcoPolo, or else deriving from scriptureand patristic sources. An interestingissue emerged on this and that concerns how the textual narrativesof maps, as told by writing on themap, relate to the graphic/visual contents of maps and globes.Discussion ensued on whether the textual content was read in a more 'linear' fashion compared with a morefluid reading of a map's visual content.

Thirdly there is the 'Language sur-rounding maps', or the meta-languageof maps and mapping, and the 'lin-guistic communities' to which certainkinds of maps belonged, whethercivic, religious, judicial, or artistic.

This topic came through in a numberof papers, for example those on thelegal uses of maps in the 15th and16th centuries, as well as with thosepapers that considered the placing of maps and globes, such as theBehaim globe, and the Angliae Figuramap of Britain that was the focus of Peter Barber's keynote lecture. The ways in which maps reflect(ed) certain shared languages (and practices) within these different communities, indeed perhaps helping to define, construct and communicate them, is worthy of further examination.

Overall, the colloquium papers and discussions helped to take us further in our understanding of thelanguage of maps and how mapscommunicate, which is enormouslybeneficial to us in our examination ofthe Gough Map.

The final stage of the colloquium wasto visit another famous medievalmap, the Hereford Cathedral MappaMundi, and so a group of delegatesand speakers journeyed across theCotswolds from Oxford and to spent a relaxed afternoon at HerefordCathedral, inspecting the map andthe new exhibition, as well as having an enjoyable meal in the College Hall, a wonderful setting to finish a very successful colloquium.

Keith Lilley (Queen's University Belfast),Nick Millea (Bodleian Library),

Paul Vetch (King's College London)


BCS Admin ReportMap Curators

Subscriptions 2012I am afraid that it is that time of the year again when membership subscriptions are due and following thepractice of last year renewal forms willbe sent individually to those memberswho pay by credit/debit card orcheque.

Members have the choice of fourmethods of payment:• Personal cheque payable to The

British Cartographic Society (Or for overseas members aSterling Draft payable in London).

• Visa/Mastercard/Delta creditcards, accepted providing that thestandard card and cardholderdetails are included.

• Standing Order (Forms are available from the AdministrationOffice).

• On-line at www.cartography.org.ukOn the Home Page click on JOIN orRENEW NOW and on the pageshown select the appropriate membership and then completethe on-line form.

Receipts will be sent out as usual butplease note that your current membership card will not normally bereplaced unless it has been lost ordamaged. Please make a note of yourmembership number. You will need itto enter the Members’ Area on theSociety’s website.

Linguistic Geographies in history

BCS Admin Report

New MembersThe Society has the pleasure of welcoming the following new members who have joined the Societysince the publication of the Summer2011 edition of Maplines.

Corporate MembersMillward Davis

UK MembersMr D Bennett, Miss E S Charlton,Mrs A Dollimore, Mr N Duggan, Mr P Hancock, Ms C Hrynkiewicz,Miss E Humphries, Mr N M Jordan-Caws, Miss A Kendrick, Mr C S Le Conte,Mr K Lin, Mrs C Mc Intosh,Mr J McDougal, Mr A J P Morey, Mr A Mullineux, Mr M Qaiser,Mrs P Salt, Mr J Seabourn,Mr I R Spencer, Mr C D Thompson.

UK Associate MembersMiss A Cunningham, Mr J Harrison,Miss K L Hutchings.

Overseas MembersMr W Ayeni (Nigeria), Mr V O Cole(Nigeria), Mr D Dahal (Hong Kong), Mr F Dickmann (Germany),

Mr T Homewood (France), Ms J Maphanyane (Botswana),Prof J Schiewe (Germany), Mr M Wilburn (USA).

FellowsAt its meeting on 7 September 2011,Council was pleased to awardFellowship status to Mr David Cairns,FBCart.S.

Administrator’s PleaNot my usual plea about emailaddresses (that still stands) – but Iwould ask members (not all but some)to be a little more prompt in renewingmembership subscriptions for the coming year. A great deal of time,which I could little afford, andeffort/expense was spent in sendingout reminders (letter and email) thisyear.

And finally....As per last year I shall again be spending Christmas in sunnier climes,my wife and I celebrated 40 years ofmarital bliss in August and as a littlecelebratory present (probably for notstrangling one another) we shall be ona Caribbean cruise, suitably attired in

black tie and evening dresses.

I am pleased to report that it has beena good year both on the administrativeand financial front, in my annual submission to the Charity CommissionI will be able to report that the Societyachieved a small surplus in its fundsduring the year, membership figures areup on last year and that there havebeen no major hiccups. DuringNovember/December an even moresecure online payment system will be introduced on to the website and I would recommend that members useit especially for renewing memberships.

I would like to thank Council members for the help and support I have received throughout the year,Ken for his font of all knowledge and all those members who have wishedme well in the numerous emails andtelephone calls I have had this year.

May I wish you all you all a very MerryChristmas and a Happy New Year.

Roger HoreBCS Administrator


Maj Gen Jerry Thomas, Assistant Chief of Defence

Staff, Intelligence, UK MoD

Frank Colley, Assistant Secretary Defence

GeoInt, Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation

(DIGO), Australian DoD

Bert Tiems,Chief C2 and Operations

Services, C3 Agency,NATO

Gp Capt Steve Thornber, Offi cer Commanding, The National Imagery

Exploitation Centre (JARIC), UK MoD

Eliza Manningham-Buller, Former Head,

MI5

Register today: Call +44 (0) 207 368 9465 Email [email protected] Visit www.dgieurope.com

23 - 26 January 2012QEII Conference Centre, Westminster, London

BCS members entitled to a 20% discount

- Quote ‘BCS20’ when registering

Registe

r today to

save up to

£700

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Premium Sponsor:

Enterprise

Geospatially-Enabling Multi-Int for Defence & Intelligence


Quiz – HARVEY Maps

A B C

D E

Test your knowledge of the mountains and hills of Great Britain with our quiz, which this issue is sponsored by HARVEY Maps. All you have to do to win this issue’s prize of three HARVEY maps of your choice is to correctly match each of the five contour only maps to the answers given above right. Watch out though as

there is a red herring or two in there!

Submit your answers to the Editors using the email address located on page 2. The winner will be instructed to contact the sales team at HARVEY Maps to claim their prize. The closing date for entries is February 14 2012.

Good luck!

1. Scafell Pike, Lake District2. Bleaklow Head,

Peak District3. Ben Nevis4. Snowdon5. Ingleborough,

Yorkshire Dales6. Helvellyn, Lake District7. Pen y Fan,

Brecon BeaconsAll maps © HARVEY 2011

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