Maplines - Summer 2012

Mapping a community p. 16-17

cARTography

Symposium 2012 p. 8-10

See pages 4–5

BCS AGM p. 10

Summer 2012 – £3.00

From the Editors

A

s the long, hot, summer draws to a close...actually, let me rephrase that so as to avoid confusion and uproar, as Maplines readers wonder if they have been short changed by the sun during the past few months… as the rain continues to fall (yes, that’s better), we can all look back on the Summer of 2012 with fond memories. For me, the Olympic Games were a timely reminder of all that is good in the World; the sport on show was of the highest order and was inspirational to say the least.

I have since heard many stories from people who have all been inspired in one way or another. Some are jogging or swimming again. Others have decided that if running and jumping is now beyond them, then perhaps archery is their best bet at scooping Olympic gold in Rio in four years time, and I have decided that now is the best time to buy a kayak and finally get out on the water.

But whatever the story, the key element is inspiration.

And as I leaf through this latest issue, it too is inspiring.

Peter Vujaković’s artwork is truly creative and stunning (p. 4-5); it is hard to imagine how much work has gone into producing the record breaking atlas (p. 6); and I am certainly intrigued by geo-caching. Geo-caching, a Editorial Contact details: Senior Editor: Lynda Bailey Editor: Adam King Editor, Design & Production: Mark Sansom Editor: Martin Lubikowski

maplines.editors@gmail.com The Magazine of the British Cartographic Society

Volume 18, 2nd Issue, Summer 2012 Registered Charity No. 240034

Illustrations and photography in this issue p. 4-5 Peter Vujakovic p. 7 no 2 Steve Chilton p. 10 Photo used under Creative Commons from Quinet via Flickr p. 16-17 Clear Mapping Company

All other photography copyright: Lynda Bailey, Martin Lubikowski, Mark Sansom, Adam King or the BCS.

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modern blend of orienteering and pub quiz, what more could you want?! We are lucky that our discipline invites and welcomes such diversity and it is great to see how others apply their talents to its various threads we read about in these pages.

Mapping a community p. 16-17

Symposium 2012 p. 8-10

cARTography

The continuation of this work is now key. Lord Coe and his team talked about legacy, whereas our very own President describes it as a wonderful opportunity, which of course it is. If we can inspire more individuals to join us in great cartography, then it will be a job well done.

See pages 4–5

BCS AGM p. 10

Summer 2012 – £3.00

Adam On behalf of Lynda, Adam, Mark and Martin Maplines Editors

Deadline for copy for the Winter 2012 edition is Tuesday 16th October 2012.

The views expressed in Maplines are those of the Editors and Contributors and not necessarily those of the BCS. If you would like to sponsor the Maplines Quiz please contact the Editors. © The British Cartographic Society 2012

Advertising in Maplines

Consider this a shop window to promote your company, event, course or publication to the mapping community.

For more details contact the Editors:

maplines.editors@gmail.com

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

T

Notes from our President

wenty-five years ago, to become a cartographer and work in the commercial map making business you almost certainly had to have a degree or some similar qualification. This was because the complex skills required to do the job took around three years of training in order to acquire the understanding and technical competence to make a map.

Gradually a lot of the tasks involved in map production have been taken over with the use of computers and associated programmes.

Projections, grids, graticules can all be produced automatically and data can be imported, symbolised and labelled automatically too. But, and it’s a BIG but, the overarching principles of cartography still have to be applied to make a good map. A computer is only the latest cartographic tool and nothing else.

Twenty-five years ago, cartographers used to meet and talk to each other about cartography, developments and new ideas within the specialisation. Very few others were involved since it was almost impossible to be involved from a practical point of view. However, with the advent of the computer and effective, user-friendly software, the ability of others to produce some sort of a map has blossomed. As a consequence, our professional

cartographers have now not only to communicate with their fellows but also it’s essential that they pass on their knowledge and skills in terms of the art of cartography to this very much wider audience. What a wonderful opportunity to promote good cartography.

So, how should we in BCS respond? Well we, together with the AGI, already run the Better Mapping events around the country (see page 11) - first one day courses at a basic level and now some one day courses at an advanced level.

However, it is clear that there is more to be done. Following recent conversations with senior members of two of our National Mapping Agencies (NMA) there is an issue which needs to be resolved. All our NMAs employ people to produce maps using GIS. The issue is that many of the new entrants to the profession have little or no training in cartography and there is no standard or qualification by which they can be assessed or indeed progress in terms of their capability as a cartographer. I have already mentioned this gap in cartography training to our BCS Better Mapping team and am looking forward to hearing their thoughts on the subject. Also, it’s important that we have a dialogue with the NMAs to more clearly understand their requirements and how we might

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

best be able to help. I think this is really exciting as it could well be another step in the rejuvenation of the art of cartography but this time nationwide.

Peter Jolly BCS President

Maplines is looking for a new Editor.

Can you help? see p. 7 maplines.editors@gmail.com

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Maplines / Summer 2012 • 3

Cutting the art out of cartography!

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s some readers will be aware I produced the series of cartoons entitled ‘Great minds of the past...’ for the Omnium Gatherum section of Maplines. The ‘Great minds’ that grappled with contemporary cartographic issues included Gerard Mercator, Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton (based on the famous engraving by William Blake). Others of the cartoons, of Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein, I know now grace the notice boards of friends and colleagues in several university science departments and the Medical Research Council labs in Cambridge.

My final cartoon for the series – of Elizabeth I astride the tube map – has even taken on a second life as an exhibit in the London Transport Museum’s Summer Exhibition 2012 ‘Mind the Map’ (see discussion of the cartoon in Claire Dobbin’s excellent Maplines article, Spring 2012).

What readers may not be aware of is my other dabbling in the ‘dark arts’ of caricature and illustration, some of which include the use of both OS and Geological Survey maps as collage or as the backgrounds to my work. A chance conversation with Lynda Bailey at the opening of the ‘Mind the Map’ exhibition prompted me to write this short piece explaining my recent 4 • Summer 2012 / Maplines

interest in working with maps as part of my own artwork. Lynda, Maplines Senior Editor, was instrumental in getting me to produce the Omnium Gatherum cartoons and keeping me on the straight and narrow when ideas failed to materialise close to deadlines; in fact, the idea for the Elizabeth I cartoon was Lynda’s brainchild and perhaps one of the best! The cartoon satirised the removal of the River Thames from the TfL Tube Map in 2009 and its subsequent reinstatement after considerable complaint from the public, and, not least, from Boris Johnson!

The ‘Mind the Map’ exhibition, which features my last cartoon, includes a wide range of innovative art which either directly use maps as the basis of the work or is inspired by mapping.

Examples inspired by maps and mapping include Susan Stockwell’s wonderful world map made from transport tickets, and Simon Patterson’s famous ‘The Great Bear’ which reworks the standard tube map by renaming the lines and adding prominent people instead of station names – with Gary Lineker famously crossing at the lines renamed ‘footballers’ (Jubilee) and ‘saints’ (Piccadily). Another classic is David Booth’s wonderful advert for ‘The Tate

Gallery by Tube’ in which the lines are shown as if squirted from tubes of oil paint! A great example of art created literally from the tube map is Jonathan Parsons’ 2004 sculpture ‘Zoned Out’.

This was made by carefully cutting out London’s overland and underground lines from various maps and arranging these into an incredibly delicate 3D cascading form. Parsons particularly likes the fact that the Central line, when turned on its side in his work, looks like a drinks bottle and reminds him of various gallery openings and receptions!

My own life has been dominated by a fusion of geography, natural history, cartography and art. The link between the four areas has been fluid, but each has informed the other. Like many a small boy of the era of The Hotspur and The Victor comics (1960s and 70s) I spent long days lying on the floor surrounded by felt pens drawing detailed map-like battle scenes or aerial dog-fights. As a sixth-former, many hours were spent bent over a microscope making detailed biological drawings, as well as being encouraged by the art master to bring a dissected rat into the art class as the basis for a six-foot oil painting (he and the class came to regret this as the summer warmed up!). As an undergraduate

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

Design Group student I was handy enough with a Rotring pen to be trusted to do ‘outside work’ by the chief cartographer at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, when the staff didn’t have the time. All the time I also drew and painted for pleasure and occasionally profit.

It is only recently, however, that I have started to directly include maps in my art. While much of the art which uses maps or seeks inspiration from maps is playful, abstract and post-modern in form, my own use of maps is probably more sympathetic to older traditions as you will see from the accompanying images. I was also inspired by my involvement, as a biogeographer, in an exhibition at the Sidney Cooper Gallery, my university’s art gallery, in Canterbury. I was asked to write a short chapter for a book, Fictional Hybrids, to accompany the exhibition of the same name by the Australian artist Vera Möller. Her work involved placing small sculptures of ‘ambiguous organisms’ into real-life settings in the woods of Kent and then taking photographs which were blown-up as massive wall posters for the exhibition.

This was such a novel and exciting initiative that I even took my second year biogeography class to the exhibition and ran it as a sort of exotic

field-class, in which students were asked to work out what they thought were the ecologies of these fictional organisms, with surprisingly positive responses from the students.

My recent work with maps falls into two main areas. First, the use of maps as collage – to create ‘Green Men’ using old Geological Survey maps, an approach which resonates with the idea of fictional hybrids, and secondly, the more traditional use of OS maps as the back drop to animal sketches. It might be worth inserting a rider at this stage – ‘no maps were harmed in the making of these images!’ – all of the maps were damaged in some way and destined to be pulped, so I effectively rescued them and gave them a second life.

The geology maps had been used for teaching at Wye College, Kent, and had been variously ‘cut’ to remove key information as part of an undergraduate exercise. What appealed to me as a biogeographer was the visual link between the geology and topography, that created wonderful sinuous forms on the map, and the fact that if I carefully cut sections out they looked wonderfully like leaves. I have some ‘oak leaves’

scattered on my desk as I write this. I suspect they will never be used as they look so good as they are - one has as its central vein the line of the ‘Southern Railway’, running below the North Downs in Kent, which makes a neat link back to the transport theme!

A series of Green Men have been produced in this manner – several inspired by the amazing self-portraits of the eighteen century sculpture Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (you must check him out on Google Image) including the ‘Knife-grinder’ in this article. Like many people, I am fascinated by Green Men and other folk images. I have also produced a number of art works based on the medieval three-hares symbol, in which the animals chase each other in a circle and share but three ears between them. In Christianity, the three hare motif appears to be linked with the Virgin Mary, and a boss showing the three hares is often juxtaposed in churches with a boss of the Green Man, thought by some to be as representation of sinful humanity.

My own Green Men have no symbolic meaning, and are produced with no more in mind that the sheer fun of playing with this ambiguous image.

The animal drawings arise from my long term interest in natural history and landscape. The animals are chosen for their links with the specific landscape and its history. Again, the intent is pleasure in the link between the map as representation of the territory and the life of that world, rather than any deeper meaning. I try to draw specific topographic elements from the map to tie the animal into the landscape; so in the hare image the coast forms a small pool, while in the badger picture, the river valley becomes a crevice which the animal is exploring and has discovered a deliciously looking ‘wall fish’.

I hope these images give an insight into my wider interest in art and cartography, a little pleasure, and you approve of my novel re-cycling of redundant and damaged maps!

Peter Vujaković, Canterbury Christ Church University, and Co-convenor, BCS Design Group.

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

Maplines / Summer 2012 • 5

World’s largest atlas acquired by the British Library A report by BCS President Peter Jolly:

I

was delighted to be invited to see the largest ever atlas being unveiled at the British Library where it received the official recordbreaking status by Guinness World Records adjudicators before joining the Library’s world-famous map collections. The Earth Platinum atlas, one of only 31 copies in existence, measures 6ft x 9ft (1.8m x 2.7m) and required six members of Library staff to carry its 200kg weight through the doors.

The British Library also holds the Klencke atlas but the Earth Platinum atlas exceeds it by 30cm on each side. The Klencke atlas was produced as one of a handful of giant atlases in 1660, and was presented to King Charles II to mark his restoration to the throne. It was bequeathed to the Library in the 1820s as part of King George III’s map collections. While historic maps like the Klencke were engraved and hand-painted by skilled artists and engravers, modern maps are largely produced using satellite data which, by comparison, means the Earth’s surface is depicted with an astonishing degree of accuracy 6 • Summer 2012 / Maplines

and detail but still requires the cartographers’ expertise and skill to produce the final finished product.

The Earth Platinum, launched by Australian publishers Millennium House, consists of 61 pages of maps and wonderful images using a photographic technique which overlays thousands of photographs into a single, seamless image.

These huge images of our cities and landscapes together with the maps of continents, poles and oceans provide an important historical record for future generations of Library researchers from a range of disciplines, providing an unparalleled snapshot of the Earth as it stands in the twenty-first century. British Library experts were among those consulted as it was being prepared.

into the world of British monarchs in the seventeenth century, and what they thought was important about it, the Earth Platinum will offer a reflection of what people of 2012 felt was worth recording about their very different world. It will be an astonishing resource for researchers in ten, twenty or two hundred years’ time.’

Gordon Cheers, publisher of the Earth Platinum atlas, says ‘The Klencke Atlas held at the British Library has long been the inspiration for the production of the Earth Platinum, and so to have one edition held here to be used and enjoyed by scholars and map-enthusiasts alike is a real joy. We hope that researchers will learn a great deal from this landmark publication.’

Head of Cartography and Topography at the British Library, Peter Barber OBE, who wrote the introduction to Earth Platinum, says ‘The Library’s collection of maps is one of the greatest in the World, and the maps are important not only for their use as geographical aids, but also as mirrors of the cultures in which they were created. While the Klencke Atlas provides an insight

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

London Mapping Festival

Building to a Grand Finale

H

opefully everyone in the BCS has heard of the London Mapping Festival and many will have taken part in events. If you haven’t then check out what it is all about at the festival website, londonmappingfestival.org.

The whole idea has proved a great success at bringing together the various specialisms within the wider world of mapping. With nearly 100 supporters LMF has attracted involvement from societies and institutions, commercial companies from GIS software vendors and cartographic houses to surveying practitioners and hardware manufacturers, government departments, museums and art galleries. The idea of what is a map, means many different things to a very large number of people; it is clear the enthusiasm for mapping far from being diminished is growing strongly.

Recent events that have come under the LMF umbrella include the

show how new technologies are used to create maps.

There are opportunities for more events if organisations would like to take part but time is running out. If you want to know more contact Fiona Cocks at; fiona@londonmappingfestival.org or telephone 01223 880077.

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new exhibition of Tube mapping at the London Transport Museum, a geocaching event in Greenwich Park (a treasure hunt with GPS and map - see p15) and the LMF map display at Middlesex University and Hendon library.

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One event I would bring to your attention is the planned ‘Survey of the Meridian’ by The Survey Association and one of their corporate partners, Topcon. This aims to run a GPS-enabled car with video capture technology (like Google Streetview) as close as possible along the Meridian, stopping at schools along the way to

Volunteer Editor Needed!

We are urgently looking for a new Editor to join the Maplines team as soon as possible to enable us to continue to maintain the quality and standards of Maplines we have achieved over recent years.

We would hope the new Editor would be involved in all aspects of the editorial work including any or all of the following ● liaising with contributors

● copy editing ● identifying new sources of material for publication or new contributors ● layout work as necessary ● any other Maplines activities we find ourselves involved in at this exciting time of the development of Maplines and the BCS

We would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who could

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

With more than half the period of the festival over, we are building to the big climax: the final free-toattend one day exhibition and seminar event at Lords Cricket Ground in December and the Charity Dinner and Auction on behalf of MapAction at the prestigious East Winter Garden venue, Canary Wharf on the 10th January 2013. The black tie dinner is a final chance for the mapping community to promote itself under the LMF banner with the opportunity to mingle with a host of names and invited celebrities. We have set ourselves the ambitious target of raising £50,000 for the charity. The auction is planned to start on-line in the Autumn, so even if you can’t come along, why not bid on one of the many experiences we will have available.

Thanks go to the BCS for their continued support of LMF and good luck for the 50th Anniversary of the Society in 2013 from the LMF team.

Seppe Cassettari

1. Geocaching in Greenwich Park – ‘making like the Cutty Sark’!

2. Viewing the map exhibition at Middlesex University

join us in time to help with the Winter issue this October / November.

If you are interested or know anyone who would be interested please contact us at maplines.editors@gmail.com

Lynda Bailey, Senior Editor on behalf of the Maplines Editors Maplines / Summer 2012 • 7

Symposium 2012 Mapping the Global Village

congratulations go to this year’s winners.

T

his year’s BCS Annual Symposium was held in Hook, near Basingstoke. Once again the delegate numbers were up on the previous year. A very full programme was crammed into two days, combining a good mix of speakers with thought provoking and entertaining presentations and a series of interactive workshops.

Our theme this year was ‘Mapping the Global Village’, aiming to tie ourselves in with the other big event taking place in London in 2012. We had sessions on Changing Times, Transport Mapping, Art in Cartography and Mapping for the Olympics. The workshops very much linked in to these themes and provided a coherent programme for delegates, who judging by their feedback forms, responded very

Award Winners 2012 The BCS Award

WINNER: British Geological Survey

The Stanfords Award for Printed Mapping Products 2012 WINNER: British Geological Survey Anglesey (Ynys Mön): A Landscape Carved by Ice Highly Commended: Global Mapping Walk & Cycle Brackley Commended: Steer Davies Gleave Easter Bush Campus Travel Map

GIS SIG

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his year’s GIS SIG at the Symposium discussed the use of GIS in the charity and notfor-profit sector. Map Action, Birdlife, The RNLI and Global Map Aid each spent 30 minutes discussing their work and how GIS is helping to create business insight. GIS is helping to save and conserve lives, both human and animal around the world on both land and at sea.

8 • Summer 2012 / Maplines

positively to the programme.

The icebreaker session this year was a test of cerebral dexterity rather than constructional ability with a version of Scrabble based on country names – congratulations to the winning team who amassed a very impressive 856 points!

The Gala Dinner on Thursday evening was followed by the BCS Awards Ceremony; our David A Brawn Bus & Touring Maps - Madeira & Tenerife

The Henry Johns Award

WINNER: Helen Jenny, Bernhard Jenny, William Cartright, Lorenz Hurni Local terrain deformation inspired by hand-painted panoramas (Volume 48 Issue 1)

Ordnance Survey MasterMap Award

WINNER: Europa Technologies Ltd Rendition of OS MasterMap for via Europa hosted map service

With the current economic unrest donations to charitable organisations are falling. Every pound spent is increasingly important. GIS analysis combined with strong cartographic outputs enables charities to better understand their operational environment and how to focus spend appropriately. Using GIS charities are able to make better informed decisions on where to invest donations in the most appropriate way and importantly justify their activities to the

And so with a very successful event finished for another year we now start planning for 2013. As it is the 50th Anniversary of the BCS we are planning something special and something different. We will be returning to Leicester, where the very first BCS Symposium was held and the dates and venue will be announced shortly – please check regularly on the BCS website for further details. The Programme Committee always welcome suggestions for session themes or particular Speakers that you may have been impressed with, so please let us have your suggestions for consideration.

We look forward to welcoming you to Leicester in 2013.

Pete Jones Chair, Programme Committee

The Avenza Award for Electronic Mapping Products

WINNER: Kent County Council Kent Habitat Maps Highly Commended: British Geological Survey Anglesey (Ynys Mön): A Landscape Carved by Ice

The John Bartholomew Award

WINNER: no winner awarded as the HarperCollins judges did not feel that the entries received met the criteria.

Commended: Defence Geographic Centre Cultural Briefing Map - Kenya Global Mapping Planisphere communities which support them.

I’d like to thank Ming Lee from MapAction, Mark Balman of Birdlife, Dan Ryan from RNLI and Doug Eamer from Global Map Aid for taking the time to speak at the SIG. The volume of questions at the end of the presentations highlighted another successful session.

If any members of the Society would like to suggest topics for future GIS SIGs or would like to present please drop Rob Sharpe a line at: rsharpe@esriuk.com

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

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

Maplines / Summer 2012 • 9

BCS AGM Newflash

The BCS AGM will be held at 5:00pm on Wednesday 31st October at the RAF Club in London.

We intend to combine the AGM with a Fellows Evening including guest speaker and dinner, full details of which will appear on the BCS website. If you do not have easy access to the website, please contact: Pete Jones MBE , Chair, Programme Committee Tel: 020 8818 3922

Mapping the Global Village ..continued from p8

Very interesting to hear about the latest developments and to look at cartography from a wide range of perspectives from experts working in different organisations.

Jeremy Brocklehurst – Office for National Statistics

Fun, informative and well run.

Kevin Black UKHO

An interesting event with a good variety of presentations and workshops on offer. Peoples’ passion for mapping shone through!

Charley Glynn - OS

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Excellent opportunity to network, discover new aspects of cartography and generally be stimulated.

Paul Gosling - DGC

“I thought the programme was exceptionally strong this year and I really enjoyed the conference! Great work!!!”

Dr Ken Field, ESRI Lots of food for thought equally from exhibitions and talks. Good social aspect too.

Well worth coming.

Paul Kelly - Geo Mobile Gmbh Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

A Brief History

Is it really six years since The BCS dipped a tentative toe into the Better Mapping arena? Where have those years gone and what have we done in that time?

2006 – first free BCS seminars in Cardiff, Liverpool, Edinburgh and London.

2008 – in conjunction with the Association for Geographic Information (AGI) on a shared risk model at substantially reduced rates for BCS and AGI members travelled to Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds and London.

2009 – birth of the BCS Roadshow with seminars on consecutive days in a whirlwind tour to Bristol, Glasgow, Birmingham and London in association with AGI. 2010 – Better Mapping II, the next level in London with more in-depth teaching and including a workshop session - in association with AGI. 2011 – at the invitation of and hosted by Land & Property Services (HQ of Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland) with local speakers joining the core BCS team in Belfast.

Restless Earth – end of year report Teacher’s comment: A+ An exceptional year. BCS have worked hard on this initiative and the results are very positive.

The Restless Earth Workshop has now been delivered to a total of 42 different schools across England, with 10 separate events hosted in this academic year alone. Although we have not kept detailed notes of the total numbers of students who have attended, a conservative estimate is at least 1200. The workshop is designed for Year 10 students, but we have also had Years 7, 8 and 9 involved as well and in most cases they have performed as least as well as their older counterparts.

2012 – back with AGI for Better Mapping I in Leeds in June and Better Mapping II in London at the home of the other BCS – the British Computer Society who provided the venue free of charge under the banner of London Mapping Festival.

Since the first seminars in 2006, the content has evolved to its present form but consistently covering the essential elements of why good design matters and how to achieve a ‘better’ map. The programme has also changed due to demand for different topics – cartography is such a huge subject and there is a limit to how much information we can impart in one day. For example, the content of Better Mapping II has been completely overhauled for 2012 in response to requests from delegates who had attended the BM II event in 2010. We must be doing something right.

The core Better Mapping team comprises Peter Jones, Giles Darkes, Clare Seldon and myself with regular contributions from others – most recently Warren Vick of Europa Technologies at Leeds.

Warren had just won the prestigious Ordnance Survey MasterMap Award at the BCS Symposium the week before and was perfectly placed to share his expertise using real-world examples of good cartography.

In terms of support, 54 different people have been involved in running the workshops, 18 from the Defence Geographic Centre (all of whom are BCS members), 10 BCS Members and 26 RGS Geography Ambassadors. The support from RGS has been very useful as it has allowed us to involve local Ambassadors to support the roving BCS team.

Judging from both the teacher and student feedback, it has been a great success. Most teachers say it has exceeded their expectations and has provided a challenging task for their students to undertake, building on both their geographical skills and knowledge as well as providing an excellent opportunity for team working. The student feedback continually mentions that they enjoy the team working

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

Better Mapping

What next?

Dublin is on the drawing board for Better Mapping I, perhaps for October this year if everything falls into place. Anyone interested in joining us in Dublin, or anywhere else for that matter, contact us at admin@cartography.org.uk. Next year is the 50th Anniversary of BCS and I look forward to organising another series of seminars.

Aside from these off-the-shelf seminars we are able to offer one-to-one training within an organisation to suit specific requirements. Such an event was provided at very reasonable cost to Natural England in 2010 where BCS talked about cartographic best practice and helped develop in-house design conventions. If your organisation would benefit from a bespoke training day for a group of new mapmakers or a crash course in what not to do for the more experienced, please contact us for further information.

I believe we now have the attention of the wider mapmaking community and where there is an appetite to learn about cartography BCS will be more than happy to assist.

Mary Spence MBE

activities, experiencing a real life scenario, working with different maps and researching on the internet. The most common ‘complaint’ is lack of maps in English, but we are now emphasising that in a real world situation you would have to work with local maps, which in the current scenario we present, are in Japanese.

We already have eight events for 2012/13 either organised or in the final stages of deciding upon a date, several of which are repeat visits to schools we went to this year, so we must be doing something right!

Pete Jones Chair, Programme Committee

Maplines / Summer 2012 • 11

Omnium Gatherum

David Cooper, Honorary Doctor of Science

On 19th July 2012, David Cooper was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Bedfordshire for his services to Geography at Luton graduation ceremonies.

David Cooper, former Principal Lecturer and Head of Geography, was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science at this year's Luton graduation ceremonies. David

a miscellaneous collection of people and things

came to Luton in 1960 and finally retired in 1995. David was the driving force in establishing the Diploma in Geography, graduates of which are affectionately known as the Dip Geogs. The Dip Geog was a hugely successful course launching the careers of many talented students. Including the integral placement year the course was seen as excellent preparation for the work place.

The graduates have also gone on to form a very active alumni group who regularly organise reunions.

Great Minds cartoon on display ‘OBE. Peter Michael Barber, Head of Map Collections, British Library. For services to Cartography and Topography.’

Excellent, and thoroughly deserved award. And something that all of us who work in the subject can take pride in as well.

Tony Campbell

Maps in strange places

BCS is celebrating!

In 2013 the BCS will be celebrating its 50th birthday. Seems like just yesterday since the Society was established but it is 50 years!

Spring Quiz answers 1. Ditchley Portrait 2. Teaches 3. 1914

12 • Summer 2012 / Maplines

Peter Vujakovic, Convenor of the BCS Design Group, and Seppe Cassettari, with the Maplines cartoon of Elizabeth I on display at the London Transport Museum’s Mind the Map exhibition in May.

Do you have any photographs and other memorabilia that could be featured as part of the celebrations?

If so, please send details to me at mldesign@btclick.com

Martin Lubikowski Chair, Publications Committee

4. 1926

5. Museum of British Transport opened in an old bus garage in Clapham South London 6. William Rogers

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

Corporate The 2012 Symposium was well attended by representatives from all areas of the business of maps, with Corporate Members filling the Exhibition area there was a real opportunity to network. It was great to see such a good turn out, the largest number of exhibitors for many years. Thank you for your support. Many of our

National Land Use Map

The GeoInformation Group announces the first release of its land use reference database for the United Kingdom.

This unique and comprehensive National Land Use Map identifies the location and the extent of 26 different land use categories throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is the only current map of its kind enabling planners and policy decision makers to consider the strategic implications of their plans in the context of a national picture.

The land use information is updated on a regular basis and includes industrial areas, retail and business parks, agricultural and natural landscapes as well as different types of urban environments. These key categories help professionals directly address both current and future issues such as flooding, house building and the preservation of open space all based on a single and consistent database.

The National Land Use Map, which was derived from projects in

members attend related conferences and trade shows. In April a few of us could be found at the London Book Fair and in May the International Map Trade Association (IMTA) held its annual conference and trade show in Dresden that attracted businesses from around the World.

The BCS gives you the opportunity to promote your business to the wider cartographic community and in return we should do our best to promote the BCS. As the Corporate support of national utility network programmes, has been adapted for use by market sectors such as local and central government, consulting engineers and commercial property developers. It is broadly based on NLUD v4.4 classification system to ensure compatibility with databases that have been created in the past.

The database enables professionals to make informed decisions about development, taking into account both local and regional context and balancing the conflicting pressures of urban growth and rural protection.

Membership continues to grow the diversity of activities within the membership increases which can only be good news; we are all looking for new business opportunities.

If you have any comments you would like me to put to BCS Council please do not hesitate to contact me.

Alan Grimwade BCS Corporate Liaison Officer

Alternatively, Customised Land Use maps are available on request as well as UKMap’s Base layer for Greater London which offers land use at the 1:1,000 mapping scale.

To find out more about National Land Use Map or request a quote for your area, see website below.

The GeoInformation Group www.geoinformationgroup.co.uk

‘The availability of a national land use database that covers the length and breadth of the United Kingdom is a powerful resource for anyone charged with managing our landscape. Not only does it offer the ability to consider the wider implication of plans but the ability to identify land use and derive statistics in a consistent and coherent manner’, said Alun Jones, Manager Director for The GeoInformation Group.

‘For over 15 years, The GeoInformation Group has used its extensive expertise to create land use maps through digitising land use types from high resolution aerial photography but never before has a database been available at a national scale. Its value will be recognised by professional users in a wide range of market sectors’.

Data is provided in easy to use formats and users can define the area they wish to purchase.

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

Maplines / Summer 2012 • 13

Fellows Survey Judging the mood

E

arlier this year we asked all Fellows to complete a brief survey on their opinion of the Fellow’s Evening. This is the first of a series of short surveys that Programme Committee plan to undertake to gain members views on the events they would like to see run by the Society.

The survey was open for three months online and was also available in paper form. Ten questions covered the format, time of day, time of year, cost and location of the evening; thirty eight Fellows responded to the survey.

An overwhelming 98% of respondents felt the Society should continue to run an annual Fellows’ event. The preferred time of year varied considerably: overall the most popular times being between AprilJune (37%) and October–December (31%); twenty eight percent of respondents didn’t mind what time of year the event took place.

The current format of the event is an invited speaker and a meal. Fellows were asked which of the four suggested formats they would prefer (Figure 1). The most popular option, (77% responses), was an invited speaker and meal. Two respondents made additional suggestions: visit a place of interest such as the House of Commons and the event should be informal.

When asked whether a sit down meal or buffet was preferable, 62% respondents selected the less formal buffet. Reasons given for this 14 • Summer 2012 / Maplines

preference included, that it would allow attendees to circulate and network and may offer a cheaper attendance fee.

The Fellows’ Evening has been held in London over previous years. 80% of respondents thought this was a suitable location. However nine respondents added a comment to this answer. It was suggested that the event should move around the country or be on an evening prior to the Annual Symposium to encourage

more people to attend. Other suggested locations included Birmingham, Taunton, Oxford, Cambridge and Scotland.

Fellows were asked what time of day they would like the event to take place. The most popular option was ‘Evening with networking in the bar before the event’ (48%). It was suggested the event should run after another meeting e.g.

Council Meeting.

Cost to attend is important to everyone. Fellows were offered four price brackets for three options: speaker only, meal only, speaker and meal. For an event which was speaker only or meal only 93% and 68% respondents respectively felt that £25-£30 was appropriate.

For a speaker and meal almost half respondents, 48%, selected £31-£45 and 31% selected £46-£60.

Fellows were asked who should be invited to attend the event, whether this should be Fellows only, all BCS members or also include nonmembers. Although the highest return was for Fellows, BCS members and non-members, comments suggested that

non-members should be from specific groups such as spouses/invited guest of Fellows or Fellows of other societies or professional bodies e.g FRGS. FRICS. With a greater number of attendees BCS Fellows may then receive a small discount to attend.

Finally we asked Fellows for additional comments and recommendations for speakers: sixteen responses gave varied answers. Several Fellows stated that they have been unable to attend recent events, due to personal reasons rather than lack of interest.

For the themes, general interest cartography was popular, and we should use the event to promote what we do as a society to those that have not heard of us.

So what next for the Programme Committee? The first action is to confirm this year’s event. Based on responses from this survey we are opting for 31 October in London. The event will be in the evening with an invited speaker and meal where we will do our best to achieve the price range preferred. To attract more attendees we will hold the event after another meeting, for this year this will be the AGM. In the meantime we will map the postcodes of Fellows’ home addresses to identify other locations that we may chose for future years.

We will also continue with our plan to ask for members’ feedback on other events and will work with the Convenors of the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to ensure we cover all events we hold.

Finally, a big thank you to all respondents to the survey; we appreciate your time in completing the survey as it gives us valuable feedback on the work we do for the Society. We hope you agree it was quick and easy to complete and that you will encourage others to complete future surveys. Your comments count.

Pete Jones Chair, Programme Committee

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

Geocaching

Fun in Greenwich

1

35 Geographic Squadron, the only unique Independent Territorial Army unit that provides geographic supports to the regular forces and defence, took part in the Geocaching event in Greenwich, London on 24th May. The TA team included Sgt Vosper, Cpl Morley, LCpl Olajide, *Spr Starr & Spr Terry. This event was organised as part of the London Mapping Festival cartography, GIS and mapping program of events for London, and was sponsored by Leica Geosystem, the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES), University of Greenwich, Geo-information Group and the Survey Association. The attendees were civilians from a wide range of mapping, surveying and GIS backgrounds such as Local Government Authority, Map Action, Geo-Information group, Defence Geographic Centre, various GIS firms and students from the University of Greenwich. Selena Parton, Pete Brown, Jacquie Blond and Michael Spears from the Defence Geographic Centre (DGC) also took part.

The squadron has a track record of resounding success in orienteering, which was replicated at this unique recruiting & learning event. It was interesting to see the construction being done at the Olympic Equestrian site and the weather was welcoming; Greenwich Park was packed with people soaking up the very welcome sun.

Leica provided the renowned Leica Zeino 10 and 15 hand held GNS, GPS & GIS devices; a lightweight full functionality, high speed GPS device with enhanced features, though the device proved

troublesome with some groups who had slight difficulty with the connections. It apparently is a rugged and versatile GNSS/GIS handheld device with wireless download, uploads and GIS capability to sub-meter accuracy in real-time and post-processed.

Geocaching is very enjoyable but physically challenging; it is an outdoor-real world navigation event using GPS devices. All the teams were required to navigate to all the compulsory and optional way points, solving the entire question at specific way points. Timings were crucial as the accumulation of points takes into account the time taken; some geo points required arrival at precise timings. Most people found the device slightly complex and it was a learning curve for all participants. The GPS device frequently lost signal in densely built up areas and required improvising and navigating directly from the system map. Working in groups was

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

interesting but had its determents because it required you to work at the pace of the slowest member and you had to arrive at a group decision on the majority of your outcomes; even when you disagree. Cpl Morley’s team worked very well as a team and it was interesting to see the diversity of skills being used; they even related lymphatic filariasis with the Navy infirmary (1800) as the correct answer at one of the locations.

Geocaching is slightly different to orienteering because on arriving at your way point, there are no markers but the related question gives you an indication of whether you are in the right place, then you go about solving the task. We anticipated the event would be easy, the going proved otherwise. There were areas that required calculations, team work, sound geographic knowledge and a lot of thinking. For instance, when we arrived at way point 11, the instruction was to find M.SABO and extract four M.S. Sabo jokes. My group thought this must relate to a theatre and we strayed to various theatres/pubs in the location but to no avail, until I spotted a shop around the corner tucked away from view called M. Sabo. On close inspection of the convenience shop there were adverts on the window which were jokes not adverts, for example, ‘Parachute for sale used only once. Unopened…’, ‘One fried egg for sale, would make good bookmark’. Other way points included questions such as ‘What are Valencia’s coordinates? ...continued on p19

Maplines / Summer 2012 • 15

M

uch has been said about the need to revitalise our town centres due to popularity of out-of-town shopping, especially with The Portas Review: an independent review of the future of our high streets, 2011, by Mary Portas.

She says ‘High streets must be ready to experiment, try new things, take risks and become destinations again. They need to be spaces and places that people want to be in.

High streets of the future must be a hub of the community that local people are proud of and want to protect.’

Penryn, Cornwall is actively working on creating a strong business community. Tired with different 16 • Summer 2012 / Maplines

organisations having difficulty promoting the town, the traders set-up a regular meeting called the Penryn Independent Traders, to do something practical.

‘The group has some great ideas, but we are not getting bogged down with too much talking about it: we are all focused on seeing action. We are focused on doing, rather than talking’ said Ed Hartgill, who runs the Number20 wine bar.

All photos by © Caroline Robinson 2012

Community Mapping for The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

walks through the Glasney Valley, two minutes’ walk from the main street. However, as most of the shops are small and independently run, the town lacks a unified image that other towns might have.

Several of the traders got together to discuss a map to promote the town. I went along on invitation from the local printer, Trevor, as the

Penryn is an up and coming town; with the new development of the Tremough Campus on its town boundary, it has more people passing through Penryn than ever.

And this is the main issue; people often pass through Penryn to get to the nearby town of Falmouth to shop, eat and drink. The challenge for the traders of the town was to promote Penryn as an interesting place to stop, stretch the legs and explore the town.

Penryn has much to offer as the historic town has glorious views over the Penryn river, a museum dedicated to the town and energetic Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

Cartography

around 6-8 weeks to complete, but I was willing to take up the challenge.

representative of Clear Mapping Company; we are actually based over the river in Falmouth. At the meeting, the brief was outlined: creating a map from scratch by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in four weeks’ time. Usually a project of this size with 30+ independent traders, each with an equal say, would take

With the support from key members of the business community, each trader involved in the town was asked if they would like to get involved. The Town Council and the University were also asked to get involved and contribute to the map.

The community engagement process meant that all traders were involved in the project from deciding the front cover to exploring and plotting the local walks. I worked as a project manager alongside Trevor who was the project's main focal point in the town.

I have worked on other community projects, but nothing quite so

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

intense as the Penryn Independent Trader's Map. The traders were really focused on what they wanted to achieve and I'm pleased that they are pleased with the results.

The maps were printed and distributed around the town, the university and in surrounding areas.

Each trader also has a 'lollipop sign' with their number on to promote the map on the ground. The project was completed on time and on budget for the Diamond Jubilee weekend something to celebrate after all!

Caroline Robinson Clear Mapping Company caroline@clearmapping.co.uk

Maplines / Summer 2012 • 17

UKCC Report

O

ver the last year at the instigation of BCS Council, the remit and operation of the UKCC has been reviewed. The BCS provide significant funding to the UKCC and the support of UK participation in ICA activities, so given the notable increase in the level of UK involvement in ICA Commissions in recent years, there is increased pressure on the funds available; this comes at a time when support from the Royal Society is reducing. While the BCS is the UK member of ICA, the Royal Society continues to contribute 49% of the subscription. Historically, the Royal Society also funded the national delegate to attend the ICA General Assembly and provided support for attendance at ICA business meetings. This funding was withdrawn in 2011 and is unlikely to return in the near future, increasing the reliance on funding from the BCS if this involvement is to continue. The Royal Society does continue to support scientific involvement in ICA activity through its international travel awards, but this scheme has been reduced and is highly competitive.

Despite a strongly voiced proposal for a quite different model of organising the UKCC and the UK’s relationship with the ICA, the agreed outcome is to a large extent a refinement of what we have had in recent years. Instead of planned meetings twice a year, to save on travel expenses and to co-ordinate with the pattern of ICA activities, mainly relating to General Assemblies, there will now be six meetings over each four year term, with annual meetings in May and additional meetings about six

International Cartographic Conference – ICC 2013

The 26th International Cartographic Conference will be held in Dresden in August 2013. This conference returns to Germany again, with ICA conferences being held previously in Germany to take place in the “Florence of the North”. It will bring together cartographers and GI Science specialists from across the

18 • Summer 2012 / Maplines

months before and shortly after each General Assembly. A four year budget has been prepared and accepted by Council, giving a clear indication of the pattern of expenditure.

A key change is that in supporting nominations for UK chairs and vicechairs of commissions we expect annual reports about commission activities to be submitted. If these are not forthcoming, then future support and funding may be withheld. It is gratifying that at our May meeting, the majority complied with this request. Commission chairs and vice-chairs will also be expected to contribute to Maplines and the BCS website.

I am pleased to say that as part of the funding the BCS ICA Support Awards will continue, with a maximum of £2000 available each year to encourage individual involvement with ICA. Awards are not normally for attendance at ICA conferences, but are intended to support the research work of commissions. While it is expected much of the funding will go to UK commission chairs and vice-chairs, awards are open to all BCS members as a way of supporting cartographic research in the UK. For more information see the UKCC page on the BCS website.

Becoming involved with the work of a commission is the best way to get active in the international cartographic community. The 28 current commissions cover a very wide range of topics, some quite general, others very specific; some academic, others more practical.

Commissions operate in different

globe, providing a forum for the presentation of scientific papers illustrating the efforts of the research community, professional papers describing the cutting-edge methods employed by mapping organisations, meetings of the ICA Commissions and Working Groups, furthering their international collaborative efforts to advance knowledge and techniques in cartography, map exhibitions and the chance to meet again with colleagues and friends.

ways, but most hold events in addition to participation in the biennial ICA conferences. Often these are associated with other conferences or meetings, but several have their own annual meeting and generally costs are kept to a minimum to encourage participation. For example, the Commission on Mountain Cartography regularly meet in an appropriate location for their subject and in addition to workshop sessions, they gain first hand experience of the mountain environment! Most commissions are quite informal in their organisation and normally expressing interest to the chairperson will get an enthusiastic response. For more information on commissions see www.icaci.org.

There are several commission workshops coming up later this year, but the focus within ICA is now turning to the International Cartographic Conference in Dresden next August. Dresden is a very attractive city and the conference organiser Prof. Manfred Buchroithner is going all out to make it a great event. Many commissions will have pre-conference workshops which the organisers are making strides to co-ordinate more than perhaps has been the case in the past. The call for papers is out, with the deadline for submission in November. I would encourage you to consider making a submission or attending the conference.

David Forrest Chair, UK Cartography Committee david.forrrest@glasgow.ac.uk

For more information see www.icc2013.org

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

BCS Admin New members: The Society has the pleasure of welcoming the following new members who have joined the Society since the Spring 2012 edition of Maplines.

Corporate Members: Compare Infobase Ltd (India), EDINA, Natural England, Survey Solutions.

UK Members: Mr T. Armitage, Mr J. Bedford, Mrs N.J. Booth, Mr J. Brushett, Mr B. Caille, Mr A. Champion, Mr B. Clark, Miss T. Connolly, Mr R.J. Edwards, Miss J. Evans, Mr T. Frankhauser, Mrs A. Freeman, Miss A. Hawkins, Miss E. Lagrue, Mr N. Peters, Mrs C. Robinson, Miss B. Schuenemann, Miss J. Seviour, Mr L. Sewell, Miss S. Soutar, Mr H. Ujlaki, Mr P. Yuille.

Overseas Members: Prof. Dr S. Nebiker (Switzerland), Mr Prakash Pal (India), Mr T.L.R. Sandiford (USA), Mr M Smith (Bahrain).

UK Associate Members: Mr J. Bennett, Mr S. British, Mr N. Gould, Mr K. Stuart.

..continued from p15 Which was 51 degrees 28 minutes 59 seconds north and 00 d, dd m, 4.01 seconds West. I found way point 8 amusing; the question read ‘if you travel East from 0’ degree longitude time begins to alter, with zones defining changes of no less than 1hr, we ignore this principle and if we did how much would your distance from the observatory affect time with the correct answer in seconds to two decimal places?’

One hardworking participant from my group gave up due to the high levels of heat and the distance involved. However, as the TA provides the opportunity to carry out regular endurance training and fitness exercises conducted by qualified physical training instructors (PTI), the exercise wasn’t too demanding for our squadron.

After spending a constructive two hours plus running around

Fellows: At its meeting in June 2012, Council was pleased to award Fellowship status to Mr M. Binfield, and Mr D. McCutcheon.

And Finally As the wind and rain lashes my office windows as I write this rather shorter than usual input to the Summer edition it seems to reflect our Summer rather short. I cannot remember back to a summer when the Pimms bottle has remained unopened for so long in our drinks cabinet. Putting the doom and gloom aside, I attended my third BCS Symposium this year held in Basingstoke and as in previous years thoroughly enjoyed myself meeting old and making new friends, the accommodation, food and organisation was again absolutely first class. The only downside was the 5½ hours it took me to drive home on the Friday afternoon, as I sat waiting in traffic queues I amused myself by looking for places of interest on my sat nav.

Earlier in the year I volunteered (something that during my military career I was never encouraged to do) to assist in the Restless Earth Workshops being run by the Society for year 10 geography students at

Greenwich navigating with the Leica kit, 135 Geo Sqn lead the way with Spr Terry team finishing first, having navigated to all the points and accumulated the highest score, followed by Spr Starr group claiming the 2nd prize. Michael Spears, from DGC, saw his group initially coming 3rd, until it was recalculated to 5th and also got awarded an individual price. My group finished 4th. The event was rounded up with collation of results and networking at University of Greenwich, members of 135 Geo Squadron lead by Sgt Vosper spent the evening actively recruiting and answering questions from individuals who had an interest in joining the TA; our involvement was welcomed and encouraged.

The day came to a close after the prize giving; we headed up to the local Greenwich pub around 8pm to unwind. We enjoyed the opportunity to use the Leica GPS kit for navigation; it provided an

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

schools throughout the country, I was asked to participate in two, one in Stoke and one in Northampton.

The workshops are meticulously and thoroughly planned and so informative I learn something new every time I attend one and the participation by the students is something to behold. The majority start each session with a look of bewilderment on their faces and yet some 2 hours later when they are debriefed on their task the enthusiasm and initiatives shown is very fulfilling and I cannot thank the Chair of the Programmes Committee enough for allowing me to be involved.

Well it is back to finalising the accounts for this year and perhaps casting a hopeful eye at the window for some sun!!

My regards to you all.

Roger Hore BCS Administration 15 The Crescent Stanley Common Ilkeston, Derby DE7 6GL, England UK

Tel/Fax: +44(0)115 9328684 Email: admin@cartography.org.uk

opportunity to network and ‘recruit’ and gave the squadron more visibility, building positive geospatial relations with our London communities and promoting geospatial awareness in schools.

Selena Parton, DGC emphasised the point that it was good to see mapping organisations come together and network with the local communities in view of promoting geography to a wider audience.

LCpl David Olajide 135 Geographic Squadron and Defence Geographic Centre, MoD.

*SPR = Sapper 1. A military engineer who specialises in sapping and other field fortification activities.

2. A military engineer who lays, detects, and disarms mines.

Maplines / Summer 2012 • 19

Quiz – Geoinformation Group The London Mapping Festival has being going over a year and hundreds of people follow its progress on Twitter. But on those days when there has been nothing to talk about LMF has been passing on facts or interesting snippets about London.

Here are 10 questions based on those tweets. For the first set of correct answers the winner gets a copy of the LMF London in Maps book.

To enter just send your answers to maplines.editors@gmail.com

1. How much was Harry Beck paid for his original job?

A 4 guineas; B 5 guineas; C 6 guineas

2. Angel Tube Station has Western Europe’s longest escalator. How many steps?

A 294; B 329; C 318

3. How many UNESCO World Heritage sites does London have?

A 6; B 4; C 2

4. How many national museums are located in London?

A 22; B 26; C 31

5. Britain’s first supermarket opened in Earls Court in which year?

A 1951; B 1953; C 1954

5. The first football match played under Football Association rules was in Battersea Park in which year?

A 1862; B 1864; C 1866

7. The tallest church spire in London is St Marys Abbot Church in Kensington at how many feet?

A 266; B 278; C 284

8. When was Parliament Square, Britain’s first roundabout, built?

A 1922; B 1924; C 1926

9. How many people visited the Great Exhibition of 1851?

A Over 6 million; B Over 8 million; C Over 10 million

10. Which king founded the first golf club in England at Blackheath?

A James I; B James II; C Charles I

The winner of the Spring 2012 quiz is Robin Burchfield.

Spring Quiz answers on p. 12.

20 • Summer 2012 / Maplines

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