Maplines Summer 2010

Streetmuseum9

BCS Symposium 2010 10-12

Roman Cartography 16-17

Summer 2010

Elephants on ParadeSee pages 12 – 13

2 • Summer 2010 / Maplines Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

Editorial

From the Editors

The Newsletter of the British Cartographic Society

Volume 16, 2nd Issue, Summer 2010

Registered Charity No. 240034

Welcome to our Summer edition. I guess the firstthing to explain, and one

that you are undoubtedly ponderingover your morning croissant, is theelephant. You might notice a fewmore elephants scattered throughoutthe issue. The answer is in a newCorporate Members’ feature (p12-13), where we take an in depth lookat the recent Elephant Parade inLondon. The images are simply stunning; our only regret is we couldn’t show more within ourpages! Even Mark’s new daughter,Jessica Megan, couldn’t stay awayfrom them as you can see!

Elephants aside, we have anotherexcellent selection of feature articlesfor you – media mapping, Romancartography and Martian projections!Something for everyone it wouldseem. All will be revealed if you read on.

June’s annual BCS Symposium,Talking with Maps (p8-10) was a verysuccessful event. Thanks to everyone who helped to bring theevent alive and a big well done tothose who scooped one of ourprestigious awards. There is plentymore to catch up with between thesehallowed pages, so put your feet up,prop yourself up with a few pillowsand enjoy! As always, we would welcome your comments, newsand events, so please get in touchusing the details on this page. Andnext time you hear from us, it will beChristmas! How time flies...

Adamon behalf of

Lynda, Adam, Martin and MarkMaplines Editors

Editors Contact details:

Senior EditorLynda Bailey:[email protected]

Senior Editor, Design & Production Martin Lubikowski:[email protected] tel: 020 8778 4429

EditorAdam King:[email protected]

Editor, Design & ProductionMark Sansom:[email protected]: 01625 542 200

Deadline for copy for the Winter2010 edition is 19 October

The comments in Maplines arethose of the Editors andContributors and not necessarilythose of the BCS.

If you would like to sponsor theMaplines Quiz please contact the Editors

© The British Cartographic Society2010

illustrations in this issueFront Cover: With many thanks to LovellJohns; Concept – ElaineCamroux McLean; Artwork anddesign – Mark SansomPhotography – Lynda Bailey

p4-5: Views of the WorldPeter Vujakovic and John HillsCanterbury Christ ChurchUniversity

p16-17: Streetmuseum – withkind thanks to the Museum ofLondon

All other photography copyright:Martin Lubikowski, Lynda Baileyor the British CartographicSociety

Why not display your shop window in Maplines?

From January 2011, Maplines will be accepting advertising with the first adverts appearing in our

Spring 2011 issue in April.

So advertise your company, event, course or publication to the mapping community!

For more details please contact Maplines Editors, Lynda Bailey or Martin Lubikowski

Spring Issue’s Quiz Answers1. City Hall

2. Royal Albert Hall3. 30 St Mary Axe

4. The National Gallery5. Kings Cross Station6. The Globe Theatre

7. Houses of Parliament8. Centre Point

9. St Paul's Cathedral

see page 20 for this issue’s Quiz

Spring Quiz winnerCongratulations to David Sherren,

your prize is on its way!

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk Maplines / Summer 2010 • 3

President

Notes from our President

First a well deserved plaudit. I have toexpress my thanks to Peter Jones and hisProgramme team for a terrific job organising

and managing the hugely successful AnnualSymposium ‘Talking with Maps’ in Nottingham inJune. We were treated to some fascinating talksand workshops that attracted an impressivelywide range of representatives related to the geographic industry. It really was a great eventand I’m already looking forward to the 2011Symposium to be held at Shrigley Hall inCheshire. A great job! Well done everyone.

As we move into my final few months asPresident it was my honour to give the President’sAddress at the Symposium, where I took theopportunity to expand a little on my last Maplinesnotes in which I briefly reflected on some of thechanges currently facing us. One of the anticipated changes was what we now know asOS OpenData™, a range of Ordnance Survey products available for free and without restrictionof use to support the Government’s Making PublicData Public initiative and to encourage innovationand greater use of geographic information.Ordnance Survey are particularly interested ininnovative use of these datasets and consequently plan to give an award to those making best use of OS OpenData in theGeoVation Challenge, www.geovation.org.uk. Thecurrent challenge in the 2010/2011 programmeis “How can Britain feed itself?” and runs until3rd September 2010. It would be great to seesome of you give it a go.

The address was an opportunity to explore, nottoo seriously, some of the other major changesI’ve experienced at Ordnance Survey andobserved in the wider cartographic industry over a40 year career. Of course the most significantchange started slowly in the early 1970’s with thedigitisation of some 230,000 Ordnance Surveylarge scale maps of Great Britain, aiming to introduce efficiency savings to map production. It soon became clear that production costs werehigher but by then some of the consequentialadvantages of digital geographical data werebecoming clearer.

As this and other data became more widely available, cartographers at Ordnance Survey, and Ibelieve the general cartographic industry, failed torespond adequately to what was becoming a seismic shift in the world of geography. AtOrdnance Survey the cartographers’ responsewas almost catastrophic; for many years

cartography was not viewed as a core competencyfor the national mapping agency. They withdrewinto what appeared to be the last bastion of traditional cartographic skills deployment –derived paper mapping and here they effectivelybecame isolated from the development of geographical data. It has taken years of effort toconvince the policy makers of the importance ofcartography in the digital age and that good cartography should be viewed as the languagethat ensures the map, whatever the delivery technology, is an efficient and effective tool.

BCS is also responding and the changes in handsince our recent review are well documented.We’ve also seen some success in reaching out tothose map-makers using the new technologies todemonstrate how their maps could be better inachieving their aims more effectively and weshould continue to collaborate with other organisations to further develop that success.However, this is only the beginning of a journey,not the solution, and we must continue to buildon these foundations if we are to ensure cartogra-phy is a respected discipline integral to the rapid-ly expanding location economy.

In doing so….• We must not be too precious over our own

traditional beliefs; we must be prepared toadapt to new ways of looking at the role ofmapping and technology.

• We should sell the concept of good cartographic principles but not rules; rules canand will change according to the technologyand map usage.

• We must proactively track associated technologies and collaborate with progressivegeographical industries. We cannot afford tosit back and be by-passed by more technological revolution; who knows what thenext decade will bring. Those at the cuttingedge of innovation may not invite us to thetable; we need to be already there.

These are purely my personal thoughts and I’d bedelighted to hear others’ thoughts on what theSociety should do to ensure growth and sustainability over the next few years.

As ever, best wishes, and always feel free to contact me.

Bob LilleyBCS President

[email protected]

Views of the World

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk4 • Summer 2010 / Maplines

Acomprehensive knowledge ofgeography is important to understanding our increasingly

‘globalised’ society, especially as publicopinion increasingly influences politicians as they have to grapple withsuch issues as environmental changeor the use of armed forces to intervenein other states. The role of the newsmedia, including their representation ofcritical issues through maps, is crucialto developing this knowledge. This article describes a longitudinal surveyof maps in the UK ‘quality press’ covering Jan-July 1999 and Jan-June2009.

The quality press was chosen as a keyinformation source for decision makersand educationists, as well as the general public. The importance ofbroadcast news sources is acknowledged, but these are moreephemeral, complementing rather thanreplacing print news sources. It is alsoimportant to note that web-versions ofnewspaper items often omit graphicmaterials accompanying print versions(photos, graphs or maps). The surveyincluded all maps accompanying home,international and business news stories (1128 maps in 1999, and1248 in 2009) and provided information on map design and on thematic and geographical coverage –this article focuses on the latter.

What in the World?

Thematic context is fundamental to thestudy of the role of news maps. Mapcoverage of specific themes will havean impact on public understanding ofkey issues. The results of the 1999survey confirmed earlier studies thatrecorded military conflicts and geopolitics as key themes dominatingmaps in the news, for example,Monmonier’s study of US news in1980s, and Perkins and Parry’s UKstudy in the early 1990s. The singlehighest scoring category in this surveyin 1999 was international conflicts(28.4% of all published maps, rising to 41.2% if combined with internal conflicts). This figure was inflated by

the number of maps devoted to theKosovo crisis which represented 25.3%of all news maps published betweenJanuary and July, rising to 54.7% of allmaps in April at the height of NATObombardment. The 2009 survey yielded a combined figure of 29.6% forthese two categories (18.3 and 11.3%respectively). This may represent more‘normal’ conditions (similar to the findings of Perkins and Parry), althoughUK and US forces were activelyengaged in Iran and Afghanistan duringthis period.

The importance of these maps isemphasised when their specific use isaddressed. News maps generally varyfrom simple locator maps (30.7% of allmaps in 2009) to more complex usesinvolving representation of dynamicspatial processes, or complex politicalboundaries. Maps devoted to conflictrepresent 58% of all maps of dynamicspatial processes and 84.6% of mapsof special regions. Such information iscritical to understanding conflicts andother geopolitical issues, an examplebeing control zone and troop movementmaps during the Sri Lankan government’s successful campaignagainst Tamil Tiger forces (May 2009).Other geopolitical issues, representedby a few maps only, were also highlysignificant in terms of public awarenessof global developments; an examplebeing Russia’s territorial claims in theArctic as this has long term significance for command and controlof resources such as oil.

Most other themes were representedby a relatively small number of maps.The proportions did not vary greatlyfrom 1999 to 2009. Maps accompanying stories on environmentalissues remained a surprisingly smallpart of the cartographic output in thepress. Although there was a rise from3.9% in 1999 to 5.9% in 2009, thisremains a small proportion given theimportance of global climate change,biodiversity loss and environmentaldegradation. A decade ago thisseemed to represent an inherent conservatism, with a single paper, The

Guardian, producing almost half(47.7%) of all the maps on this topic.In 2009, the spread was more even,with The Times producing the highestnumber of maps on this theme (28.4%)and The Guardian in second place, followed by The Sunday Times and the FT.

Where in the World? Geographical coverage

Understanding geographical relationships is important to contemporary geopolitics. The Worldregions (see figs 1 and 2) used to classify the maps were adapted fromSaul Cohen’s ‘geopolitical realms’.Cohen’s realms were based on the bi-polar geopolitics of the Cold War, buthis basic regional framework remainseffective. In 1999 ‘Maritime Europe’and the ‘Eastern European Gateway’(EEG) were the most mapped regions,with 36.3% and 27.7% of all mapsrespectively. The result for MaritimeEurope was swollen by UK stories representing 61.9% of the maps. TheEEG was heavily represented due tothe Kosovo crisis - 91.3% of all mapsfor the region (fig. 1). The EEG represents a zone of economic transition and political tension betweenMaritime Europe and Russia, so conflict in the region is likely to attractconsiderable news interest. Otherregions of geopolitical instability werewell represented, with the ‘Middle East’(7.7%) the next highest scoring region.

2009 shows a similar result forMaritime Europe (37.3%) with UK newsagain representing a high proportion ofthe total for that region (66.7%). Thesignificant difference is the low figurefor the ‘EEG’, only 4.3% of all maps.During 2009, this region was reasonably quiescent in geopoliticalterms. In 2009 the ‘Middle East’(15.1%) and ‘South Asia’ (12.5%) dominated the results (fig. 2) due toconflicts in Israel-Palestine, Iraq,Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.World maps nearly doubled their share(9.8%) due in part to the world-wideswine flu pandemic and the global

Media mapping

Maplines / Summer 2010 • 5Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

Media mapping

economic down-turn. World maps werealso an important source of geopoliticalinformation related to missile defenseissues in both 1999 and 2009 (seeMaplines, Winter 2009). Ocean andpolar regions represented only 1.8% of the total in 2009 but covered important territorial and resourceissues, for example Russian claims in the Arctic, and disputes over sovereignty in the Antarctic region.

This short article has been able to dolittle more than describe the basic findings of the survey. These do, however, provide some evidence of therole of maps in propagating informationand how they influence both decisionmakers and the public about geopolitical issues.

NOTE: This article is based on Vujakovic, P.(2010) New Views of the World: Maps inthe United Kingdom 'Quality' Press in 1999and 2009, Bulletin of the Society ofCartographers, 43 (1/2), pp.31-40. Otherresearch based on the survey can beviewed at: http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/social-applied-sciences/geographical-and-life-sciences/staff/Peter-Vujakovic/Home.aspx

Peter VujakovićProfessor of Geography, Dept. ofGeographical and Life Sciences

Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

Figure 1: News map coverage in UK quality press by geopolitical region, January-July1999.

Figure 2: News map coverage in UK quality press (daily and Sunday papers) bygeopolitical region, January-June 2009.

Themes Sub-themes Total1999 2009

A. Politics: 1. Government, legislation, electoral, parties, non-violent protests/strikes 7.4% 7.6%

internal 2. Riots, terrorism, civil conflict/war, secession movements, coupes 12.8% 18.3%

B. Politics: 3. International relations, negotiations, agreements (non-trade) 2.2% 4.4%

international 4. Military conflict/war, defense issues, territorial/resource disputes 28.4% 11.3%

C. Disasters/ 5. Large-scale disasters (earthquakes, floods, etc.), epidemics 1.3% 3.8%

accidents 6. Accidents (transport, etc.), explosions & fires, industrial disasters, weather problems (e.g. avalanches) 6.6% 5.1%

D. Environment 7. General science, natural science, engineering, medical 3.3% 2.7%

and Science 8. Environmental problems/impacts, pollution 3.9% 5.9%

9. Transport systems, development and planning 2.3% 3.6%

10. Land use/resource planning and conservation, public works, neighbourhoods 3.6% 3.2%

E. Society 11. Demography/social trends, housing, employment, education 2.7% 4.2%

12. Crime, courts/judicial, police, missing persons 7.4% 7.8%

13. Social disasters (famine, refugees) 0.7% 1.4%

F. Cultural 14. History & archaeology, heritage, the arts and ‘media’ 2.5% 2.2%

15. Travel, tourism, recreation and sport 3.1% 1.2%

16. Human interest/‘odd events’, religion, VIPs/Royals, scandals (non-political), minor accidents (few people) 5.0% 5.8%

G. Economics 17. Business and finance, industry 3.8% 7.3%

18. Macro-economics, trade agreements, international monetary issues, aid and economic development 3.0% 4.0%


Projections

The Wright Map...

Imagine that a young lad arrives fromMars. He has never seen a flat worldmap. He has no preconceptions:

names such as Mercator or Petersmean nothing to him and the conflictsover different types of world map aretotally unknown. Furthermore, this person has no distant memories ofcomplex courses on ‘Map Projections’– in fact the very word ‘projection’means nothing to him. Nor is he awarethat other people possess complexwisdom over the mathematics ofglobes, or that cosines and sphericalgeometry even exist.

On his journey to Earth, he sees ourplanet from space and soon after hearrives he sees a globe. He recognises

it as ‘truth’ in miniature, a representation of Planet Earth inspace. Now imagine that the skin ofthe globe falls apart at 30° intervals oflatitude and longitude, into 72 separatepieces. Fascinated by this, he starts totry to make a World map by reassembling the 72 pieces. Eachpiece is slightly curved but each is flatenough to lie on a table.

First our Martian collects the 36 piecesof the northern hemisphere and sortsthem into three groups of 12 pieces.There are 12 ‘almost square’ piecesfor the ‘hot’ areas, the tropics and sub-tropics (0° – 30° N). There are 12pieces which resemble a trapeziumwhich are the temperate areas (30° –60° N) and finally, 12 small ‘triangles’for the cold areas (60° – 90° N).

Using the lines of longitude he startsplacing the biggest pieces. It only takesa few minutes to get the hot areas inthe correct order. He notices that eachof these 12 ‘nearly square’ pieces isslightly shorter along the 30° N linethan the 0° line. On measuring them,he finds to his surprise that they areonly one-eighth shorter at 30° N thanat the Equator. Once joined together,the pieces form an arc-shape. However,on the globe the Equator is not arc-shaped, so he decides to try to keepthe Equator as a straight line. Heachieves this by allowing ‘gaps’ toappear in sea areas, and allowingsmall amounts of ‘slanting’ of some of the ‘hot’ pieces which show land areas.

Brilliant! Our Martian, without reducingthe size of areas, has created a verygood map of tropical and subtropicalareas, with remarkably little distortionof shape and at true scale.

The problems are bigger when he triesto attach the temperate lands to thetropics but he overcomes this by adopting the principle of bigger gaps inthe oceans. He slopes the edges ofthe land areas in North America tokeep them joined together and hesolves the problem of Eurasia by allowing some gaps in remote parts of Asia. Problem solved!

He then tries to add the areas north of60° N. Our map-maker is unaware ofthe big problems these areas havecaused to cartographers and of the

exaggerations in scale that have beenperpetrated by Mercator, Miller,Robinson, et al. He never even considered enlarging the scale: thatwould be too unfair. He soon realisesthat there is a lot of ocean and thatvery few people live on the land areas.This is by far the smallest and leastinhabited part of the hemisphere andso he leaves big gaps in the oceansand some gaps in Siberia and with thathe finds his problems solved. His hemisphere map is complete!

Finally, our map-maker tackles theSouthern Hemisphere, working fromEquator to Pole once again. Problemsseem fewer because there is so littleland and so much sea. South America

and Africa fit in with virtually no problems as does Australia. Antarcticais severely split in several places but itis all there and all at the correct scale.He doesn’t know that many worldmaps omit Antarctica completely orshow Antarctica as if it is as long asthe Equator.

The map is finished! Our Martian hascreated a World map which has truescale and very nearly true shapes forthe land, the two ideals that are sooften compromised on other maps.Without the use of mathematics orknowledge of the accumulated cartographic wisdom of the centuriesand without use of a computer he hascreated an excellent world map byusing a practical ‘hands-on’ approach.Furthermore, the method of

The [W]Right World Map

This is a new equal-area Worldmap, with extra ‘cuts’: theresult is that land areas havesmaller distortions of shapes.

The [W]RIGHT WORLD MAP iscopyright, but may be freelyreproduced by schools andchurches, for use within theseinstitutions. For other uses,please make prior contact viathis website:www.dandjwright.co.uk© David R Wright, 2007Cartography by Cox Cartographic Ltd.

construction can make sense to everyone and the globe belongs toeveryone. Everyone deserves access toa World map which is clearly based onthe truth of the globe, rather than onthe whim of a cartographer.

Of course, a computer literate cartographer and some tidying up willbe needed. For example, Greenlandneeds ‘reuniting’ and dozens of otherdetails need adjusting but the basicconcept of the map remains sound.

Let’s now return to the real World andevaluate our Martian’s map. How doesthis new map compare with other Worldmaps? The numerous non-equal-areamaps can be rejected on the groundsthat they are ‘not fair’. Equal-areamaps with huge distortions of shape,such as Peters, can be rejected assoon as people realise that there areother equal-area maps available. In factALL uninterrupted equal-area Worldmaps have quite serious shape-distortion in parts or all of the map. So we can commend the new map interms of shapes of land. Our map-maker is unaware of the competitionbut we could tell him that the bestcomparison to his new map would bethe Interrupted Mollweide, theInterrupted Sanson-Flamsteed andGoode. But those three have quitesevere shape-distortions in two crucial,highly-populated areas namely western

Europe and eastern Asia.

Furthermore, the new map recognisesthat tropical and sub-tropical landsshould be the starting-point for creatinga new World map. There are two goodreasons for this. Firstly, these areascan be mapped with few problems andlittle distortion because the 30° N lineis fully seven-eighths of the length ofthe Equator. Secondly, these areasoccupy fully half the surface area of theglobe (a vital yet little known fact) sothey deserve as much attention as theremainder.

Almost all other World maps aredesigned by people who lived in temperate lands. Many of these mapsenlarge cool lands and print tropicalareas at reduced size. The new mapshould commend itself to tropical countries and also to those who arekeen on development education, evenif they live in temperate countries. It isideal for showing world distributions ofany product from asbestos to zinc and

for the distribution of people too. Iwould even suggest it is the right mapfor the 21st century. Professor Goodenamed his map the ‘Goode Map’. Thisnew map is arguably better than theGoode Map but it will need a NAME!

It is time to be honest. The work wasnot done by a Martian, nor by someonewho had never seen a flat World map, it was done by me. I have becomeincreasingly dissatisfied both with theenlarged Arctic and downsized tropicWorld maps and with the gross distortions of the Peters map. Howcould I cut through the verbiage, theerrors, the false assumptions? Itseemed impossible until I realised thatwe all have access to objective truth:the GLOBE. This became my starting-point and from there all became clear.But to express it in an interesting way Ifelt I had to invent the unlikely scenarioof a visiting Martian. May I be forgiven?If so, I christen this map: ‘The (W)RightWorld Map for InternationalUnderstanding’.

David R Wright, MA is co-author ofPhilips Childrens Atlas (11th editionSummer 2005) and author of Mapswith Latitude (GA). He was formerly a lecturer at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.


Projections

David Wright 1939 – 2009

Publication of ‘The New Flat Earthers’by Peter Vujakovic and John Hills inMaplines sadly coincided with thedeath of David Wright at home inNorfolk after a long illness. Like them,David was a campaigner for the sensible use of map projections.

He struggled to have correct proportions, shapes and distancestaught in schools. He lectured geographical teachers on many occasions on the distorted knowledgethat students have. With his wife Jillhe authored ‘Philips Children’s Atlas’which has run into twelve editions andpublished worldwide. For this hereceived the Royal GeographicalSociety Patrick Ness Award.

A Cambridge Geography graduate hebegan his teaching career inStevenage before moving to KeswickHall College to train teachers. Thisbecame part of the University of EastAnglia from which he took early

retirement in 1994 thereafter working as a consultant, inspectorand author. Being a geographical polymath his interests and writingsextended to climate change,Christmas hymns, railway journeys,most recently the use of Rail Rovertickets, steam trains, and stamp collecting, particularly on their geographical and cartographical contents.

David’s last articles were writtenwhilst in hospital undergoing treatments. To Jill and the two children, we extend our sympathies.

David Cooper

You too can build your ownWorld map!

Take a good-quality inflatable globeand cut it at 30° intervals of latitude and longitude to get

72 separate pieces.Reassemble following the

‘map-maker’ in this article – ordesign your own World map.

Serving as a tasty appetiser forthe other big event in June, theFIFA World Cup, the BCS Annual

Symposium was held from 9th – 12thJune in Nottingham. Once again delegate numbers rose as a full programme of lectures, workshops, networking opportunities and somenew and fun activities relating to thetheme of Talking with Maps got underway. With all the recent mediacoverage of maps and cartography onboth television and radio, we came tothe Symposium with the topic verymuch in the forefront of our minds.

This year we opened with a new venture for the BCS: a free to attendworkshop for Year 10 secondary school students. The ‘Restless Earth’workshop, entitled to fit in with theNational Curriculum theme and kindlysponsored by ESRI and GlobalMapping, was aimed at communicatingthe importance of maps. Based on a scenario of providing support to theHaiti earthquake disaster relief, each student was given a specific role to play:• the Military• Search and Rescue• Humanitarian aid• Medical care• Coordination team.

Through consultation and compromisebetween the students, each school produced a briefing map that combinedthe needs of all roles. As one studentcommented, ‘overall I thought the daywas very useful indeed and that mapsare more than just a pretty drawing,they have meaning and useful qualities’. Special mention goes toParkside Community School who haveplaced an excellent summary of thesession on their school websitewww.parkside.derbyshire.sch.uk.

The afternoon was dedicated to theSpecial Interest Groups. This year theDesign Group and GIS Group joinedforces to provide a session focussedon the new datasets available to cartographers from Ordnance Survey(VectorMap) and The GeoInformation

Group (UK Map). Technical presentations from Star Apic and animpromptu presentation by JamesBuckland of ESRI UK, discussed howthe data can be used in two GIS packages. These discussions wereexpertly complemented by MarySpence looking at how design considerations are essential for theproduction of good mapping from GIS.

Wednesday evening saw the officialopening of the Exhibition and the‘Mystery Quiz’, with the winner really‘taking it all’ as the ‘Sugar PlumFaeries’ emerged triumphant mainlydue to their success in identifying country outlines, flags and capitalcities.

The next day’s sessions began by concentrating on a range of thematicmapping topics as diverse as unexploded ordnance to off-piste skiing. Full details are available on theBCS website as are a number of thepresentations.

Then followed another first for the BCSwith the introduction of an icebreakersession. Delegates were assigned togroups to compete in an ‘InternationalModelling Competition’ which involvedcreating artefacts or objects from Play-Doh to represent a given country.We had some very creative delegateswith models including sumo wrestlers,clogs, croissants, telephone boxes andkangaroos. The name of the game wasfor each team to score as many pointsas possible by guessing the otherteams’ works of art. As all the modelswere so good, we had to resort to adevious tie breaker question to decidethe winning team. A subsequent panelof Play-Doh experts judged Team 1 tohave produced the best model withtheir Australia entry.

Back to the formal sessions, we movedto the first workshop where delegateshad a choice to look at different software packages, cartographicdesign, mapping techniques or applications. The workshop on the cartographic challenges for mapping

human geography delivered by DGCwas particularly well received.

The afternoon session of talks, thistime under the theme of cartographicrepresentation, investigated a numberof different and innovative ways of portraying cartographic data.

This year’s outgoing President’sAddress from Bob Lilley, proved to be atour de force of his career at OrdnanceSurvey and some of the major changeshe has seen over the years. It provedto be a fascinating insight into how OS has operated over the years, particularly pertinent given the recentchanges to access to OS mapping.

Through this year’s Awards, the BCSrecognised excellence in cartography;congratulations go to all this year’sAwards winners. The Society also conferred Honorary Fellowship on KenAtherton, recognising many years ofdevoted service to the Society, fulfillingmany roles; he remains heavily involvedwith the Symposium as a key memberof the Programme Committee.

Our last full day opened with a fascinating session on maps in themedia covering how the UK qualitypress uses and misuses maps to getpoints across and the latest phenomenon of ‘Cartoblography’ aterm coined for the spatial context ofinternet blog sites. The second workshop session consisted of practical sessions, for the first timeintroducing a discussion session‘engaging the new cartographers’.

Friday afternoon’s session built on atheme from last year’s AGI conference,the visualisation of space. Here we discussed a variety of high profile topics within the industry including 3Dmodeling, maps in motion and the roleof the cartographer in the mash upage. The Symposium closed with a‘Cartographic Surgery’ aiming to provide positive critique of styles anddesign in a number of examples of

Continued on page 18...


Symposium 2010

Talking With Maps

BCS Award Winners 2010

• The BCS Award and The Ordnance Survey MasterMap Award for Better Mapping – Inverness City Main Developments 2010,The Highland Council

• The Stanfords Awards for Printed Mapping Products – XYZ’s Postcode Sector Map – Sheet 22.• The Avenza Award for Electronic Mapping Products – Polarview – Antarctic Node by the British Antarctic Survey.• The John C. Bartholomew Award for Small Scale Mapping - Geo-Genealogy Irish Surnames Map., Dr Kenneth Field and

Dr Linda Beale, Kingston University, London.

• The Henry Johns Award, presented to the author of the best article published in The Cartographic Journalduring the year – Stylistic Diversity in European 1:50 000 State Topographic Maps by Alexander Kent of SouthamptonUniversity and Peter Vujakovic of Canterbury Christ Church University.


Symposium 2010

Observations of a Carto Guru...

This was the third year that I wasasked to present workshops atthe BCS Symposium. Twice

before, Mary Spence and I have presented a workshop designed tolook at (or look again at!) some of thebasic aspects of successful mapdesign. Part of the BCS’s aim is tocommunicate the message aboutgood map design to the growing number of mapmakers who have beengiven the remit to produce maps, buthave no formal training in cartography.Workshops such as this year’s BetterMapping for the Terrified are aimed atjust such an audience and it has beena pleasure to see conference delegates from local and central government at the Symposium andattending the workshops. But we’vealso had several practising cartographers coming along, and their input which reflects years ofexperience, has been highly welcomed.

The highlight of each workshop hasbeen Mary’s practical session whenshe takes delegates through a rangeof real-world examples of maps whichpose design challenges. Looking atexamples of maps before and afterimprovement, it’s gratifying to hear perceptive observations on the problems of designing good maps; it’s easy to identify a map with poordesign, but much harder to identifywhat to do to put it right. It’s really bylooking at different approaches todesign that you can tease out ways topresent geographical data well andaim for the best map possible. And,as Mary’s fond of pointing out, there’sno such thing as a finished map, onlyan improved one.

This year, as well as looking at basicdesign, I was asked to lead a newworkshop on approaches to good statistical maps. It’s an area that’slong been of interest to me, not as astatistician (which I’m definitely not!)but as a geographer seeing misleading statistical maps frequentlypublished. I gave a short talk on statistical maps at the BCS’s Better

Mapping seminars, last October and Ibased this workshop on that. My aimwas to look at the variety of differentforms of statistical mapping, choropleth, dot maps and the like, butmore importantly to illustrate that theway in which you classify and divide aset of data fundamentally affects themap that’s produced and the message conveyed. In statistical mapping, perhaps more so than in anyother area of cartography, the honestyand integrity of the cartographer is offundamental importance. Most of thetime statistical maps don’t intend tomislead, and if they do, it may be forunderstandable reasons. As withchoosing the wrong projection, it’s usually done out of ignorance, but theconsequences can be considerable.But if misleading an audience is theresult of not knowing about techniques of data division, then it’s asituation which ought to be remedied.Ideally, everyone looking at a statistical map should have sometraining in how to read it, but that’sunlikely to happen!

For a workshop on stats mapping, it’s a good idea to illustrate your sessionwith real data, and indeed to use realdata for the delegates to have a go atproducing a statistical map. Here liesa difficulty: have you ever tried to findsets of data which are realistic, mappable and usable by a group of willing volunteers in a workshop session? We know that we’re drowning in data, but you’d be surprised what a challenge it is to findstatistics that are typical, mappableand meaningful.

I hit upon two sets of appropriatedata: consumption of coffee per capita, per annum, and the number ofMacDonald’s restaurants in 39 countries of the World! The task wasto work out the method of dividingand grouping the data which bestreflected the data and then devising ascheme to map it. This involved a lotof experimentation on my part to givethe participants some guidance. Inthe event, the six people at the

workshop came up with very goodschemes, some using more scientificmethods and others adopting a ‘suckit and see’ approach!

Attending a Symposium and hearing a range of presentations is always agood time to reflect on how differentapproaches to mapping and presenting data can work, but it alsoreinforces my belief that mapped information should be meaningfulinformation. Cartography is the business of presenting spatial information in a graphic way, and at its heart is useful geographical information. I was struck by the factthat some of the contemporaryresearch in cartography seems to bedealing with mapping information(especially multivariate data) which isso complex that it becomes impossible to map in a meaningfulway. The fact that it is possible tomap multivariate information does notmean to say that it should bemapped, if the graphic that resultsdoes not clarify the data. I also notedthat some of the techniques ofsmoothing data to make them lookmore ‘natural’ may at heart be dishonest, since you’re not enhancingthe quality of the data, only themethod of presenting it. Since we all,whether it’s right or not, judge thequality of mapped data by the qualityof the presentation, it is perhaps ofdubious value to present a set of dataas if it had been gathered on a smaller areal basis than is the reality.

I tend to judge the success of a presentation by the amount of discussion it sparks off, and specifically by the number of questions asked. It was interesting tosee that the best discussions thisyear followed presentations on areasof mapping which are perhaps moremeaningful to fellow cartographers,and I suspect to the wider world.

Giles Darkes


Agroundbreaking iPhone app,launched by the Museum ofLondon, brings the museum’s

extensive art and photographic collections to the streets of the capital. Streetmuseum, developed with creative agency Brothers and Sisters,guides users to sites across London,where hidden histories of the city dramatically appear.

Over 200 sites have been pickedwhere users can look through theiriPhones and see the past emerge,locked as an overlay across the present scene. These can be viewedas ghostly alignments, or the archiveimages can be brought up andexplored in detail, along with information about Streetmuseum’sphotographs and paintings.

The museum recently opened spectacular new Galleries of ModernLondon on 28 May. The galleries transport visitors through London'stumultuous history from 1666 to thepresent day; a story alive with drama,triumph and near disaster. Over 7,000

objects together with interactiveexhibits, film and changing displayscapture the ever-changing life ofLondon and its people.

Professor Jack Lohman, Director of theMuseum of London, said: ‘The launchof the Streetmuseum app is an excitingdevelopment for the Museum ofLondon, opening our unique collectionsto new audiences in a thought-provoking and creative manner.London’s stories are varied and

many-voiced. This app allows the present and the past to collide andshare their secrets. Streetmuseumopens up the city in new and excitingways.’

Streetmuseum is free to download for3G and 3GS iPhones and is availableon iTunes now. Visit:www.museumoflondon.org.uk/streetmuseum for more info.

Streetmuseum of London

Apps in Focus

Collins Geo has just launched itsfirst two apps, Collins QuizZone World and Collins Quiz

Zone Europe. These geographicalquizzes are easy to use, entertainingbut also educational. They have beenproduced in conjunction with AimerEducation.

Collins Quiz Zone helps young geographers explore the world in aneducational yet fun way, whether it'sto test themselves, revise or just forfun.

Collins Quiz Zone World Categories:• Cities• Countries• Flags• Landscapes• Mountains and Rivers• Where in the World

Collins Quiz Zone Europe Categories:• Cities• Countries and Boundaries• Landscapes• Rivers and Lakes• Pot Luck

These quizzes are ideal for children 7years old and upwards. Compatiblewith iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

See iTunes to get more details, buyand download these apps, price:£1.79.

Collins Quiz Zone Worldhttp://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/collins-quiz-zoneworld/id372270847?mt=8Collins Quiz Zone Europehttp://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/collins-quiz-zoneeurope/id372274376?mt=8

New Collins Geo Quiz Apps

Shoe Lane, London EC4

Page 12 Corporate NewsPeople • Companies • Products


Elephants on Parade!

You may have seen in the media over the last couple of months thatelephants have taken over London.No, it’s not a strange concept for afilm, but the charity Elephant Familyhaving their annual Elephant Parade.

Elephant Parade is a conservationcampaign that shines a multi-coloured spotlight on the urgent crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. Broughtto you by Elephant Family, www.elephantfamily.org, the eventsaw over 250 brightly painted life-sizeelephants located over centralLondon this summer.

This year the campaign is even biggerthan before and to help visitors toLondon find all the elephants aroundthe capital, Lovell Johns were askedto create a user-friendly map of allthe elephant locations. The teamplanning the Elephant Parade wanteda map to reflect their fresh image,but also one that would be clear andeasy to read.

This project was completed in Apriland it was the first where we haveused Ordnance Survey OpenData tocreate the map. To cope with theinflux of visitors, in part due to themassive amount of publicity theElephant Parade was getting, theyprinted 250,000 copies. Using OSOpenData gave them a huge saving inprint royalties, which would have beenconsiderable for that number ofcopies! The mapping was based onOS Streetview, then generalised tocreate the overview style mappingthey wanted. This is a really goodexample of how OS OpenDatamapping, now available freely to all,can be made into something reallyspecial for a specific project.

The data was then styled to be bright,modern and fun. Illustrations werecreated for the major landmarksaround London to make the map easier to navigate. The elephantsweren’t added by hand, rather ourexpert GIS team georeferenced thepostcodes to give our designer theexact geographical location of each

elephant with its relevant index number. The elephants were thenstyled depending on their category –indoor, outdoor and ‘happy herd’, andcartographically positioned to avoidclashes with map features and otherelephants close by.

Although we are a map making company, making the map isn’t all we did! Type setting of the index ofelephants, company logos, sponsorlogos and more was completedensuring that the style of the finishedmap was consistent throughout.Finally, after approval from the charity,we managed the print and delivery ofthe A2 folded map for their launch.

We were proud to be involved in sucha worthwhile campaign and to havecreated such a quality product for ourclient. No doubt we have helped thousands of people find some of thefabulous elephants around London.

Their campaign has been a huge success and has certainly raised the profile of the endangered Asianelephant. Further information aboutthe parade can be found at www.elephantparadelondon.org. If youmissed the Elephant Parade this year,make sure you go next year; it’sbound to be even better.

Liz AdamsMarketing Manager

Lovell Johns Ltdwww.lovelljohns.com

The 2010 Annual BCS Symposiumwas a great success with over 100attendees and 15 of our CorporateMembers took advantage of theopportunity to have a free exhibitionspace. As always, our thanks mustgo to our Symposium sponsors thisyear: ESRI(UK), Ordnance Survey,Star-Apic, Victoria Litho, PVPublications and Global Mapping for their continued, valuable support.

Prior to the main event, the GIS SIGhad an afternoon session duringwhich there were presentations onOS VectorMap Local, UK Map, How toProduce High Quality Mapping fromsuch Datasets and ApplyingCartographic Design using GIS.There were 39 attendees at the session of which 22 were from theCorporate Members Group whichemphasises how important the GISSIG is becoming to the CorporateMembership.

Recently, Lovell Johns have been inthe news for their mapping of theLondon Elephant Parade and nowthey feature as the first CorporateMember In-Focus. The Editors ofMaplines would like to inviteCorporate Members to highlight yourinteresting and unusual projects forthis new Corporate Page feature.This is another opportunity for us allto advertise the work we are doingat no cost other than the time spentwriting the article, so please get intouch and show the rest of us whatyou’re involved in!

Peter JollyCorporate Liaison Officer

[email protected]

Lovell John’s MD, David Stephenswith Kolkata Knight Riders

Corporat

e Memb

er

In-Focus


The Elephant Parade turns London into Urban Jungle

This Summer, Elephant Family, theonly charity solely dedicated to ensuring the survival of the Asian elephant, teamed up with Britain’sleading art and design luminaries tolaunch London’s biggest ever publicart event – The Elephant Parade.

In London’s streets for they first timein May, this innovative fundraisingcampaign saw the capital taken overby beautifully hand painted life-sizebaby elephants, creating a dazzlingand unique urban savannah. PreviousElephant Parades have already beenheld in Holland and Belgium, raisingmore than €1,600,000 towards thecause.

The London parade featured 250 life-size baby elephants, all hand-painted by an assortment of established and emerging talent fromthe art and design world. Each elephant proudly bearing a creative orfun name such as Cubelephant,Ladybird, Tigerphant, Spotty or simplyFrank, who was appropriately coveredin postage stamps! Artists includeMarc Quinn, Diane Von Furstenberg,Alice Temperley, Lulu Guinness, JulienMacdonald, Issa, John Rocha, AlbertaFerretti, Jonathan Yeo, Jack Vettriano,Nina Campbell and Nicky Haslam.

Artists involved in the Parade were

able to paint their elephants courtesyof eco friendly paint manufacturersand official Elephant Parade paintpartner, Farrow and Ball,www.farrow-ball.com. A studio was set up in the Elephant & CastleShopping Centre, courtesy of St.Modwen, where artists worked ontheir designs. Haulage Partner, EcoMovers, a specialist removals company committed to caring for the environment, have been deliveringelephants to artists across London,on a completely sustainable and carbon neutral basis. Driven by eco-friendly ideals, Eco Movers investin an Eco charity and their own Ecoforest to offset the few unavoidablecarbon generating aspects of theiroperations. See www.ecomovers.co.uk.

The elephants, destined to becomehighly collectible works of art, graceda host of London landmarks, includingBuckingham Palace, ParliamentSquare and the South Bank, from Mayto July 2010, turning the capital intoan urban jungle.

The display was followed by an auction by Henry Wyndham ofSotheby’s at a glittering event in July.Attracting a host of VIP supportersincluding Elephant Family founderMark Shand, patron Tanaz Dizadji,Goldie Hawn, the Duchess of York andJoanna Lumley, this event was theparty of the summer season. Thewhole parade raised over £4million,

benefitting more than 15 UK conservation charities working in Asia.

As the project began, Mayor of LondonBoris Johnson said, ‘Elephant Paradeis a brilliantly innovative way of usingpublic art to benefit conservation. Not only will the parade brightenLondon’s streets and enhance ourpublic spaces, it will play a vital role in building a new generation of conservationists’.

Working with the Wildlife Trust ofIndia, funds raised by the ElephantParade will be used to buy and manage vital wildlife habitat acrossAsia, giving Asian elephants a saferand more sustainable future. ElephantFamily will also invest funds in community education projects acrossAsia, highlighting the commercial, cultural and ecological significance ofAsian elephants. In just 100 years theelephant population has shrunk byover 90%, dropping from 250,000 toan estimated 25,000, placing this valuable species dangerously close toextinction. If current trends continuethe Asian elephant will cease to existin the wild by 2050.

For more information and the chanceto sign the online petition which aimsto lobby the government to supportthe cause of the endangered Asianelephant, please visit: www.elephantfamily.org.

Fish and Chips

Map of Old London

Charles Booth’s Map Descriptive ofLondon Poverty, 1889 - 1891

Charles Booth’s survey was an ambitious attempt to assess thescale of poverty in London. Whereasartists and writers painted emotionally charged pictures of thepoor, Booth wanted to map povertyscientifically. His researchers wentout into London with the aim ofassessing the social character ofevery street. A ‘rough’ working-classarea was defined as one with opendoors, broken windows, prostitutes,thieves and ‘a row always going onbetween warlike mothers’.Flowerpots, lace curtains, scrubbeddoorsteps and hanging birdcageswere the hallmarks of a respectableneighbourhood. Booth’s map provides an extraordinary snapshotof London at the end of the 19th century.

Medals awardedThe National Geographic Society hasawarded two Alexander Graham BellMedals to Dr. Roger Tomlinson andJack Dangermond for their extraordinary achievement in geographic research. The medalswere presented by NationalGeographic Society Chairman GilbertM. Grosvenor at the ESRI

International User Conference.

National Geographic’s Bell Medalhas only been awarded once before.Bradford and Barbara Washburn,renowned explorers, mountaineersand mapmakers, received it in 1980for their contributions to geographyand cartography.

Choosing the right colours

Good use of colour on maps canreally aid the communication ofmapped detail, and enhance legibilityand contrast. Colour can make theimportant elements of the mapstand out from background material.

Choosing colours depends on convention and context.• Important features need to stand

out from the background andcolour choice can help (especiallyusing more saturated colours, notgarish colours).

• Where appropriate, use conventional colours (e.g. greenfor vegetation) and associativecolours (e.g. blue for cool, red for warm).

• Colours look different depending

on their backgrounds, so don’tchoose them in isolation. Youmay have to experiment to findout what works best for your particular map.

• Good maps often use subtle, balanced colours, and boldcolours usually look inappropriate. However, a flatrange of colours can also lookbland.

When it comes to using small symbols or coloured type, it’s worthtaking into account the following:• Small symbols and small letters

need more intense colours toshow up.

• The most legible colour combinations are black, darkbrown or blue on white.

• The greatest contrast is between

yellow and black.• Background colour affects the

legibility of coloured type.


Omnium Gatheruma miscellaneous collection of people or things

Notes from the Carto-Guru

Small letters and small symbols need more intense colours to show.

If you use more than 12 different colours on a map, it becomes very hard to interpret!

The most legible colour combinations for lettering are black, dark brown or blue on white.

map symbol map symbol map symbolmap symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbolmap symbol map symbol map symbol

The greatest contrast is between yellow and black.

Background colour affects the legibility of coloured type.

If you’re limited to black and white, then use no more than six shades of grey for fills, and don’t use a grey that’s more than 70% black, especially if you want to place type on top of them.

map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbolmap symbol map symbol map symbol



0% 3% 15% 26% 41% 55% 68% 85% 100%


Background colour a�ects the appearance of symbols too (squares are same top & bottom)

Adding a fine keyline to symbols will enhance the visual contrast and aid interpretation

map symbol map symbol map symbolmap symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbolmap symbol map symbol map symbol

map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol map symbol

JackDangermond

Dr RogerTomlinson

Visitors to the Museum of London searching the BoothMap and related photographic collections in the newinteractive exhibit. www.museumoflondon.org.uk

Mapping Portsmouth's Tudor Past

An exhibition of international cartographic importance is beingheld at the Mary Rose Museum inPortsmouth's Historic Dockyard from2nd July to 17th October 2010.

‘Mapping Portsmouth's Tudor Past’brings together, for the first time,several important maps from TheBritish Library, UK HydrographicOffice and the Admiralty Library.

This is the first occasion on whichthese maps have been broughttogether for display to the public and may be the first return toPortsmouth for two Tudor maps of the town in over 400 years. For more information see: www.historicdockyard.co.uk and also page 19 of this Maplines.

OS OpenData

Following the recent announcementby the former Prime Minister GordonBrown, and the publication of thegovernment’s response to the publicconsultation by the Department ofCommunities and Local Government(DCLG), The OS announced thelaunch of OS OpenData. The newonline service allows users to view,develop, download and order selected Ordnance Survey mappingdatasets with no restrictions on re-use.

OS OpenData releases OrdnanceSurvey data as part of the drive toincrease innovation across businesses, government, communities and individuals. Theservice supports the Making PublicData Public initiative.

The following Ordnance Survey mapping datasets have been madeavailable:

• OS Street View® • Code-Point® Open• Meridian™ 2 • Strategi® • Boundary-Line™• Land-Form PANORAMA® • 1:50 000 Scale Gazetteer• 1:250 000 Scale Colour Raster • Miniscale® • OS Locator™ • OS VectorMap District

If you hold a contract in regards toany of these OS OpenData products,you will be receiving written confirmation of how this launchaffects contracts.

OS OpenData will continue to harness the world-class expertisethat Ordnance Survey has in the production, maintenance and application of high-quality geospatialinformation. We will continue to collect and maintain the most accurate mapping data of GreatBritain.

The service also supports furtherinnovative use of public dataenabling developers the opportunityto connect and link datasets, forexample data.gov.uk, with geo spatial data from Ordnance Survey.

Further Ordnance Survey mappingdatasets will be made available andthe OS will announce when thesewill be released.

Any questions regarding OSOpenData, should first be referred tothe Frequently Asked Questions section of the OS web site, www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. If youcan’t find the answer you are lookingfor, contact our customer servicesteam via email or telephone 08454081895 (lines are open Monday –Friday: 8.30am to 5.30pm).

James BrayshawDirector


David Irvine – Travelling CartographerDavid is now in Vietnam. Visit his blog below and read of his travels in SE Asia so far. The last entry has him in the Mekong Delta having been inthe Himalayas, Tibet, China and traveled through Vietnam from the North.There are many beautiful photos to see on the blog and you get a sense ofhow beautiful our planet is. Follow his travels in every issue of Maplines oron his blog on: http://davetreks.blogspot.com

The Lost Rivers of London #7Tyburn: originating in SouthHampstead, flowing through StJames’s Park and flowing into theThames near Vauxhall Bridge inPimlico, the Tyburn once branchedto form Thorney Island, the site ofWestminster Abbey.

This chart of Portsmouth Harbour is one of the earliest in the collection of theAdmiralty Hydrographic Office and dates from between 1585 and 1620.Sourced from the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk).

That the Roman Army andAdministration produced and usedmaps, not just itineraries, is now

regarded as given fact. Just how theywent about obtaining the informationand can we in the 21st century establish the facts is the challenge.

The Roman Empire was a growingorganism, ever expanding from its origins. The final flowering of the Empirewas made possible by the invasion ofmost of Great Britain, Britannia.

Recorded on each of the Ebstorf,Hereford and Cornwall Mappae Mundi,is a fascinating glimpse into map making history. Before his demise in44BCE, Julius Caesar issued instructions for a ‘World Survey’. Thiswas no doubt the Roman World and itsperipheral countries. The Ebstorf MappaMundi, some 3 metres square, containsa poignant vignette of Julius Caesarissuing those instructions to the foursurveyors, who were in all probabilityGreek specialists. The maps are thus ahistory of the world in pictures for theilliterate masses to learn by. The foursurveyors would have had teams ofRoman Agrimensors or Geometres toassist them. But even so this surveytook some 32 years to complete by18BCE. The resulting map was displayed in Rome.

However, Britannia was not part of theRoman Empire until after the Claudianinvasion of 44CE. In c150CE, ClaudiusPtolemy, working in Alexandria, drew hismap of Britannia including a largeamount of data regarding the newCivitates, Roman Legionary Forts andthe Legions dispositions. We can therefore assume that the Roman occupation of Britannia included a survey of this the last part of theEmpire. It was perhaps to complete themap in Rome and most certainly totransmit data throughout the Empireand obviously to Alexandria.

To produce a map it is necessary toascertain fixed points for its construction. We tend to use a graticuleas had Claudius Ptolemy. That

knowledge was probably unavailable inthe period following 44CE and until theconstruction of Hadrian’s Wall circa128CE. By studying the Roman landscape works we can fairly establishtheir fixed points by the accuracy of theirlocation in the landscape juxta eachother. Firstly, if we examine theFoss Way from Lindinis/Ilchester toLindum/Lincoln, we find a precise alignment. The Foss Way crosses thelandscape of Britannia on a line that isa 3:5 tangent ratio to North, andbetween the two node points the alignment is a precise 400 Centuriae or 284 Km.

At Ratae/Leicester, which is very closeto the 300/100 Centuriae marker, wefind a second alignment; it is theGartree Road, a Roman road toCamulodunum/Colchester. This road isset precisely perpendicular to the FossWay and is a direct alignment toCamulodunum, some 230 Centuriae or163 KM. Camulodunum was the firstColonia and capital of this Romanprovince.

In the landscape of Britannia is a veryprecise layout which could only beachieved with adequate geographicalknowledge available beforehand to permit such precision. Add to this thefact that there are other parallel alignments and fort positions strictly set

out to repetitive distances in sequential construction dating, the basic parameters for the construction of amap becomes available. Therefore wesee an internal skeleton appearing forthe map. That is the macro detail, themap skeleton, but the devil is in themicro detail.

The micro detail necessary to establishthe accurate positions of rivers, mountains, valleys and other geographical features is obtained in asimilar manner. By studying the locationof the ordinary Roman forts builtsequentially to a timescale, that of theClaudian invasion and particularly thefinal phase to subjugate what is nownorthern England, we can indicate thesurvey work required for the local geographical details to be appended tothe map.

From Deva/Chester and Eboracum/Yorkthe next conquest took place. In thelandscape there are precisely locatedforts, forming a straight alignment alonga river valley and across moor-land.From Newton Kyme to Ilkley, 23RM:from Ilkley to Elslack, 13RM: fromElslack to Bainbridge, 27.53RM: fromElslack to Overborough, 27.42RM: fromOverborough to Ribchester, 27.54RM.This placement is across the Penninesfrom Yorkshire to Lancashire and couldnot have been so precisely establishedif prior geographical knowledge was not


Roman Cartography

Roman Mapping and Surveying


Roman Cartography

available. Thus it is fair to assume, ashistory tends to confirm, that a rathergood preparatory survey and incursiontook place prior to the final two Legionmarch northwards.

Proceeding north towards Luguvalium/Carlisle, we can establish the next survey, another tour de force. FromNorth Yorkshire the Roman Road, nowthe A66, is to BROUGH, near the headof the River Eden. From Brough Fort a45 degree or 1:1 ratio alignment hasbeen set out to WREAY FORT, basedupon the side length of a triangleformed with 24 Roman miles. This ispart of the basic surveying system ofthe Agrimensors or Geometres. TheRoman Land division system is basedupon a square, the Acti Quadrati of 120x 120 Pedes (feet). The simplest pseudo Pythagorean triangle to use forsuch measures is 12:12:17, i.e. 2 x 12x12 = 288 and 17 x 17 = 289. Thusthe Brough to Wreay line is 34 RM.

The actual alignment is meant to locateLuguvalium/Carlisle, 39RM fromBrough. A simple extension of thehypotenuse line, the survey lineachieves that. The proof of this hypothesis is so very simple. The routefrom Brough to Carlisle is marked byfour forts, namely, Kirkby Thore,Brougham, Old Penrith/Voreda andWreay. From Brough to Kirkby Thore on

the survey line or design alignment at45 degrees it is 13 Roman Miles, i.e.one third of 39RM. From Kirkby Thore to Voreda it is 13 RM and from Voredato Carlisle it is 13RM. Brougham situated between Kirkby Thore andVoreda is precisely set at the mid point of the alignment, at 19.5 RM. In final confirmation of this survey, perpendicular to the line at Voreda isthe fort at Troutbeck, distance 13Roman Miles.

Then, from Carlisle westerly around theCumbrian coast-line and into its hinterland, The Lakes, we find the samerepetitive distances to forts establishedsequentially in the period following theClaudian invasion. The detailed positionof these forts, if plotted on plain parchment, provides for the skeletonframework onto which the coast-line andgeographical detail can be appended.History tells us that the Roman Navy followed the Legions up the coast fromthe Severn Estuary and Glevum/Gloucester, to Chester and thence toCarlisle. It takes little imagination to seethat this combination would give morethan adequate information to theRoman map maker, be he Greek orRoman, and indicates the transferenceof that data could take place in bothwritten and map form to both Rome and Alexandria.

Marinus the Tyrian and Claudius Ptolemy worked in Alexandria fromc100CE to c170CE, and within the text of Ptolemy’s ‘Geographia’ heacknowledges that he is using the workof Marinus the Tyrian. In fact in BookOne, Chapter XV, entitled, ‘Concerningdiscrepancies in some of the explanations of Marinus’, there is onerather telling sentence. I quote, ‘FromLondon in Britannia he putsNoviomagus (Chichester), 59 (Roman)Miles south, in a some what westerlydirection.’

A study of the Roman survey worksreveals the real picture. From LondonBridge to the East Gate of Noviomagus,the design line for the road, StaneStreet, is a precise 3:5 tangent ratio to

north and as such it is parallel to theFoss Way alignment. And yes, Marinushas the correct distance. The data forthe Roman map construction is set inthe landscape.

Conclusions

The World survey commissioned byJulius Caesar and the World map whichwas completed before the beginning ofour current era is the only tangible evidence of a proper Roman map. It ispossible that a Roman map of Britanniawas extant until the sacking of themonasteries took place. It was probablyused as a guide for such maps as theenigmatic ‘Gough Map’ and the basisfor early geographers work in England.The Romans by their careful placementof forts and the road alignments havebequeathed to us a valuable surveyasset which has hither-to been ignoredin the cartographical and historical literature.

That a survey of Britannia took place isevinced by the data which is recorded inthe text of Claudius Ptolemy’s‘Geographia’ and that self same datamust have enabled him to ‘turn’Scotland and maintain the Geography.

Michael Ferrar

This essay is based on articles from www.cartographyunchained.com.The diagrams are all by the author.

New Members: The Society haspleasure in welcoming the followingnew members who have joined theSociety since publication of theSpring 2010 edition of Maplines.

Corporate Member:Environment Systems Ltd

UK Members:Mr T. Barnett, Mr D. Bennett, Miss C. Dobbin, Mr C.J. Going, Mr C. Gomm, Mr D. GorseMr G. Gurney, Dr M. Haklay, Mr A James, Mrs M. Kanjilal, Mr P. L. Kohler, Miss N. MacVinish, Mr J. Pepper, Mr S. Stephens, Mr J. Wood.

Overseas Member:Miss S. Bleisch (Switzerland)

UK Associate Members:Mr C. Bullett, Ms A.M. Clare. Miss L.J. Francis, Mr H. Grothuis, Mr J. Merrills, Mr P. Sugden

Administrators PleaAgain my regular plea – emailaddresses. Prior to the BCSSymposium I had to send out quite alot of emails to members informingthem of the event etc – unfortunately a number of them werebounced back as ‘address notfound’ so if you have changed orare about to change your emailaddress please let yourAdministrator know at [email protected] with a few kind words.

BCS CouncilThe BCS Council elections this year will be rather unique in thatmembers will be asked to cast theirvotes for a new President, Vice-President and members ofCouncil and I am not sure if this is a first. In the Spring edition ofMaplines I asked that nominationforms be returned to BCSAdministration by 1 July 2010 – thiswas an error and should have read 1 August 2010, my apologies.

And finally...It has been a busy time since mylast report with chasing up membership renewals and preparingfor the Annual Symposium. I attended my first BCS Symposium inJune at Nottingham, having to travelthe enormous distance of some 10miles (no I did not use my SatNav).I really enjoyed my time there, theorganisation was excellent theaccommodation and food very goodbut, best of all was meeting members and putting faces to someof those people I had been in contact with over the previous 8months. The hardest part of theSymposium was keeping my mentorKen Atherton from accidentally finding out that he was about to bemade an Honorary Fellow of theSociety not only for his outstandingwork as Administrator but also forthe hard work he had done in the25+ years he has spent as a member of Council. I had to hide hisframed certificate in the boot of mycar until the actual awards ceremonyitself as we were both involved in thepresentation side of it – the look onhis face when the citation was readout and he realised that it was himis something that I shall never forget. Ken, there is a new manipulator on the block.

As I come to the end of this reportthe sun is shining, the BBQ is set tobe lit, the beer is cooling in thefridge and rumour has it that therecould be some football on the TV fora change!!! My regards to you all.

Roger HoreBCS Administration15 The CrescentStanley Common

IlkestonDerbyshire, DE7 6GL

England, UKTel/Fax +44 (0)115 9328684

Email: [email protected]


Admin Report

BCS Administration Report...continued from page 8cartographic products offered by the delegates. Those that stayed on Fridayevening had the opportunity to catchthe opening games of the World Cup,with the piercing vuvuzela cacophony,and wind down to the sounds of Abba,with a tribute band playing in the hotel.

On Saturday, the hardy few who hadbraved all four days, visited the BritishGeological Society, Keyworth where wewere treated to a fascinating twohours. From the visually stunning artworks of some of the original handcoloured maps to the technically awe-inspiring 3D visualisation of the wholeof Great Britain it was a fascinatingmorning.

So to the end of another very successful Symposium with some verypositive feedback from delegates. Wewould like to take this opportunity tothank our sponsors, ESRI UK,Ordnance Survey, Star-Apic, VictoriaLitho, PV Publications and GlobalMapping, without whose generous support we would not be able to offerall the additional activities at theSymposium.

We would also like to thank all thosewho presented and also to make a callto others to consider presenting theirwork next year.

Until then, so long.

Peter JonesChair, Programme Committee


Calendar

Calendar

Become a Fellow of the BritishCartographic Society.

Contact BCS Administration for further information

For more calendar entries visit theBCS web site:www.cartography.org.uk

Publicise your events on this page. Send your information through to the Editors. See page 2 for new details.

30 April – 19 September 2010Magnificent Maps: Power,Propaganda and Art

British Library, London, UKFor further info visitwww.bl.uk/magnificentmaps

1 – 3 September 2010

Governance and the GeowebRoyal Geographical Society AnnualInternational Conference, LondonFor further info and bookings seewww.rgs.org/AC2010

Until 17 October 2010

Mapping Portsmouth’s Tudor PastMary Rose Museum,Portsmouth Historic DockyardAdmission times: April-October 10am – 4.30pm; November-March 10am – 4.00pm; Mary Rose Museum is open all the yearround except for Christmas eve,Christmas day and Boxing day.

8 – 10 September 2010Beyond the Neat Line: BCS MapCurators’ Group Workshop 2010Workshop covering topics such asmarginalia, metadata, productionmethods and helping users accessmaps via new technologies.Cambridge University, Cambridge,UKFor further info contact Anne Taylor,[email protected]

EDITORS’ CHOICE

4 November 2010Cartographic Race Games inEurope: Entertainment, Education- or Influence?Professor Adrian Seville, formerlyCity University, London.

2 December 2010The Compost of Ptolemy and theGosson Map (1600/1623?):English Geographic Thought andthe Early Modern Print AlmanacProfessor Meg Roland, MarylhurstUniversity, Oregon.

20 January 2011The First Two Centuries ofMercator Projection Sea Charts:Positioning the Practitioners,Leaving the Ships at Sea?Gillian Hutchinson, NationalMaritime Museum, Greenwich.

17 February 2011Cartography and Credulity:Mapping the Sources of the Nilesince 150 AD. Emeritus Professor Roy Bridges,Department of History, Universityof Aberdeen.

University of London, WarburgInstitute, Woburn Square, LondonWC1H OAB, at 5.00 pm

Admission is free and each meet-ing is followed by refreshments.

Convened by Dr. Catherine DelanoSmith (Institute of HistoricalResearch, University of London), Tony Campbell (formerly MapLibrary, British Library) andAlessandro Scafi (WarburgInstitute). Enquiries to +44 (0) 20 83465112

10 November 2010… about Globes Emma Perkins, CambridgeUniversity. Further details are available at www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/maps/camsem0809All seminars will be held at5.30pm in Emmanuel College, StAndrew's Street, Cambridge,England CB2 3AP in either theHarrods Room or the GardnerRoom. For more info contact [email protected]: 01223 330476

Maps and Society NineteenthSeries Programme

Cambridge Seminars in theHistory of Cartography 2010

8 – 10 September 2010

46th Annual SoC Summer SchoolChancellor’s Conference Centre,University of Manchester.

Themes include Art and everydaymapping, OS OpenData, Maps andgeopolitics, Transport mapping, Mapping Manchester,Crowdsourcing and open data.

For further details seewww.soc.org.uk/manchester10/

20 • Summer 2010/ Maplines Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

Quiz

SPOT THE DIFFERENCEsponsored by Lovell Johns

There are 10 differences between these two otherwise identical pictures. There are three ‘Huge World Wall Maps’produced by Lovell Jones to be won. So, don’t hold back, get looking and send us your entries.

Postal entries must be sent before 22 October 2010 to:BCS Administration, 15 The Crescent, Stanley Common, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, DE7 6GL, England, UK

Entries by email must be sent to: [email protected]

Documents

Maplines Summer 2010