Maplines 0413

Spring 2013 – £3.00

BCS Design Group pages 4-6

BCS Symposium 2013 pages 12-13

Mapping the VaticanSee page 7

Following the Meridian pages 8-9

Hello, and a very warm welcome to this Spring issue ofMaplines.

With the Society’s 50th anniversary preparations wellunder way, I was given a timely reminder of howcartography has changed over the decades when arelative of mine visited our office recently. She was trulyfascinated by the modern map making process as awhole, and she was introduced to concepts such asphotogrammetry and digital editing. She was also givena tour of the equipment of yesteryear, vast ironphotogrammetry machines come to mind as well asboxes of ever decreasing nib sizes and tools with whichto use them.

Being an artist by trade (and hence something of apurist!) she was immediately drawn to the remainingexamples of how the maps were produced prior tocomputers and the second age of enlightenment! As arelatively young cartographer myself I too listened in onthe lesson she was being given by one of my moresenior colleagues. It struck me how much things havechanged in our profession over the past 50 years, sincethe Society was first founded.

It is difficult for myself to imagine how large map sheetswere produced before the advent of computertechnology and I am not wholly sure I am keen to learn!Give me a computer any day.

But where computers have improved the margin for errorin mapmaking, cartographers of today are merely facedwith different challenges. The sheer quantity of dataavailable means that computing power is simplystretched to meet the demands of the modern mapconsumer. The article on pages 8 and 9 is testament tothat, for a 600GB dataset would have been impossible toimagine for cartographers of perhaps 15 years ago!

Adam On behalf of Lynda, Adam and Martin.

Maplines Editors

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk2 • Spring 2013 / Maplines

Edtorial Contact details:Senior Editor: Lynda Bailey Editor: Adam KingEditor, Design & Production: Martin Lubikowski

[email protected]

Deadline for copy for the Summer 2013 edition is 4th June 2013.

The views expressed in Maplines are those of the Editors and Contributors andnot necessarily those of the BCS.

If you would like to sponsor the Maplines Quiz please contact the Editors.© The British Cartographic Society 2013

Illustrations and photography inthis issueFront coverp.2 Lynda Baileyp.4-6 On application to Maplines Editorsp.7 By permission of Gizi Mapp.8-9 The Survey Associationp.10-11 The individual portrait images are copyrighted to the various mapping agenciesrespectivelyp.16 Alison Hardcastle and Angus McArthur;Lynda Bailey

The Magazine of the British Cartographic Society

Volume 19, 1st Issue, Spring 2013

Registered Charity No. 240034

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

For more details contact the Editors:

[email protected]

From the Editors

Practice makes perfect...Anyone who remembers Senior Editor Lynda out and about with her camera at past Symposia & Fellows

Evenings, recording the atmosphere and events for Maplines, please read on...

Participating in her first season in South London photography club competitions, Lynda has won several individual awards and certificates and is now a regular contributor to the inter-club team entries from her club.

Thanks to some very patient BCS members, all the time and opportunities taken by Lynda to practise her photography in the field has certainly paid off! Thank you!

STOP PRESS

With all of the moderntechnology that isavailable to us, we tend to

imagine that the whole world hasnow been mapped and that thegreat age of discovery has passed.A new project, ‘Bedmap2’, hasreminded us that there are stillparts of our planet about which weknow relatively little. The projectrun by the British Antarctic Surveyset out to establish the volume ofice in Antarctica and perhaps moreinterestingly to cartographers, themost accurate map yet ofAntarctica’s land mass. I alwayshave a vision of Antarctica as amassive frozen wasteland with theodd mountain peak poking throughthe immense glaciers; I think wetend to forget that there is a hugelandmass beneath the ice andsnow. Several features of the bedhave been revealed for the firsttime including a new deepest point.The bed under the Byrd Glacier inVictoria Land is 2,870 metresbelow sea level making it thelowest point on any of the Earth'scontinental plates.

Mapping something that you can’tsee is an interesting challenge,one that requires a high level oftechnological input in order tomake it understandable. But forpeople who can’t see, or havelimited vision, then even astandard map is inaccessible tothem. Sensory mapping is one of the topics that we will beexamining at the AnnualSymposium in September. Thedetails for the Symposium arestarting to come together and thedraft programme will be issuedshortly. I am pleased to be able toannounce that the heads of thenational mapping organisationhave all responded positively to aninvitation to present at theSymposium. We have allocated asession on Wednesday afternoonwhere we will be able to hear theirreflections on the last 50 yearswithin their own organisations anda glimpse of what they seehappening in the future.

Events to help celebrate our 50thanniversary have started well; we

are building up a head of steam.As I write this the Design SpecialInterest Group is about to hold aone day workshop to which theyhave invited speakers who do nothave a traditional cartographicbackground, but work very closelywith maps. Their take on howmaps inspire us will I am sure beboth fascinating and instructive.Our first big event of the year, thetalk by Michael Palin at the RGSwill also have taken place beforethis drops through your letterbox orarrives in your in-tray. I amconfident that I can say now that it will have been a wonderfullyentertaining evening to hear himtalk about ‘My Life in Maps’.

Anyone who has seen his manytravel programmes on TV will havepicked up on his enthusiasm andthose of us old enough to havewatched Month Python willremember his whacky humour.Those who have heard him speak,tell of his relaxed and engagingattitude, so I am sure that it willhave ensured that our year is off toa cracking start.

One of the projects that we havebeen working on for the 50thanniversary is a commemorativebook to be published later thisyear. The idea is to look at themajor news stories that havehappened over the last 50 yearsand choose a map to illustrate thestory: one UK topic and one worldtopic. It will also include a history

of the Society, so watch out for thepre-publication information andthen get your order in quickly.

In an attempt to ensure that we aremaking the most of modern socialmedia to advertise and promotethe BCS, I have signed up for aTwitter account and will try to be a regular ‘tweeter’ – if it’s goodenough for Steven Fry then it’sgood enough for me. For fellowtweeters, you can follow me@geomapnut. So far I have 12followers! I will try to tweetregularly with what is going on in and around the Society, but also make sure that you keep aneye on the website and mymonthly reflections which come out by e-mail.

Pete JonesBCS President

Maplines / Spring 2013 • 3Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

Notes from our President

Calling all CorporateMembers

Share your projects andsuccesses with Maplines

readers. Send your copy forthe Corporate page to:

[email protected]

4 • Spring 2013 / Maplines Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk

WARnIng! VIRAl MEMES CAn SERIOuSly

AlTER yOuR WORldVIEWRichard Dawkins is famous

for his book ‘The SelfishGene’, and for his recent

attacks on organised religion, butwhat, you might well ask, has he gotto do with cartography? The link ishis ideas concerning ‘memes’. The‘meme’ – as opposed to the ‘gene’ –is the concept of self-replicatingunits of cultural imitation that thrivein brains or the products of brains(books, computers, web-sites, etc.).Dawkins regards memes as a formof cultural DNA and uses thisconcept to explain how a particularset of ideas about the world mightcome to flourish in specificpopulations – although he is carefulto state that the ‘meme pool’ is notorganised in the same consistent

manner as the ‘gene pool’.

Maps, if you accept this idea, are‘meme-carriers’, just as you, I andother living organisms are both geneand meme machines. What units ofimitation are involved? A goodexample, in terms of cartography, isthe ‘Eurocentric meme’ – theconcept that Europe is theeconomic, geopolitical and culturalpivot of the world. This is ahegemonic construct, reinforcing anideal of the superiority of Westernideals. This is itself a mutant of anearlier meme, the Christianworldview centred on Jerusalem, asexemplified by various medieval T-in-O maps. The Eurocentric memeis so embedded in our culture that

we find other representations,especially ‘turn-about’ maps (withsouth at the top) or sino-centricworldviews, distinctly odd. EvenArno Peters, author of the(in)famous Peters projection, couldnot bring himself to challenge thisdominant worldview by inverting hismap – memes have an incrediblehold on the mind!

Eurocentric world maps are a goodexample of a dominant meme, butcan cartographers learn lessonsfrom images closer to Dawkins’concerns with the evolution of life onearth? The answer is yes. Dawkinshimself notes that the ‘dominant iconof evolution [shows] a shambling fileof simian ancestors, rising

Visit the BCS website at www.cartography.org.uk Maplines / Spring 2013 • 5

progressively in the wake of theerect, striding, majestic figure ofHomo sapiens: man as evolution’slast word (and in this context it isalways man rather than woman)’.This imagery could be described asthe ‘andropocentric meme’ – ‘man’as the inevitable end-product ofevolution – its ‘be all and end all’.This has clear echoes incartography’s conventions of ethno-centrism and orientationwhich privilege Europe on mostcontemporary world maps.

The person who, perhaps, has donethe most to bring to public attentionthe role of imagery in creating abiased and andropocentric view oflife on earth is the late, greatessayist, Stephen J Gould, who diedin 2002. Gould, paleontologist andevolutionary biologist, used thegeneric term ‘canonical images’ todescribe images representing an‘authorised’ or hegemonic viewpoint.The term originates from religious‘canon law’, but may now be takento represent any authoritativeposition. Gould’s particular concernwas the manner in which imagesare used to explain scientific ideas,but also to impose socio-culturalmeanings; such as the biased viewthat ‘progress’ is inherent inevolution and the ego-centric idea that life reaches its pinnacle in humans.

This meme is re-presented throughvarious graphic devices, for exampleThe Parade of Life - a key canonicalrepresentation of evolution asprogressive and inevitably leading tomodern ‘man’ (Homo sapiens).Gould notes that this image isentirely misleading, displayingsupposedly primitive or lower life-forms being replaced in tableauxas the ‘torch of novelty passed tohigher vertebrates’. In this classicimagery, the Age of Fish is replacedby the Age of Reptiles, which are inturn displaced by the Mammals, with‘man’ at the apex. This ignores thefact that many major life forms havecontinued to evolve and diversify,while hominids have not! Any honestrepresentation, based on diversity,could legitimately represent thecurrent age as the Age of Fish, withover fifty-percent of living

vertebrates represented by theteleosti - the higher bony fish – whilehumans represent the only extanthominid – a mere twig on the bushyshrub of life. Unfortunately, human-biased images abound in books ofpopular science as well as moreformal educational formats. Theclassic example is Charles R.Knight’s Parade of life Through theAges in the classic February 1942issue of The National GeographicMagazine in which four of the twentycolour plates (showing the wholehistory of life on earth) are devotedto modern hominids. This basicgraphic conceit continues todominate educational graphics to date.

Images of the ‘parade of life’ are thecartographic equivalent of an atlas.If a simple, single graphic were tobe picked as the equivalent to theEurocentric world map, there wouldbe two contenders, the classic ‘treeof life’, and graphics representingthe evolution of ‘man’ from ‘his’ apeancestors (females are rarelyshown). The ‘tree of life’ is generallyregarded as an uncontroversialimage of evolution as a branchingprocess. It has, however, often beenrepresented as culminating in ‘man’.This meme has its origins in ErnstHaeckel’s classic graphicrepresentations of evolution (he wasan early supporter of Darwin’stheories). His tree of life famouslyplaces us at the apex. This imageretains its power and includes recentrecycling by influential people like

David Attenborough in his Tree ofLife video to celebrate the 150thanniversary of the publication ofDarwin’s Origin of the Species, andthe Open University/BBC Tree ofLife poster - which ironically showsthe end product of evolution asDarwin himself! This remains a verypotent meme of the progressivenature of evolution and of humanegocentrism.

The other representation of theandrocentric meme is the oftrecycled image of the evolution ofhumans from their ape forebears.The classic image shows ancestralapes slowly morphing into upright,modern ‘man’ – almost inevitably amale Caucasian, very often blond,compared to the preceding blackhaired stages that connote a moreprimitive condition, and in somecases clothed in European fashion!This meme has at least been opento many satirical re-workings, withthe crouching form of the apeforebears ‘evolving’ into uprighthumans, before finally degeneratinginto back into hunched figures overcomputers or games consoles!

A classic example of where mapand ‘evolutionary’ graphics meet isthe map supplement to the Graphic(July 1886) showing the ImperialFederation – the British Empire in1886. This map’s margins displaythe people of the empire gazing onBritannia; she sits centrally, astridethe globe, her trident a north arrowdrawing the eye to the British Isles

Design Group


Design Group

at centre stage. Art confirms the‘natural order’. Further viewingunearths other forms of visualhierarchy, for example, a Britishsoldier/explorer holds chained asubmissive tiger representing bothEuropean dominion over nature andAsia, while behind him, bent underbales of produce, are two ‘natives’of the sub-continent. This is all tooredolent of the ‘march of evolution’discussed above, with the ‘superior’European at the fore-front, in thiscase, of economic and social ratherthan evolutionary progress.

All of these worldviews, reproducedby viral memes, could be deemed tobe infections of the brain. Infectioncan mean ‘to influence the mood oremotions of people’, but its broadermeaning ‘to taint; to corrupt’ is alsorelevant to the subliminal ‘viral’influence of the propagandacontained in hegemonic images.What is our duty as cartographersand others involved in producing orstudying information graphics? Itmust, at the very least, involve anawareness of the connotationsimplicit in the representations wecreate and perpetuate, if not anactive attempt to combatmisrepresentation. Go forth andreproduce (carefully)!

Prof. Peter Vujaković, Ecology Research Group,

Department of Geographical and Life Sciences

Canterbury Christ Church University (UK).


Historical Mapping

Vatican mappingAt the end of January, the BCS

had a stand at the DGIConference at the QE II

Centre in London. A first timeexhibitor there from the mappingcommunity was Gizella Bassa, acartographer and the manager ofGizi Map based in Hungary. GiziMap has been in IMTA, now IMIA (International Map IndustryAssociation) for many years.

The company produces maps covering a wide area, broadly covering the landmass from EasternEurope, North Africa, through theMiddle East to China. But one mapcaught my attention - ‘Vatican City’.On reflection I thought I’d write afew words about it for Maplines, so Iordered a copy of the map fromAmazon and was given a deliverytimescale of 3-12 days. However, tomeet the copy date for the MaplinesEditors I needed the map in threedays rather than twelve. As luckwould have it, I had a meeting inLondon, at the three-day point sowhat could be better than to pay a visit to Stanfords in Long Acre and buy a copy of ‘Vatican City’ off-the-shelf.

What impressed me about this mapwas the level of detail. Detail thatone would normally expect to find ina guide book expressed using textand small graphics was insteadincluded on a map sheet 98 by 67.5

cm which, as you might expect,folds down to 24 by 13cm. You maythink that this map would be somewhat unwieldy to use in a confined space surrounded by others but because of the layout thisshould not be the case.

The main map is a map of theVatican City at a scale of 1:2250.The other maps on the sheet are: amap of Rome at 1:30,000, maps ofthe Grottoes, Necropolis, both ofwhich contain tombs which are suitably labelled, and Saint Peter’sBasilica at 1:1250 where all themonuments, chapels, altars etc. are comprehensively labelled too.Finally, there is a very detailed diagram of the Sistine Chapel onwhich the scenes on the ceiling arelabelled as are the stories of Christand Moses on the walls togetherwith the names of previous Popes.So, might what we call ‘conventionalmaps’ that include large scale mapsand detailed diagrams of specificlocations and buildings be a competitor to guide books and, ofcourse, ‘apps’?

In any case, the ‘Vatican City’ mapis impressive and very shortly I shallhave two of them!

Peter JollyImmediate Past President

Mapping the Meridian


Mapping the Meridian is a legacyof the London MappingFestival 2011-2012. The

concept, design and implementationare all thanks to two of the festival’smost active supporters: The SurveyAssociation (TSA) and Topcon.

TSA were one of the first and mostenthusiastic supporters of the LMFethos to increase public awareness ofmapping techniques. They were keento participate to the full and see whatthey could do to engage their membersin the festival as well as the generalpublic. Working with the LMF team aseries of ideas for mass participationevents were discussed. Some of thesewere sensible, others, to be honestwere ludicrous and almost asimmediately dismissed.

When one of the TSA’s members,Topcon, a major internationalmanufacturer and supplier of precisepositioning and survey solutions,became a supporter of the LMF theywere keen to be involved in thisdeveloping idea. Topcon visited TSAand suggested an idea that at first

sounded somewhat bizarre andunattainable. The idea was to map theMeridian Yorkshire to Sussex collectingspherical imagery and point cloud datausing Topcon’s IP-S2 mobile-mappingvehicle. The data that would becollected would be XYZ laser pointcloud data and panoramic imageswhich would be freely available andaccessible to all as a legacy of LMF.The idea was exciting but the logisticsof such a plan was daunting.

Although it was originally envisagedthat the data could be launched at aone-off event in Greenwich Park, itsoon became apparent that betterpublicity could be gained for a worldwide audience by the use of theInternet and social media platforms.The public is now much more aware ofthis type of data presentation since thedevelopment of Google Earth andsimilar online applications and it wasenvisaged that a data set along the lineof the Meridian would therefore appealto a vast number of people. Havingdecided on this course of action,Topcon set about planning andcollection of the data.

How it was undertakenFollowing the line of the Meridian asclosely as possible, a route along publicroads was mapped out from Yorkshireto East Sussex. The route measured320 kilometres in length andremarkably the largest distance awayfrom the line of the Meridian usingpublic roads, turned out to be just 4kilometres.

Topcon’s IP-S2 mobile-mapping vehiclewas then driven the length of the line.The IP-S2, mobile survey system,incorporates state-of-the-art sensingtechnologies, including high-precision

GNSS receivers, IMU (inertialmeasurement unit), vehicle wheelencoders, 360° digital video cameraand laser scanners.

While driving the system-mountedvehicle at normal traffic speeds, thesystems simultaneously collect precisevehicle position/bearing data andcapture spherical imagery of roadsideobjects such as pavements, buildings,tunnels, bridges and overpasses.Whilst, the IP-S2 acquires high-resolution point cloud data of objectsusing laser scanners that make moreprecise analysis possible.

Along the route the vehicle collectedeighty thousand panoramic images aswell as the XYZ laser point cloud data.Amazingly it only took a total of just twoand a half days to drive the route andcollect the data, including going throughthe centre of London.

The result & potentialThe result was a 600GB dataset.Traditionally, processing time of vastdatasets caused a bottleneck in theproduction process. Today’s technologyallows processing to be undertaken ata 1:1 ratio with data collection meaningthe data was processed in just two andhalf days. It was then published onlineusing Orbit’s Mobile Mapping Publisher,allowing the data to be accessed usingany standard web browser.

The data is now available for viewingat: www.mappingthemeridian.com andis available for use in non commercialprojects by anyone. To encourage usewithin the younger generation it wasdecided that a competition should belaunched. Class of Your Own, anorganisation dedicated to bringing realworld examples of architecture,

for the London Mapping Festival

Meridian mapping project

engineering and construction industryto the classroom were invited to leadthis project. They devised acompetition for primary school childrenbased on collecting information fromthe final data set.

The schools competition is now in fullflow with eighty five schools close tothe line of the Meridian being invitedto submit an entry. They will berequired to use the data to determinesome local geographic data and theposition of the Meridian in relation totheir school. All submissions will berewarded with a copy of Dava Sobel’sbook “Longitude.” The first threeplaced schools will all be awardedprizes of survey equipment providedby Topcon.

The futureToday digital maps and databasesform an essential infrastructure to allsectors of society. They are usedthroughout the professional and

business markets, as supplements tosocial activities and for personal use.As the digital age is dynamic this hasbrought with it a greater demand formore currency of the informationdisplayed within the map and stored inthe database.

Conventional methods of collectingsuch data, using diverse kinds ofsurveying instruments and a numberof operators, takes considerable time,labour and cost. The novel project ofMapping the Meridian has illustratedhow high resolution data for over 320kilometres can be collected processedand available within a week.

The question this poses is how canthis data be used by the cartographerto update existing maps? To helpinvestigate the options and theopportunities, Topcon has kindlyagreed to join The GeoInformationGroup to discuss this within aworkshop (see left) at the Symposium.

The data collected during Mapping the Meridian data will be used as a case study.

It is hoped that this workshop will be a starting point for cartographers tobecome aware of benefits of pointcloud data for map update, whilst thesurveying company can appreciatethe requirements of the cartographerwhen processing this data.

The Survey Association


To find out more about the workshop visit:www.cartography.org.uk/symposium

To find out more aboutMapping the Meridian visitwww.mappingthemeridian.com


Much of this issue’s columnfocuses on activities of theCommission on Map Design

and the Commission onGeneralisation and MultipleRepresentation; thanks to Ken Fieldand William Mackaness for thesecontributions.

It has been a busy period, withpreparations for the InternationalCartographic Conference in Augustto the fore. Many UK based ICACommission members are involved in refereeing papers for the conference, and I have been organising the UK contributions to the map exhibitions and PetchenikChildren’s Map Exhibition. Overallthe response has been disappointingwith many major players in UK cartography not being represented,but there are some very interestingand unusual exhibits. It is planned todisplay the exhibits at the BCSSymposium in September.

By the time you read this, early registration for ICC2013 will bepassed, but it is still possible to register for this major internationalevent. In addition to the main conference, there will be a largenumber of pre-conference workshops and meetings. These arean ideal way to get involved in theICA as they are usually free or inexpensive and there is somethingcatering for virtually all cartographicinterests. For more information seewww.icc2013.org.

Commission on Map designThe Commission is chaired by KenField of the UK, with vice-chairs AnjaHopfstock (Germany), BernhardJenny (USA) and Alex Kent (UK). Inthe last year, the Commission hascontributed workshops at the 2012British Cartographic Society AnnualSymposium in June and held ameeting at the ESRI InternationalUser Conference in San Diego inJuly. Additionally, the Commissionhosted a paper session at theGeoCart 2012 conference inAuckland, New Zealand where apresentation on Map Design fromthe ICA standpoint was delivered by the Commission chair (and editorof The Cartographic Journal)Kenneth Field.

At the NACIS conference inPortland, Oregon, vice-chair BernieJenny organised a series of sessions on the aesthetics of mapping which were co-sponsoredand promoted by the Commission.This was well attended and led tosome excellent debate and discussion. As a consequence of themeeting, a Special issue ofCartographic Perspectives is nowscheduled for 2013 with authors predominantly comprising those whoparticipated in the NACIS sessions.

Volume 49, issue 4 of TheCartographic Journal was a Specialissue on Cognition, Representationand Behaviour that formed out of thesessions organised in conjunctionwith the ICA Commission onCognitive Visualisation at theAssociation of AmericanGeographers in 2012. Chair KennethField has organised a series of 3sessions at the forthcoming 2013AAG conference in Los Angelesfocusing on map Design andNeocartography. These sessions arebeing run in conjunction with theCommission on Neocartography and will showcase a wide range ofcontemporary research in theserelated areas. There are alsoadvanced plans for a joint workshopprior to ICC2013 in Dresden.

Commission on generalisationand Multiple Representation

The Commission is chaired by DirkBurghardt of Germany, supported byCecile Duchene (France) and WilliamMackaness (UK). Currently theCommission is working on an editedbook entitled: ‘Abstracting geographicinformation in a data rich world:methodologies and applications ofmap generalisation’. The book is a collection of 'connected' commissioned chapters, exploringtheoretical and practical solutionsand is considered as a companion to the ICA book published in 2007entitled Generalisation of GeographicInformation: Cartographic Modellingand Applications. Nearly 50researchers and practitioners fromthe ICA Generalisation Commissionare involved; a contract with Springerhas been signed with publicationexpected around August of 2013.

The Commission continues to develop its links with NationalMapping Agencies (NMA). As part ofthis process, an NMA Symposium,co-organised with the EuroSDRCommission on Data Specifications,is planned on the topic ‘DesigningMRDB and multi-scale DCMs: sharing experience between NMAs’(http://generalisation.icaci.org/index.php/activities/12-next-events-details/48-nma-symposium-2013-general). The symposium will takeplace from 21-22 March 2013, inBarcelona, Spain and will be hostedby the Institut Cartografic deCatalunya. The symposium will focuson workflow solutions based on theutilisation of MRDB as well asreviews of current practices and software environments. Over 10NMAs from across Europe plan to attend.

In the tradition of pre-conferenceworkshops in association with theInternational CartographicConference (ICC) in conjunction withthe ICA Commission on MapProduction and Geo-Business, the Commission will organise aworkshop in Dresden, Germany, 23-24 August, 2013.

In addition to the research focusedworkshop, in order to broaden the outreach of the Commission and engage with practicing cartographers, a one day tutorial will take place prior to the ICAConference 2013 in Dresden onSunday 25th of August. This is thefourth time this event has been run,and this year will draw on materialfrom the new generalisation book.

The Commission is always keen tolink up with other Commissions andcontinues to work closely with NMAsand geo-business. All informationregarding the activities of theCommission are available via thewebsitehttp://generalisation.icaci.org.

David ForrestChair, UK Committee for

Cartography

UKCC Report

Mappa Mundi in HerefordCathedral

On a recent visit to HerefordCathedral I saw an excellent example of a meme as mentioned inour Design Group article on page 4.The Mappa Mundi is an example ofthe medieval Christian view of theworld that lasted until the FlorentineRenaissance. It is well worth visitingthis beautiful ancient example of our craft.


a miscellaneous collection of people and thingsOmnium Gatherum

Lost Rivers of London #13Beverley Brook: rising atCuddington Recreation Park inWorcester Park, Beverley Brookflows through WimbledonCommon, Richmond Park andBarnes and joins the Thames atBarn Elms, near Putney Bridge. Itsname derives from the presenceof the European beaver, extinct inBritain since the 16th century.

Courtesy ofwww.strangemaps.wordpress.com

Contributions to Omnium Gatherumare always welcome. If you haveany map-related stories, facts orannouncementsplease send them tothe editors on theEditors’ email address,see page 2.

To mark the BCS's 50th Anniversary celebrations, the Map Curators’ Group(MCG) will hold its Annual Workshop at Hothorpe Hall, Theddingworth,Leicester, on Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th September 2013 as part ofthe Symposium: Mapping 2013: Today, tomorrow and beyond (see page12-13). Further information is also available at www.cartography.org.uk

The MCG 2013 Workshop theme will be: Then and now: the changing face of map curatorshipPresentations to be given at the Workshop, on the following themes:

• Retrospectives of individual map collections.• Historical aspects of map curatorship and librarianship.• Recent initiatives in map collections.• Future developments in map collections.

Ann Sutherland, Convener, Map Curatorsí [email protected]

Paula [email protected]

Map Curators’ group Annual Workshop

new KickMap App of thelondon underground

Look out for the new KickMap Appfor the London Underground.

It incorporates fluid scrolling andlooks beautiful. It adds detail likeneighbourhoods and landmarks only when zoomed in, preserving a simpler, less cluttered map whenzoomed out. It also uses thephone’s GPS to locate the neareststation. Having just downloadedone, it is highly recommended.

It costs only £0.69 and is a universal iPhone/iPad app.

Monitoring the World’s forestsAn new online map that tracks innear real-time the vegetation area ofall the world's forests simultaneouslywill launch later this year, after a preview was shown at a UnitedNations summit recently. Called"Global Forest Watch 2.0," the mapis a project years in the making ledby the World Resources Institute, anonprofit advocacy group focusedon ecological issues. They designedthe map to help monitor and stopillegal forest clearing and deforestation by loggers and ranchers around the globe.

Global Forest Watch 2.0 relies on acombination of data points toachieve this feat, including imagerycaptured by NASA's recentlylaunched earth-gazing Landsat 8satellite and a Brazilian system formonitoring the Amazon rainforestthat analyzes each pixel of satellitedata for minute changes.

nASA has released a free-air gravity mapof the Moon: ‘If the Moon were a perfectlysmooth sphere of uniform density, the gravity map would be a single color indicating that the force of gravity at a givenelevation was the same everywhere. Butthe Moon has both a bumpy surface and alumpy interior. The free-air gravity mapshows deviations from the mean.’Gravity data is from the GRAIL mission, the digital elevation model by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiterlaser altimeter. Image credit: NASA's Goddard GoddardSpace Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

The KickMap App and the NASA moon articles are courtesy of Jonathan Crowe of The Map Room


This year the Symposiumreturns to its birthplace...Hothorpe Hall

Within the year of anniversarycelebrations the centrepiece is ourannual Symposium. The previous 49Symposia have visited locationsacross the UK as far north asAberdeen, south as Plymouth, eastas Cambridge and west asAberystwyth. This year we arereturning to Leicestershire, for afourth visit, at a date in September,as this was where and when the firstSymposium was held in 1963.

Our venue, Hothorpe Hall,Theddingworth, Lutterworth,Leicestershire has a fascinatinghistory and is thought to date backto 900AD when it was known asUde-torp. Ude, a Danish Vikingleader navigated his 80 foot long-boat from the Wash along the RiverWelland about as far as MarstonTrussell.

The current manor house was builtin 1799 with a chapel added in1891. The site has a varied historyincluding being a home for London’sevacuated children during thesecond world war. Since 1984Hothorpe has operated as a

conference centre and has beensympathetically renovated to providethe excellent facilities that are theretoday.

Today, Tomorrow and Beyond...

The theme of our 50th Symposiumis ‘Today, Tomorrow and Beyond…’reflecting the Society’s forwardlooking vision for the future ofcartography. The Symposium willfollow a similar format to previousyears including formal presentationsessions and workshops. This yearhowever there are a few additionaltreats in store as we celebrate ourgolden anniversary.

The highlight of the Symposiummust be the keynotes session ‘Thefuture for the UK world leaders inmapping’. For which we aredelighted to announce that all of thefollowing senior executives havekindly accepted our invitation topresent:

1 Vanessa lawrence, DirectorGeneral, Ordnance Survey

2 Paul Hancock, Director, Defence Geographic Centre

3 John Wilkinson, Chief Executive,Land and Property ServicesNorthern Ireland

4 Ian Moncrieff CBE, Chief Executive UKHO

5 Professor John ludden,Executive Director, British Geological Survey

This session, being held onWednesday 4th September isprobably the most important two andhalf hours of conference held in theUK this year on the future ofmapping.

‘The heads of five British Mappingand Charting agencies comingtogether in one session to discusshow their organisations havechanged over the last 50 yearsshows just how important maps aretoday in our rapidly changing andincreasingly digital society.’

Peter Jones, BCS President

A Week of Activities:Presentations and Workshops

The week of activities will start onTuesday 3rd September when theMap Curators Group, GIS and

Today, Tomorrow and Beyond…


Symposium 2013

Design Special Interest Groups willhold their workshops. The MapCurators Group will focus on Thenand now: the changing face of mapcuratorship; whilst the GIS andDesign SIGs are joining forces topresent on GIS: Good DesignMatters.

In the evening the commercialexhibition will open with a winereception followed by the biennialHelen Wallis Memorial Lecture. Weare very pleased to announce thatNick Millea, Map Librarian, BodleianLibrary, University of Oxford willpresent this lecture. The title will beToday, tomorrow and beyond: canthe past project cartography into thefuture?

The Symposium runs fromWednesday 4th September toThursday 5th September. The callfor papers this year has beenextremely successful and we hopethere will be something for everyonewithin the fascinating programme ofpresentations and workshops fromall sectors of the mappingcommunity.

The four presentation sessions are:l Technology and Map Design l Mapping Technologies for

Tomorrowl Mapping for the Challenges of

Tomorrow l The Future for Mapping,

Databases and Standards

Workshops cover a range of topicsincluding:l The Changing Fashion of

Map Design l Mapping the Swiss Wayl Point Cloud Data for Map Update

There is also the opportunity fordelegates to experience theRestless Earth workshop which theSociety has been successfullyrunning for Year 9-11 students forthe past four years.

Sponsors

Platinum and goldOver the recent months CorporateMembers have been asked tosponsor the Symposium and the

anniversary year. To date ninecorporate members have becomesponsors and we would like to thankthem for their generosity. ThePlatinum Sponsors are Cadcorp,Esri UK, Leica Geosystems,Newgrove, STAR-APIC, TheGeoInformation Group and VictoriaLitho. These sponsors will becontributing to the Symposiumprogramme with presentations andworkshops on future mapping,public service mapping andtechnological developments.

gold SponsorsHarperCollins and OrdnanceSurvey.

Corporate Members are stillwelcome to become sponsors formore information contact AlanGrimwade, the Corporate LiaisonOfficer.

Booking details and Information

We do hope that you will be able to join us at Hothorpe. Members will receive a flyer advertising theevent and further information can be found atwww.cartography.org.uk/symposium

Over the next few months thewebsite will be populated as thetalks and programme is confirmed.An early bird discount will apply tothe booking, closing at thebeginning of June. Accommodationat the venue is limited to 55 roomstherefore we recommend earlybooking to reserve your place. Foradditional accommodation we willsource local hotels and provide ashuttle service for any delegatesstaying offsite. Likewise a transportmay be arranged for those arrivingby train. Details will be availableupon booking.

We look forward to welcoming youto Hothorpe to join in the 50thcelebrations.

Peter JollyChair of Programme Committee

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Special Interest Groups

First of all, a big thankyou to those of youthat have sponsored

this year’s BCS events. Wehave had an excellentresponse and your supportis greatly appreciated. Asyou will be aware 2013 hasa packed programme, makesure you don’t miss out. Iwould encourage you tosubmit advertising, articlesand press releases forinclusion in Maplines, aneffective way tocommunicate with thecartographic community.

On 1st April 2010 theOrdnance Survey released

some of their data under the brandOS OpenData. This was greetedwith a mixed reaction; some groupsand individuals had campaigned forthis to happen, but for others it wasnot the best news. Now, three yearson, it would be interesting to haveyour thoughts on how our industryhas been affected. Has there beena positive or negative impact onyour business? Maybe you hadinvested a lot of time and moneycreating copyright free data, only tohave the same made freelyavailable. Or maybe it opened upnew business opportunitiespreviously unachievable. Please letme know your thoughts and I willfeedback the results.

Alan GrimwadeBCS Corporate Liaison Officer

[email protected]

Forthcoming Events

Sat 22 JuneSeveral HMMG members will bespeaking at a historical mappingseminar at Hermitage, Berkshire,hosted by the DSA. All HMMGmembers are cordially invited toattend. Among the speakers will beAdrian Webb on hydrography, ChrisHalsall on aerial photography, TedRose on geological maps, RichardChesney on moving maps andAlastair Macdonald on boundarydisputes.

Sat 5 - Sun 6 October2013 is both the 50th anniversary ofthe BCS and the 70th anniversary ofthe Dams Raid. It is intended to holda study weekend in Lincolnshire tolook at the RAF, charting,photographic interpretation andmodelling.

Plans are still to be finalised but it issuggested we arrive on Fridayevening at the Petwood Hotel, whichwas 617's Mess during the war, withtalk(s) that evening (Dams Raid?), aSaturday morning visit to Scamptonthen to East Kirkby to catch a taxiride by the Lancaster if one is takingplace that day. We will continue withtalk(s) on Saturday evening(Hamburg or Augsburg Raid?).

On Sunday we visit Waddingtonand/or Digby, drive past RAF CollegeCranwell to visit Newark Air Museum

and have lunch before we hit the A1for the drive south.

The Battle of Britain Memorial FlightVisitor Centre at Coningsby is closedmost weekends. At the moment theBBMF programme has not beenfinalised for October so we do notknow if they are flying that weekend.

East Kirkby Aviation Museum is notopen on Sundays. Scampton havejust relocated their museum to 617’shangar and they have refurbishedGibson’s office.

It can be arranged for the Digby OpsRoom museum to be opened for usthat weekend. If the emphasis ispurely on Bomber Command, thenthe Waddington Heritage Centre is amust. Waddington had the largestnumber of losses in BomberCommand, it was the station chosenfor the introduction of the Manchesterand then the Lancaster, whilstScampton is unique in that therewere three aircrew who wereawarded VCs flying from there,including Nettleton on the AugsburgRaid, the first big raid of theLancaster Force.

For further information andexpressions of interest about eitherevent, please contact me.

John PeatyConvenor

Historical Military Mapping [email protected]

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BCS Administration Report

Subscriptions for 2013 are nowoverdueAll members who renew their membership subscriptions by creditcard, cheque etc (except forStanding Orders) were sent membership renewal letters inDecember 2011 and so far therehas been a good response, butthere are still quite a few memberswhose subscriptions are still outstanding, so please do not delay– RENEW NOW! Members have achoice of four methods of payment:

l our new more secure on-linepayment system at www.cartography.org.uk and on the home page click onRenew Now.

l personal cheque payable to TheBritish Cartographic Society. (Orfor overseas members a SterlingDraft payable in London)

l Visa/Mastercard/Deltacredit/debit card. You can do thisover the phone to the AdminOffice (0115 9328684)

l Standing Order (UK bankaccount holders only)

In May a final reminder email/letterwill be sent to all members whosesubscriptions are still outstandingand, if payment has not beenreceived by 1 July 2013, their nameswill be removed from the societymailing lists for The CartographicJournal and Maplines and, finally,suspension from the Society.

MembershipMembers may be interest to notethat at the end of 2012 the societyhad 628 current members. 48 members had their membershipsuspended for non-payment of subscriptions, this was slightly offsetby the 74 new members joiningthroughout the year. This year has started off well with 25 newmembers joining since January.

new membersThe Society has the pleasure of welcoming the following new members who have joined since thepublication of the Winter 2012Edition of Maplines.

Corporate Members: AltrinchamGrammar School for Boys, ChippingNorton School, Geographers A-ZMap Company Ltd, 135 IndependentGeographic Squadron (V) RE,National Geographic Maps.

UK Members: Miss S Ackers, Dr P Agarwal, Mr J A Cross, Mr S R Dodd, Mr P Davies, Ms C J Edwards, Mr R F Ellis, Mr M A Evans, Dr G Frigieri, Mr B Ghubril, Mr P C Harmston, Mr S Harrison, Mrs S Holmes, Dr D J Hunter, Mr S Jeffery, Mrs E. Kerhouant, Mr I F Macey, Mr A D Macnair, Mr J Mansfield, Ms K McLean, Mr C J Nelson, Miss C C Newman, Mr D Pal, Mrs S Patton. Ms G Perkins, Mr J G Peters,

Overseas Members:Dr F. O'Cionnaith, Mr Cheng Wang.

UK Associate Members:Miss M A Beavis, Mr D Hall, Adam Hill, Mr J G Marshall, Mr C J Smith

BCS CouncilYou will find enclosed in this issue ofMaplines a form for nominating members to the BCS Council.Council is the Society’s governingbody and it is vital for the Society thatit consists of a fair representation ofthe membership so that it can clearlyreflect the diversity of the Society.The Society’s President and VicePresident are keen to get newCouncil members on board to helpachieve the strategic objectives andto strengthen the Society. Councilmust be a dynamic body where lively debate on how to take theSociety forward can take place. Please consider carefully what roleyou could play within the Society,and whether you would wish to standfor election to Council this year.Meetings are held three times a yearin London with an additional meetingat each Symposium. Expenses arepaid for attendance at meetings andto cover other costs resulting directlyfrom Society business. The nextelection will take place at the AGM inNovember. If you wish to stand,please find two members who arewilling to propose and second you,

and ensure the enclosed form iscompleted and returned to theaddress on the form by 1 September2013. Forms can be mailed or faxed.

If you want more information aboutwhat it might involve, or if you wishto stand but need help in contactingother members to nominate you,please contact me at BCSAdministration.

And finally...When you receive this SpringEdition of Maplines I hope we cantruly say it is Spring, and that wehave left the winter weather behind.At the end of February the snowshovel was relegated to the back ofmy garage after having decided thatenough was enough and if any moresnow came someone else wouldhave to dig us out!! The start of theyear began with flurries (along withthe snow) of membership renewalscoming in and my thanks all thosemembers who renewed their memberships online – the system isvery secure and quite painless and I recommend it to all. I have evenbeen asked by one or two membersif it could be possible to email membership renewal letters eachyear and this is something I will lookinto. On the subject of emails I makeno apology for the amount of emailsmembers received during 2012 asthe BCS Council believes that this isthe easiest and most economicalmethod to communicate with members and a heck of a lot easierthat stuffing and addressingenvelopes as my wife and previousincumbents of this post will tell you,and as 2013 is our 50th Anniversaryyear I should expect quite a lotmore. With the number of eventsscheduled for the 50th Anniversaryyear your illustrious Administratorhas been and expects to beextremely busy for the remainderthe time administrating them – so itis back to the grindstone.

My best wishes to you all.

Roger HoreBCS Administration

15 The Crescent, Stanley CommonIlkeston, Derby, DE7 6GL, UK

Tel/Fax +44(0)115 9328684Email: [email protected]

BCS Admin


Quiz

Quiz Title

In March, the Design Group hosted their very successful event How Maps Inspire Us as part of the BCS 50thAnniversary celebrations; we hope to feature a full write up of this event in our Summer issue. Our quiz, sponsoredby the Design Group, features a beautiful prize from one of the speakers that day, Alison Hardcastle. Alison and

her colleague Angus McArthur’s Word Map is made using selected text which has a relationship to its particulargeographic location. The words used range from regional specialities to historical fact, from local celebrities toindigenous species. The map can be seen at www.theo-theo.com/product/158/bristish-isles-map/

Our quiz highlights locations, events or other points of interest featured on Word Map. Everything can be spotted onthe map so why not give it a go! Please send your answers to [email protected] by 21st June.

1. What is the name of thetraditional ring (jewellery)formed of two hands holding acrowned heart. Which city/areadoes it originate from?

Maplines Winter Quiz – alas there were no winners to the last quiz. Here are the answers so that you can seewhere you went wrong:

1. Which infamous event took place in the UK on the 8 August? Answer: Great Train Robbery2. Who had a dream? Answer: Martin Luther King3. Who starred as Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty? Answer: Trevor Howard4. Which major African country achieved independence from the British Empire? Answer: Kenya5. In which year were credit cards introduced to the UK? Answer: 19636. Which major TV character made his first appearance on November 23, 1963? Answer: Dr Who7. Which film was named Best Picture at the Oscars? Answer: Lawrence of Arabia8. Who was the first person to become an honorary citizen of the United States? Answer: Winston Churchill9. What was awarded to the International Committee of the Red Cross and League of

Red Cross Societies in 1963? Answer: Nobel Peace Prize10. The film ‘Lord of the Flies’ was released in 1963. Who wrote the original novel? Answer: William Golding

(information based on Wikepedia)

4. Where in EastAnglia was this helmetunearthed?

7. Bridego Bridge, scene of theGreat Train Robbery, is on therail line from Euston to where?

8. Where is Stilton cheese made?

2. The families of raiders living inthe Anglo Scottish Borders fromthe late 13th Century to theearly 17th Century werecollectively called?

5. Who starred in ‘The Wickerman’(1973) and where was the storysupposedly set?

3. Where was the TV series ThePrisoner set?

6. Which 1996 film tells of thedecline of a Yorkshire miningcommunity and the success ofthe local brass band in nationalcompetition?

Sponsored by the BCS Design Group

Documents

Maplines 0413