BCS President’s Report July 2013

I know that media outlets refer to this as ‘the silly season’, when news stories dry up and items that wouldn’t normally merit reporting suddenly come to the fore and July 1963 is no exception as there appear to have been very few big news events. 

The one major UK news item is rather an unpleasant one, but still very resonant. On 12th July 1963, Pauline Reade aged 16 was reported missing on her way to a dance in Gorton, Manchester. One of the victims of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, her body was not found until 24 years later in 1987. Those who are familiar with Saddleworth Moor, will know what a bleak and desolate place it can be and yet it is so close to so many large towns that it seems strange to find such desolation so close to such urban sprawl. It is perfectly understandable why the body of Keith Bennett has tragically never been found. 

If I asked you what happened 44 years ago at 8°30′N 31°24′E, you would probably struggle to come up with something memorable happening in Southern Sudan, but then the image should give you a fairly hefty clue! We’re not talking about terrestrial co-ordinates, but lunar ones. The 44th anniversary may not be particularly noteworthy in itself, but to think that BCS has been around since before man first landed on the moon does make you reflect on the huge changes that have taken place in the last 50 years. Technology has arguably advanced more in the last 50 years than at any other time in history and things that were only seen in science fiction are now commonplace items. So with all the advances in technology are maps now past their sell by date? I do get a little annoyed when I see articles with headlines such as “GPS can't kill the good old-fashioned road map”. Whilst the tenor of the article from the Canadian Broadcasting Service is positive about maps in general, to use the term ‘old-fashioned’ in the title just seems to denigrate unnecessarily. The full article can be accessed via the CBS website.

The Internet has been full of map related articles recently and it has almost become a case of which ones to choose and which ones to leave out, which reflects very well on the cartographic world and the continuing relevance of the topic. I have often given presentations on the continuing importance of cartography and the fact that maps are such a large part of our daily experience that they almost fade into the background and we simply don’t notice how many there are around. 

For one presentation my journey involved a walk from where I work in Feltham to the station, a train to Waterloo and then another walk across Hungerford Bridge to The Strand. It must have been less than 2 miles walking in total and yet I passed 54 separate maps. Admittedly a lot of these were the Legible London ‘monoliths’ to help you get your bearings, but it’s still an impressively large number. The monoliths are an example of something that has become so recognisable that it surprised me to find out that they have only been about since 2009.

And now 4 years later, New York is catching up with us. The New York Times recently reported the initiative to address the problem of New Yorkers (as opposed to just visitors and tourists) getting lost. To quote the report: "A department study, based on a survey of 500 pedestrians, found that one-third of New Yorkers could not say which direction north was. Fourteen percent of residents and 27 percent of visitors could not name the neighborhood or borough in which they were being surveyed. And nearly 10 percent of locals admitted they had gotten lost in the previous week"

OpenStreet Map has now been in existence for 9 years and there was recently an interesting and thought provoking article on ‘The Atlantic’ website entitled, ‘What Happens When Everyone Makes Maps?’ Whilst there are inaccuracies in the article – it’s a wonder the author hasn’t been sued by Ordnance Survey – it is also an interesting summary of the way in which cartography has been opened up so that anyone can make a map, but irritatingly it doesn’t really answer the question that it poses in its title.

Black Country Experience

What a fantastic two days for the Black Country Experience, marvellous weather, great company and a fascinating tour of some of the traditional industrial activities associated with the area. The Experience started with dinner at the hotel, to the background of a local sixth form prom night, where some of the dresses would have put ‘My big fat gypsy wedding’ to shame! The first full day of the Experience, was a very full day indeed including a narrow boat trip through the Dudley limestone caverns, a visit to the Black Country Living Museum, an excursion to Dudley Archives to see some of their generally map-related artefacts and finally traditional Black Country Fare of ‘faggots ’n paes’ at Ma Pardoe’s. There was no let up on Saturday as we went on a guided canal walk through the Stourbridge Glass Industry, ending at the Red House Glass Cone where we had a go at glass engraving. Some were brilliant, but it convinced me that I certainly don’t have a second career as a glass engraver. The afternoon concluded with a presentation on the 2012 Portland Vase Project, with the highlight of the entire Experience being an opportunity to see the 2012 vase itself. 

A huge thank you to Mary Spence for organising the event and to her ‘other half’ Graham Fisher for acting as host, expert, raconteur and giving us all a really great Experience.

The next BCS Experience opportunity will come in the October, with the Historical Military Mapping Special Interest Group arranging a visit to Lincolnshire around the theme of the 70th Anniversary of the Dams Raid. More details at Bomber Command Experience.

BCS Symposium
The 50th Anniversary Symposium is now only a few weeks away and it looks like we may well have record numbers, for recent years, attending. We have already overflowed from the venue and we are having to accommodate delegates offsite, such is its popularity. It has also featured in the Leicester Mercury, so it can only be a matter of time until we hit the national press. There is still time to book, so if you haven’t made up your mind to attend, hurry up and do so as delegate places are limited. The programme is particularly strong this year, with a very wide range of speakers from across the cartographic community and our keynote session involving the Heads of the 5 major UK mapping organisations is a unique opportunity to hear them reflect on the last 50 years and what the immediate future has to hold for the cartographic industry.

Restless Earth End of Term

Our penultimate Restless Earth workshop took place at Richard Huish College in Taunton in early July. As it was also the penultimate day of their term, the teachers had devised a cunning plan to maximize student attendance by running a themed cake competition alongside the workshop. There was a geographic theme for all the entries, with one student choosing to highlight the problems with satnavs, on the left. The cake on the right was the most innovative, but unfortunately got a bit damaged on the way in to the College. It was a sponge cake, sat on top of a jelly, so that when you tapped the side of the tin, the cake wobbled to simulate suffering a mini earthquake, a brilliant idea that didn’t quite work.

It was a really good day, heavily supported by staff from the Hydrographic Office and judging by the smiling faces in the picture left, it was enjoyable for the students as well as instructive.

The Restless Earth programme is already well advanced for the next academic year with 14 workshops arranged around the country, so if you’d like to come along and help please get in touch, although we can’t promise cake at every one!

By the time the next monthly newsletter comes out it will be almost ‘#maptember’, a month renamed to reflect the amount of map-related events taking place. To do them all will be a marathon, so good luck to those attending more than one. I will be between the ICC in Dresden and the BCS Symposium in Leicestershire, so the newsletter may well get composed on the flight home.

Pete Jones MBE, CGeog, FRGS

E-mail: Peter.Jones991@mod.uk

Twitter: @geomapnut

BCS President's Report June 2013

28th June 2013 

This month’s review of anniversaries starts with probably one of the most well-known photographs of the 1960s. On 5th June 1963, John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War resigned over his affair with Christine Keeler and a few days later on 8th June, Stephen Ward was charged with living on immoral earnings. 

Not really a map related story, I will admit, but the rationale behind choosing the story is that it shares its 50th birthday with the BCS. It also shows how times have changed, as I suspect that a similar story now would barely make the headlines, let alone lead to a minister resigning. Having said that Silvio Berlusconi has just been sentenced to 7 years for goings on at his ‘bunga bunga’ parties, so perhaps things haven’t changed that much after all!

In what is altogether a more pleasant story, on 19th June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova the first woman in space, returned safely to Earth. Her call sign for this flight was Chaika (Seagull), later commemorated as the name of an asteroid. So in this respect she shares an honour with Michael Palin as we learnt in April that he too has had an asteroid named after him. Little known fact of the month: In order to join the Cosmonaut Corps, Tereshkova was only inducted into the Soviet Air Force in an honorary capacity and thus she also became the first civilian to go into space.

Back in January I noted the 150th anniversary of the London Underground. The lines and extent have obviously changed a lot over the 150 year period, but did you know that at one stage you could have travelled from Windsor to Southend on the London Underground? These two ‘ghost’ stations, along with all the others that have been closed mainly due to low usage are shown on a map of the current network - London Underground Ghost Stations.

This year also sees the 400th Anniversary of Japan-British Relations, Japan400 commemorates the start of diplomatic, trading and cultural relations between Britain and Japan in 1613. It celebrates the spirit of discovery and mutual regard that has inspired many successful collaborations and a remarkable friendship between two societies on opposite sides of the world.

This is something that we are very pleased to recognise as two UK-based Japanese charities are currently supporting the BCS Restless Earth programme with financial grants – The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and The Japan Society. Thanks to their generosity we are currently able to offer the workshops totally free of charge to schools. The programme for 2013/14 is already well advanced with 12 workshops arranged for the autumn and spring terms.

Autumn Term

• Thursday 26^th September          Stanwell School, Penarth
• Thursday 3^rd October                Feltham Community College (New)
• Wednesday 16^th October           Prior’s Field School, Godalming (New)
• Thursday 14^th November           Altrincham Grammar School for Boys
• Wednesday 4^th December         The Highfield School,  Letchworth Garden City (New)

Spring Term

• Week beginning 20^th January    Godalming Sixth From College
• Monday 3^rd February                  Calthorpe Park School, Fleet
• Tuesday 4^th February                 Calthorpe Park School, Fleet
• Tuesday 11^th February               Bedford Girls School (New)
• Tuesday 26^th February               Our Lady's Convent High School, Hackney
• Tuesday 18^th March                   Kirkbie Kendal School, Kendal
• Friday 28^th March                      Clapton Girls’ Academy, London

We are always keen for BCS members to get involved, so if one is happening near you please do get in touch and then come along to help. We have been trialling a GIS version of the workshop to run alongside the traditional paper solution and we hope to roll it out to schools next year. As GIS now takes a more prominent place in the Geography curriculum we anticipate that demand will grow even more.

  

The longest straight line international boundary in the world? My thanks to Ken Field for tweeting about the video explaining the delineation of the US/Canada International Boundary, an intriguing 5 minutes that I can guarantee will tell you things that you didn’t know! US Canada Border 

I will be attending the Black Country Experience weekend in mid-July so hope to see you there. This two day trip to the Black Country in July is to sample the best the area has to offer. Local writer and broadcaster, Graham Fisher MBE, will act as our guide through an exploration of the area’s industrial heritage - from the first canals built for transportation of mineral ores to the manufacturing of glass, its demise and the rise of artisan glassmaking. Whilst several locations will be offering their hosting services in house, much of the two days will be conducted by Graham who is a specialist in inland waterways (awarded an MBE in 2004 for services to the inland waterways) and an ambassador for the Stourbridge Glass industry. He has made extensive enquiries into the links between the two and has written books on the subject. He is thus ideally placed to act as our guide.

This month’s cartographic curiosity comes thanks to BCS Member Ed Brown, who spotted an article in the Evening Standard. An Australian woman who used daily trips to Richmond Park to help her get over depression has had a map of it tattooed on to her thigh. Jessica Pinney flew over to live with her parents in Richmond in 2004 when she went through a major depressive episode and would visit the park every day to help her cope. 

The 28-year-old, who has lived in Richmond on-and-off since 1994, and now lives in Australia, had the royal park inked on her left thigh in a three-and-a-half hour session in Melbourne. 

The tattoo combines the current map of the park with an older one and includes some personal place names such as Witchy Woods, instead of Sidmouth Wood.

Jessica was quoted as saying: “I feel like Richmond Park is my home and I wanted to have it tattooed on me so it’s always with me and I’m kind of always there. It’ll be hilarious if I ever get asked for directions in the park again - I can pull down my trousers or pull up my skirt and give them some really good advice.” Yes, or she might get arrested!

  

Numbers are looking very healthy for this year's BCS Symposium already and we could well have record attendance for recent years, a great way to start ‘Maptember’ and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Society. I hope you have entered your maps for the BCS Awards as well, the presentations for which will be at the Symposium. Entries close on 31st July, full details on the website at BCS Awards. And we also get a mention on Directions Magazine website Direction Magazine.

You will also need to be quick to catch the BCS 50th Anniversary book at its prepublication price of just £12.50. The book combines a history of the Society with a review of the last 50 years illustrated by maps to accompany the major UK and international news stories. It reflects both the changing cartographic world and recognises some of the major contributors to the Society since its inception back in 1963. Whilst I suspect it won’t hit the Times Bestseller list, it will be an interesting read for members and non-members alike, so why not sort out your Christmas present buying all in one go!

Pete Jones MBE, CGeog, FRGS

E-mail: Peter.Jones991@mod.uk

Twitter: @geomapnut

BCS President's Report May 2013

31st May 2013

Lots of anniversaries this month, so no problem at all in filling space or having to scratch around for tenuous links to historic moments.

On the 17th May 1943, 19 Lancasters from 617 Squadron took off from RAF Scampton on Operation CHASTISE, better known simply as the "Dambusters Raid". The 70th anniversary was marked by a number of events including the "Battle of Britain Memorial Flight" Lancaster PA474 conducting a flypast over Derwent Water Reservoir in the Peak District, one of the reservoirs and dams used in training for the mission. Having been flown for much of her service with the BBMF as the "City of Lincoln", PA474 presently wears the markings of the "Phantom of the Ruhr", a Lancaster that flew 121 sorties. Just 3 of the original 133 crew are still alive: George Johnson, Les Munro and Frederick Sutherland. The map below shows part of the planned flight path to the dams.

Compared to today's pilots they flew incredibly low at 60ft to avoid detection. Given the lack of any sophisticated navigation aids it’s no wonder that at least one aircraft flew into power cables and another ditched in the sea. They also had to fly virtually the whole mission in the dark for the night-time raids and had to work out ways of maintaining exact height and distance from the dams so that the bombs hit the top of the dams and then dropped down, exploding by pressure fuse at what was assessed to be the weakest part of the dam.

If you have read your latest edition of Maplines, you will have noticed that the Historic Military Mapping Special Interest Group of the BCS is planning an autumn event that will tie in with the anniversary of the Dams raid. This will be a weekend in October based around a visit to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby airfield.This will include an opportunity to see their Lancaster, NX611"Just Jane", which is being refurbished with a view to making it airworthy again. At the moment it is only certified for tail-up taxi runs, sufficient speed to lift the tail wheel off the ground but no more.

Sixty years ago, on 29th May 1953, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary became the first people to climb Everest. What has nowadays become a fairly regular occurrence; their feat was certainly ground breaking at the time, done without modern equipment, although they did have high altitude boots, rubber walkie-talkies and experimental oxygen tanks. May is traditionally one of the best times of the year to climb Everest, and this year has been one of the most crowded seasons with more than 500 people having scaled the mountain since the start of 2013.

Since the first successful climb, more than 4,500 people have reached the top. Amid the celebrations there are concerns about the growing number of climbers on Everest and the pollution they cause, so much so that Nepalese officials are now considering placing a limit on the number of climbers allowed to ascend Everest.

Interesting fact – the mountain as named after Colonel Sir George Everest, Surveyor-General of India from 1830 to 1843, whose name was pronounced Eve (as in the girl’s name) Rest, so by referring to it as Ev-e-rest we have been pronouncing it wrongly all these years!

This is one that I missed last month, but I wanted to include a slightly quirky map-related topic. Kenneth Ira Appel died on April 19 2013. If this is not a name that is immediately familiar, he was an American mathematician who in 1976, with colleague Wolfgang Haken solved one of the most famous problems in mathematics, the "Four Colour Theorem". They proved that any two-dimensional map, with certain limitations, can be filled in with four colours without any adjacent "countries" sharing the same colour. The proof has been one of the most controversial of modern mathematics because of its heavy dependence on computer "number-crunching" to sort through possibilities, which drew criticism from many in the mathematical community for its inelegance, including the comment "a good mathematical proof is like a poem—this is a telephone directory!”

The "map" on the left was designed to celebrate the 2013 Chelsea Flower Show. One hundred years ago, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show was held for the first time. Back in 1913 it was a three-day affair with 244 exhibitors, about half of them nurseries and a third sundriesmen (manufacturers of glasshouses, retailers of gardening tools and chemicals, stands for gardening magazines and makers of garden furniture). The remainder were a mixture of amateur gardeners, most representing the still-thriving world of country-house gardening, and professional garden designers. The RHS had held a Great Spring Show since 1862, but it moved to its current home and assumed the title in 1913. We haven’t yet hit the hundredth show as it was cancelled in 1917 and 1918 and for the whole of the Second World War.

Sundriesman is probably a word that is unfamiliar to most and is one of those professions that has become rare if not ceased to exist. In a recent article online entitled “Is Cartography Dead?”, the author speculated, "if “cartographer” is soon to be listed alongside “cooper” and “cartwright” in the tally of occupations of yesteryear?” Happily the author goes on to conclude that the answer to his question is “no”, full details at  http://blog.visual.ly/is-cartography-dead.

GeoDATA 2013 

The Society recently participated in the GeoDATA seminars in Birmingham and Sheffield and gave presentations on why cartography is still important, hopefully I helped to reinforce the message that cartography is still thriving. The talks went down well at both venues and encouraged a lot of questions at the stand afterwards. Both days were very busy and I signed up a number of new members at the events, four in Birmingham and five in Sheffield, so I'd like to say "Welcome!" to those receiving their first President’s monthly. The free to attend GeoDATA events continue during 2013 and BCS will have a presence at most, if not all, culminating in London in November. If you can help to man the stand in Edinburgh on 7th November or in Belfast on 21st November then please let me know.

Order at discount before end of June

And Finally 

The BCS 50th Anniversary Book is almost ready to go to press. We are offering this at a pre-publication price of £12.50 plus £2.50 P&P and have extended the deadline to 30th June. After this the book will be £15.00. See the website for full details.

Pete Jones MBE, CGeog, FRGS