A lot of work has been
going on behind the scenes and I can now announce that the 2015 BCS Symposium
will be held in York on 9th and 10th September. The
Programme Committee is delighted to announce that this year our Symposium has
been combined with the Society of Cartographers’ Summer School and will be the:
BCS – SoC Conference 2015 entitled ‘Mapping
Together’
Full details will be available
on both Societies’ websites shortly and a call for papers and workshop suggestions
is available at http://soc.org.uk/socbcs2015/,
so if you would like to be involved please make sure that you register your
interest early. We have held joint events in the past, the last being at Reading
in 2003. As in previous years, there will be a day for Special Interest Group
activities on Tuesday 8th September including a Mapathon organised
by the GIS SIG. Last year this was based on data supplied by the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission. The Map Curators Group and the Historical Military
Mapping Group are also planning a joint event. The BCS-SoC Conference will run
on Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th September and the
Annual Golf Tournament for the President’s Golden Ball will be held on Friday 11th
September.
Cartography on the
web
A few months ago I
posted a Victorian era map showing travel times from London around the world as
colour bands on a world map. I did challenge anyone to produce an updated
version and whilst nobody has yet done so, Ben Hennig at Oxford University,
well known for his cartograms, has produced a map showing the world’s most
remote locations. As I have been to Thule Air Base in Northern Greenland, it
looks like I can claim to have visited one of the world’s most remote places.
Quite a good little
application if you want to include some basic maps in presentations etc... and
it is free. Details can be found at www.mapchart.net where there are maps of a few regions
with more due to be added. The regional breakdown of the UK is interesting and
might be more useful if it was based on counties, but it remains a simple
resource for schools and beginners.
I think we all knew this
anyway but the power and importance of mental maps is pulled out quite clearly
in this article http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/without-mental-maps-we-re-lost-geographer-says-1.1429717.
GPS horror stories are
well known but the consistent improvement in satnav capabilities and ironing
out the nonsensical mistakes are making them more reliable. However, total
reliance on a disembodied voice on your dashboard can be a mistake if you
suddenly lose signal. The importance of actually knowing where you are remains
paramount and even if you don’t have a paper map or road atlas to hand, the
mental map based on the pre-planning of your journey and understanding where
you should be can be a lifesaver.
One of the most
recognisable representations of London is via its underground network, where
distortions to locations aid clarity and interpretation. London Boroughs have
now been given the ‘square’ treatment and I think it actually works well as a
means of conveying complex information in a simple way, removing the
geographical size differences of the boroughs whilst retaining the correct
relative orientation in most cases. You can check out some of the variations at
http://aftertheflood.co/projects/london-squared-map. Even if you are familiar with London
Boroughs however, are you familiar with all the new names for certain parts of
London? http://londonist.com/2015/01/london-rebranded-the-capitals-changing-names-mapped.php?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Londonist&utm_content=London%20Rebranded:%20The%20Capital%27s%20Changing%20Names,%20Mapped
Special Interest
Groups
It would appear that one
of the ‘best kept secrets’ of the BCS might be the Special Interest Groups
(SIGs), so over the next few months I will be highlighting the activities of
each to make members, and non-members alike, more aware of their roles and
activities. I am going to start with the GIS SIG, which as well as being a
palindrome is probably the most self-explanatory. This SIG is primarily aimed
at those using GIS to generate mapping products and it organises events aimed
at both showcasing what GIS can do and also providing some cartographic
underpinning for people who may have learned to use GIS but may have never
received any formal cartographic training. GIS SIG members are frequent
presenters at BCS Better Mapping Seminars and also run events around the
country, with a new venture being BCS support of the Maptime initiatives which
are beginning to be held in the UK. An innovation last year, which looks like
becoming a regular feature at Symposia in the future, is the Mapathon. The
basic idea is for anyone interested to turn up with their own laptop, running
whatever GIS software they utilise and they are given a dataset from which to
generate outputs, which are then reviewed and critiqued at the end of the day.
Last year we worked with data provided by the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission and 20 people attended, working in teams of 3 or 4 to produce a wide
range of innovative outputs. We will be holding another Mapathon at the
Symposium in York and we also hope to organise one at Ordnance Survey in late
Spring.
Unusual Maps
While you do find maps
in some rather unusual places, I haven’t seen one on a pasty before and
certainly not one this big. It was made by the head chef at the Eden Project
ahead of the World Pasty Championships to be held on 28th February. I left the
Sherlock paragraph in as it ties back to my Presidential address at last year’s
Symposium where I compared Cartographers to Sherlock as high functioning
sociopaths. It looks like we have also both had a popularity surge with
Sherlock topping iPlayer viewing figures and BCS Membership topping 700.
Publications
BCS Member Gwilym Eades
from Royal Holloway University has recently published ‘Maps and Memes’ which
looks at how maps and cartography have long been used in the lands and
resources offices of Canada's indigenous communities in support of land claims
and traditional-use studies. Published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, it
can be ordered at http://www.mqup.ca/maps-and-memes-products-9780773544499.php.
And Finally
A direct quote from the
BBC website, “…..is a thing of beauty,
with a wonderfully tightly packaged rear
end”, referring
to?
Pete Jones MBE FBCart.S CGeog
10th February 2015
E-mail: peter.jones991@mod.uk
Twitter: @geomapnut
