BCS President's Bulletin May 2014

It’s that time again when a large part of the world will be glued to their TV sets for almost a month watching the World Cup and a slightly smaller part will be groaning inwardly when you announce you’re going to watch Honduras v. Ecuador. Maps and wallcharts will start appearing all over the place in offices and homes, children will fill out the results in World Cup sticker books until the novelty wears off, but at least it encourages a healthy interest in the locations of other countries and which of them England are going to beat. According to my wallchart predictions, England will beat Germany in the final having scraped out of the group and then seen off Ivory Coast, Brazil and Portugal. Can England really win the 2014 World Cup? Yes. Will England win the 2014 World Cup? Your guess is as good as mine. By the time I write next month’s bulletin, we will be at the quarter final stage – will England still be a contender?!

BCS Symposium

The BCS’ 50^th Annual Symposium is now just 3 weeks away and bookings are at an all-time high. Well, at least at a high in recent years. No, I haven’t made a mistake. Although the Society celebrated its 50^th Anniversary last year, this year sees us holding our 50^th Annual Symposium. I don’t know who holds the record for having attended the most Symposia. I’ve attended them all since 1999, but I am sure there are others who can surpass that. It looks like being another excellent event this year with a very good range of speakers from across the cartographic community, some really hands on workshops and our first ever Mapathon. Full details of the Mapathon can be found on the website, http://www.cartography.org.uk/downloads/mapping2014/Mapathon_flyer.pdf, but essentially you turn up at Marwell on the Tuesday morning with your laptop loaded with software of your choice, we give you a dataset to work with and by the end of the day you have turned that dataset into a map. We are working with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to produce a map or maps that will help in their commemoration of the Centenary of the First World War. It is free to attend, so if you haven’t already signed up, check out the website, sign up and come along. Help will be at hand for those of you who don’t feel that confident and everyone is welcome whatever your level of expertise.

 

The BCS Awards that will be presented at the Black Tie Gala Dinner on the Wednesday evening have now closed for 2014. We will be announcing details for the 2015 Awards at the Symposium and we will be looking for more fantastic and innovative cartography for next year’s entries. The UKHO Junior Mapmaker Award and the National Geographic Society New Mapmaker Award are still open and don’t close until the end of July. There is still time to submit entries and again full details may be found on the website.

If you have ever wondered why the event is called a Symposium, I did offer an explanation in my 50^th Anniversary speech last year, but an alternative reason has been offered, if you work your way through this decision tree.

Maps on the Internet

I have recently become increasingly aware of the neologism ‘infographic’, more of which at the Symposium. The huge explosion of mapping on the Internet is both a good and a bad thing. It has popularised maps even more than ever before and has increased awareness of issues by portraying them within a spatial context that can often add depth and meaning – when done well. But the flip side is that an awful lot of it is not done well, in fact it’s done appallingly badly. A recent article by Business Insider sums it up perfectly, with some pretty hideous examples - http://www.businessinsider.com/the-internets-maps-obsession-2014-5#ixzz31BHOvuDf.

‘Could you make a better map than this?’ Did you rise to the challenge issued by Knowhere Consulting? They highlighted a dreadful example on their site http://knowwhereconsulting.co.uk/could-you-make-a-better-map/. One thing we need to be wary of is becoming the internet police and just knocking bad maps. As the article says, “By now you may be thinking ‘why doesn’t he stop knocking the LGA’s map and make a better one himself?’. Well I am a pretty clumsy user of QGIS and I am certainly not a cartographer so my effort would be be pretty poor. So here’s a challenge, download the data, use some OpenData and make a better map”. The entries will be judged and a prize awarded at the July Geomob event, but BCS would love to see the entries too. Talking of which, the line up for the next Geomob event on 17^th July has been announced. Full details may be found at http://geomobldn.org/post/86215066805/july-17th-geomob-lineup.

Okay, so they can’t spell colour, but GIS lounge has an interesting article on maps for the colour blind that complements the article in the latest edition of Maplines, http://www.gislounge.com/making-color-blind-friendly-maps/

Not wishing to prolong this any more than is strictly necessary, the good old chestnut of right information, wrong projection reared its ugly head again in May. Few of us would probably have linked The Proclaimers to cartography, but linked they have been. Check out the Cartonerd’s blog, http://cartonerd.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/i-would-map-500-miles.html which says it all and we will then quietly draw a line under it.

Sit back from whichever device you are using to read this before opening the next link or you are in serious danger of drooling over your keyboard. http://www.pinterest.com/globemakers/the-art-of-maps-cartography/ After highlighting some of the worst examples on the net, here are some of the most beautiful map images. If there isn’t at least one example on the site that you will absolutely love I will be amazed.

ICA Mapcarte

So, what have I selected as my favourites from this months’ selection? It’s a pretty eclectic mix, starting with a classic, The Times Atlas. First published in 1895 and still going strong today, this has been the stalwart of the Atlas market, viewed as the authoritative version. I do have one rather worrying anecdote, however. Whilst visiting the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the late 1990s, I was offered a tour of some of the more prestigious rooms, including the Foreign Secretary’s Office. The incumbent was Robin Cook at the time and I was heartened to see a Times Atlas on a side table and assumed that this was the reference work that the Foreign Secretary consulted when formulating Britain’s Foreign Policy. I was slightly disheartened, on opening the front cover to discover that it was the 1963 edition!

 

‘Where on earth have you been?’ Well if the Guardian’s map is to be believed, and what looks like a very heavily pregnant USA is accurate, most of us seem to have crossed the pond. Australia is pretty rotund as well and as for our European neighbours it would seem that France and a particularly pendulous Sweden are amongst our favourite destinations. As the post says, ‘Simple, Fun and Eye Catching’.

My last choice is a bit like the ‘Kevin’ map last month, I know I shouldn’t like it, but I do. ‘The Londoner’s view of the North’, is a combination of stereotype and humour. Whilst it can’t be cited as an example of great cartography, anything that makes you smile can’t be all bad. Come September 18^th, I wonder if the author will have to issue a revised version?!

To view all the maps on the MapCarte site go to http://mapdesign.icaci.org/category/mapcarte/.

 

Honorary Fellowship

Last year we recognised the significant contribution to the Society of two of our members, Ann Sutherland and Dr Seppe Cassettari, with the award of Honorary Fellowships. We are now inviting nominations for this year. Each year the Society can grant up to 3 Honorary Fellowships, so if you know of someone who you think the Society should recognise, please contact our Administrator, Roger Hore.

Technician of the Year

Congratulations to BCS member, Mark Szegner from Loughborough University, who has just been awarded the Higher Education Authority’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Technician of the Year Award for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. These awards celebrate the technician’s contribution to teaching and learning activities and to the wider HE student experience. Mark is one of the few University Cartographers around and it is great to be able to celebrate the recognition of cartography in a field where my source for the original information tells me “This is a really big deal as usually technicians in white coats tend to win”. A brief resumé of his career can be found at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/stem-conference-2014/TOTY-GEES.

Congratulations from all your colleagues in the BCS.

And finally

We have just confirmed our guest speaker to follow the BCS AGM on 17^th November. BBC Weather presenter Helen Willetts will be speaking to us. As yet I don’t have a title for her talk but it will have a cartographic element. I heard Helen speak at the RGS some years ago on climate change and she is very engaging speaker. Full details will appear on the website soon.

Image courtesy of BBC website

Pete Jones MBE FBCart.S CGeog

3rd June 2014

Email: Peter.Jones991@mod.uk

Twitter: @geomapnut

BCS Presidents Report April 2013

If you weren't one of the 200-plus who attended, you missed a fascinating evening at the RGS with Michael Palin. He talked for an hour and I could quite happily have listened for a lot longer as he was so entertaining and the photos which accompanied the presentation were stunning. Clearly Michael is great fan of maps and uses them all the time during his travels. 
For those of you unable to make it, the first half of his presentation was about his passion for maps, the second half, anecdotes illustrated by photographs taken on his journeys. We were extremely lucky to get him to speak to us and thanks must go again to Mary Spence for arranging everything. Mary produced the maps for the book which accompanied Michael’s recent TV series ‘Brazil’. Michael stayed after his talk for the drinks reception and a fair few people managed to meet him, although for others I’m afraid it was a fleeting glimpse as he had to get away, as he was off to Oman the next day. This was certainly one of the highlights of the 50th anniversary celebrations and my new claim to fame is that I have shared a stage with Michael Palin.

On to this month’s anniversaries and fifty years ago on 6th April the UK Government signed the Polaris Sales Agreement with the US which led to the commencement of the construction of the nuclear submarine base at Faslane on Gare Loch. For many years the full details of this facility were not shown on Ordnance Survey maps, nor were many ‘protected places’ which were thought to be too sensitive to show on publicly available mapping. 

© Google 2013

This practice stopped with the advent of widely available aerial photography and Google now shows the base in "Glorious Technicolor" detail. It was an example of cartographic censorship, a lot of which still goes on today around the world. Yet it still seems a little strange that sites that were very well known or clearly visible, such as the Radomes at Fylingdales were not shown on OS maps. Just under two weeks later, on 15t April, 70,000 marchers arrived in London from Aldermaston to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.

Each year, a telecom market research firm called TeleGeography releases a map of the underwater cables that connect the Global Internet. It was described on the original internet site that I found this on as ‘flat out gorgeous’. The lines trace the paths that the world’s data takes every day, as packets of information zip between the continents. They don’t precisely track the cables’ actual underwater routes, but they do accurately show the land-based points for this massive underwater series of tubes.

At first glance, the lines appear to mirror long-proven global trade routes, with major hubs in the global capitals of New York, Amsterdam and Mumbai. The growth today, however, is in historically under-served regions such as Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Interestingly not all the hubs are located in the big cities as you would expect. The cables converging on Brazil, land not in Sao Paolo or Rio de Janeiro but Fortaleza, simply because it’s an easier link to the Northern Hemisphere. Another popular destination is Djibouti.

The firm collects the data for the map each year from the private companies that operate the cables. This year’s edition includes 244 cable networks that are either already in service or scheduled for activation by 2014.
The map is available free of charge online in large and interactive formats—and you can also buy a print copy to frame and hang on your wall. But be warned: it is as pricey as a work of art at $250 a copy!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/02/01/telegeography_s_gorgeous_map_of_the_global_internet.html

Can you help? The BCS would like to make an attempt on a world record in our anniversary year. We have searched for a map related one and the best fit is what has become known as the ‘Tube Challenge’ – visiting all 270 London Underground Stations in the shortest possible time. As it is also the 150th Anniversary of the London Underground this seems to be a particularly appropriate one. The current record (at time of going to press) is 16 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds, which is thought by the aficionados to be just about the best time possible, but I am sure that the combined resources of the BCS can have a good go at beating it!

As some of the challenge requires running between stations – those at the end of lines predominantly – we need some fit BCS members to actually take on the record attempt, backed up by Mission Control, somewhere in the central London area – again offers to host gratefully received. As some tube stations are closed at weekends it needs to be undertaken on a week day and to include Olympia it needs to be on a day when a service is running from Earl’s Court. Whatever you can bring to the attempt – an encyclopaedic knowledge of bus routes between tube stations? – please get in touch if you would like to be involved.

Maplines is the magazine of the BCS and you may have noticed recently that it hasn’t been published quite on time. We are urgently in need of volunteers to join the editorial team and if you have any publication layout experience that would be particularly useful. If we can get 2 or 3 additional people it will greatly ease the burden and shouldn’t make it too onerous a task. The Society relies on volunteers and it would be great if more members could become involved, so if you’ve always wanted to help but haven’t seen an opportunity, please do get in touch via the website or e-mail me at peter.jones991@mod.uk.

Pete Jones MBE, CGeog, FRGS

25th April 2013

“You want me to sign how many books?!”

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And finally;

The  6th Annual International Spatial Socio-Cultural Knowledge Workshop, which will be held again at the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham, on Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th June 2013. The BCS has been offered at stand at this workshop and we are currently looking for volunteers to man the stand over the two days – names please to peter.jones991@mod.uk

BCS President’s Report December 2012

A Very Merry Cristmas and a Happy New Year

An early Christmas message as Roger our Administrative Officer is taking a well earned rest from Membership renewals for a couple of weeks.

Yes, it is a deliberate mistake in the title, I have dropped the ‘h’ from Christmas. Why? Well there is much debate about the correct use of English and dropped aitches have been around for many a year, but usually at the beginning of words. The example I found recently was more subtle and led me to wonder if a new word had been coined. Hopefully you will have spotted the error in the extract (left) from The Times list of ideal Christmas presents ‘For Him’. Firstly I would take issue with a book about maps being in the ‘For Him’ section and secondly just what is ‘cartograpy’? Is it a combination of maps and wine, which may be of interest to many, is it the mapping of wine regions? Either way, perhaps it’s a good excuse to raise a glass or two during the festive period as ‘map books’ are becoming increasingly popular and mainstream, showing that there is a continued and growing interest in the subject.

Maps produced by Mary Spence

On the subject of books, those of you who have bought, or may receive as a Christmas present, ‘Brazil’, the book that accompanies Michael Palin’s recent TV series, will be interested to know that the maps in the book were produced by Mary Spence, past BCS President and still very much involved with Programme Committee. We are very pleased to announce that Mary has persuaded Michael to give a talk to BCS members next year as part of our 50th Anniversary celebrations. The talk will take place at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Friday 12th April. Full details will be sent out in the New Year, but definitely a date for your diary.

The big event this month was the London Mapping Festival Mapping Showcase held at Lord’s Cricket Ground on 6th December. This was the culmination of the Festival and was a huge success. BCS had a stand at the Showcase and we were kept busy all day speaking to existing members and encouraging new members to join. We had taken along some examples of the Restless Earth resources and maps produced by Year 10 students, which generated a lot of interest.

The London Mapping Festival was the brainchild of the GeoInformation Group and I would like to offer them my congratulations on an excellent initiative. The 18 month-long festival encompassed a wide variety of events and I hope that you managed to get along to some of them? The Mapping Showcase was notable for the wide range of exhibitors, from the entire spectrum of the cartographic industry and the extensive range of attendees from the GIS professional to the self confessed ‘map nut’. There was also a good range of presentations throughout the day on some very thought provoking topics that are very relevant to the cartographic community at the moment. With over 500 registered delegates it showed that the industry is in very good health at the moment and The BCS needs to capitalise on this by further increasing our membership base and ensuring that we fully meet the needs of our members, no matter which sector of the industry they are working in.

50th Anniversary Events

Following on from the London Mapping Festival’s example, for our 50th anniversary year in 2013, we are aiming to hold events on a regular basis around the country to offer the chance to attend a BCS event to as many members as possible. A provisional programme has been put together by the Programme Committee, but if there is an area or event that you would like to organise, please do get in touch with us as we want the year to be as inclusive as possible. January sees the BCS having a stand at DGI Global from 22nd to 24th. This is aimed at the Defence community and is attended by delegates, as the name suggests, from a global audience. BCS has had a stand at previous events when it was DGI Europe and we have generated a lot of interest in the Society.

On 24th January the UKGEOforum 2013 Annual Lecture will be held at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in London. This year’s lecturer is Mark Ovenden and his lecture is entitled “How Beck's diagram re-mapped the modern world”. Early booking for this event is recommended as places are limited. Roger sent out full details of the lecture on 19th November. Mark was a presenter at the Symposium this year, where he delivered a workshop entitled ‘Making a practical transit map’ and from the delegate feedback it was very well received.

For those of you with children, or if you are just a big kid yourself, then you may be interested in keeping up with Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve by following him on the NORAD Santa Tracker website - http://www.noradsanta.org/. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defence for the two countries and whilst Santa is not seen as a ‘threat’ he does get tracked every year. It’s good fun and is a useful persuasive measure to get children to bed, although given that they are usually so excited there is no guarantee of sleep I’m afraid. So log on and follow his progress across the world map and ensure that you are in bed before he arrives to deliver your presents!

Which, I think, just leaves me to wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let’s hope that it is a peaceful and quiet time that we can enjoy with family and friends.

Best Wishes

Pete Jones MBE, CGeog, FRGS