Newspaper Article

MAD ABOUT MAPS

Parker, Mike

2010

Overview

\"None of the maps is quite what it seems,\" says Peter Barber, the library's Head of Map Collections and co-curator of the exhibition. \"Many of them don't even fulfil the criteria that we think of today as maps, in that these were primarily works of art and propaganda, rather than utilitarian objects of navigation.\" Placing these beautiful maps in the political context of their age is something of a new sport. \"This exhibition could not have happened 20 years ago,\" Barber says. \"Then, the assumption was that the only valid way to look at maps was a scientific one, and that the history of cartography was only about incremental improvement in standards of measurement and accuracy. My predecessor in this post declared that all medieval maps were 'mere decoration'. I suspect he's turning in his grave.\" It is, of course, in this digital realm that most of the cartographic action is now taking place. Paper maps now account for only eight per cent of Ordnance Survey's income, although after years of steady decline, sales did climb a little last year thanks to the much-vaunted ''staycation''. As of this month, OS has been forced by the Government to open up more of its databases to both individuals and competitors, free of charge, and it will be fascinating to see how that pans out. It could result in a dizzying range of exciting new maps, both online and as hard copy; being pessimistic, however, it could see off the comprehensive national range of paper maps. At present, considerably fewer than half of the 204 sheets in the OS 1:50,000 Landranger series so much as break even, and some, covering the more remote parts of the country, sell just a couple of dozen copies a year. Can they survive a more rigorously commercial business model?

• Publisher: Daily Telegraph
• Subject: Barber, Peter