NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: An essay about maps
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2010 Nov 14, 17:58 +1100
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2010 Nov 14, 17:58 +1100
Nothing else is perfect, why would maps be the exception? And even if this perfect map was created, the next day something could, nay will change and then goodbye accuracy. This seems to have been (good lady) Farrelly's problem: stuff happened but the map, once printed, stayed the same.
The UK is a much smaller place physically, and possibly also more stable although all landscapes change over time, let alone ephemeral bush tracks.
As to the Big Smoke, the reason for that appellation used to be obvious. Large centres of population still churn out lots of emissions although now they tend to be more diffuse. The Big Smog might be more apt these days.
The UK is a much smaller place physically, and possibly also more stable although all landscapes change over time, let alone ephemeral bush tracks.
As to the Big Smoke, the reason for that appellation used to be obvious. Large centres of population still churn out lots of emissions although now they tend to be more diffuse. The Big Smog might be more apt these days.
On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 10:00 AM, Fred Hebard <Fred@acf.org> wrote:
Are the British Ordnance Survey maps really as accurate as she claims? I've never seen a high resolution (<= 30') map that was 100% accurate, where I had knowledge enough of the terrain to detect the errors.
It was rather a nice read, thanks for sharing it.
On Nov 13, 2010, at 4:43 PM, Peter Fogg wrote:
An essay for those interested in maps:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/road-to-nowhere-20101112-17r37.html
You can tell the good lady is from the Big Smoke. If she'd spent more time in remote places she'd have known that when you get to a place like Hungerford you don't just drive through it. You stop and, first of all, take on fuel. Even if your tanks are near-full - whether you'll find any more further on is never guaranteed, and the person selling fuel is potentially a good source of information about what lies ahead. Then you visit the pub. If the place is a stepping-off point to really remote places you're also expected to register with the cops. Its just common sense really, but you can expect to be quizzed about how well-prepared you might be for the next leg, including your mapping resources.
As you drive out from the relatively well-populated coast into the relatively bereft-of-people interior, you go from ignoring other motorists to acknowledging them. Then when you get further out, if another vehicle approaches from the direction you're going then you both stop - blocking the road, but that's rarely a problem - so the drivers can have a leisurely chat, driver's window to driver's window, elbow to elbow, about the weather and the price of ewes and, what interests you most, what's ahead.
In two words: local knowledge. The good lady is dreaming with her whimsical insistence on mapping accuracy. As if there was such a thing.
