Happy 225th birthday to the Ordnance Survey

"A superior way to navigate the landscape".

It's 225 years since the first map produced by the Ordnance Survey.

I've been privileged to be connected with the OS in a number of ways over the years.

I worked on resources for Digimaps for Schools for EDINA and also MapStream and Digimap for Colleges - although they have now disappeared. I used to meet up regularly with the OS team at conferences through the early 2000s, and still meet up with Darren Bailey as he serves on the RGS Committee that I chair.

I also wrote about the book 'The Map that Came to Life' for the OS Magazine which used to be delivered to schools. This is a book that got me into maps.

I've also seen this picture in real life at the Sainsbury Centre - one we used to represent our mapwork unit at King's.

Hiking - James Walker Tucker (1936)

I also worked as an Ordnance Survey Get Outside Champion from 2018-2021. This was great fun and allowed me to meet lots of interesting people who were connected with the outdoors. It was good to meet up with the other champions in the New Forest where we heard from Ben Fogle and Kenton Cool about their plans to summit Mt. Everest (they duly succeeded).

The Guardian published a piece at the weekend on the importance of the OS's maps

"...viewed from the age of satnav instructions and Google Maps, there is a charm to cartography that the passive reception of a monotone order to 'turn right after 50 metres' will never match. As well as being models of precision and order, the best maps are also a form of mysterious and evocative art, inviting us to proactively explore the world and firing up the imagination."

"The rise of digital technologies means that the sight of a map poking out of a rucksack or spread awkwardly across the passenger seat of a car is less common than it used to be. But the tactile delights of vinyl records are being rediscovered and celebrated by younger consumers, amid a surge of nostalgia for the analogue age. Hopefully, the peculiar pleasures of attempting to tame an OS Landranger, as it flaps uncontrollably on a windy hillside, will also continue to be enjoyed by generations to come."