The Guardian view on Ordnance Survey maps: still a superior way to navigate the landscape | Editorial
The 225th anniversary of the organisation’s first publication is an opportunity to celebrate its unique contribution to our sense of place In his one-paragraph short story , On Exactitude in Science, Jorge Luis Borges imagines an empire in which the level of cartographical ambition is so high that a map is made on a one-to-one scale with the imperial territory. The quest for perfect accuracy…
Ordnance Survey maps have reached a remarkable 225 years since their first publication, and this milestone provides an opportunity to appreciate the unique contribution they have made to our understanding of place. In Jorge Luis Borges' one-paragraph story, "On Exactitude in Science," an empire is depicted where maps are scaled perfectly to the territory they represent.
While the pursuit of perfect cartographic accuracy ultimately becomes problematic, the early map-makers of the Ordnance Survey organization may have related to this obsessive dedication. The 1801 Kent map, which took 10 years to produce, was a military-led endeavor inspired by concerns over Napoleonic invasion. However, as Rachel Hewitt highlights in "Map of a Nation," the organization's origins also stem from an Enlightenment-based enthusiasm for comprehending and accurately representing reality.
Throughout the 19th century, the entire British Isles was meticulously mapped through various weather conditions, a challenging and arduous task. Surveyors, equipped with theodolites, measuring chains, and notebooks, viewed themselves as footsoldiers serving Reason, bringing intellectual order to the landscape. Today, the topographical legacy they left behind has been updated through satellite imagery, GPS, and digital technologies.
While this evolution has occurred, the cultural impact of Ordnance Survey maps on the general population has remained significant due to the increasing leisure time available to people. In the 20th century, the commercial potential of small-scale productions for tourists and ramblers was recognized, leading to a surge in sales as covers depicted motorcars, pipe-smoking backpackers, and couples wandering through landscapes.
While it is essential not to romanticize the history of maps, there is a darker, controlling side related to defining borders and names. In Brian Friel's play "Translations," the cultural impact of colonial power is portrayed through two British surveyors imposing toponymic order on an Irish landscape. Despite this darker aspect, the best maps are admired for their precision and order, as well as their mysterious and evocative artistry that invites exploration and fires the imagination.
The best maps combine intellectual precision with aesthetic appeal, akin to the poetic descriptions found in 19th-century verses. Imagining a woman yearning for her soldier husband "taught her finger" to "stray o'er the map" illustrates the emotional connection readers can form with such maps. For map-readers, tracing contour lines, symbols, and coded colors provides a means of visualizing landscapes they are about to encounter.
The rise of digital technologies has reduced the prevalence of maps in rucksacks or on passenger seats, yet the tactile pleasure of handling a map, even as it flaps uncontrollably in the wind on a hillside, remains a cherished experience for many.
Written by urgent.news from Guardian Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
