NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: An essay about maps
From: Jackie Ferrari
Date: 2010 Nov 14, 09:39 -0000
From: Jackie Ferrari
Date: 2010 Nov 14, 09:39 -0000
I have used them extensively hiking around the Highlands of
Scotland. Once looking for a particular forest in which to camp, I was convinced
my navigation was wrong as I could see no forest where my 1:50000 Ordnance map
told me it should be. Nonetheless I kept on the path(a sheep track) and lo and
behold ,there it was. A plantation of 6 inch high conifers.
However on occasion, forest tracks marked on the map are
no longer there, but these have always been man made tracks, made by bulldozers
for clearance. It seems the sheep tracks are more 'permanent.' !
Jackie.
----- Original Message -----From: Apache RunnerTo: NavList@fer3.comSent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 4:07 AMSubject: [NavList] Re: An essay about mapsCertainly, the USGS topo's are far out of date with respect to tracks - hiking and passable 4-wheel-drive routes. I've found too many out of date instances to recount.
On Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 6:00 PM, 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.
--
Keeping up with the grind
