Maps: The cost of topographic base maps

摘要

After years of legal wrangling the Automobile Association agreed last March to pay 20 million pounds over two years in an out-of-court settlement of a copyright action over the use of Ordnance Survey maps of Britain. The cartographers at the Ordnance Survey, the government mapping agency, trapped the copiers by putting 'fingerprints' or deliberate faults on their maps which for all we know ma have included the addition of minor buildings or extra kinks in rivers. The good news is that the OS will now consider how best to invest the money for the benefit of customers. Over the last decade or so, the organization has under government pressure become much more finance conscious and, unlike the United States Geological Survey and most European surveys, has ignored the wider social need for affordable high-quality mapping and surveying products. During this time, the cost of 1: 10 000 maps, larger-scale plans and detailed levelling information, when exact heights need to be recorded, has rocketed. While the new 1 : 2 5 000 Explorer series is a welcome development, as each sheet costs little more than the old 10 by 20 km Pathfinder maps and covers a much larger area than most continental sheets, the OS would still benefit from adopting the best features from other surveys. That said, every national survey I am familiar with has its own idiosyncrasies, is funded and administered differently, and could also benefit from looking abroad for new ideas.