The British Cartographic Society

Higher Education Resources :: Dating a map :: Security issues :: Co-operative ventures :: Miscellaneous

Higher Education Resources

There are a number of datasets available to Higher Education establishments through JISC agreements.

• Digimap - delivers Ordnance Survey - and other - online maps and data for mapping to subscribing institutions in Higher Education and schools. Run by EDINA (but from August 2018 no longer funded by Jisc who have a new Geospatial Data Service provided by Airbus)
• UK Data Service Census Geography - provides access to and support for, all census geography products 1971-2011. Includes boundary data for the UK, both current and historical, for thematic and statistical mapping
• Landmap - provided orthorectified satellite image mosaics of Landsat, SPOT and ERS radar data and a high resolution Digital Elevation Model for the British Isles. No longer funded but some data still avaiable.

Dating a map

• To date a Geographia Limited map
  The date is usually disguised by the 'CUMBERLAND' code whereby the letters CUMBERLAND corresponds to the numerals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0, so that, B.RL. becomes 4.67 that is, April 1967. Not all Geographia maps include a date code
• A comprehensive guide to dating maps printed by John Bartholomew and Sons of Edinburgh [PDF] by Ken Winch
• Phil Hoehn has compiled a page of date codes for maps on the WAML site
• There is some useful information on European oil company road maps on the Petrol Maps website including a specific section on dating.
• Selected political changes that may assist in estimating the age of a world map or globe can be found here and here.
• Some of the links on the Cambridge University Library Map Department website may also be useful

Security issues

• From the History of Cartography gateway website, articles about and links to information about the thefts of early maps, including a report on the seminar “Responding to Theft” held in 2002 at the National Library of Wales

Co-operative ventures

• Charles Booth Online Archive - images and documents relating to Booth's survey into life and labour in London (1886-1903)
• Charting the Nation: maps and associated archives 1550 to 1740 - map images, catalogue records, background information

Miscellaneous but interesting!

• The World Intellectual Property Organisation's page on copyright
• National Centre for Tactile Diagrams (NCTD) has now merged with RNIB to continue developing and promoting good practice in accessible information, including continuing work on tactile diagrams, maps and pictures for blind and partially sighted people of all ages and all walks of life. See also UK Association for Accessible Formats (UKAAF)
• Society for the History of Discoveries
• The Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative
• The Analemma web site
• Frequently Asked Questions about Calendars
• Locating a UK university web site - this map shows all recognised Universities, University Colleges and Higher Education Colleges in the United Kingdom

These pages were compiled by: April Carlucci (British Library Map Library); Tinho da Cruz (Department of Geography, University of Liverpool), and; Anne Taylor (Cambridge University Library). They are maintained by the Map Curators' Group of the BCS. Colleagues are requested to help keep this information current by suggesting corrections or additions