# Hands up who owns a map?



## Globalti (8 Apr 2012)

I can't believe the level of ignorance amongst cyclists, especially mountain bikers, over maps.

We live in the best mapped country in the world, our Ordnance Survey maps are amazing works of art and cheap durable battery-free passports to a whole world of legal trails and quiet roads, yet so many riders seem ignorant about maps. I own around eighty maps of different parts of the UK and my maps of the local areas are worn out through years of constant use. I can sit for hours studying maps and working out interesting routes to try.

Some years ago we sold a greenhouse to some folk from up on the hill and when they were trying to explain to us where they lived I went and fetched the local map. Their teenage son was gobsmacked; he had never seen a map and never seen his own house on a map, he had no idea such a thing existed! I in turn was amazed that he seemed to have missed out on such a fundamental part of his education. 

So how many maps do you own?


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## snorri (8 Apr 2012)

It would take me all day to count them.
I can't throw the old ones out when I get the latest editions. I take a bundle of maps home from every holiday, there are town and city maps of places I am unlikely to ever return to and I _have _to keep them even although they only cost pence.


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## Fab Foodie (8 Apr 2012)

Loads of 'em. I'm about to order a custom map from OS centred on my home. £17. Maps are brill.


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## totallyfixed (8 Apr 2012)

About the same as you, really enjoy planning routes using maps. Never mind Garmin I use "Cardmin", I plan a route if I don't know the area using the map then transfer it into shorthand on to a piece of card that I tape to my stem and on the odd occasion stick a map in my back pocket just in case. When I mention to the Garmin equipped crowd that I use Cardmin sometimes they react by nodding their heads sagely. I take it to mean they either thought I said Garmin, think Cardmin is the latest thing, or just don't wish to appear ignorant. Love it.


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## guitarpete247 (8 Apr 2012)

I've got loads. At my dad's house I've got some that my granddad gave me from the 1950's. If nothing else it's good to see how the places you know have changed. 
I always try to buy a map of an area I'm visiting. Mostly OS style maps but I even bought one of the old Soviet Union from a Co-op half way between Samarkand and Bukhara when the bus I was on stopped for a toilet break. This map is about the size of medium sized rug.


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## biggs682 (8 Apr 2012)

must admit we have none , and no sat navs either .


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## Cubist (8 Apr 2012)

Yep, all 1:25000 for the Peaks, Pennines, Dales,NY Moors Lakes, Borders and some Highlands, and 1:50000 for all the bits in and amongst. 

I also love planning routes, have done since I started Hostelling with a mate when we were 14. We used to laminate them with Fablon and plot with a chinagraph pencil, but now I like to use waterproofing fluid and draw routes in with graphite pencil. 

I have treated myself to a Garmin Edge 305, which is proving a great tool to use (but with the OS in the hydration pack as back-up). My new Nokia smartphone has an OS map app, and several GPS functions.(all a bit battery hungry though)


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## slowmotion (8 Apr 2012)

Love them to bits. A map gives you context. GPS can't do that. I love spreading them out and working out what the route is like by looking at the contours and terrain shading. We have probably the best maps in the world with the Ordnance Survey. The French IGN is OK but not a patch on OS.


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## derrick (8 Apr 2012)

Just follow my nose, who needs maps.


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## Ian H (8 Apr 2012)

slowmotion said:


> The French IGN is OK but not a patch on OS.


But quite a lot better than Michelin.

Yes, loadsa maps here. I love old maps as well.


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## slowmotion (8 Apr 2012)

derrick said:


> Just follow my nose, who needs maps.


 You are pinball wizard Tommy, "plays by sense of smell", and ICMFP.


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## Little yellow Brompton (8 Apr 2012)

Globalti said:


> I can't believe the level of ignorance amongst cyclists, especially mountain bikers, over maps.
> 
> We live in the best mapped country in the world, our Ordnance Survey maps are amazing works of art and cheap durable battery-free passports to a whole world of legal trails and quiet roads, yet so many riders seem ignorant about maps. I own around eighty maps of different parts of the UK and my maps of the local areas are worn out through years of constant use. I can sit for hours studying maps and working out interesting routes to try.
> 
> ...


I stopped counting at a thousand...


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## HLaB (8 Apr 2012)

If I'm following a specific route in an unknown area I like to follow a map printed out from Memory Map but more often I just prefer to explore, maybe scanning the map before I set off.


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## potsy (8 Apr 2012)

Google maps on my phone, does that count?


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## Nigel-YZ1 (8 Apr 2012)

I've got about 6.


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## mcshroom (8 Apr 2012)

I've got OS Explorer maps for the Peaks, Lakes, Dartmoor and Brecon Beacons, with some other areas as well; a number of Pathfinder maps, Some Harvey maps (lakes, and Beacons again - they are clearer under torchlight than os maps) and some 1:250000 road maps of Scotland and the north of England. I also have the whole of the UK and NI in 1:50k on Quo

I also have a few austrian mountain maps (printed by Kompass and not a patch on OS maps)

My standard approach to long rides is to print out a map on Quo and put it in a bag in my back pocket, and then carry the track on a GPS. The track is fine to follow, but the map is useful for knowing where I am and changing plans if needed. Being able to read maps is a skill that I think would benefit a lot of people.


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## marzjennings (9 Apr 2012)

I have a cupboard full of 'em. About half the UK covered in 1:25000 OS detail. Mostly mine, some my fathers and some even older. Kinda cool to overlay newer maps on maps 40 years older to see whats changed.

Haven't used a single one of them for at least 8 years. GPS and google maps are much easier and more convenient to use. No need to carry bulky OS maps and have the hassle of keeping them drive in the rain.


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## I like Skol (9 Apr 2012)

Lots of OS Landranger maps of Derbyshire and Wales used for my 4x4 hobby and covered in various coloured hilighter pen scribbles to denote differing levels of R-o-W's (You have to be sure of your entitlements when taking a 4x4 into the countryside!).

I am ashamed to admit that my bulging AtoZ library was culled nearly a decade ago when I started using satnav and computer based route planning tools which together with Google streetview means a bit of planning in advance means I rarely take wrong turn and usualy know the colour of the gate posts for my destination address.

I am still making the effort to teach my sons aged 6 and 9 how to use a UK road atlas and navigate by os grid references.


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## G-Zero (9 Apr 2012)

Being a keen walker, I've got loads of OS maps, mainly covering Highlands, NY Moors and Cumbria, but several others from various parts of the country.

Before Google maps etc took off, I bought Memorymap for the computer and still plan my walks and rides on it to this day.

It's great being able to plot a route, drop a blue dash line along it and print it out for the ride/walk.


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## growingvegetables (9 Apr 2012)

Lost count a long time ago. They're like books - I NEVER, EVER, EVER throw a map out!

And I've no electronic toys like GPS and Garmin and the like; horrid things. No soul. No story.


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## redflightuk (9 Apr 2012)

Loads of O S maps and street maps(town & county). A couple of years ago i bought a copy of a 200 year old map of Hertfordshire and enjoy comparing it to the present day version.

I do have a garmin but use that for recording stats for the ride.


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## Cush (9 Apr 2012)

A lot of OS maps but these days I down a load a days riding on to a shet of A4 and leave the folded map at home.


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## Flying Dodo (9 Apr 2012)

I have lots of maps. I've even kept my last aeronautical topographical chart from when I used to fly (15 years ago).

I do have a GPS for the bike, but that has full OS mapping on it as well.


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## Mad Doug Biker (9 Apr 2012)

Yes. I if it is a new route, I'll try and study the map as best I can before leaving the house, but I have still had to use them during a ride occasionally.

I have 20, both O.S. and the Sustrans maps, some of rather exotic parts of the country which I hope to visit one day.
I also have 3 books with various assorted routes, and I have a couple of those big posters with all the routes in the UK on them, which can be interesting to see, particularly if looking at the LEL run or LEJOGs, and trying to see what the optimum route is.

I fear that with Sat Nav these days, people will eventually not know how to read maps any more, which could be.... err, interesting.


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## Globalti (9 Apr 2012)

Wow! Great response!

Somebody once said that using a GPS was the equivalent of reading a map through a cardboard tube as you miss all the extras around you.

Here's something for map lovers: the French IGN sells these absolutely superb 1:10,000 maps of some major mountains for a mere 25 Euros, we have a couple framed on our wall and they really are works of art: http://loisirs.ign.fr/5279967/produit/aiguille-du-midi.htm have a look on the IGN website for Cartes Anciennes. Ours have the date 1852.

The IGN website also sells those plastic relief maps of The Alps if you're interested in that kind of thing.


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## mcshroom (9 Apr 2012)

I find the gps a tool that allows me to concentrate on the scenery rather than the route, but I have to do the planning before hand on the map to see where I'm going and if there are any interesting things to look at.

Imagining the route just from the map is a fun experience in itself.


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## ushills (9 Apr 2012)

All of the UK at 1:25k and 1:50k...

Brought a subscription to OS Getamap and print out OS maps for every holiday destination and plan routes on it. I like using a compass and map when walking. When on the bike I download gpx routes to my etrex mounted on the handlebars and follow the trail as its quicker. 

I find I get through paper maps quite quickly as I keep folding and unfolding them, the ability to print out and draw on new copies is very valuable.


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## theclaud (9 Apr 2012)

I love OS maps, and usually ride with a Landranger in the jersey pocket. I'd go so far as to say that exploring the map is often the whole point of the ride. If I've ridden without a map, I will often get the map out afterwards to think again about the ride.


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## ufkacbln (9 Apr 2012)

Dear fellow cyclists I must make a confession to owning a GPS, rote planning on the Mac, and using Anquet and worse - I have a Kindle!

However my main planning document is Muirheads Blue Guides from 1926, and I have an entire bookcase full of maps. My local area has over 20 from reprints of early mapping to the OS maps in various editions and antiquity.

Maps (and old Guide books)have a smell,feel, texture and enable you to investigate changes history and places of interest in a way that the modern methods do not


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## deptfordmarmoset (9 Apr 2012)

redflightuk said:


> Loads of O S maps and street maps(town & county). A couple of years ago i bought a copy of a 200 year old map of Hertfordshire and enjoy comparing it to the present day version.
> 
> I do have a garmin but use that for recording stats for the ride.


 
Like you I have loads of OS maps and a few historical maps which give some areas great depth. Though the only maps I've used recently have been OS 1:25000 map tiles on Quo. I do quite a lot of urban riding and find that simply printing out A4 sheets of the OS maps at 1:8000 (so I don't need reading glasses) and stuffing them into my jersey pockets is an easy way of exploring new areas. Maps are also a great pretext for taking a breather when out on a ride.

There are quite a few historical maps online which are a fascinating way of wasting time and gaining centuries. Here are a couple of online sites that I haven't fully explored yet:

http://www.oldmapsonline.org/

And for Londoners: http://www.locatinglondon.org/


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## ufkacbln (9 Apr 2012)

Slightly OT...

My ambition is to wallpaper the downstairs loo with the local OS maps, then draw in all our cycle routes.

We have a large sale UK map in the dining room that shows all our tours and the Coastal Route we did / are still doing,


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## Globalti (9 Apr 2012)

But has any of you map lovers ever taken a balloon or light aircraft flight about your immediate area? Now THAT is an eye-opener - you get to see how your own perception of layout and distances corresponds with reality and you get to see things you never noticed on the map - for example working quarries are just left blank by map makers and are usually landscaped with berms or forest hiding them so they don't figure much in our knowledge of our area. However when seen from the air a quarry is a huge and surprising feature of naked earth or rock along with all the roads and the infrastructure.


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## Globalti (9 Apr 2012)

Cunobelin said:


> Slightly OT...
> 
> My ambition is to wallpaper the downstairs loo with the local OS maps, then draw in all our cycle routes.
> 
> We have a large sale UK map in the dining room that shows all our tours and the Coastal Route we did / are still doing,


 
My ambition is to hire a warehouse and paper the entire floor with all the OS 1:25,000 maps of Britain joined up. I wonder how long that would take to do and whether you'd be able to do it all in one go without any bits missing? I wonder what size warehouse you'd need?


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## dave r (9 Apr 2012)

I no longer have any maps, if I need a map for a trip I just download it off the internet and print it. If I'm planning a trip on roads I don't know I will use the internet maps and google street view to study the route.


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## Rickshaw Phil (9 Apr 2012)

Like others on here I love OS maps and can spend ages just studying them for new places to go. I have about 20 at the moment covering everywhere I'm likely to go locally, the Lake District and Mid Wales.

I've never had or used a GPS. I can't imagine I would give it enough use to justify buying one. I suppose it helps that I have a fairly good memory for maps so once I have planned a route I don't have to stop too often to check I'm still going the right way.

Just got to plan that route to the coast now.


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## youngoldbloke (9 Apr 2012)

Loads. Always bought the appropriate maps for the area visited, but since the internet, use memory map, streetmap, bikehike, google maps, (streetview useful too when planning routes), and print out the required maps on A4 . ALWAYS take a print-out map on club runs, to back up route sheets. Maps are essential, whatever format.
I will happily read an OS map, much like you read a book.


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## GrumpyGregry (9 Apr 2012)

I own about 50 in all, mix of OS and Sustrans and old Philips/Bartholomews. In Haywards Heath the branch of Zizzi's is wallpapered with OS maps down the ages showing the growth of the town. Lunch mates have complained that I get 'zoned out' looking at the walls and studying my commute route and what has changed.

If going somewhere new the first thing I always do is buy a map. But I do plot routes to and through pastures new on an Etrex Vista.


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## sdr gb (9 Apr 2012)

I have about 6 or 7 OS maps plus Memory Map on the laptop. If I'm going somewhere new, I'll download the route to a GPS and print off the route from Memory Map as a backup. 

Before I got Memory Map, I had one of those little wheel things (looks like a mini pizza cutter) that you moved along the map to work out the distance accurately.


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## Globalti (9 Apr 2012)

There's a very good way of estimating distances on a map; it was shown to me by an elderly friend of my Mum and I doubted it at first but it is actually amazingly accurate and works better the further you go.

Simply follow the route and count EVERY time it crosses a blue grid line, then halve that number to get the miles. You must count every time it crosses, even if it just dives across then back again. It works with both scales of map, you'll be amazed at how accurate it is.


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## broomwagon (9 Apr 2012)

I love looking at maps. I've got loads here, all for where I like to walk, so mainly of the lakes and yorks and derbyshire dales. I've also got a globe of the world in the house and a big f**k off atlas of the world that weighs a ton. They've all helped to educate the kids too.


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## Globalti (9 Apr 2012)

On Saturday I got chatting in a cafe with a cyclist who was up in Lancs visiting his in-laws and had borrowed a very old OS map from his FIL; it was fascinating to see the differences especially around the areas of towns where commercial and industrial estates and relief roads have been built for modern transport use.


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## Little yellow Brompton (9 Apr 2012)

sdr gb said:


> I have about 6 or 7 OS maps plus Memory Map on the laptop. If I'm going somewhere new, I'll download the route to a GPS and print off the route from Memory Map as a backup.
> 
> Before I got Memory Map, I had one of those little wheel things (looks like a mini pizza cutter) that you moved along the map to work out the distance accurately.


Opisometer


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## Ian H (9 Apr 2012)

Online maps don't do quite the same thing as proper OS maps. Compare these two views, Google and OS:-

Google maps, Dulverton, Edge of Exmoor
OS (Streetmap), Dulverton, Edge of Exmoor

I use gps on the bike but generally plan a route via OS. Walking I still use an OS map as primary reference, but often carry gps.
Bikehike.co.uk is a brilliant online route planner because it uses OS and Google or Open Street in parallel.


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## palinurus (9 Apr 2012)

Got a fair few, although I do recycle them from time to time since the ones I use a lot get worn out (I dislike those waterproof map pocket things so my maps sometimes get a bit soggy and wear out along the seams)


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## Peteaud (9 Apr 2012)

loads of them.

Always like to look at maps, love older ones.


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## MontyVeda (9 Apr 2012)

Cunobelin said:


> Slightly OT...
> 
> My ambition is to wallpaper the downstairs loo with the local OS maps, then draw in all our cycle routes.
> 
> We have a large sale UK map in the dining room that shows all our tours and the Coastal Route we did / are still doing,


 
I already have a map of the Lune Valley next to the throne...







...although i do plan to fill the whole alcove with the proper full size OS maps instead the photocopies.

not sure what glue to use though... pva might make 'em go wrinkly.
the nanotech surface might hinder adhesive qualities too.


edit... I recently picked up some nice old maps of Lancaster & Morecambe circa 1910 from www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk who has old maps from all over the UK and bits of Europe.


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## Piemaster (9 Apr 2012)

Globalti said:


> My ambition is to hire a warehouse and paper the entire floor with all the OS 1:25,000 maps of Britain joined up. I wonder how long that would take to do and whether you'd be able to do it all in one go without any bits missing? I wonder what size warehouse you'd need?


 Why a warehouse? Call it a work of art (which the maps argueably are) and use the turbine hall. Should be worth a grant 

I've got a few of the local area. I find it easier to plan routes on them then make routes on bikehike for the gps.

BIt OT but a lot of newer ships only use electronic charts now. The paper ones are still preferred by a lot of the guys I know though.


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (9 Apr 2012)

i got about 20 and a garmin 500. i use the garmin as a satnav for getting to locations in towns/cities when i'm going to a new placement.

pennine _paul and i was out yesterday with a map, i thought it was enjoyable getting the map out to explore.


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## growingvegetables (9 Apr 2012)

Globalti said:


> But has any of you map lovers ever taken a balloon or light aircraft flight about your immediate area? Now THAT is an eye-opener - you get to see how your own perception of layout and distances corresponds with reality and you get to see things you never noticed on the map - for example working quarries are just left blank by map makers and are usually landscaped with berms or forest hiding them so they don't figure much in our knowledge of our area. However when seen from the air a quarry is a huge and surprising feature of naked earth or rock along with all the roads and the infrastructure.


No - just Google Earth


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## Little yellow Brompton (9 Apr 2012)

Globalti said:


> My ambition is to hire a warehouse and paper the entire floor with all the OS 1:25,000 maps of Britain joined up. I wonder how long that would take to do and whether you'd be able to do it all in one go without any bits missing? I wonder what size warehouse you'd need?


About 50M x 27M


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## Globalti (9 Apr 2012)

Thanks - I was hoping somebody would work it out as I couldn't be bothered!


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## Globalti (9 Apr 2012)

Thanks - I was hoping somebody would work it out for me as I couldn't be bothered!


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## coffeejo (9 Apr 2012)

I've only got 2 OS maps but this thread's reminded me that I need to add to the collection now that I've started cycling further afield. Annoyingly, I live in the bottom corner of the map and there are some rides that need three maps side by side. thank heavens for bikehike! I looked at the personalised OS map but the preview shows that even it doesn't cover "my patch" - and off course the off map bits, being furthest away, are the areas I'm least familiar with and therefore have most need of a map


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## deanE (9 Apr 2012)

My favourite book is a book of maps. Published in 1910, the Gardiner's Atlas of English History is brilliant. From Roman Britain through to Africa in 1897, with campaign maps of all the main battles along the way. Not so useful on the bike but when its wet and cold and there's nothing on TV (most of the time), you can't beat it. I expect that someone will tell me that an atlas is not a map but they just need to get out more, with a map, of course.


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## guitarpete247 (9 Apr 2012)

I remember seeing adverts for note books made from old cut up OS maps. If I bought one I'd never use I'd just keep it for the small map sections. If ever I get a geography cover lesson I always look through the text books at the map section and love it is the lesson is to do map work.
I enjoy helping students plan out their DofE routes.


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## totallyfixed (9 Apr 2012)

Cunobelin said:


> Dear fellow cyclists I must make a confession to owning a GPS, rote planning on the Mac, and using Anquet and worse - I have a Kindle!
> 
> However my main planning document is Muirheads Blue Guides from 1926, and I have an entire bookcase full of maps. My local area has over 20 from reprints of early mapping to the OS maps in various editions and antiquity.
> 
> Maps (and old Guide books)have a smell,feel, texture and enable you to investigate changes history and places of interest in a way that the modern methods do not


 
I have a theory that a chap with a map wears a cap and those with a Garmin are helmet wearers - generally speaking


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## Little yellow Brompton (9 Apr 2012)

totallyfixed said:


> I have a theory that a chap with a map wears a cap and those with a Garmin are helmet wearers - generally speaking


I wear a Buff, have lots of maps and a very old Garmin GPS 3 ... how do I fit ?


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## mcshroom (9 Apr 2012)

I wear a cap and use a GPS for a lot of navigating - appears I don't fit either.


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## fimm (9 Apr 2012)

Lots - I like to get a map of whatever area we're visiting, almost as a souvenir. I have all (or maybe nearly all) the 1:50 000 maps I need for munro bagging. I think I get it from my Dad: he must have about 150 OS 1:50 000 and he's also started collecting 1 inch to the mile maps from the 1950s and 60s - they have to be a particular series and printed on cloth; occasionally he'll get a phone call from me: "I'm in a shop and they have XYZ map do you have it?"


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## david k (9 Apr 2012)

Globalti said:


> I can't believe the level of ignorance amongst cyclists, especially mountain bikers, over maps.
> 
> We live in the best mapped country in the world, our Ordnance Survey maps are amazing works of art and cheap durable battery-free passports to a whole world of legal trails and quiet roads, yet so many riders seem ignorant about maps. I own around eighty maps of different parts of the UK and my maps of the local areas are worn out through years of constant use. I can sit for hours studying maps and working out interesting routes to try.
> 
> ...


 
i own a few but cannot recall ever using them


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## Peteaud (9 Apr 2012)

Another good old map site
http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/


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## DCLane (9 Apr 2012)

Lots of maps, but then I was a Geography undergraduate


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## totallyfixed (9 Apr 2012)

Little yellow Brompton said:


> I wear a Buff, have lots of maps and a very old Garmin GPS 3 ... how do I fit ?


 Tongue, cheek, baiting Cunobelin who I usually agree with and just because it's a miserable day out there.


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## ColinJ (9 Apr 2012)

DCLane said:


> Lots of maps, but then I was a Geography undergraduate


Didn't you pass your finals?


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## T.M.H.N.E.T (9 Apr 2012)

Does sticking a turn marker cheatsheet my toptube qualify?


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## DCLane (9 Apr 2012)

ColinJ said:


> Didn't you pass your finals?


 
2.1 back in '91, so yes. Although we didn't do that much with maps ...


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## ColinJ (9 Apr 2012)

DCLane said:


> 2.1 back in '91, so yes. Although we didn't do that much with maps ...


Just that _"I was an undergraduate"_ sounded like you didn't actually graduate! 

I enjoyed geography at school. Physical geography rather than economic geography - I wasn't too bothered about where coal was mined or which country had the most copper. I had a flashback to lessons about limestone pavement (clints and grykes etc.) when i first saw it on the hills above Settle about 25 years later.


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## ufkacbln (9 Apr 2012)

totallyfixed said:


> I have a theory that a chap with a map wears a cap and those with a Garmin are helmet wearers - generally speaking


 

I used to mount the Garmin on the helmet, but found it limited the functionality


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## lulubel (9 Apr 2012)

The only "maps" I own are road atlases - one of the UK and one of Europe - that I bought just before we moved to Spain. I also bought a satnav at the same time, but didn't trust it enough to try to make the trip without maps. It was a good thing too, because we couldn't find it on the morning we left, thought it had been packed with all the stuff going into storage, and drove halfway across France without it. It turned up during our stop in France, when I was looking for something else. (We did buy a local map in France, actually, because the internet connection was far too slow to use google. I wonder what happened to it.)

We had loads of maps when I was a kid - pink OS ones, and also some that were more detailed, maybe green? My brother and I rode horses rather than bikes then, and we wore them out looking for more places to ride.

It would be nice to have some local maps, actually. It's much more fun to spread a map out on the floor when you're planning a route, rather than staring at a computer screen. Are there any decent Spanish maps?


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## GrumpyGregry (9 Apr 2012)

lulubel said:


> Are there any decent Spanish maps?


I spent my summer holiday last year asking the same question. I came to the conclusion that there may have been once, for some parts of the country, but they've not been updated for years and a heck of a lot has changed in the 21st C.

Off roading and following a route in the Picos was largely a matter of luck...


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## GrumpyGregry (9 Apr 2012)

Peteaud said:


> Another good old map site
> http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/


What a fantastic resource. Especially for those of us of a "this were all fields when I were a lad" bent.

Comparing Horsham/Crawley from the 20's to the present day is eye-opening... not to say eye-watering!


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## deptfordmarmoset (9 Apr 2012)

GregCollins said:


> What a fantastic resource. Especially for those of us of a "this were all fields when I were a lad" bent.
> 
> Comparing Horsham/Crawley from the 20's to the present day is eye-opening... not to say eye-watering!


 
I'll second that - it's a great site! Thanks for the link.

Talking of ''This were all fields...'' I once showed my daughter the street where she used to live on the 1862 Stanford map ( http://www.mappalondon.com/ ) and she couldn't get her bearings at all, precisely because the street was called Stony Lane at the time and went across fields, and they hadn't even managed to put in the South Circular that runs past the end of the street !


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## Peteaud (9 Apr 2012)

GregCollins said:


> What a fantastic resource. Especially for those of us of a "this were all fields when I were a lad" bent.
> 
> Comparing Horsham/Crawley from the 20's to the present day is eye-opening... not to say eye-watering!


 
The route i did at the weekend involves a bit of road last used in the 1980's and now closed at the ends due to the bypass. 

I love silly historical things like that, old road, railway lines, canals etc.

Cycling along an old road, once used by 1000's of holiday makers and locals alike, make being out on the bike so special.


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## summerdays (10 Apr 2012)

Loads - and loads - various different OS scales for the same area in some cases, most of NI (a few of those different versions), some really old maps, reprints of old maps, Memory Map for the entire country and lots of other different types of maps too. I love maps, and I love Googlemaps and Bing maps (the satellite maps). 

(And yes I have a Geography degree specialising in Physical Geography too).

I wouldn't go any where I didn't know without looking at a map - well that's not quite true because I also like to go browsing following my nose and exploring to get to know an area so that I form a sort of internal map in my head. But I don't usually worry about getting lost as I have a quite good sense of direction and can generally end up somewhere that I recognise or can work my way from. Mr Summerdays is the exact opposite and so owns a Sat Nav - and usually relies on me to navigate our way even on routes that we have done before.


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## dodgy (10 Apr 2012)

I've got a few OS maps, I'm proficient with a map and compass (writing this from the Lake district as I'm holiday coincidentally) but these days I'd rather have electronic maps, I take a paper back-up in the rucksack that I haven't ever had to fall back to in over 5 years of walking and cycling in remote areas.

So yeah, poring over a paper map can be quite involving, I love doing that, but give me electronic maps any day for actually using for their purpose.


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## Cubist (10 Apr 2012)

I am an old traditionalist, but I love gadgets, so love to pore over a map and as others have said, "read it like a book." For me a map is a very practical thing, but it is, as others have said, a conveyor of information far and above route-finding. I have very fond memories of sitting in my old cottage with the log fire going, map spread out on the table and a good pot of tea to hand, plotting where I was going to walk the next day. In those days before kids and bikes I was a "comer-in" to this little lump of Yorkshire, having been born and brought up in Warwickshire. The Peaks and South Pennines in particular were favourite holiday destinations for me when I was a teenager and every school holiday a mate and I would plot a week's hostelling in the area, so when circumstances led me to move here there was a blissful feeling of living in a permanent holiday destination. Maps obviously form a huge part of that whole "feeling."

Interesting what others say about Geography. I did it for O and A levels, and had a truly inspirational teacher, Nigel Bates. He could impart a love of the subject like no other, and strangely enough he was a Yorkshireman. A field trip to Settle in about 1980 is one of my most endearing memories, not least because of the visits to Malham Cove and various pots and fosses.

SO now that I live in the Pennines and have rediscovered "roving" by MTB, maps still form a huge part of the equation, but then GPS with its pinpoint accuracy and logging function is a hugely beneficial tool. Internet mapping and logging sites like Mapometer are places I can get lost in but for sheer visceral tugging memories, an OS 2 1/2 inch Outdoor Leisure has it all sewn up.


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## Night Train (10 Apr 2012)

I have dozens of maps, from A-Z maps to OS maps and historic maps. As much as I like using online maps and my SatNav I also have paper maps as they are easier to use when getting an idea of where a place is, the most appropriate routes, and places in the surrounding area.


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## mr_hippo (10 Apr 2012)

I gave my collection of OS maps to cycling friends before I came to Thailand but I have found a good series of maps by a company calle ThinkNet. It costs about £6 for a paper map and associated CD ROM!
The CD is zoomable, searchable and bilingual.
If I am going anywhere strange, I zoom in on the area and print a copy in English and on the reverse I print a copy in Thai.
Whilst on the subject of maps, does anyone of more mature years remember two series of maps one was 50 miles around XXX and the other was The Cyclist's map of XXX - l think both were produced by Geographica )or something similar)


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## ColinJ (10 Apr 2012)

1801624 said:


> Walking in Corfu would teach anyone who doesn't already to appreciate decent maps


Or cycling there!

I hired a bike to explore the island but could only find a crappy map. I ended up cycling up a road that apparently didn't exist to a village that also apparently didn't exist. I called in a shop there to try and buy a better map but the shopkeeper tried to sell me another copy of the same one. He didn't seem to understand my problem. He didn't speak great English, I don't speak Greek. I pointed at the road, then the map. He shrugged. I waved my hand around at the village, then pointed at the map. He shrugged again.

I came to the conclusion that the Greek military didn't like the idea of decent maps being available in case those nasty Turks got hold of them and decided to invade the island!

It certainly did remind me why I love OS maps so much.

I had a chat with the man from whom I hired the bike. He ran a scooter hire place down the road from Paleokastritsa. I'd found a nice climb a few miles inland which had about 50 hairpin bends on it up to a quaint Greek village, the name of which now escapes me. I've never been able to find it on a map. It probably explains why the man had never been there despite having lived just a few miles away from it all his life!

Apparently, this is a detailed Greek map of Corfu! In contrast, this is a detailed British map of the Isle of Wight (1:50,000 scale - click '+' to zoom in to 1:25,000)!


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## PpPete (10 Apr 2012)

Just love maps, hundreds of them on the shelf. Explorer, Landranger, old 1 inch, some IGNs from when we used to live in France, maps of exotic mountain areas like Kilimanjaro and Everest (never been there though) A-Zs from pre sat-nav days.
Equally enjoy plotting routes on the like of bikehike with it's OS rendering.


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## Salad Dodger (11 Apr 2012)

As I used to do a bit of navigating on local car rallies, I have maps for my part of the country (but now rather old and out of date - like me!) plus a few which cover places in UK that have been on holiday.

I think there is a tremendous sense of anticipation in studying the map of a part of the country, before you actually go there on holiday........


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## classic33 (11 Apr 2012)

Salad Dodger said:


> As I used to do a bit of navigating on local car rallies, I have maps for my part of the country (but now rather old and out of date - like me!)* plus a few which cover places in UK that have been on holiday.*
> 
> I think there is a tremendous sense of anticipation in studying the map of a part of the country, before you actually go there on holiday........


 
What parts of the UK have been on holiday then?


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## gilespargiter (11 Apr 2012)

I love maps. I have virtually all the UK covered by Landranger maps, because I have been there. Also a great many old "Barts" maps, which for lanes and paths, still surprisingly, cover pretty much all the routes.
I almost never take any electric gadgets when touring or walking. Just occasionally the phone when I have ongoing things happening.


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## Sheffield_Tiger (12 Apr 2012)

Maps FTW

Although I do like the convenience/safety net of double checking with a smartphone for those odd occasions where you think "I think I've left my route and this 3:1 ascent coming up is not one I want to do if I don't *have* to"

As a regular walker I would like a decent GPS but I don't *need* one. It does add an extra safety net and that's not a bad thing when used as such. *Reliance* on a fallible gizmo does have many negatives thought....


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## snorri (12 Apr 2012)

I have a map of Europe on my kitchen wall and during idle moments look at routes I have cycle toured. In my head I transpose the distance to another part of the map where I have not cycled and think to myself '"that is doable", and so summer tours are planned.


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## GBC (12 Apr 2012)

I have a fair selection of maps, old and new, and when hillwalking prefer the map and compass to my mate's GPS navigation system. I'm not a luddite, just what I'm used to.
I've also got a 1913 copy of 'The Contour Road Book of Scotland' passed down from my grandfather and father, both keen cyclists in their day, and which is still relevant today as many of the old roads shown are now the back roads used by cyclists.


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## CharlieB (12 Apr 2012)

Lost count. Hundreds. Love just looking at them, in common with lots of us, it appears. Probably since the day I first saw my sec. school geography teacher had lined up the whole of the South Coast in OS maps from the bottom of one wall, turning the corner and finishing up at the top of the next wall.

Does that make us mapaholics or cartophiles?


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## MontyVeda (12 Apr 2012)

deanE said:


> *My favourite book is a book of maps. Published in 1910, the Gardiner's Atlas of English History is brilliant.* From Roman Britain through to Africa in 1897, with campaign maps of all the main battles along the way. Not so useful on the bike but when its wet and cold and there's nothing on TV (most of the time), you can't beat it. I expect that someone will tell me that an atlas is not a map but they just need to get out more, with a map, of course.


 
well you sparked my interest so I 'Binged' it... would it be this?

http://www.memoriallibrary.com/MAP/English/toc.htm


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## Salad Dodger (12 Apr 2012)

classic33 said:


> What parts of the UK have been on holiday then?


Places I have visited on hols:
Forest of Dean
Welsh Coast
Yorkshire Coast


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## deanE (12 Apr 2012)

MontyVeda said:


> well you sparked my interest so I 'Binged' it... would it be this?
> 
> http://www.memoriallibrary.com/MAP/English/toc.htm


Is nothing sacred???? However my copy smells like a book and was originally owned by A M Walmsley.


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## classic33 (13 Apr 2012)

Salad Dodger said:


> Places I have visited on hols:
> Forest of Dean
> Welsh Coast
> Yorkshire Coast


 
So its you, not parts of the UK that have been on holiday then.


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## DiddlyDodds (14 Apr 2012)

I have always had maps but love Google earth , i can spend hours looking at routes and zoom into the photo to see what the junctions look like. 

Love maps love sat nav love just getting out there and doing it


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## MontyVeda (14 Apr 2012)

the downside of google earth is just how flat everything looks... that nice looking ride in reality is a long hard slog up some buggering hills


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