Ordnance Survey

This “absorbing history of the Ordnance Survey”—the first complete map of the British Isles—"charts the many hurdles map-makers have had to overcome” (The Guardian, UK). Map of a Nation tells the story of the creation of the Ordnance Survey map, the first complete, accurate, affordable map of the British Isles. The Ordnance Survey is a much beloved British institution, and this is—amazingly—the first popular history to tell the story of the map and the men who dreamt and delivered it. The Ordnance Survey’s history is one of political revolutions, rebellions and regional unions that altered the shape and identity of the United Kingdom over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It’s also a deliciously readable account of one of the great untold British adventure stories, featuring intrepid individuals lugging brass theodolites up mountains to make the country visible to itself for the first time.

Are YOU the ultimate map-reader? Do you know your trig points from your National Trails? Can you calculate using contours? And can you fathom exactly how far the footpath is from the free house? Track down hidden treasures, decipher geographical details and discover amazing facts as you work through this unique puzzle book based on 40 of the Ordnance Survey's best British maps. Explore the first ever OS map made in 1801, unearth the history of curious place names, encounter abandoned Medieval villages and search the site of the first tarmac road in the world. With hundreds of puzzles ranging from easy to mind-boggling, this mix of navigational tests, word games, code-crackers, anagrams and mathematical conundrums will put your friends and family through their paces on the path to becoming the ultimate map-master!

*The brains behind The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book and The Ordnance Survey Puzzle Tour of Britain, bring you the ultimate guide to adventure.* Perfect for ages seven and up, and the best introduction to map-reading, navigation and the great outdoors. Want to become an expert map-reader? Want to explore the great outdoors armed with hints and tips from the map creators themselves? Want to test your new-found skills with a host of challenging map puzzles? Then this is the book for you. Created by Ordnance Survey, who make all the iconic maps for the whole of Great Britain, this book will teach you how to read a map like an expert, and confidently and safely explore the incredible outdoors. You'll also have the chance to test your skills with map-reading puzzles that'll keep you entertained for hours. So strap on your boots, pack up your walking essentials, and start your map-reading adventure!

The Ordnance Survey has existed for 216 years as a publicly funded and managed agency of government. It became a Trading Fund, then an Executive Agency in 1980s and 1990s, and is now overseen by the Department for Communities and Local Government. The Survey though ceased to be publicly funded in October 2006, and since that time is required to make a profit and so engage in commercial competition. This in turn raises the question of whether such a dominant organisation can operate fairly in the information market. A previous report (HCP 481, session 2001-02, ISBN 9780215003812), concluded that there needed to be defined boundaries between public service and national interest work. The Communities and Local Government Committee has set out 12 conclusions and recommendations, including: now that Ordnance Survey is self supporting, both funding its public task and commercial work entirely from its own revenues, the distinction between public duty and commercial interest is no longer clear; the Committee believes that the Surveys' annual report and accounts should distinguish between its public and private tasks; that the Survey needs to co-operate with the private sector in regard of licences that cover intellectual property rights, particularly if the licence is too stringent in its' requirements, such as requiring competitors not to compete with the Survey; greater clarity is needed on what use can be made of data bought from the Survey and that licensing conditions appear to be too complex and inflexible.

Maps not only show the world, they help it turn. On an average day, we will consult some form of map approximately a dozen times, often without even noticing: checking the A-Z, the road atlas or the Sat Nav, scanning the tube or bus map, a quick Google online or hours wasted flying over a virtual Earth, navigating a way around a shopping centre, watching the weather forecast, planning a walk or a trip, catching up on the news, booking a holiday or hotel. Maps pepper logos, advertisements, illustrations, books, web pages and newspaper and magazine articles: they are a cipher for every area of human existence. At a stroke, they convey precise information about topography, layout, history, politics and power. They are the unsung heroes of life: Map Addict sings their song. There are some fine, dry tomes out there about the history and development of cartography: this is not one of them. Map Addict mixes wry observation with hard fact and considerable research, unearthing the offbeat, the unusual and the downright pedantic in a celebrati on of all things maps.

The Ordnance Survey and Modern Irish Literature offers a fresh new look at the origins of literary modernism in Ireland, arguing that the roots of Irish modernism lie in the attempt by the Survey to produce a comprehensive archive of a land emerging rapidly into modernity.