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Maps 'R Me

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scottnsilky
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Maps 'R Me

#289228

Postby scottnsilky » March 8th, 2020, 10:50 pm

I'm not sure this is the correct board for this post, but I couldn't find any more relevant, I don't remember ever seeing a post about maps before, and the powers that be will move it if necessary. By maps, I mean those of course actually printed on a piece of paper.

I have been a cartographophile since I was in short trousers, I remember cutting out maps from wherever, whatever the region or scale and filing them away! Anyway, I happened to find a road map book of Europe today, under a pile of other maps. Its an in-house publication by Ciba Clayton, the result of Ciba Geigy taking over the local business of Clayton Aniline in the 1960s or so. The flysheet has the imprimatur of the company library and came from my dad's pal Tom Green, who worked there. Unfortunately Tom Green died young, in fact the same week as John Lennon was murdered, my dad was sole beneficiary, so I could have what I wanted from his belongings. That was nearly 40 years ago, for the uninitiated.

Anyway, the book, how old is it, I wonder? It shows the German autobahnen, so it can't be that old, I have older maps. It has the Russian and the German names for Königsberg, so its post-1946, but I'm disappointed to find it has lots of English motorways, so its definitely not old at all. M6 and M1 are not joined, I think that came in the early 70s. I remember driving down to college on a Sunday evening in my little Turner sports car, with its Austin Healey Sprite engine.The M6 finished at Penkridge in those days, then onto the A5 round Birmingham and right onto the A446 (I think) and south, eventually to my digs in Cowley Road. That was the very late 60s, about the date the book was published?

So, apart from 150 pages of lovely maps, and 44 town plans, (it even shows the church I attended as a nipper and my local railway station if Beeching hadn't closed it down and subsequent demolition) it reminds me of my time at college, my dad and his pal, The Beatles and even all the way to New York!

So if anybody is actually still with me on this rather self-indulgent, rambling meander, what wonderful things maps are! If I were going on a motoring tour of Europe tomorrow, I'd definitely take it with me. Just to make a final connection, Tom Green made the book shelves I found it in.

Has anybody else got a favourite map story?

All the best,

dp

Charlottesquare
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Re: Maps 'R Me

#289692

Postby Charlottesquare » March 10th, 2020, 5:59 pm

Not so much maps but books about maps.

"The Mapmaker's Wife" is a great read

and also

"Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics"

which was pressed upon me by my daughter, map girl, (the only child I have ever met who memorised countries and their capitals age 8, did similar with all the US states and who then went on to take Higher and Advanced Higher Geography, an MA in Sustainable Development(including lots of geography courses) and a Msc in Urban planning- all on the back of her love of maps, her childhood globe and her insatiable need to make and learn listsof countries/capitals etc.

I think my favourite maps are older maps of Edinburgh, you can buy reprints of street maps at various dates and track changes, I especially like the older ones covering Leith, the railways and transport networks and how Leith is today different but in some ways the same.

GrahamPlatt
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Re: Maps 'R Me

#365531

Postby GrahamPlatt » December 12th, 2020, 9:32 pm

Well, I have a strong recollection that Clitheroekid started a thread about maps a while ago, and that I made a reply (seem to remember mine extolling a book called “on the map”) but I have tried all ways to find the thread, & all to no avail.

Itsallaguess
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Re: Maps 'R Me

#365532

Postby Itsallaguess » December 12th, 2020, 9:35 pm

GrahamPlatt wrote:
Well, I have a strong recollection that Clitheroekid started a thread about maps a while ago, and that I made a reply (seem to remember mine extolling a book called “on the map”) but I have tried all ways to find the thread, & all to no avail.


Here you go -

For cartophiles everywhere -

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=26172

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

GrahamPlatt
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Re: Maps 'R Me

#365535

Postby GrahamPlatt » December 12th, 2020, 9:53 pm

Itsallaguess wrote:
Here you go -

For cartophiles everywhere -

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=26172

Cheers,

Itsallaguess


How did you do that? I really gave it my all.

kiloran
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Re: Maps 'R Me

#365536

Postby kiloran » December 12th, 2020, 9:56 pm

GrahamPlatt wrote:
Itsallaguess wrote:
Here you go -

For cartophiles everywhere -

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=26172

Cheers,

Itsallaguess


How did you do that? I really gave it my all.

I just googled "clitherokid map lemonfool" and it was the first item returned. IAAG got there just before me, he must have faster broadband than me :)

--kiloran

GrahamPlatt
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Re: Maps 'R Me

#365537

Postby GrahamPlatt » December 12th, 2020, 9:58 pm

Ah. That explains it. I use DuckDuckGo exclusively. It really isn’t as good as Google, but then it really isn’t as bad either.

Itsallaguess
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Re: Maps 'R Me

#365577

Postby Itsallaguess » December 13th, 2020, 7:37 am

GrahamPlatt wrote:
How did you do that?

I really gave it my all.


A couple of distinct Google tricks that often come in handy -

1. Ask Google to only return search-results from this website - this is done by putting 'site:lemonfool.co.uk' in the Google search box

2. Using your 'on the map' phrase within double-quotes, to ensure Google will then only look for pages with that specific quoted phrase on it

3. Using your username as a 'belt-and-braces' search term as well, given that any post from you would contain it

So here's a snapshot of the Google search box containing the above terms -

Image

And if you open this URL, you'll see both the above terms in the Google search box, and the singe entry returned from Google that satisfies those terms -

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&q=site%3Alemonfool.co.uk+grahamplatt+%22on+the+map%22

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

GrahamPlatt
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Re: Maps 'R Me

#365582

Postby GrahamPlatt » December 13th, 2020, 8:21 am

Yes, I’ve seen Gengulphus explain the same trick, so tried it, but it doesn’t work with DuckDuckGo. And when I try to open your link there, I get Google’s captcha.


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