Were you taught to read a map?

[NY]

I remember in one geography lesson we were shown how to draw a cross-sectional profile of a valley by placing a sheet of tracing paper over the map, drawing a line from point A to point B and marking the places along that line where each contour line crossed, and which contour it was. We then plotted that on graph paper: x axis for distance along the straight line, in km; y axis for height (to an exaggerated scale compared with the x scale); the points were joined by straight lines to give an approximate profile.

When I was at university in the early 80s, I discovered that the computer centre had a package which would draw a 3D view of an object which was made up of horizontal slices with points at strategic places, interpolating curves in the horizontal and vertical direction. So I decided to plot a local hill (Brent Knoll, about 20 miles south west of Bristol where I was at university). I photocopied the hill from an OS map, enlarging it as much as possible. I then marked off divisions at 1/10 of a square (ie every 100 m) and laid a sheet of paper on each 100 m grid mark in turn, marking where the contours crossed for that "slice". I then sorted this list by height, so I could draw a polygon for each contour line. I fed all this data into the program and it turned out a fairly crude but passable representation of this roughly conical hill, as seen from a certain compass bearing and a certain height above ground level (I specified both of those to the program). When I plotted it, having given it the title "Brent Knoll", the computer centre staff emailed me and said "Wow! That's impressive! Can you do one for us to put on out wall." I wish I could find the plot that I made. I imagine that modern software could make a much better job of interpolating curves and rendering a shaded solid onto the "wire skeleton".

I wasn't doing geography; I was doing elec eng. But computers and what programs can do had always fascinated me, so I did it in my spare time and went in out of hours when the computer time was cheaper - this was in the days when access to mainframe computers was rationed by CPU time, on a sliding scale depending on what time of day you ran the job. The computer room filled up with Sad Bastards after the Witching Hour when rates were lower. ;-)

[NY]

I still reckon it's an amazing quirk of geology that allows the River Derwent to rise only a few miles inland from Scarborough, flow sort-of towards the coast and then turn sharply away (I assume it hit a harder section of rock) and then flow many miles away from the coast, via Malton, before ending up in the Humber Estuary. If only it had done what humans did later with the (artificial) Sea Cut and had flowed out to sea at Scalby, the majority of the present Derwent would never have existed.

Millington Pastures. I remember my wife and I went for a walk up Millington Wood which is a typical Wolds valley: steep-sided and blind-ended. It had a feeling of a heavily wooded railway cutting: I kept expecting us to come to a bricked-up tunnel mouth. I remember the whole valley had a strong smell of wood smoke, and eventually arrived at a gently-smoking charcoal-burning oven beside the path, which gave off a lovely heat given that the day had started to turn cold in the evening. I think it's Millington Wood where one of the roads to it has little wooden posts on the verge every few hundred metres. Each one has a letter engraved on it (big enough to see from a car driving past) and these letters spell out some sort of message.

Talking of geography field trips. We went on a trip to Somerset, studying Wookey Hole cave and various other places. There were two geography masters and I could sense a certain amount of tension between them. One evening we were taken on a walk. Map reading wasn't actually being taught, but one of the masters was navigating from an OS map. We seemed to be straying away from any marked path. The other master took a few of us into a huddle and whispered "Anyone want to bet how long it is before Mr [surname] realises he's completely lost". It took another half hour before Mr [name] finally called his colleague over and they had a "discussion", after which it was announced that we'd gone wrong and needed to backtrack. When his colleague caught up with us a bit later he smirked and said "What did I tell you?". I wonder if the younger master was being tested by his more senior colleague, and had failed the test... Mind you, the older chap failed the test of being loyal to your colleagues in front of students ;-)

[NY]

Mike Harding (When A Martian Lands in Huddersfield etc) tells the (presumably true) story in his factual book about the Yorkshire Dales, illustrated with his own photos, about two valleys somewhere in Yorkshire which were marked as Pissen Clough and Shitten Clough on the OS map. Apparently some local wags decided to have a bit of fun when an early map-maker was surveying and asked "what are those valleys called" when he was in the local pub. Moral: never trust anything a local says to an in-comer in a pub after several pints ;-)

[Indy Jess John]

I was in the Boy Scouts and learned map reading and following one using a compass as part of the training for an "Orienteering" badge.

At school we did get lessons using an OS map, but it was mainly to recognise the symbols used on the map (churches with spires look different to churches with towers for instance) and how to assess distances along roads that were not straight, and heights and gradients as identified by contour lines. The school never tried to teach how to follow a map, but I knew that from the scouts so it didn't matter to me.

I remember that when I first started to drive in the 1960s the roads were numbered logically, with the 1 series going north to east, the 2s going south east, the 3s going south to south west, the 4s going west and so on, so that A1 went north as seen from London with the A10 a clockwise turn-off from it, the A11 was clockwise from the A10, and the A12 was further clockwise from the A11, with the A13 heading east. If I started from London (where I lived at the time) and wanted the A114 it would be a turn-off on the right somewhere along the A11, and so on. It was possible to get from A to B just remembering the road numbers - until some bright spark renumbered some of them and maps in the car became a necessity.

Jim

[Indy Jess John]

I wonder how many of them were perfecting their Moon Lander program? I came across one that not only told me I had crashed, but also how deep the hole was with the wreckage at the bottom.

Jim

[Graham Harrison]

I don't know when I learned to read a map but it was before I entered secondary school in the very early 60s. A friend and I used to regularly go off for the day all over London using Red Rover and Twin Rover tickets and I needed to read the LT bus map to get us to some of the places we went.

Not strictly map related but before I left junior school I went on a school trip to Britanny and got bollocked for wandering off on my own to investigate the railway! I've never found it difficult to navigate my way around although ask me to give directions and I can never name the roads.

My best OS story is actually about someone else. We were out walking (I forget where) when the chap who was leading suddenly stopped in the middle of a large field. "Be careful" he said "Why?" we asked. "You need to climb off the edge of the map and onto the next map" as he held out two OS maps showing we'd come to the edge of one and the beginning of another.

Then there was the story my father told. He was being given a lift and he knew the way but the driver didn't. They were both pianists. Every time my father said "turn left" (or right) the driver got slightly flustered.as if not knowing which way to turn. After a few minutes my father changed his instructions. The bass part of the piano is the left end as you sit facing the keyboard so when he wanted to turn left he said "turn bass" (and treble for right). Worked like a dream.

My wife can read a map except she needs time to work it out sometimes. She probably learned it at school in the early 60s. However, her ability to name trees far surpasses mine. It's interesting how we're all different.

[Davey]

I learned it from my older brother, in the mid-1950s, and it came naturally. When I joined the school cadets, Orienteering was just starting, but we just called it navigation. I always have OS maps of the local area in my car, even though it has built-in Satnav. Electronics sometimes fail, but I will still have the map.

When I worked for a while in Shanghai, in late 1988 and early 1989, I would take my city map and go walking, to the amazement of the Americans who was working with. Unfortunately, I once found the unmarked night-soil-tankers-dump-into-the-canal spot. Why they used a canal and not a river, I have no idea. I did not hang around to find out.

[Davey]

Just south of Cincinnati airport is the community of Sugar Tits. Nearby are Rabbit Hash, Beaver Lick and Big Bone Lick State Park. In Tennessee there is Bugscuffle. I have visited them all.

[Davey]

In general, the huge number represents something like the number of yards from the end of the street.

[Nick Odell]

That is how they do it down here though in metres, not in yards, obv.

A couple of people I know in Canada and the USA live in short streets that adjoin their main roads but still have staggeringly high numbers on the properties.

Nick

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

ARW formulated the question :

They are online!

[John J Armstrong]

Where were you at school? :-) I learned to read maps in the 60s when in the scouts. There was one day in the summer term after O-levels when all fifth formers were put in a bus and driven to a point in the Pentlands a few miles south of Edinburgh. We were then turfed out, handed a map and a packed lunch, and told, "The bus will be at Map Reference XY at 5 pm. Don't be late!"

This was whether you were in the CCF, scouts, or not.

[John J Armstrong]

I've answered the question elsewhere. I've long been interested in maps, especially old maps. Some people here might like to see this site

where you can compare two maps side-by-side. Interesting to see how towns and cities have grown and developed.

[John Hall]

I remember that. In the case of a particularly bad crash, it would end with the consoling message: "But the crater will be named after you."

[Marland]

I was introduced to reading OS maps probably informally at primary school ( a two room village affair) by one of the two teachers and I see from other comments that I am was alone in being fascinated by them. Anyone else have a copy of the LadyBird book ? Understanding Maps? which was a good little book on the subject. I purchased a copy circa 1980 for the planning girl in our office who presented with a wall sized OS map of 3 counties which was supposed to aid her in planning calls and routing hadn?t a clue on how to read them. Can?t remember what happened at secondary as possibly I wasn?t learning anything new but one advantage of it was it had a well stocked library dating back to the 1890?s and there was a vast collection of OS maps covering the years including 25? inch to the mile ones of the local area which showed detail down to individual flower beds and the local narrow gauge mineral railway before most of it was converted and connected to the network in 1925. The local OS maps also hung on rollers in the Geography room that could be pulled down like a projector screen in front of the blackboard along with the customary map of the world showing lots of countries coloured red because they were ?ours?. I expect most on here already know but a lot of OS maps up to about the

1930?s are now publicly viewable on the website for the National library of Scotland whose collection despite the name covers the whole UK. The side by side feature comparing an old map with the present day aerial view can be quite fascinating.

GH.

[Kellerman]

At school in the 1960's Saved a mates bacon when she had misread a map and was about to wander off :-)

[spuorgelgoog]

I don't remember it, but a quick Google shows comments that it was used to train soldiers in the Falklands.

We had a large globe on a rise-and-fall mechanism hanging from the ceiling. And of course I had a tin Chad Valley globe as a child. Even then quite a lot of the country names were out of date.

Owain

[Brian Reay]

Sounds rather unlikely.

I did a lot of work with the army which involved navigation and maps and the soldiers I met were invariably more than competent reading maps etc.

[tim...]

often the number restarts at the next 100, at the start of each block

so the number sequence used could be 1800, 1802, 1804, 1806, 1808, 1900

tim

[Bob Eager]

When I visited Vancouver, I was told the house numbers were something like 'metres from the end'. Made it easy to find a number by dead reckoning.