Jim Irvine Head of Digital Resources and the Collins Newsroom Collins Geo Division HarperCollins Publishers

1. Jim Irvine Head of Digital Resources and the Collins Newsroom Collins Geo Division HarperCollins Publishers

2. Who we are: • Collins Geo – publishing division of HarperCollins • Making maps for over 175 years • Brands include: • Collins and Times atlases and maps • Nicolson guides • Collins Bartholomew (non-trade) • 30 staff based in Glasgow

3. Our print products:

4. Where does GIS fit into all this: • Map Data / Scitex 1980s • Arc/Info and Oracle since 1989 • Maplex since mid 1990s • 1995, Times Concise Atlas – first fully digital flow line • Now ArcGIS 10.0, Oracle 11g, Maplex (stand alone) • Adobe CS5

5. What does GIS look like? 1:1,000 scale Familiar to most people Individual land parcels and buildings

6. What does GIS look like? 1:20,000 scale Clearly generalised Largest scale maps we produce Small part of our portfolio

7. For us GIS often looks like this 1:1,000,000 scale Still includes standard map elements Partial coverage

8. Or sometimes like this 1:5,000,000 scale Largest scale with global coverage Cartographic specification applied in ArcMAP

9. Flagship product, Times Comp: map scales • 123 reference maps, by scale • 1:1m 19 maps • 1:1.25m 8 maps • 1:1.5m 2 maps • 1:2.5m 34 maps • 1:2.75m 2 maps • 1:3m 2 maps • 1:5m 32 maps • 1:6m 1 map • 1:8m 2 maps • 1:9m 2 maps • 1:10m 4 maps • 1:12.5m 2 maps • 1:15m 3 maps • 1:20m 3 maps • 1:22.5m 3 maps • 1:40m 2 maps • 1:60m 2 maps

10. Flagship product, Times Comp: thematic maps • 26 plates of thematic material, including > 60 maps

11. Specific issues in using GIS at small scales: • Features appear at multiple scales • The data we use and where we get it from • Data structures and feature coding • What accuracy means for small scale reference mapping • Cartography is the end point (for printed maps at least)

12. Features appear at multiple scales, e.g. Dublin World map 1:60m Europe map 1:12.5m UK & Ireland map 1:2.5m Ireland map 1:1m

13. The data we use and where we get it from: • Increasing choice of ‘large’ scale data, more available for free • National Survey [OS open data in GB] • Open source [Open Street Map] • Commercial [Nokia/Navteq, Tom Tom/TeleAtlas] • No readily available ‘world atlas’ scale data • VMap0 , VMap1 – questions over currency • Commercially available data sets – not optimised for cartography • So, we’ve built our own

14. The data we use and where we get it from: • Collins Bartholomew digital vector map databases • British Isles at 1:250k • 50% of the world at 1:1m or 1:2m • Global coverage at 1:5m • Embody our own editorial policies • Build from best, most authoritative sources • At least 100 man years to create and maintain

15. Data structures and feature coding: • Complex feature coding to support multiple cartographic specs • Independent from surface design, but embodies knowledge of how feature must appear on different types of map • Codes for boundaries through water • Intersecting hierarchies for river codes • Over 100 codes for linear water features • Primary river A • Primary river A through dry lake/salt pan • Primary river A through lake A • Primary river A through lake B • Primary river A through lake C • etc…

16. What accuracy means for small scale atlas maps • Spatial accuracy important – things need to be in the right place

17. What accuracy means for small scale atlas maps • But also need to be sure we’re showing the right things

18. What accuracy means for small scale atlas maps • But also need to be sure we’re showing the right things GUINEA: ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS Summary of the system Guinea is subdivided for administrative purposes in several ways, and some uncertainty over the years regarding what these differences signify, along with some changes in designations and regional systems, has sometimes led to leading information sources giving mutually inconsistent interpretations, or changing their view. The true 1st-order local government system, however, is broadly agreed to be a set of 34 divisions, of which 33 are Prefectures (Préfectures in French). The designation of these as Regions was discontinued some years ago. The remaining division (covering the area round the national capital, Conakry) is described as a Municipality, or as a ‘Special Zone’ - or more formally as the ‘National Capital Special Zone’. There is also a set of seven higher regions: these are usually called Governorates (Gouvernorats). They represent a central planning and statistical arrangement rather than being true administrative divisions as such in the usual sense of local service-providing authorities.

19. What accuracy means for small scale atlas maps • What’s right for one user may not be right for another

20. What accuracy means for small scale atlas maps • What’s right for one user may not be right for another

21. What accuracy means for small scale atlas maps • What’s right for one user may not be right for another

22. What accuracy means for small scale atlas maps • Issues of cartographic generalisation • Selection • Simplification • Exaggeration • Displacement • All maps are an extraction of reality, so these issues persist at all scales • The smaller the scale the greater the level of abstraction

23. What accuracy means for small scale atlas maps • Cartographic displacement and simplification GIS Data Symbology applied to linework Lines displaced Buildings simplified Is it still accurate?

24. For us cartography is always the end point • We use GIS as part of our map production flow line • Editorial policy and decision making informs the contents of our GIS databases • Databases specifically designed to produce quality maps • Authority valued by customers who need trusted picture of the world • Digital data as well as printed maps

25. So let’s end with some maps Jim Irvine Collins Geo, HarperCollins Publishers jim.irvine@harpercollins.co.uk