Decisions, decisions…
The editorial task facing cartographers creating world atlases, or indeed pretty much any map, is really one of deciding what information to show and how. In practical terms, the more difficult decision is often not what to show but what to leave out. Map scale is a key factor determining the amount of information that can sensibly be shown on a map, which, together with the perceived purpose and use of the map makes the decision-making process quite involved. This is particularly relevant in today’s age of endless, readily-available geographic information which users may expect to see.

Once such editorial decisions have been made, and the information selected and depicted on a map, user reaction will inevitably follow. In my experience as editor of The Times Atlas of the World, and Collins world atlases, these reactions can range from the extreme to the bizarre, from the positive to the threatening. If a user finds a piece of information they doubt or disagree with, there is a danger they will then lose trust in the atlas as a whole, and there is a danger for the editor that they will receive a letter or e-mail …

In a series of brief blog posts I will look at the types of complaints and letters we commonly receive, and have been receiving for some time – some issues dear to correspondents’ hearts have not changed in decades of atlas publishing. Such correspondence gives an interesting insight into what users expect of an atlas, what issues they judge to be important, and provide lessons for any atlas editor.

Letters to the Editor – Where’s our town?
The tiny town of Twizel on South Island, New Zealand could not be expected to be particularly contentious, but it is an important place. Particularly to its residents – one of whom was ‘…horrified that my home town of Twizel is not on the map.’ What made things worse was that on this particular map (which was presumably, and hopefully, not the most recent edition) other local rival towns were shown, including one, Lake Pukaki, which had since been drowned by the creation of a reservoir. Even Burke’s Pass, ‘…population 40 on a good day’ was shown, but not the relative metropolis of Twizel – ‘…population about 1,000, 2 policemen, 2 doctors, shops, etc, etc’. I am sure I must have passed through the place when I travelled around New Zealand about fifteen years ago, but must have blinked. I would love to return to give it the attention it deserves and to see just what the ‘etc, etc’ actually are.
























Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, 12th ed, 2007

This question of local rivalry is not unique to New Zealand, and can arise anywhere. Obviously for a cartographer working on an atlas in Bishopbriggs near Glasgow, it is difficult to judge the relative merits and qualifications of neighbouring places halfway across the world, but is it any easier nearer to home?

One disgruntled customer suggested that ‘…you will have to withdraw all of your atlas books’. The reason? His home town of Bridport in Dorset was not shown on the map, an omission for which he hoped we had a ‘very substantial reason for all those who still live there’. Again, local comparison added weight to the argument – ‘Lyme Regis is much smaller but is clearly shown’. The relative size of towns can similarly upset people – ‘Swindon is shown as a small town…It is larger than Poole, Bournemouth and Torquay…Ipswich, Norwich, Oxford, Blackpool, etc’.

All these examples point to real issues for an editor relating to the selection of settlements, and the criteria by which these choices are made. Population will not be the only factor, and even the way in which town populations are measured can lead to further confusions anyway, for example with suburbs of large towns sometimes being included within a town’s census figures, sometimes not. We also need to take account of, for example, administrative status, strategic importance (settlements at key road junctions in very remote areas, for example), historical significance and ‘profile’ (how well known a place is, whether it is currently in the news, would users expect it to be shown – Chamonix is not particularly large and has no administrative importance within France, yet even a small-scale map of the Mont Blanc area would be lacking without it). Editors, whether they appreciate it or not, have enormous power in making these judgements, but they can be sure that users are very sensitive to the way places dear to their hearts are shown (or not).

Mick Ashworth
Ashworth Maps & Interpretation Ltd
Consultant Editor to The Times Atlas of the World