News

Putting Durham on the map

(10 September 2004)

Where would we be without maps? Probably lost and wondering which way to turn, but members of the British Cartographic Society should have no trouble finding their way to Durham next week (9th-12th September) for their annual conference.

The British Cartographic Society is holding its 41st annual symposium at the University of Durham’s Department of Geography. Organisers are expecting 150 cartographers to attend the event which will be based at Collingwood College.

The symposium consists of a mixture of lecture sessions, demonstration workshops, and social interaction between some of the country’s leading cartographers who are involved in the creating, publishing, studying and curating maps and geographical information.

Most people are familiar with the maps produced by the Ordnance Survey, the British national mapping agency, A-Z street maps, and road atlases but in more recent years maps have appeared on mobile phones, in-car satellite navigation systems and the supply of maps over the internet.

The symposium also includes an exhibition of the best of British cartography and demonstrations of the latest computer software which is devoted to map production. Today, 99% of all maps are now drawn by computer, not by hand.

Technical lectures sessions will include children and cartography, military mapping, the mapping of boundaries, and educational courses in cartography. There will also be excursion to local organisations of interest including Alan Godfrey Maps of Leadgate and the North East Institute of Mining in Newcastle.

The British Cartographic Society has around 750 members ranging from university professors to interested amateurs. This is the society’s first visit to Durham University since 1976.

The exhibition will be opened by Professor Ash Amin, Head of the Department of Geography at Durham University, in the Geography Department, Science Site, South Road, Durham, at 5.15 p.m. on Friday 10th September 2004.

ends

Media attendance at the exhibition is welcome and enquiries about the conference should be directed to Dr David Fairbairn, Chairman of the BCS Programme Committee.

Contact details:
Dr David Fairbairn
School of Civil Engineering and GeoSciences
Cassie Building
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
NE1 7RU
England
T +44 (0)191 222 6353
F +44 (0)191 222 6502
E dave.fairbairn@ncl.ac.uk

Notes to editors

1. The Department of Geography at Durham University is recognised as an international centre for excellence in teaching and research.

2. The Department has had top ranking in the past three Research Assessment Exercises and is one of the only four departments granted a 6* by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Research output has an excellent international reputation and quality of teaching has been rated as excellent in the external Quality Assessment Audit. This excellence has been recognised by a number of independent external indicators:

Number 1 UK Geography Department
The Times - Good University guide 2004.

Top 5 overall UK Geography
The Guardian - University Guide 2004. Ranked first for overall 'research power' by The Guardian's RAE tables.

9 of the top 29 leading figures in the discipline listed by The Independent degree guide are at Durham.