UK landmarks endangered by digital maps

03 September 2008, 11:39am

UK landmarks are endangered by satnav devices and digital maps.

In the same manner that mobile phones have turned the iconic British telephone booths into relics, now satnav and GPS devices and interactive online maps are “destroying thousand of years of history,” says the British Cartographic Society’s president.

Mary Spence, president of the society, is claiming that many sites of interest and important historical monuments across the British landscape are virtually being wiped out by digital mapping that provides data for satellite navigation devices.

She has criticized the online Google Maps for the lack of details provided and for not being as accurate or updated as users might believe. Spence added that a particular concern to her was that many of these web-based maps left off landmarks altogether.

A point that she did not mention, and which was not the focus of her argument, was that the Google Maps make it possible for travelers to bring their own experience to the online service, something that she had noted, however, when commenting on the Open Street Map, which allows users to add their own knowledge of an area to the online site.

Another comment that has been made is that rather thousands of tourists descending on important, historical “places of interest” across Britain, preservation might be better served by less publicity.

Other commentators have chimed in by saying that no one is preventing the offering of Ordinance Survey Maps on GPS devices, and also that traditional maps are very difficult to manage while driving.

www.cartography.org.uk

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Geo: International