Any GOOD maps?

[Chertsey]

We use Nicholson's. My only bugbear is something that all canal map books seem to have in common, so there must be a good reason for it.

 

Why do you so often have to flip back a page to go east, and up a page to go south? It's so counter-intuitive and I can't see a good reason for doing it.

Me too though I've got used to it now. Is it that Nicholsons start the waterway in question at its 'beginning' whether this be north, south, east or west of its 'end'? In one direction you are moving through it logically (if you read left to right) but not when you come back the other way? So if its top left of the earlier page to bottom right of the later page (intuitive) one way, then it has to be bottom right of later page to top right of earlier page (counter intuitive) the other way? I've given this a lot of thought and am still not sure I've got it, though it does become less counter-intuitive after a while!

[Caprifool]

Well I don't know if I need beer guides. I don't drink.....much. But is there a cheese guide? Joking of course, but Chertsey kind of put the finger on what I need, mentioning the "geographical features, bends, bridges etc" Town boundaries, counties and so on is usefull too. Because when I read about a shop or something mentioned on the forum, along the Shroppie, near the Town So and So....I have no idea what the Shroppie is. But if I find the town So and So, I'll also find out that it's the Shropsire Union youre all talking about. Canal lingo with all it's nicknames and abbreviations can be confusing to a noob

 

At the moment I'm having great fun just planning and following imaginary routes on Water Explorer. Seeing where I'm "going" on satelite is very helpful.

 

Anyway, thanks for all your help. Most appreciated!

Edited May 7, 2011 by Caprifool

[ymu]

It's counterintuitive regardless of east and west direction though, and not helpful on north and south (although this is less difficult to intuit because the page wouldn't be expected to continue overleaf).

 

I don't get it. It's not just Nicholson's.

[Chertsey]

If you're accustomed to using OS maps, Nicholsons should be good for you. Some of the OS stuff on them I don't understand. If you've not even looked at the different publications available, then why not pop into a chandlers and have a flick through.

[ymu]

Well I don't know if I need beer guides. I don't drink.....much. But is there a cheese guide? Joking of course, but Chertsey kind of put the finger on what I need, mentioning the "geographical features, bends, bridges etc" Town boundaries, counties and so on is usefull too. Because when I read about a shop or something mentioned on the forum, along the Shroppie, near the Town So and So....I have no idea what the Shroppie is. But if I find the town So and So, I'll also find out that it's the Shropsire Union youre all talking about. Canal lingo with all it's nicknames and abbreviations can be confusing to a noob

 

At the moment I'm having great fun just planning and following imaginary routes on Water Explorer. Seeing where I'm "going" on satelite is very helpful.

 

Anyway, thanks for all your help. Most appreciated!

Google Earth is very useful for cruising a virtual journey, spotting likely transport hubs, shopping areas, places where parking a car won't upset the locals, spots to get the boat near to a road for loading/unloading unfeasibly heavy things. That sort of stuff.

[Guest]

Google Earth is very useful for cruising a virtual journey, spotting likely transport hubs, shopping areas, places where parking a car won't upset the locals, spots to get the boat near to a road for loading/unloading unfeasibly heavy things. That sort of stuff.

 

Indeed -

 

I use street view quite a lot to see if a pub or shop that Nicholson,s claims is there still is. It's not 100% accurate as the images were captured some time ago but it tends to give a better indication.

[Caprifool]

Google Earth is very useful for cruising a virtual journey, spotting likely transport hubs, shopping areas, places where parking a car won't upset the locals, spots to get the boat near to a road for loading/unloading unfeasibly heavy things. That sort of stuff.

 

I'm on it as we speak. I just found the link pack on Water Explorer

[Richard Fairhurst]

Png is very nice, was that Illustrator and perl all the way?

Yep - a bit of Perl to convert the OS OpenData shapefiles into an Illustrator file. Then the hard work is actually making the map look pretty in Illustrator.

 

The Waterways World guides are more schematic and good for people who have trouble orientating and following a map like Nicholsons (like I used to)

Just for clarification - the WW guidebooks (sold separately) are not currently being updated or expanded. Instead we're putting our effort into the pull-out guides in the magazine. The maps in the magazine are much better than the ones in the guidebooks ever were, but then I would say that...

[paulmorgan]

As OP I give permission to plug any maps you might know of :-) IF....it is within the rules of CW, of course.

 

For me, Waterscapes map works very poorly. The symbols and lines showing the canals take to long to show. And it eventualy freezes my browser. Its a little better in Explorer (stil takes it's time though) but utterly useless in Firefox.

 

Couple of questions which would really help me if you could share...

 

Could you tell me the version of FF you are using? In our tests, FF and Chrome were fast, it was IE that was the problem, especially IE6 (that does freeze depending upon the amount of data points that are included in area you are viewing).

 

What type of connection are you using, a home b/band or are you using a mobile connection on a boat by any chance? I could understand the lag then due to the data points that need to be pulled down.

 

Are you on Windows as well? XP / Vista or 7?

 

Thanks,

paul

[sociable_hermit]

CanalPlan AC is a good online tool.

[ymu]

And it does maps! Forgot that. Maps and virtual cruises!

 

No facilities marked though.

[LoneWolf]

I love maps and have a selection of Pearsons from holidays, and old Nicholsons that came with the boat, plus a couple of newer ones

Also the big fold out Collins one which is knackered now through overuse

I use the big map for planning longer journeys and a whatever i have for when on the move

 

I prefer the Nicholsons to Pearsons cos they're proper maps so it's easier to get an idea of where you are overall.

 

The advantage of Pearsons are they show both visitor and private moorings (not on Nichlosons) and I like the text which is written in a peculiar style and often has interesting facts and history

 

Nicholsons seem obsessed with churches for some reason.

 

When I was a holiday boater, I used to get the pearsons in advance and create my own maps drawn to the 'pearson hour' scale - so it was easier to see how far you were round a ring etc in hours (and you didnt have to get up at 6am for the last couple of days to get the boat back!)

 

 

I like the waterscape downloads and the fact that you can choose what you want on them.

 

I think the 'stoppage' (ie closure of services as well) information that gets added could be improved though - what I'd want is just the latest situation but what comes out is the whole history. Which in the case of Wheaton Aston services is a load of open, closed, contractors called, open soon, open now, closed again etc

[Guest]

Also the big fold out Collins one which is knackered now through overuse

 

If you are interested them Amazon have it on sale for the very good price of £4.74 at the moment and that includes P&P. I have just ordered one after reading about it on this thread.

 

Additionally if you do like maps you may like the book 'Map Addict' by Mike Parker. Also on Amazon.

[LoneWolf]

If you are interested them Amazon have it on sale for the very good price of £4.74 at the moment and that includes P&P. I have just ordered one after reading about it on this thread.

 

Additionally if you do like maps you may like the book 'Map Addict' by Mike Parker. Also on Amazon.

 

i will check out that book thanks, i am indeed a map addict

 

I dont often use Amazon because i have no address to send stuff to & I prefer to go into shops & fondle what i'm buying first.

I sometimes order books i cant find in shops & get them sent to a friend but i am a believer in 'use it or lose it' and a whole lot of individuals saving a couple of quid on a book each will add up to our bookshops vanishing quicker