The Ordnance Survey: the Modern Mapping of Britain

Historical Context Essay

Rachel Hewitt (University of Newcastle upon Tyne)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Domains

Cartography, Maps and Navigation

Dates

Date of occurrence 1791-1873

Places

United Kingdom (Location)
Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Involved)

Resources

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The Ordnance Survey is Britain’s national mapping agency. Today its digital database, the OS Master-Map, provides geographical data to national and local governments, transport organisations, the emergency services, Army and Navy, National Health Service, architects, National Trust, insurance companies, and housing associations. On 1 April 2010, in response to the

Guardian

newspaper’s “Free Our Data” campaign, the Ordnance Survey made thirteen data-sets (a small proportion of its overall total) freely available to the public, from a small-scale map of Great Britain to a national gazetteer of road names. But the Ordnance Survey is most famous for its folded maps. Its

Explorer

series comprises 403 intersecting maps of Britain on a 1:25,000 scale (2½ inches to a mile); its

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3575 words

Citation: Hewitt, Rachel. "The Ordnance Survey: the Modern Mapping of Britain". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 August 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5557, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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