On BBC iPlayer: The Ordnance Survey Story

geophil

Tool Developer
A concise history of Ordnance Survey and the topographic maps they produce was shown on BBC Four last week. I should have pointed this out much earlier but I missed it myself. However, it's still available on iPlayer for a few weeks. (Viewers outside the UK can try a proxy, like Hola or similar).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...-a-very-british-map-the-ordnance-survey-story

It's only one hour, so it had to be very compressed. And it should appeal to the general public, so there is almost no math in it. But they explain the basics, from triangulation and trig stations to aerial images and stereo plotting, from the early beginnings to the digital era of today. There is even a short introduction to the O/S grid. A lot about the one inch map, the 25000 and the 50000.

Those of us using historic or modern O/S maps for their Trainz route building, with or without a certain geo data software, will certainly enjoy this programme.
 
Excellent programme for anyone with an interest in maps. Very much the kind of programme we could only get from BBC4, a channel which is sadly now under threat due to the cuts which are being imposed on the BBC. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Paul
 
I'll have to wait until it shows up on WGBH 2 (PBS) over here - another entity like BBC4 that's always under threat of being eliminated.

John
 
John, try Hola.

They tell you in this programme that drawing of a single sheet of the Explorer series (1:25,000, 20 x 30 km) took two years! And there you only draw symbols for features, you don't place or even model 3D assets as in our simulation world.
 
When I left School first Job I had was as an apprentice Surveyor for the NCB which involved both underground surveying and surface, part of the Training involved the drawing of maps, again both surface and underground which I'll admit to being pretty good at. No Computers then all done by hand. Probably on reflection some what stupidly I jacked it in after 4 years to join the Navy. and guess who went and missed the program, on a data cap so can't watch it on-line at present.
 
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