The Enduring Beauty of the OS Map

by Matt Bryan

Just like tractors and fly-tipping, the OS Map is truly a British countryside institution - from aiding professionals in their navigation of treacherous fields and farmers, to guiding novice DofE groups to within some proximity of the next meeting point, it’s almost hard to imagine a world without the orange-bound ‘Explorer’ Map. But, rather surprisingly, Britain’s favourite map wasn’t just found alongside a bridleway one day. Ordnance Survey was birthed as a military companion in 1745 to assess the poorly mapped Scottish Highlands and locate Jacobite dissidents, but just 60 years later presented a much friendlier facade in its publication of the original ‘inch-to-a-mile’ series of Great Britain. OS kept surveying, and still does to this date with the latest in cartographic technology, regularly updating its maps from its headquarters in Southampton.

But what’s so special about a map? If you purely see it as a method of finding a route from A to B, or just a way of locating the nearest ‘Public House’ or ‘Site of antiquity’ then I’d argue that you are missing the true charm of the OS Map. Much like the ‘Transport’ typeface that gives the UK the most distinctive road signage in the world, or Harry Beck’s Tube map that has been copied and reproduced for nearly a century, OS serves as proof of a visual phenomenon; the brilliance that comes when British infrastructure meets British design.

Whether it’s the sweeping, vibrantly colour-coded roads running through residential areas perfectly replicated in beige blocks and black fences or contour lines tracing out the landscape across green, wooded patches and country lanes or its own distinctive and powerful font enunciating locations, the OS Map has a strong and timeless design, but one that stays simple enough to fulfil its purpose as a map. It’s a style that’s hard to describe, but one that is instantly recognisable and a graphic design masterclass to which no other comes close. But perhaps what is more outstanding is that throughout OS’s numerous editions over its centuries long history, the design language has never hit a wrong note - old maps are highly desired as reminiscent decoration and are still perfectly functional, as long as you aren’t surprised that half the fields have become ‘deluxe developments of 3 and 4 bedroom homes’ . 

As well as presenting a geographic record of Britain in an aesthetically pleasing form, the OS Map has also been behind some of the UK’s biggest technological achievements. Many industries, and also the government, use OS’s raw mapping data for planning, and indeed Britain's first mobile phone network in the 1980s was a collaboration between mathematical modelling, engineering expertise and Ordnance Survey maps. Countless data points were taken to predict the behaviour of the electromagnetic waves at varying distances and in different environments, like urban, rural etc. The wave-transmission model was then utilised in conjunction with OS map data to determine the effective range for a mast at any point in the real world, and what combination of positions would yield the best coverage and reliability for the brick-using mobile phone customer of the mid-80s.

But in today’s world, is an OS paper map a relic? In all honesty, a 1:25000 map is pretty useless when it comes to navigating an urban sprawl, and a 1:50000 version is even worse, when buildings just become a brown mush. On a physical copy, it’s easier to display features like a reservoir or tumulus which might aid an intrepid rambling group in finding their way out of the Beacons, but when it comes to locating the pink house with its Christmas lights still up, you might as well throw a dart at the map with your eyes closed. With free and instantly available mapping from Google and Apple (if you aren’t too bothered by the difference between Portsmouth, Hampshire and Portsmouth, New Hampshire), OS would struggle to sate the demands of a modern navigator, but many find the beauty in its simplicity. The OS Map still retains a loyal fan base of people who wouldn’t dare leave the house without one, and having fallen victim to its charms, it’s why I have one framed on my bedroom wall.