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Ordnance Survey has been creating maps for hundreds of years. How have their mapping methods changed since the first Ordnance Survey maps were made?Key facts
- The British Ordnance Survey team are the British government's mapping agency.
- The Ordnance Survey was founded in 1791, and early maps were created by manually measuring the land.
- Today, the Ordnance Survey team carry out aerial surveys of the landscape to produce a giant electronic map of Britain.
- Ordnance Survey maps are used by many different people, including the emergency services and ramblers.
Transcript
Every day, Britain's landscapes are changing.
Mapping this change is the job of the British Ordnance Survey team – the British government's mapping agency.
The team are in charge of updating Ordnance Survey maps, using the latest technologies, a far cry from the map's beginnings, which were firmly rooted in war.
Paul Beauchamp, Ordnance Survey Team, UK - "The Ordnance Survey was founded in the erm... as a direct result of the French revolution in 1791. The predecessor to the Ministry of Defence was called the Board of Ordnance and they were asked by the government to conduct a survey of the south coast of England, in case the French decided to invade. So, they conducted an Ordnance Survey and that's where the name's come from."
1930s
To make the early maps, men on foot would manually measure the land.
They used a process known as triangulation.
Triangulation:
Survey area divided into triangles
Baseline and angles measured
Other line lengths calculated using trigonometry
This involved building triangulation points, or trig points, on prominent hilltops.
These were permanent positions from which measurements were taken.
From these individual measurements, regional and national maps were constructed.
Today, the Ordnance Survey team have left on-foot triangulation behind, and instead take to the skies.
Aerial surveys are supported by a team of 300 surveyors on the ground, who measure and record changes in the landscape, such as building construction and the alignment of roads.
This information is then passed to the aerial team, who take thousands of aerial photographs using sophisticated high-definition cameras.
Back on the ground, the teams use both sets of data to update a giant electronic map of Britain.
There can be up to 5000 changes every day, and over a million each year!
Updating Ordnance Survey maps is crucial for the many people and services that rely on them.
From emergency services navigating the streets, to ramblers trekking through the hills, the Ordnance Survey map is vital to daily life in an ever-changing Britain.
