OS map story media coverage
Coverage of the Ordnance Survey error enters the media today – the BBC and Press and Journal already have it online, and I’m expecting the Inverness Courier to do so later. Moray Firth Radio also woke me up for a short radio interview this morning. ADDED: BBC local radio recorded a short interview on Sunday for Monday broadcast.
BBC: Missing north beaches put on map
PJ: Nairn man outraged at OS map failure to show town’s beaches
Not sure why the P&J claims I was “outraged”, but there’s a lesson to take note of immediately. And that photo doesn’t look like me!
After the OS confirmed that indeed Nairn’s beaches were missing from the 1:250 000 maps – the scale commonly used in UK road atlas publications, I figured this was the sort of miscellaneous story local media might pick up.
It also seemed a good way to bring positive attention to Nairn – and especially underline that the town has an award winning beach – so I sent out a press release to a number of regional editors.
This is not least as I remember once reading that some people in Inverness don’t realise Nairn even has a beach.
There may only be a small number of people blogging from Nairn, but it seems most of us are interested in affecting some form of positive change. So I can only hope my raising the profile of Nairn’s beaches can be seen as a constructive part of that.
Here’s a copy of the original press release:
Nairn’s beaches to return to road maps
The town of Nairn will again have its award-winning beaches marked on road maps from next year, after being omitted in Ordnance Survey maps by mistake.
The error was spotted by local businessman, Brian Turner, who operates an internet services company, Britecorp, from the town.
Mr Turner says, “I was browsing a Phillips road atlas at a relative’s house, when I noticed no beach was marked anywhere between Ardesier and Findhorn. It seemed a strange omission considering that Nairn’s beaches are a major local attraction.”
“I blogged about the issue at mynairn.com, and another blogger pointed out that the Ordnance Survey website does actually display a beach. Which made matters all the more confusing.”
Mr Turner contacted Ordnance Survey about the issue on Monday, and on Thursday they replied*, “[T]here is no reason why Nairn should not be shown as a sandy beach. It is already shown as sand on our 1:25 000 scale and 1:50 000 scale mapping, so we have now corrected it on our 1:250 000 scale data. The next time the sheet for this area is revised, Nairn will be shown as a sandy beach.”
The correction means that Nairn’s beaches should show up on future road maps using OS data.
According to Mr Turner, “As a parent with young children, we often use our road atlas to find places to drive to in the summer, where we can relax on a beach at the end. The hope is the correction means other residents and visitors in the Highlands can now be made more aware of Nairn’s beaches.”
As to the error itself, Mr Turner says, “Considering how much data Ordnance Survey have to deal with, you can expect one or two small errors to creep in. However, other locals may want to double check their own seaside areas!”
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The man that finally put Nairn beach on the map.
Brian you will go down in folklore
Sin thu fhèin a bhalaich!