New discussions > [Soapbox]

I live in North Wales.

Being a resident and a walker in this beautiful area a set of good maps are prerequisite.

I prefer the laminated OS Explorer series.  OL17 covers most of the Conwy valley and all of the Carneddau and the Snowdon massif.  It does this admirably by covering it on a double sided map. 

Despite on the usual grumbles about this sort of map, (i.e. you always have to turn it over for the bit you want or the area that I want is in the overlap of the two maps, etc.), for me and I daresay many others it represents very good value for money in that a double sided map such as OL17 costs exactly the same as a single sided map, about £14.00 if I remember correctly.

I want to explore further afield.  My intent in the summer is to do a bit of walking around the Lleyn Peninsula.  The maps for this area are not in the OL Series, but are covered by OS253 and OS254.  The problem is, because I will have to purchase two maps this will cost nearly £28.00 for the laminated versions!

The area covered by the two maps is probably less than the total area covered by OL17 for Snowdon and the surrounding area, but Ordnance Survey, for some reason have decided that they didn't want to cover the whole of the Lleyn Peninsula on a double sided map at a cost to the customer of a more reasonable £14.00.

Although half of the price of the double sided map would probably be too much to ask for, I would have thought that the single sided map price could have been pitched at a more reasonable figure, perhaps just a little over half the cost of of what they are actually asking.  So if you want to buy both maps the cost isn't so blatantly astronomic and at least reflects a comparison to the double sided maps that are a available.  

There must be other areas of the UK that other people have had the same complaint.  I've registered my complaint with Ordnance Survey but they totally dismissed me.  Its a pity that they seem to have the monopoly on detailed mapping in the UK, if there were some genuine competition, they might think about their pricing a little more!

It would be interesting to find out what your views are.     

The OL series cover the National Parks and most popular walking areas in the UK, and they're probably the ones that sell the best. You're essentially getting 2 for the price of 1 with each OL map, so I guess it could be suggested that you're actually getting a very good deal with the OL series, and conversely you're paying basic price for the rest of the Explorer series.

In a way you're paying about double for each map because of wanting laminated ones (the paper ones are about £8, and OS have a 3 for 2 offer on atm anyway). Have you considered investing in some digital mapping and then producing your own laminated maps / maps printed out on waterproof paper for your own use? Or go low-tech and use a decent map case like the Ortleib with a traditional paper map?

But, on the subject of cost, I do agree with you that OS mapping is expensive. I get very annoyed with the cost of licences for digital mapping and companies like Memory Map locking their maps to a particular version of their software. We, the people, paid for the mapping originally, we shouldn't be screwed to the extent that we sometimes are!

Incidentally, OS don't actually have a complete monopoly on detailed mapping - there is Harvey's, but they don't have complete coverage.