Visiting an Old Friend

The topo map

I’ve never been to Lake Waikaremoana or Frasertown, but a cartoonish abstraction with its bright reliable colours and reassuring post offices and primary schools is like visiting an old friend. You don’t have to go there to get an idea of the shape of the land, where key items are, how to get in, how to get out. And that is what the topo map strives for, reassurance. It’s designed to be readable by anyone, quick and efficient. In an emergency the topo map is the humble piece of folded paper we turn to to locate ourselves.

New Zealand's topographic mapping is internationally regarded. The colours, symbols and labels on the map are designed to endure and only change incrementally, so someone reading a map of Wairoa will also be able to read a map of Antarctica. Clean and stylish, the topo map is a work of art combining design, readability, accuracy and as much topographic information as humanly possible.

New Zealand began work on its first series of topo maps, New Zealand Map Series Number One, in the 1930’s. With the threat of invasion during World War Two, the effort increased substantially and over 160 provisional maps were printed before there was even a common set of standards. This established the tradition of New Zealand’s timely, accurate and reliable topographic mapping service that endures today. Technology has changed considerably since those days of hand crafted maps and now everything about topographic map production is digital. You can even download maps to add to your own digital device.

Yet, despite leaps of technology in the backroom of topo mapping, the main product that most people use is the humble paper version. And when you’re in trouble or far from home that’s when the topo map reassuringly raises its hand.