Name: Chris

Company Role: Production Manager
Hobbies: Cycling, gardening, walking and whisky!

What do you do at HARVEY Maps?
My role is principally to organise the team responsible for all stages of producing a map - namely photogrammetry, data editing, field survey, map layout, checking and printing. I am also involved in planning what maps to make next, dealing with custom and event maps, as well as dipping in and out of some actual cartography too.

What’s the biggest change to the industry since you started working with mapping?
When I started in the industry (1990s), hand drawing techniques were very much on the way out and digital technology was rapidly taking over. But looking back, the tech used then now seems really old fashioned - imagine copying files to a disk to send to a printer through the post when we can now send masses of data over the internet in seconds?!

You must have faced many cartographic challenges during your time at HARVEY Maps, is there one that stands out?
One of the hardest challenges is to fit all of the area we think would be best for the user onto one sheet of paper. I think our route maps, with the route 'cut' into sections, often show clever solutions to this challenge. Also, getting away from the idea that the north is always at the top allowed us to rotate some maps to fit the sheet better - for example the diagonal orientation of the Jura and Pentland Hills Superwalker maps.

Most memorable event while working at Harvey Maps?
Many memorable events are related to the atrocious weather we sometimes experience on survey, though one does stand out! I was approaching the summit of Ben More Assynt in thick mist. Keen to get out of the weather and back in time before my teammates would start to wonder where I was, I noted a small cairn on the summit and quickly headed down off the hill. Only on looking at the map later that evening did I notice that the summit had been mis-labelled and I had not reached the top at all. (I had thought that the summit cairn was a bit small for a Munro...) I have still not returned to bag the one that got away!

What is your favourite mountain or walk that you have done?
One of the first survey trips I did at HARVEY Maps was the South West Coast Path. The route was incredibly varied, climbing up and down cliff paths, across wide sandy beaches, through fishing villages. I particularly enjoyed the stretch along the north Devon coast.

And finally, what is your favourite HARVEY map?
I love wild and rugged areas, so perhaps my favourite map is the British Mountain Map of Knoydart. It is so remote you have to either walk there or arrive by boat. When on survey I managed to bag all but two of the Munros on the peninsula, giving me a good excuse to return someday for the rest of them.