Great Arc of India

Just been to Hyderabad for a few days with work. I can't help but think of the Great Arc when I travel to India. I loved the book. When I was in Cape Town back in 1994 I came across one of Everest's theodolites. He left one in CT enroute to India and I stumbled across this when Rog and I went to buy a map of Cape Town. Unlike the UK where you just pop into WHSmiths and pick up a lovely OS map, buying a map of the Cape Peninsula then involved a trip to the survey offices in Cape Town. The map purchase was relatively straight-forward but I was just leaving when I turned round and saw a room absolutely CHOCKA with theodolites etc. Can you imagine my enthusiasm? It didn't take long to convince the personnel there that I was really keen to see them (Rog probably mentioned the words 'sad geek') and we were let in. I came across an absolute gem. One of Everest's theodolites!

Anyway, earlier this week I was sitting next to an ex Commander of the Indian Navy talking about hydrography and mapping. We had a lovely chat about the Survey of India.

Just realised some of my RICS colleagues are in Siberia at the moment. They are attending Geo Siberia (as you do). Bet it's not the 41 deg celsius that I had earlier this week! ;)

Trains train go away, come back another day

And that's exactly what they did!

Smooth journey courtesy of Virgin Rail up to Bristol. Good RICS Geomatics Exec meeting and then a Survey Liaison Group meeting. Lots of interesting discussion over the Office of Fair Trading report on releasability of Public Sector Information.

Awful journey back courtesy, not, of any train company in particular. Mind you, considering the M32 looked at a standstill car wouldn't have been much quicker.

The report on coastguards disturbs me. Forget the adverts saying the AA are the 4th emergency service - people like this are!

RICS and Survey Liaison Group

Up in Bristol for some of tomorrow for an RICS Geomatics Exec meeting and a Survey Liaison Group. Not sure if I'm chairing one or both of the above meetings but I'll sure I'll know once I get there! Won't be staying too late and will miss the lecture as I need to be home reasonably promptly since I'm off abroad (yippee) on Saturday first thing.

Strange Maps

This is a website my husband found and browses on occasion. It picks up some amazing examples of innovative cartography such as "if planets were countries", a bizarre chart of the ocean and a political favourite . Perhaps they could bring out a calendar of 'extreme cartography' along the lines of 'extreme ironing'?

OK, perhaps not. Getting carried away there.

Horse Trig Pillar

Fear not, I am not going to post a picture of every trig pillar I see (tempting though it might be) but this one amused me; found today stuck infront of the horse riding stables complete with concrete horse head on top. No room for a tribrach there then?

Wee Trig Pillar

I should have pointed out on my first post that this is a very light-hearted look at the world of geomatics. OK, I can get as deep and meaningful as the rest of them at times but I also want to make this blog accessible to 'normal' people.

Have just been away sans children with my incredibly long-suffering husband Roger. He has had to put up with a lot over the last 17 years and I doubt if I'm going to give him much let up on the geomatics front. We went to Furzey Gardens today which has no geomatics significance whatsoever. Rog was probably delighted that I left my mobile phones in the car. Peace and tranquility - what more could you want? And then I spotted this!
Is this the smallest trig pillar in Hampshire on record? My camera case gives some indication of scale. OK, no tribrach holes on the top but there was certainly a drilled hole for some resemblance of surveying.

Actually Rog and I were driving back from Brokenhurst to Lyndford yesterday and at one stage he said "do you know where we are?". Stupid question as I'm the maestro of map reading in a car but when I pointed out that the route I'd taken him just 'happened to pass a trig pillar' he burst into hysterics. It must have been a mare to survey, the New Forest. Pretty flat. The trig pillar we passed was a mega 124m about MSL (GR SU244142).

Where Have You Been? Paint the World Red

An old site but still fun.

Makes you realise that even though you think you've been out and about quite a bit there's still an awful lot of world left to see. Btw I've only included countries where I've left the airport than been in transit (ie Nigeria, Bulgaria, Thailand, UAE, Qatar, Bangladesh, Malaysia). My visit to the Falklands isn't showing up well and my trip to Tristan da Cunha is completely invisible! Shame there is no Antarctica.


Although compared to my friends and family I "get around a bit", a lot of my work colleagues would put my pathetic travel claims to shame. They regularly circulate the world and would put most of this map red.

Welcome One and All!

Ahem, well it may just be welcome the one (me).

This is my blog for downloading all things vaguely geomatic and, therefore, stunningly interesting in my eyes.

For those blessed not to have already encountered the word geomatics, it basically covers "the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering of geographic information, or spatially referenced information." More can be found at wiki or on the RICS website 'insight into the profession'. The fact that the latter shows a somewhat old picture of me is besides the point (or a thinly veiled egotistic boost).

News for this week is that walruses are now being tagged around the Arctic using GPS. I also read an interesting article in Hydro International about the Netherlands changing chart datum from MLLWS (Mean Lower Low Water Springs) to LAT (Lowest Astronomical Tide).

I must confess up-front in this blog that I'm passionate about vertical datums. It's a kick back to an old project I started at work but there's something about it which 'gets me'. I'm also going to give up on Post One for this blog to sound anything other than geeky. Let's face it. I am.