NEWSLETTER NO. 2 OF 2008
AXIS OF EVIL MAPPING NEWSLETTER # 2 February, 2008
The Axis of Evil Mapping Newsletter is released irregularly. Any opinions expressed are strictly those of myself and are not intended to provoke anything more than the intellect.
INTRODUCTION
Happy Year of the Earth Rat! That’s right, in mid-February, we enter the Tet Festival (Vietnam) and the better-known Chinese New Year, following the calendar based on the movements of the moon used in many parts of Asia for centuries. This is also Leap Year in the ‘normal’ or Julian calendar that evolved in Europe. This is also the month of the IMTA map conference in Estoril, Portugal from February 28th to March 1st. Lan and I will be attending the conference, but will not have a stand for the first time since IMTA EAME evolved out of the British map industry meetings held in frigid Bournemouth each February for years. We will be bringing our latest published maps for ‘show and tell’, but want to focus our time on talking about Vancouver and the forthcoming World Mapping Conference and meeting as many delegates as possible.
Lan and I are in the Azores as you read this, researching the possibility of preparing a map of these mid-Atlantic islands. We will then fly to Lisbon, to take part in IMTA Estoril. As we have a lot of maps at press at the moment, I expect that our list of titles will grow fairly significantly next month.
ITMB NEW TITLES RELEASED THIS MONTH: February, 2008
Auckland and North Island, NZ, Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:12,000/1:950,000 ISBN 9781553417217 $12.95 cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP – This new ITMB map should really be called Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and the North Island of New Zealand, but that’s too long a title. However, in addition to Auckland, the cities of Wellington and Christchurch are included on one side of the map (NZ urban areas don’t tend to be huge). The other side is a very detailed map of North Island, the main island of the country. This map will be perfect for both finding one’s way around Auckland’s waterfront and for exploring the highways and byways, communing with woolies; printed double-sided on paper AVAILABLE.
Iraq Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2008 1:1,200,000 ISBN 9781553412540 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP – This should not be one of ITMB’s best-selling titles, but it is. As tourism is minimal, I have to assume it is the families with loved ones posted to Iraq that buy this map. Regardless, for world political reasons, Iraq is one of the most crucial countries in the world today. We have been able to make significant improvements to this edition – better colour co-ordination, corrections to roads, re-working the Bagdhad inset, and showing provincial boundaries more accurately. I regret to say that, due to the war going on in Iraq, we have not been able to go to the country and ground-truth the information in this map. It is as accurate and complete as we can make it at this point in time; printed on paper, AVAILABLE.
Vienna ITM City Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:10,500 ISBN 9781553417170 $10.95cdn/us E7.95/5.99GBP – Vienna, Austria, is one of the most touristic cities in Europe. Renowned for its musical heritage, it is also a focal point for the United Nations, has a wealth of historic buildings and palaces, theatres, museums, art galleries, and parks. This title adds to ITMB’s growing range of European titles and highlights the best attractions of this famous city; printed on paper, single-sided AVAILABLE.
83DWells Gray Region/83D4Myrtle Lake 1st Ed. 2008 1:250,000/1:50,000 ISBN 9781553418856 $14.95cdn/us, E9.95/7.99GBP – This is the latest recreational title to be published by ITMB using the new Canada Map Office digital information. Wells Gray is a wilderness preserve north of Kamloops and east of 100 Mile House. It is about the size of Belgium or New Jersey and is a famous canoeing and recreation venue, with dozens of fishing lodges, horse-riding ranches, and lakeside resorts. One side is the region at 1:250,000 scale, stretching as far east as the Continental Divide and Jasper, Alberta, and from Quesnel Lake south to horse Lake. The other side is Myrtle Lake, a canoeist’s paradise, at 1:50,000 scale. For those of you who use the NTS system, Wells Gray is 83D, Myrtle Lake is 83D4; printed on waterproof ITM plastic for durability, AVAILABLE.
Whistler/sea to Sky Highway Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:50,000/1:250,000 ISBN 9781553418924 $8.95cdn/us E7.95 5.99GBP – This is our second map devoted to the upcoming Winter Games in 2010. We are not allowed to note the name Olympic, as this is copyright-protected, but this map shows all the venues for the games but is, in reality, our long-term map for this part of British Columbia, combining the old Lower Mainland Region map with our Whistler map. Naturally, the Whistler side concentrates on the hiking/cycling summer activities and skiing/sledding winter activities of the resort community. The other side concentrates on the recreational activities of the area between Vancouver and Whistler, concentrating on the part of BC along Howe Sound called the Sea to Sky Region; printed on paper, double-sided, AVAILABLE.
LIFE IN AMERICA
It really is fun to be living next door to the most fascinating country on the planet. There is always something happening to amuse, excite, or annoy. Here are a few tidbits that have come to my attention recently.
A Lab retriever dog named, appropriately, Jet, went to the Phoenix airport as part of the greeting party for his master. The family left Jet in the car in the parking garage. Upon the return of the arriving party, Jet became so excited that he jumped out of the car and charged at his much-beloved master but was travelling so fast by the time he reached the approaching group that he shot past them, skidding and scrabbling, and sailed off the edge of the parking garage – six stories above the ground! Launched into space inadvertently, what’s a dog to do? Well, fly, of course! Somehow, Jet landed on his feet, looked up at the amazed family peering over the edge of the garage expecting to see a crumpled ruin, and barked at them to join him.
Recent tornados have wreaked havoc and tragedy across several states in the States. The head of Homeland Security was touring a devastated college campus that suffered severe damage, but fortunately, no deaths, and commented “Well, students finally have a believable excuse for handing in their term papers late.”
My next story, heard on the radio, concerns a woman in Washington State who deposited her package of drugs into a bank deposit machine instead of her money. The problem was that her little plastic bag of drugs was highly illegal meth. The bank called the police, the police arrived at the lady’s home, and she’s now up before the beak on a trafficking charge, which means she won’t be making any deposits for the next several years.
The last story was something I saw on TV during my recent trip to Texas. It was Martin Luther King day, and the three leading Democratic Party candidates were debating at a public forum. One question to Barack Obama, a black, or Afro-American candidate, related to Bill Clinton’s great popularity with, and identification with, black Americans, to the extent that Bill is appreciatively called America’s first black President. Of course, the candidate handled the question as diplomatically as possible, then turned to the second candidate, Hilary Clinton, and commented that he was sure that a lot of women voters would feel support for her as a fellow woman. He then turned to the third candidate, John Edwards, and froze. John picked up superbly, commenting that he would be happy to accept the support of the white males in America, which broke up all three candidates into giggles.
By the way, Canadians are Americans too. We share America in a very real way with our neighbours to the south but are, of course Norto Americanos without a vote. We don’t want to be United Statesians but there is no other country more affected by US policies and practices than Canada, so we follow the convoluted and archaic US primaries and elections very closely. At this stage, only two real candidates remain on the Democratic side and it is a real credit to the American people that one is a woman and the other an American of African descent, and on the Republican side a well-respected Vietnam vet and moderate conservative from Arizona, John McCain. The nut cases from the religious extremists that swept into power eight years ago on a jingoistic mantra of having America save the world from itself are as dead in the water politically as whatshisname Huckabee. America is resonating with hope and vitality and politics is back to normal. Hallelluyah, brother!!! No matter who gets elected, the current policies have been swept away already.
ANOTHER MAP RETAILER DECLARES BANKRUPTCY
Unfortunately, I find myself announcing yet another specialty map store closing its doors. Map Source, of Tampa, Florida, with branches in Orlando and Pensacola, closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy in mid-January, citing the declining sales of street atlases to realtors as a contributing factor to its decline in sales.
ITMB NEW TITLES ISSUED LAST MONTH (January)
Athens, Greece, ITM City Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:9,000 ISBN 9781553416036 $10.95cdn/us, E7.95/5.99GBP
Borneo/Kalimantan Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:1,130,000 ISBN 9781553410652 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP
Buenos Aires/Northern Argentina Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2008 1:12,500/1:2,200,000 ISBN 9781553416203 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP
Chile Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008, waterproof, 1:1,130,000 ISBN 9781553411673 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP
Croatia Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:325,000 ISBN 9781553411819 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP
Guatemala Travel Reference Map 6th Ed. 2008 1:470,000 ISBN 9781553412342 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP
Gulf Islands/Nanaimo and Islands (BC) Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 ISBN 9781553418580 $14.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP
Guernsey Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:12,500 ISBN 9781553415961 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP
Jersey Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:12,000 ISBN 9781553415947 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP
Mexico ITM Travel Road Atlas 1st Ed. 2008 1:1,000,000 ISBN 9781553410997 $19.95cdn/us, E14.95/9.95GBP
Mexico: Sonora & Chihuahua States Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:1,000,000 ISBN 9781553415916 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95/6.99GBP
Sunshine Coast (BC) Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:250,000 ISBN 9781553418740 $8.95cdn/us, E7.99/5.99GBP
ITMB TITLES PERMANENTLY OUT OF PRINT
British Columbia, paper
Costa Rica, paper
Falkland Islands
ITMB TITLES: BETWEEN EDITIONS AND WORK IN PROGRESS
Andes is at press and expected in March. This title covers all of western South America.
Bowron Lakes Canoe Route (BC) is now being prepared, for probable release in April, 2008.
Brisbane is under development and expected in May.
France is out of stock. A new map has been prepared, but it will not be ready until March.
Hue/Danang and Central Vietnam is at final editorial checking stage. No ETA is available at the moment.
India North and Northwest is approaching completion, but no ETA is available yet.
India South is approaching completion, but no ETA is available yet.
Italy North East is at press and expected in May. This completes our coverage of northern Italy.
Kolkata/Calcutta, and Northeastern India, is close to completion; but no ETA is yet available for this important title.
Las Vegas, Nevada, is under development; no ETA is available at this time.
Manning Park/Skagit is the latest BC recreational title being prepared. It should be available in late March.
Patagonia is out of stock. An updated edition is at press and is expected to be available in late February.
Sicily is at press and expected in May.
Somalia is out of copies. A new edition is being prepared. No ETA is available at this time.
Southern Africa is quickly running out of copies. A new edition is in preparation.
South America has been printed
South America Wall Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:5,000,000 ISBN 978155341 is a new venture for us. This huge map will be marketed on our behalf by Craenen Distribution throughout Europe and by ITMB in North America. The wall map will be available in a paper format, a laminated format, and with magnetic hanging strips, all in tubes. It was released for sale in Europe in mid-January. Shipping problems have delayed its release in America.
Taiwan is now out of stock. A new edition is at press and expected in March.
Vienna, Austria, is at press and expected in March.
FORTHCOMING ITMB EVENTS
IMTA Portugal, in Cacais, near Lisbon, February 28/29- March 1st, 2008 – We’re not only attending, but will be researching the Azores Islands during our visit. Can another ITM map be in our future??? I’ll never tell.
Rhodesia Study Circle 60th Anniversary Convention, Royal Leamington Spa, England – April 12-13 – We’ll be there! And map people world-wide will be asking the what? Where? Why? It’s a secret. Can’t tell or I’d have to cull you.
London Book Fair, Earl’s Court, - April 14-16 – we have our stand booked already. This will be a bigger and better organized show than last year, and we’re already looking forward to it. Apparently, Lan has us booked into arriving in London via Tunisia. I don’t even ask why she does these things anymore; I’m just along for the ride.
IMTA Board Meeting – May 28-29, Irvine, CA.
BookExpo USA, Los Angeles May 30-June 1 – We will be at Stand 2755 with a big stand. Since we’ll be driving from Vancouver, we’ll have a wider selection of maps to show off (and we’ll find an inexpensive place to stay).
IMTA World Mapping Conference “Mapping the Future” – Vancouver, Canada at the famous Hotel Vancouver in downtown Vancouver September 14-16, 2008, with Alaska cruises and RV rentals a possibility. This convention promises to be one of the most important, largest, and most exciting gatherings of the mapping industry in years! It’s SO big, even Nicolson Maps of Scotland plan on attending, and they NEVER spend a dime! Even Guenther Nelles might break down and attend, if he can persuade his boss (wife) to come along. You should come too. Nine exhibitors have signed up already, which is extraordinary, considering that prices haven’t been established yet. I’ll have lots more info in future newsletters.
ITMB TITLES PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER, 2007
Antarctica Travel Reference Map 4th Ed. 2008 1:8,000,000 ISBN 9781553410140 $12.95us/cdn E8.95 6.99GBP
Central America Travel Reference Map 7th Ed. 2008 1:1,100,000 ISBN 9781553410645 $12.95us/cdn E8.95 6.99GBP
Gibraltar Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:80,000/1:10,000 for Gib ISBN 9781553415954 $12.95us/cdn E8.95 6.99GBP
Guangzhou (China) ITM City Map 1st Ed. 2008 1:15,000 ISBN 9781553416364 $10.95us/cdn E7.95 5.99GBP
Yucatan Peninsula Travel Reference Map 9th Ed. 2008 waterproof 1:500,000 ISBN 9781553410638 $12.95us/cdn E8.95 6.99GBP