NEWSLETTER NO. 5 OF 2007
AXIS OF EVIL MAPPING NEWSLETTER # 5 end of June, 2007
The Axis of Evil Mapping Newsletter is released irregularly. If you are not interested in receiving this newsletter, please email jack@itmb.com. Any opinions expressed are strictly those of myself and are not intended to provoke anything more than the intellect.
INTRODUCTION
Lan and I have recently returned from a business trip to the east, which for us means Toronto and Ottawa, Columbus and Philadelphia, and New York City. In Toronto, we commissioned the preparation of our future maps of Mumbai and Melbourne, as well as our next update for Moscow. In Ottawa, we had positive discussions with the Govt. of Canada’s Map Office (CMO) (see below). In Philadelphia, I attended an IMTA Board meeting while Lan enjoyed herself and we hopefully moved IMTA further forward as an association of publishers, distributors, retailers, and data providers. In NYC, we exhibited at BookExpo and I was surprised by the positive response to ITMB’s map line by some pretty big players, which might prove to be of long-term benefit. Many people jokingly comment on the number of trips Lan and I take each year, but these trips are integral to our continuing growth as a company (as well as being fun).
We promise to stay in Vancouver until the fall, except for local trips to such places as the Northwest Territories, which is only a three to four days’ drive away, so doesn’t count. We have also been pleased to have Sandy and Linda Hill stay with us overnight in our mostly-renovated guest bedroom. They have enjoyed a well-earned vacation from their responsibilities with managing IMTA by taking one of the famous Alaska cruises that we will be featuring as part of the IMTA convention in September, 2008. I still hope to persuade the Board of one of the regions to hold a convention on board a cruise liner. They’re great fun, not expensive, and it would be something different from what we have done in the past as an Association.
LAN’S POEM
Lan claims I hog all the space and she never gets to say anything, so here’s something from the other half:
Around the corner, I have a friend, in this great city that has no end. Yet the days go by and weeks rush on, and before you know it a year is gone, and I never see my old friend’s face, for life is a swift and terrible race. “Tomorrow”, I say, “I will call on him”, but tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes, and a letter arrives that says he’s died. And that’s what we get and deserve in the end, if we don’t seize the moment to be friends today. Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you, because it might be too late – tomorrow.
Dedicated to my good friend Eva, who passed away unexpectedly before we knew and could say goodbye.
PEACE AND GOOD STAFF
I am pleased to advise that the changing of the guard at ITMB seems to be working out fairly well. It will still take quite a bit of time for new staff to become thoroughly familiar with all the details of a business as diverse as ITMB. More importantly, now there is a sense of positive direction in ITMB that was lacking in the last half of 2006. I am pleased with Graeme’s progress to date in assuming greater responsibilities, but also with the genuine enthusiasm that the new staff members bring to their work. June was almost a record month for production, with eight new releases, and both wholesale and retail sales increased, thanks to the efforts of Phil and Iain. Perhaps it is premature to predict that 2007 will be a better business year for all of us, but ITMB’s sales are largely to other firms (distributors and retailers), and you guys wouldn’t be ordering as much as you are unless you’re also selling a fair amount, eh? Our new e-commerce web presence is also almost ready to launch, and will be much easier to use than our previous version. We will begin with all 280 ITMB titles, and add in the product lines of the other firms we market as we complete the data entry stage. CMO, with 13,500 titles, may take us a while to input! Anyway, I’m pleased by our progress thus far, and high hopes that the innovative work being accomplished behind the scenes will soon realize visible signs of improvements.
ITMB MIGHT MOVE TO LARGER PREMISES IN 2008
Unbeknownst to most of you, ITMB has moved to new premises seven times over the past quarter century, usually to maintain affordable rent, but also to have more space for an expanding business. After each move, I promised myself I’d never go through the trauma of moving again. Each time, after a few years, extortionate rent or the needs for even more space seem to dictate moving yet again, always to larger quarters. In August, 2000, when we moved into our current building in central Vancouver, at 530 West Broadway, the entire retail and wholesale operation fitted into the ground floor of a three storey building (except for one room on the third floor which we converted for a production division).
As we continued to add more and more titles to our product line, we took over more and more space on the second and third floors, and then eventually bought a separate warehouse building to hold our bulk storage needs. The simple reality of publishing is that each new title that ITMB releases consists of between 25 and 60 cartons, and these add 2,225 boxes each year to our space requirements. They have to go somewhere to be stored until they’re sold, right? Well, there isn’t enough room at 530 for them, and going to the warehouse once or twice a week and loading up my Ford with an assortment of 40 to 50 boxes takes time and is tiring. Besides, at the rate we’re growing, the warehouse will be full in a year’s time! We have another 37 titles scheduled for release in 2007 (another 925 carton storage boxes) and a further 75 titles scheduled for next year (1,875 storage boxes).
Although neither of our current buildings is full to capacity yet, both are approaching full storage capacity. Lan and I can see a point in the not-too-distant future where our need for space will necessitate a move to a larger and more warehouse-oriented facility. We also need to simplify our retail operation and to be in a location convenient for trucks to drop off pallets and pick up the lovely orders going out our shipping door. We have been looking for a new head office location for over a year now. Vancouver’s property market is such that demand far exceeds supply, so commercial properties tend to be snapped up before they are even listed – and for BIG bucks!!!. Generally speaking, commercial/industrial properties in the City of Vancouver are being re-zoned into high-rise residential land at an alarming rate, which is driving up the value of the remaining land to absurd levels. We believe that we have found new premises that meet our needs and also enables easy access for customers and visitors, with adequate free parking on site, along a major commercial street.
We’re keeping the location secret for now, as we don’t have the property ‘locked up’ but also because we intend to move gradually, starting next February. Moving hundreds of thousands of maps will take me months.
CHEAP FARES TO ASIA ARE NOW A REALITY
Usually, I don’t have space to give much information about our changing world of travel. A new discount-oriented airline called Orient, based in Hong Kong, is offering some incredible fares from Vancouver to Hong Kong ($350cdn one way), then on to London for even less. Combine this with low-cost Zoom Air back to Vancouver and it is now possible to travel all the way around the globe for less than $1,000 – using regular fares! George, one of our staff, recently won a promo offer to fly from Vancouver to Hong Kong for $1.00cdn. All I can say is – it’s about time somebody decided to tackle long-distance flights to Asia on a discount basis. I predict that this new airline will be only the first of many opening Asia to inexpensive airfare travelling.
ESTATE (RED BOOKS) LTD. FILES FOR LIQUIDATION
With sadness, I have to report that Estate Publications of the UK, in its revised format as Red Books, has filed for liquidation. Estate was founded as a spin-off from a corporate restructuring some thirty years ago by Bob Taylor and five young partners. For the past thirty-odd years, Estate has published a popular line of regional tourist maps covering Britain, as well as a respected series of town plan maps. ITMB began distributing Estate’s map line in North America in 1982, having conned Bob into believing that we were much bigger a firm than we actually were at the time. We eventually worked together to publish a series of international titles, such as Nepal, Britain, Ireland, Belgium/Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, and France. Estate fell on hard times following Bob’s retirement, what with ‘big box’ store market cutbacks, foot and mouth disease, and increased competition.
AMERICANS DELAY PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS
For the second time, the American government has announced a delay in requiring all Americans travelling outside of the USA to have a passport. The new 17 month delay, to 2009, is to allow additional time to process the millions of passport applications that have flooded processing offices ever since the US government decided to bring American citizens into the same processing structure as the rest of the planet. Over the past two years, the number of Americans holding a passport has doubled, which is very good news. The bad news is that 75% of Americans still don’t have passports. My only query is where were all these US nationals going without passports??? Apart from Canada and Mexico, which countries in this day and age allow foreign nationals entry into their countries without proper documentation? It is good news for Canadians, because we can delay having passports to drive into the USofA. Of course, we still won’t go until the regime change that is coming replaces the pigs on the border with properly trained and courteous officials.
ITMB TITLES LOW ON STOCK AND BEING UPDATED
At the moment, we are more or less caught up with updating titles, and are preparing another series of brand new titles to overwhelm an unsuspecting world.
British Columbia (paper version) is out of print. We still have a considerable number of BC (plastic version) maps available, so will not be re-issuing the paper version at this time.
Prince George and Region has run out of inventory. Due to low sales, this title has been discontinued and will not be updated or re-issued. Anyone holding copies of the map should continue to market it.
Whistler and Region has run out of copies. A new edition is being prepared. With the 2010 Winter Olympics roaring down on us, we plan on making two new double-sided maps related to this title. The first one is scheduled for release in July, and will have an updated Whistler area map on one side, showing the Olympic venues (that are still in an early stage of construction) as well as the latest information on new features in the community. The other side will be our Vancouver City map, showing the Olympic venues slated to be built or used during the 2010 Games. This map will be called Whistler/Vancouver, and will last until after the Olympic period. As soon as this project is out of the way, we will be developing a second, related, title Whistler/Garibaldi Region, which will also be a double-sided map, with the Whistler area on one side and a 1:100,000 scale recreational map on the other side covering the surrounding area. We hope that this second map will be ready in August.
WHAT ARE WE CLOSE TO COMPLETING?
In addition to the artwork noted above, we are moving ahead on several brand new titles. We have already completed more than 40 projects in 2007, and have eight more at press and 21 in various stages of progress. At the moment, we have 279 titles in print, and expect to break 300 before the end of the year.
92G6 and 92G7 – This won’t mean much to many of you, but Canada is divided into thousands of 1:50,000 topographical segments, each one of which is indexed by a number corresponding to the National Topographic System (NTS) grid. These two popular titles are located in the wilderness mountains immediately north of Vancouver. Both are out of print and the Canada Map Office is co-operating with us in re-printing these two separate titles under the ITMB cover as a single, double-sided, map, using ITM plastic paper. This is an experiment; if it works, we will consider doing similar titles in other parts of Canada in a pre-folded, attractively-covered format. This is a new venture for ITMB, and shows innovative support from our newly-revamped national map office. I hasten to add that ITMB is absorbing all the costs of this venture (see below).
Amazon Basin is getting low on copies (50 left). We are developing new digital artwork to replace this title.
Caucasus Region, a new title for ITMB, is at the printers. We hope to release it in late July.
Ethiopia is almost out of copies. An updated edition is being prepared.
Europe Road Map has been printed in Europe, and is now being shipped across the ocean to us; looks very good: release is expected in mid-August.
Germany North and Germany South please see Europe, above.
Mumbai/Bombay is being developed. No release date is yet available, but I’m betting on Sept.
Samoa/American Samoa is finally at the printer. We expect to release it in late July.
Sweden please see Europe, above.
Warsaw ITM City Map, a new title, is at the printer, and is expected to be released in mid-July.
Whistler/Vancouver is at final proof stage, for release in July.
BREATHING LIFE INTO THE CANADA MAP OFFICE
Until a few months ago, the Canadian government’s agency for mapping could not be thought of in a kindly fashion by retailers or distributors. No maps had been updated for the previous decade, and their efforts at digitizing our nation’s cartographic heritage have been minimal to put it mildly. However, the political head of the department, the Minister for Natural Resources, recently reversed a decade of neglect and set the CMO on a new course. Unfortunately, that decision caught everyone by surprise and it has taken a few months to decide just what that new direction means.
I am not going to pretend to speak for the CMO, but Lan and I spent several hours in CMO’s offices in Ottawa recently, discussing with senior officials some likely future directions for Canadian topographic mapping. First, digitalization will be emphasized to develop a true digital data base for Canada, which is good news if it happens. Second, selected popular 1:50,000 topographic map areas will be updated as soon as possible and access provided freely to digital users. Third, CMO has moved towards the American concept of public domain, which means that it will be much easier in the future to develop mapping projects, both digital and printed.
ITMB has proposed to CMO that we would print selected areas of the NTS grid for Canada that can be justified economically and market them to consumers interested in printed maps. In time, as updating information becomes available, we hope to be able to develop a new generation of Canadian topographic maps for individual use. CMO has verbally approved our initiative. If this works, it will be the first such public/private cartographic publishing venture in Canadian history and, I hope, a harbringer of great steps to come. Stay tuned!
FORTHCOMING TRADE SHOWS
IMTA Philadelphia, September 23-25 – Yes, we will be exhibiting at this trade show.
Frankfurt Book Fair, October 10-14 – Yes, we will be exhibiting at this very important trade show.
IMTA Gold Coast, Australia, November – At this point, I’ll say that we expect to be present.
IMTA Portugal, in Cacais, near Lisbon, in February, 2008 – At this point, we plan on attending.
London Book Fair, Earl’s Court, April 14-16, 2008 – Yes, we will have a stand here.
BookExpo USA, in Los Angeles – We have already booked Stand 2755, in the travel section!
IMTA Vancouver World Map Exposition and General Great Time Convention – September, 14-16, 2008. This will be the bestest map show ever!
NEW TITLES RECENTLY RELEASED (eight titles in June)
Ghana Travel Reference Map 5th Ed. 2007 1:500,000 ISBN 9781553412267 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – This is a major upgrade for this title. We have converted it into a double-sided map (top half/bottom half), which makes it much easier to read. We were fortunate to receive some much-needed map information from users prior to going to press, but Ghana continues to suffer from a dearth of verifiable road quality information. We’ve done our best, but hope to improve this map in the future. AVAILABLE
Lombardy Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 1:250,000 ISBN 9781553415787 $12.95cdn/10.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – Lombardy, in the north of Italy, is our latest regional map of a section of the Italian peninsula. Coverage is from the Lake District east past Milan to Verona and south to Parma. The title has the map of the province on one side and a detailed place names index on the other. AVAILABLE
Morocco Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 1:1,170,000 ISBN 9781553413349 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – I am very pleased to see the release of our second edition map of this important and touristicly attractive North African country. Lan and I made two ground-truthing visits to the country and came up with a lot of valuable information that has significantly improved the information on the map. It has also been printed on waterproof ITM plastic paper for durability. The scale has been geo-referenced against GIS information and corrected. Inset urban maps of Rabat/Sale, Tangier, Marrakech, and Casablanca, have been completely re-formatted, and the portrayal of the road network of the country dramatically improved. AVAILABLE (P.S. Try and find Lan on the front cover! Hint: bottom right)
Puerto Rico Travel Reference Map 4th Ed. 2007 1:190,000 ISBN 9781553415909 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – This is a relatively minor update of the previous version, with a new cover, and revised appearance to urban maps. The new metro/subway line in San Juan has also been added; printed on paper; single-sided AVAILABLE
Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii Travel Reference Map 5th Ed. 2007 1:250,000 ISBN 9781553418634 $9.95cdn/8.95us/E7.95/5.99GBP – QCI is one of those titles that rarely changes. Although this is the fifth updated edition, it is actually the 8th time that we have printed this map. That’s 40,000 copies over the past fifteen years! There isn’t much new about this version, apart from a new cover and, unfortunately, a somewhat higher price. The QCI chain of islands is the ancestral home of the Haida nation and, although actively logged, the site of one of Canada’s great national parks: the Haida Gwaii. AVAILABLE
Russia Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2007 1:6,000,000 ISBN 9781553413769 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – Russia is growing in importance as a desirable travel destination. The largest country in the world, it is not an easy country to explore, but is rewarding for those willing to escape the limitations of the Moscow/St. Petersburg whirlwind tour. The ITMB map remains one of the few showing all of Russia at the same scale. In this edition, we continue to improve our data base; in this case, by highlighting in yellow urban areas of particular touristic interest; printed on paper, double-sided. AVAILABLE
Umbria and Marche Travel Reference Map 1st Ed, 2007 1:250,000 ISBN 9781553415794 $12.95cdn/10.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – The two Italian provinces of Umbria and Marche, east of Tuscany and south of Lombardy, constitutes ITMB’s fourth regional map of the Italian peninsula (the others being Lombardy, Piedmont/Liguria, and Tuscany). We hope to add more regional areas next year. Umbria is possibly best known as the home of the walled town of Perugia, but the province is loaded with interesting hill towns, such as Gubbio or Urbino. The lesser known province of Marche is centred on L’Aquila and Teramo, with the wonderful wilds of the Gran Sasso National Park to tempt anyone seeking ‘the road less travelled’. Lan and myself had great fun researching this map. The map is one side of the page, the detailed place names index on the other. AVAILABLE
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553410416 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – South East Asia offers everything a traveler could want – good food, lovely scenery, friendly people, and significant sites of interest. The Indochina peninsula, formerly under Chinese, then French control, has, since the end of WW11, developed into a first class touristic destination. ITMB has mapped each of the three countries individually, and Vietnam in detailed sections, but this ‘overview’ map is the only way to view the peninsula as an entity, and is ideal for anyone visiting all three parts of the peninsula. It also has Lan’s father gracing the cover, dressed in the costume of an ancient king of the Hue-based kingdom of an earlier time. You too can be a king for an hour or a day! Printed on plastic, double-sided; AVAILABLE
TITLES RELEASED TO DATE IN 2007 (47 titles to mid-June, 38 still to go – get busy, Lan!)
Alaska Travel Reference Map 5th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553419020
Alps Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553410591
Australia Travel Reference Map 5th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411192
Baltic States Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553410607
Belgium/Luxembourg Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553411321
Budapest ITM City Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553416104
Burundi Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. – see Rwanda and Burundi Map
China Travel Reference Map 6th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411680
Colombia Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411727
Dominican Republic (&Haiti) Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411918
Ecuador Travel Reference Map 5th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411949
England (& Wales) Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415824
Fraser Valley/Vancouver Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553419822
Haiti Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. – see Dominican Republic and Haiti Map
Hanoi and North East Vietnam Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553416401
Helsinki ITM City Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553416418
Israel/Palestine Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412571
Japan Travel Reference Map 6th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412663
Lesotho Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412953
Madagascar Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413066
Mali Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413141
Mauritania Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553413226
Mekong Delta/Southern Vietnam Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415879
Mexico Central Region/Mexico City Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415893
Mexico Pacific Region/Guadalajara Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415886
Myanmar (Burma) Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411536
Nicaragua Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413486
Nigeria Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413523
North Korea Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412755
Oman/UAE Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413561
Palestine (and Israel) Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 – see Israel
Piedmont and Liguria Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415770
Riga ITM City Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553416937
Rwanda Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413806
Slovakia Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553413998
South Korea/Seoul Travel Reference Map 2nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412786
Stockholm ITM City Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553417064
Switzerland Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553414216
Sydney ITM City Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553417101
Tonga Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553414346
Uganda Travel Reference Map 3rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553414452
Vancouver ITM City Map 5th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553417118
Wales (& England) Travel Reference Map 1st Ed. 2007 – see England