NEWSLETTER NO. 4 OF 2007

AXIS OF EVIL MAPPING NEWSLETTER # 4: May, 2007

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.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

      “In the field of world policy, I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbour; the neighbour who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others; the neighbour who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbours.”

These words were spoken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his initial inaugural speech as incoming President of the United States, on March 4, 1933. From the same speech, the phrase “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” revitalized a nation exhausted by the Great Depression. The quotation above became the solid foundation of American foreign policy for the next 65 years, and stood the test of time through WW11 and the rebuilding of a shattered world. Our American friends could do worse than consider Roosevelt’s words as they re-shape a failed experiment in attempting to determine how the world should look instead of how it does work.

INTRODUCTION

      Lan and I have recently returned from two weeks in Britain. I use the word Britain deliberately, because we spent time in Jersey, researching the possibility of publishing a map of that island, and discovered that none of the Channel Islands are a part of the UK, but they are a part of Great Britain. No problem; we had a wonderful time, and even managed to work in a day trip to Guernsey. We were accompanied by Jiri Navratil, from ITM Prague.

      We also exhibited at the London Book Fair, being held for the first time in Earl’s Court, in central London. It is a superior site to the Exel Centre used last year and a vast improvement upon the creaking old Olympia Centre used in years past. We enjoyed meeting several of our distributors and associates in the trade. We also attended another conference whist (love that word!) in England, then moved on to the Isle of Man after discovering that it would be almost impossible for us to open a commercial bank account in the UK (see below). We couldn’t see much of the island, as thick fog prevented us from seeing very much. It’s also expensive there.

      Just on a personal note, Lan and I have recently celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary, which actually passed without either of us noticing. At the time of Lan’s arrival to Canada, and to ITMB, we were a fairly small company with perhaps 50 titles in our offerings list. A dozen years later, we have 280. Hmmm, seems to me that somebody in this business has been pretty productive!

ITMB OPENS GBP (GREAT BRITAIN POUND STERLING) BANK ACCOUNT

            ITMB has customers all over the world. Up until now, we have been able to invoice our client base in Canadian dollars, US dollars, and Euros. For reasons peculiar to the United Kingdom, it has become increasingly difficult for some of our customers to pay us without being inconvenienced or having to pay extortionate banking charges. On our recent trip to the British Isles, I took along our banking information. On the Island of Jersey, I was advised that they specialize in investment banking and asked me to return when I had a million pounds to invest. Scotch that option right away! In London, I was told by several banks that it was impossible for a non-UK resident company to open a bank account. No one was able or willing to say why; I was met with a flat refusal, with no explanations or options offered.

            Frustrated, I approached a bank located on the Isle of Man and learned that all UK banks have transferred their overseas accounts to Man to separate accounts not subject to UK taxation, as would be the case with ITMB. However, UK companies can pay invoices into this account in Pounds Sterling (why do the Brits always want to include that second word?). Thus, as soon I can send the bank a bit of information from Vancouver, the account will be active and should be of real benefit to firms such as Stanfords (are you paying attention, Margaret?), Nicolsons, and other people who are currently finding it a bit difficult to pay us. I’m thinking of Tony, in particular. By the way, the Isle of Man account is not some sort of tax dodge for ITMB. All transactions are transparent and subject to Canadian taxation, as is the case with our US and Euro accounts. This is merely a convenience account for those companies who wish to be invoiced in Pounds and pay in Pounds within the UK. Those interested in this option can contact me separately at jack@itmb.com.

GREAT STORIES FROM OUR TIME IN BRITAIN

            British humour is well-known for its droll approach to life. Here are a few brief stories I picked up from papers during our stay.

1. English Robins (tiny little birds), who sing to attract mates, are being forced to sing at night due to excessive traffic noise in cities. The Journal of Biology expresses concern that the tiny birds are becoming stressed by having to stay awake at night to sing. Poor babies; everybody stop driving cars and honking horns!

2. A man in a crowded restaurant in London suddenly jumped up on to a table, grabbed a sharp knife, pulled down his pants in front of everyone and sliced off his you-know-what. The police were called and took the man and his uh appendage to hospital, where it was reattached.

3. A crowd of 250 genetic plant protesters invaded a field they believed was being used by the government to grow genetically-modified potatoes. In great secrecy, they attacked the field in the middle of the night and planted thousands of ordinary potatoes in the hope of negating the experiment to genetically modify the lowly tuber – but they got the wrong field and only damaged a farmer’s green bean field. The bemused farmer queried why so many vegetable activists couldn’t tell the difference between a potato plant and a bean stalk. Were they all from London? (all from the Guardian newspaper, April 24, 2007)

            The funniest story I saw was signposted in a pub’s doorway in St. Peter’s Port, Guernsey. I’ll paraphrase it to save space. A man noticed a very attractive blonde waving to him in a grocery store. Not recognizing her, he moved closer, to be informed by her that she was sure that he was the father of one of her kids. Extremely alarmed by the potential for a scandal, the happily-married man thought furiously as to where he might have met, intimately, such a gorgeous creature without being able to remember her. Then the light dawned. “Ah, you must be the stripper at my stag party the night before my wedding, with whom I made mad, passionate love in a drunken frenzy in front of all my mates, while somebody lashed my naked buttocks with limp celery!” “No”, she replied, “I’m your son’s math teacher!”

ITMB TITLES LOW ON STOCK AND BEING UPDATED

            At the moment, we are fully occupied with updating titles, and preparing for another onslaught of brand new titles to overwhelm an unsuspecting world. I’m pleased that our product line is successful, but I do wish that we could avoid having five titles run out of inventory within a few days of each other. One updating exercise can take us a month, so having five to do at the same time really stretches our resources to the limit.

Ghana has just run out of inventory. A new edition is being prepared, no ETA as yet.

Morocco is out of print. A new edition is at press and should be available in mid-June.

New Zealand (hard cover) is getting low in inventory. We are preparing new artwork.

Puerto Rico is now out of print until a new edition can be updated and printed, probably in June.

Queen Charlotte Islands has suddenly run out of copies. A new edition is being prepared for release in June.

Russia is out of print. A new edition is being prepared for release in June.

Seoul, as a separate title, is now permanently out of print. It is now part of the South Korea map

Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia Regional Map is out of print. A new update is at press and expected in June.

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 277 titles in print, and expect to break 300 before the end of the year.

Chile is on hold until current updating projects noted above are off to the printers. Sorry for the delay.

Europe Road Map should be printed in May, for a June release.

Germany North and Germany South should be ready for printing in May, for release in June.

Lombardy has been printed in Europe, and is being prepared for shipping; ETA is June.

Samoa/American Samoa is at editorial checking stage. No release date is known at the moment.

Sweden is delayed slightly, and will not be available before June at the earliest.

Umbria and Marche has been printed in Europe, and is being prepared for sipping; ETA is June.

FORTHCOMING TRADE SHOWS

BookExpo USA New York City (Jacob Javitts Centre, central Manhattan) June 1-3, 2007 Stand 4411 – Again, Lan and I will be at stand 4411 in the travel section throughout this important book fair. We will have several new titles to show off, and hope to meet many of you during the show.

IMTA Philadelphia, September 23-25 – Yes, we will be exhibiting at this trade show.

Frankfurt Book Fair, early October. – 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.

IMTA Vancouver World Map Exposition and General Great Time Convention – September, 14-16, 2008. This will be the bestest map show ever!

GOOD STAFF ARE GOOD TO FIND

            In the last Axis newsletter, I lamented about how difficult it sometimes appeared to be for an employer to find good, reliable, honest staff. This month, I’d like to show the other side – the good people who are out there and are the real asset of any firm. Some are students, working part-time to afford to keep studying; others are newish entries to the job market, hoping to develop work skills for another employer in the future; and others like the positive aspects of retail or specialist employment.

            I have had many exceptionally good employees over the 25 years of ITMB’s existence, some of whom you may have come into contact with or heard me talk about – Raymond, Jimmie, Kevin, George, and Mark, among others. We have experienced an unusually high turnover over the last six months, as student employees of long standing have moved on to career-building employment, as life-style changes necessitate staff moving to other cities, or simply for a new opportunity elsewhere at better pay. This creates opportunities for new people to learn and hopefully enjoy working in the map industry, and we have attracted several interesting candidates.

For example, my son Graeme, after working elsewhere for a year to gain experience, has returned to the fold, so to speak, with an apparently better attitude towards productivity. He is taking charge of our retail division and is training the newer staff members in the ITM way of doing things. Iain started with us on a part-time basis several months ago and has moved up to full-time, retail. Frederick, who was working one day per week for ITMB, liked it so much that he quit his job in insurance and is now working for us full-time. Chris and Laura are both working part-time in cartographic production and are doing quite well. William is our newest recruit, and is learning the ropes in retail, and Joe and Franchesca arrive soon.

            We still have a way to go before our newer staff are fully conversant with all aspects of the business, but I feel that we have the makings of a good team here. I’ll apologize in advance for any shortfalls in ITMB’s performance that might occur in the short term. It does take longer for inexperienced staff to pick orders or update maps, and our experienced staff are having to check everything two or three times to try and make sure that as few problems as possible result. Generally speaking, orders placed by individuals are being processed on the date of their arrival, and we’re pretty much on top of processing wholesale orders to retailers and distributors, but please give us an extra three days for now.

NEW TITLES RECENTLY RELEASED

Budapest ITM City Map 1^st Ed. 2007 1:10,000 ISBN 9781553416104 $10.95cdn/8.95us/E7.95 – I know, we aren’t the first firm in the world to publish a map of Hungary’s capital city! What can I say? Romantic Buda-Pest, with its wonderful architecture, the blue Danube flowing through it, a city of culture and history and a World Heritage Area, is a world treasure. The world needs a better map of this wonderful city, and ITMB has provided it. The map shows both Buda and Pest to good advantage, particularly the Buda castle district and the Andrassy Avenue area; printed on paper, single-sided, indexed. AVAILABLE

Fraser Valley and Vancouver Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 1:250,000/50,000 ISBN 9781553419822 $8.95cdn/us/E – This is a tough map to classify, but an important map for local users. ITMB used to have a recreational map at a different scale called Fraser Valley, but this is our first attempt at covering the entire valley, so it is legitimately a completely new, first edition map. However, the second side is our Greater Vancouver map in its fifth edition. Confused? The Fraser Valley has Vancouver at its western end, from the ocean to Langley. That is one side and needs to be shown in greater detail due to the urban nature of most of that portion. The other side is Vancouver’s recreational hinterland – north to Whistler, east through the Chilliwack Valley to the ski and hiking heartland of Manning Provincial Park, north through the historic Fraser Canyon to Boston Bar and along the Coquihalla to Merritt. This is essentially a recreational map for local residents; it won’t have much appeal internationally. The map has an excellent inset map of Whistler Village, but its primary purpose is to show hiking areas, camp grounds, forest roads, wilderness areas, glaciers, and lakes within easy reach of Vancouver; printed on paper, double-sided, indexed. AVAILABLE

Madagascar Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 1:1,650,000 ISBN 9781553413066 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95 – Our most recent African release is of the fabled island republic off the eastern coast of southern Africa. ITMB’s third edition of Madagascar has our new cover design, updated road information, and more pictures; printed on paper, single-sided. AVAILABLE

Mali Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 1:2,400,000 ISBN 9781553413141 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95 – We have changed the cover design and tidied up file layers, created some new styles and other technical stuff, but the map itself looks similar to the previous edition. Mali, as a title, has proved to be surprisingly popular, don’t know why; same cover picture (the grand mosque at Djenne), printed on paper, single-sided, insets of Bamako and Timbuctu/Tombouctou AVAILABLE

Mauritania travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 1:2,000,000 ISBN 9781553413226 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95 – As with Mali, Mauritania has proven to be a popular title. This new edition has undergone an extensive re-working to organize the underlying files properly and fonts have been improved to make the map easier to read. We could not confirm that the road from Bir Moghrein south was improved, so we left it as a track for now. It took me six weeks to reach Zouerat 37 years ago. Time flies, but memories remain strong! This map is printed on paper, single-sided, indexed, inset of Noaukchott; AVAILABLE

Mexico Central Region & Mexico City Travel Reference Map, 2^nd Ed. 2007 1:1,000,000 ISBN 9781553415893 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – We were rather surprised by the strong demand for the first edition of ITMB’s attempt to portray the central core of Mexico, surrounding Mexico City and extending to Veracruz and Tampico on the Caribbean coast, to Acapulco in the south, and to Morelia in the west. We have updated the road network (an ever-changing reality in Mexico), and have added a lovely map of the heart of Mexico City to the other side, to make this map even more useful and affordable for visitors wishing to see the capital city and the wonderful cities and countryside surrounding it; printed on paper, double-sided. AVAILABLE

Mexico, Pacific & Guadalajara Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 1:1,000,000 ISBN 9781553415886 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – Although this is our third rendition of this map, it is completely new artwork, and a vast improvement in both style and accuracy. The area of coverage has been extended to cover everything on Mexico’s western coast, from Mazatlan to Acapulco, and shows all of the roads and sights inland as far as Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, and Queretaro. As a bonus, we have included a detailed map of Mexico’s third largest city, Guadalajara, on the reverse side, for the convenience of visitors to this fascinating section of the country; printed on paper, double-sided. AVAILABLE

Nicaragua Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 1:755,000 ISBN 9781553413486 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99gbp – We are very pleased to announce the updated release of what is actually our third edition of Nicaragua but what is stated on the map itself as being the 2^nd edition (our error). This edition has benefited from good co-operation from the Nicaraguan Govt. Tourism Office. Obviously, we have updated road information and changed the cover design, as with all of our new releases; printed on paper, single-sided, inset of Managua, place-name indexed. AVAILABLE

Nigeria Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 1:1,600,000 ISBN 9781553413523 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99gbp – You have no idea how relieved we are in being able to release a vastly improved map of Nigeria. Our 1^st edition was accurate for its time, but the file organization was virtually non-existent, so our editorial staff were tearing their collective hair out trying to bring the many underlying errors into line with proper cartographic standards. Anyway, apart from such techie-stuff, the map’s colours have been improved for easier reading, the scale has been corrected by geo-referencing, and the few errors that had been noted have been corrected. New cover design, printed single-sided on paper, indexed. AVAILABLE

Oman/ UAE Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 1:1,400,000 ISBN 9781553413561 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99gbp – This is yet another updated map whose underlying file organization was so disorganized that it delayed updating. However, it is now here, and looks as good as before. Again, there was little to update, but we clarified colours for easier reading, corrected whatever we knew needed to be improved, added a new inset map of Dubai, and changed the cover into a double-sided one, with a picture from Oman on one side and a different one from U.A.E. on the other, allowing the map to be marketed cover-outwards either as a map of Oman or of the UAE. Brilliant, eh? Blame Lan. Printed on paper, single-sided, new cover, indexed. AVAILABLE

Tonga Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 scale varies from island to island, ISBN 9781553414346 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95 – ITMB is very pleased to introduce a map of the lovely Kingdom of the Tongan Islands, our most recent South Pacific title and the first time that a map of Tonga has been published commercially. Tonga is the Pacific’s only kingdom and is situated between Fiji and Samoa, north-east of New Zealand The ‘Friendly Islands’ archipelago consists of five island groups and 171 islands, most of which are uninhabited. The 100,000 people live mostly on Tongatapu Island. The map contains detailed maps of each major island and includes touristic information and hotels. An inset of the capital, Nuku Alofa, is included; printed on paper, single-sided. AVAILABLE

Uganda Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 1:800,000 ISBN 9781553414452 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95 – The emerald green landscape of lovely Uganda continues to be popular with visitors from around the world, and ITMB is pleased to be releasing its latest updated map of one of the real treats of the African continent. The map has a new inset map of Kampala, a new cover design, and modest updating of information; printed on paper, single-sided. AVAILABLE

TITLES RELEASED TO DATE IN 2007 (43 titles to mid-May, 42 still to go – get busy, Lan!)

Alaska Travel Reference Map 5^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553419020

Alps Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553410591

Australia Travel Reference Map 5^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411192

Baltic States Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553410607

Belgium/Luxembourg Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553411321

Burundi Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. – see Rwanda and Burundi Map

China Travel Reference Map 6^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411680

Colombia Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411727

Dominican Republic (&Haiti) Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411918

Ecuador Travel Reference Map 5^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411949

England (& Wales) Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415824

Haiti Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. – see Dominican Republic and Haiti Map

Hanoi and North East Vietnam Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553416401

Helsinki ITM City Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553416418

Israel/Palestine Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412571

Japan Travel Reference Map 6^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412663

Lesotho Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412953

Mekong Delta/Southern Vietnam Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415879

Myanmar (Burma) Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553411536

North Korea Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412755

Palestine (and Israel) Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 – see Israel

Piedmont and Liguria Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415770

Riga ITM City Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553416937

Rwanda Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413806

Slovakia Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553413998

South Korea/Seoul Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412786

Stockholm ITM City Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553417064

Switzerland Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553414216

Sydney ITM City Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553417101

Vancouver ITM City Map 5^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553417118

Wales (& England) Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 – see England