NEWSLETTER NO. 7 OF 2009

AXIS OF EVIL MAPPING NEWSLETTER # 7 September, 2009

11 NEW TITLES FOR 16 DIFFERENT MAPS THIS MONTH – A RECORD 4 MAPS PER WEEK!

Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Bali and Lombok, Java, Jerusalem and Northern Israel, Manhattan and USA East Coast, South Korea and Seoul, Spain, including Portugal, USA East Half, and USA West Half.

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

        Summer’s over, and the fall trade show season is beginning. This month, lan and myself flew to Dallas and drove to the IMTA Americas conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We’re now preparing for the Frankfurt Book Fair next month and booking meetings to show off all our new maps at Stand 3.1L651! September has been quite a prolific publishing month for us, with 16 individual maps on eleven sheets of paper coming out.

TRIVIA FOR TONIGHT’S DINNER CONVERSATION

            Water is most dense when it freezes, right? Wrong. It is for everything else, but water is an exception. Water is most dense at +4 degrees centigrade (about 38 Fahrenheit). Colder than that and water forms a crystalline structure (ice) that is less dense than water because the water molecules have given off some of the hydrogen bonds that create water as a substance. That’s why ice cubes float in water, and ice bergs float in the ocean. Wow your friends! Drop this tidbit into the conversation at the local pub this weekend and watch their amazement!

Here’s another trivia detail I just learned. The Beatles rock band first tried out a variety of names, such as Johnny and the Moondogs. The eventual name came from the Marlon Brando movie ‘The Wild Ones’. One of the gangs in that movie was called The Beatles, and Stu Sutcliffe, the band’s original bass player, loved the movie.

ON PROOF-CHECKING MAPS

            Everyone who writes something should check it before sending, to ensure correcdness, right? Whether it is a letter to a friend, a business letter, or a newspaper or book, we expect the issuer to have proofed what is provided for correct spelling and correct grammar. Maps are no different, except that cartographers are notoriously bad spellers – something to do with graphic left brains as opposed to verbal right brains. We all know that maps sometimes contain errors (or assumed errors) in the spelling of place names. ITMB (and presumably all other publishers) goes to considerable lengths to proof-check our maps to ensure that towns, mountains, and rivers are spelled correctly. However, mistakes do occur, partly though human error in not noticing something that is obvious once pointed out (the “fresh eyes” syndrome), and sometimes because there is more than one way to spell a name.

Many of our maps are of places that do not use the Roman (or Latin) alphabet and where there may be more than one way to say, or translate, a local name into our alphabet. For example, in Arabic, some preface a major word with El, and others with Al; in Mongolia, there is still some discussion as to whether the capital should be Ulan or Ullan Baator or Bator. Sometimes, we have to adopt a consistent approach for lack of better guidance, such as the spelling Muhammad in Afghanistan, as opposed to the more commonly used Mohammed in other countries. Believe it or not, the United States contains place name spellings that must go back to English usage that was common in the mid-1700s, because they make no sense in normal everyday English. I’ve just been checking the names on our two new maps of the USA, and it has been an interesting, and frustrating, experience. I hope I’ve identified all the different spellings of Crockett, but I’m not sure. When the maps come out, we’ll have a contest to see who can find ten spelling errors first!

ON HOW TO DESTROY A CENTURY AND A HALF’S GOOD WILL IN ONE MONTH

            In 1812, the American government, thinking that Britain was preoccupied by the Napoleonic wars, declared war and invaded Canada – several times, in fact, and were defeated each and every time. That’s ancient history. The long term outcome of that unhappy time has been an ‘understanding’ and, like most such matters, is something understood and agreed upon by both parties in a neighbourly way, stated verbally, and spoken of officially, and only partly written down. That agreement, symbolized by the acceptance that neither neighbour will post troops on the common border stretching across the continent and that peoples of each nation shall be able to cross freely in both directions over that border, has stood for 150 years. That agreement came to an abrupt halt on July 1^st, when American border officials began demanding that American citizens present passports when returning to the USA, their own country, from Canada – something that Americans have never had to do before. Failure to do so could result in fines, imprisonment, and/or the confiscation of their vehicle and its contents. Think about this for a moment, please. This is the American government doing this to American citizens.

            Homeland Security, that Gestapo-like organization that has determined that everyone entering the US of A is an alien terrorist suspect, decided three years earlier that everyone entering the USA needed a passport. That is acceptable, and few Canadians would disagree. The border, after all, IS an international boundary. Most adult Canadians have a passport, so what’s the problem? Well, very few Americans have passports. When this decree was announced, only 6% of adult Americans had a passport. 94% of all American citizens did NOT have a passport, which seems astounding. Until this decree went into effect, Americans did not need passports to go to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas and most of the Caribbean countries, and a few other countries, all of which were countries with close geographical and historic ties to the USA, and places Americans have traditionally traveled to in great numbers. Proof of birth or of citizenship was all that was required for more than a hundred years. The Gestapo won’t accept a birth certificate any longer.

Now, millions of Americans did apply for a US passport as a result, and I’d hazard a guess that millions of more would have done so if the process weren’t so chaotic and expensive. As a result, 25% of adult American citizens now hold valid US passports – an excellent increase in a short time period but an enormously lower figure than the number of Canadians who do (60% and rising) or your average European country. So, now, Canadian border officials have to screen and turn back tens of thousands of American citizens at our border entry points daily – not because we don’t welcome Americans, because we do, but because their own government will delay, infuriate, harass, and penalize them when they attempt to return to their own country. If that isn’t bureaucracy gone mad, what is? Furthermore, without a passport, the remaining 75% of all American adults who lack a passport are now essentially prisoners confined to the internal boundaries of the USA. While that won’t bother most Americans, who don’t travel to other countries anyway, it will have a devastating effect for the cruise ship industry, on cross-border travel within North America, and on tours to the Caribbean. In the first month of this draconian rule being imposed, travel to Canada dropped by 23%. That translates into 375,000 refused entries in just one month (average number of crossings was 1.6M monthly, previously). It also translated into enormous line-ups at US entry points and humongous delays as the US border officials harassed Americans trying to get home. Canadian traffic to the States also took a 9% hit, due to the long lineups, hurting many US businesses, as millions of Canadians opted to stay home instead of putting up with crossing waiting times of up to four hours. It’s ridiculous, it’s upsetting, and it’s unnecessary.

            Good will takes a long time to build. Trust and confidence are priceless aspects that any business wishing to succeed emulates. We all know the damage that loss of good will can cost. Lose trust in General Motors and what happens? The answer is obvious. More than a century of good will is being destroyed by a fear-mongering residue of Bushist ‘you’re either our ally or our enemy’ attitude to international relations. I’m very sad to see the generally good relations our two countries have enjoyed being dismantled so callously, but American citizens must be profoundly shocked by their treatment by their own officials.

A LITTLE HUMOUR TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD

            I read in today’s paper about a police call in suburban Vancouver to deal with a motorcycle accident. It turned out that the vehicle had been stolen – and the driver had somehow collided with a deer. The deer’s apparently ok; the man is under police guard in hospital with several broken bones.

            Also in a recent article in our daily paper, a bank robber has been caught, after a string of robberies at various banks around Vancouver. How did they catch this character? It appears that the idiot was concerned about the lack of media coverage of his exploits and called the paper to complain. The newspaper passed on his cell phone number to the police, who then knew who to arrest. Duh!

English is a funny language for people used to other, less chaotic, structures. A fat chance and a slim chance mean the same thing. Try explaining that one to a Vietnamese!

ITMB Titles Out of Stock at the moment:

Beijing/Great Wall; Botswana, Lima, Mexico Baja California (9copies left), Paraguay, South America South (hc only), Uruguay/Montevideo, and US Virgin Islands (5 copies left).

NEW ITMB ARTWORK CLOSE TO COMPLETION or AT PRESS

            At the moment, Beijing has been updated, and will be the first map to show their newly-opened subway (Line 4). It Is also being re-named as Beijing and the Great Wall of China to give more attention to the excellent regional map on the reverse side. It’s at press. Botswana is still being updated and re-worked into becoming a double-side title. Lima has just run out of copies, and we haven’t decided what to do about it yet. Surprisingly, Uruguay and Montevideo unexpectedly ran out of copies, thaks to a much appreciated large order. We still have copies of Montevideo as a separate title, but it will take us a while to organize updating for Uruguay.

NEW TITLES August and September, 2009  

Afghanistan Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2010 1:1,000,000 ISBN 9781553411031 UPC 815534110312 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – It is a bit difficult to credit Afghanistan having touristic potential at the moment, but it is an extremely important country right now, and that justifies a very good map of the country. This is our third edition of this country and each one keeps getting better. We can’t justify sending a researcher into a combat zone to gather data, but we are thankful to those aid workers and soldiers who have added to our information base and helped make this map more useful. In this edition, we are showing some new roads, reflecting the reality that the country is succeeding in improving its infrastructure in spite of a very tense political situation. We have also placed more focus on the borderlands with Pakistan as that country has been immersed in the Afghan conflict. This edition is dedicated to the Canadian forces, both military, police, and civilian, who are trying so hard to bring peace and stability to southern Afghanistan and who have suffered more than 100 casualties to date. This is not to minimize the enormous contributions being made by many tens of thousands of men and women of other nations, or their equally heavy losses, but as a Canadian, I feel closer to our own. The map also shows a good inset map of Kabul and a recent cover picture taken by one of our helpers. Printed on paper; AVAILABLE.

Angola Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2010 1:1,300,000 ISBN 9781553411109 UPC 815534111029 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95, 7.99GBP – I lived in Africa for seven years, and visited most of the continent in that time. Angola is a fascinating mixture of ethnicity and wealth. It is still climbing out of the morass of post-colonial rule, but is now as safe as any country for travellers. Its infrastructure, particularly its roads, are of uneven quality, and we hope that this map will stimulate visitors to write us of their experiences with travelling through this vast country. We have tried to include as much detail as possible, and as accurately as possible, given the uncertain nature of much of the base material. The map includes a decent inset of Luanda, the capital, and all areas designated as parkland. This is the latest ITM map related to Africa and completes our coverage of Central and Southern Africa. East Africa and North East Africa have also been completed, and we are now working on Equatorial Africa. This map is printed on paper, double-sided (north half/south half); AVAILABLE.

Armenia and Azerbaijan Travel Reference Map 4^th Ed. 2010 1:560,000 ISBN 9781553411178 UPC 815534111784 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – This is a completely new map, with a new approach, with one side concentrating on Armenia and its capital Yerevan, and the other side on Azerbaijan and its capital of Baku. It isn’t a perfect separation, because each of these uneasy neighbours has long stretches of land protruding into the other country, and both have enclaves and hotly-disputed borders. Like all true mapmakers, we have done our best to portray each country fairly and favourably, concentrating on touristic attractions and infrastructure. This is the fourth time we have issued a map of this part of the world, and we hope that each rendition enhances tourism to both countries. Printed double-sided at a better scale than previously; AVAILABLE.

Azerbaijan (and Armenia) Travel Reference Map 4^th Ed. 2010 1:560,000 – see Armenia for details. This map is probably as close as it is possible to get towards a detailed country map of Azerbaijan. AVAILABLE

Bali and Lombok Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2010 1:145,000/1:130,000 ISBN 9781553415459 UPC 815534154507 $10.95cdn/us, E6.95 6.99GBP – Bali is a very special part of Indonesia; exceptionally popular with visitors from overseas. Although this is our second edition, the artwork is brand new, with detailed insets of the Kuta, Sanur, Nusa Dua, and Lovina areas highlighting beach resort facilities, and another inset showing the Ubud hill town resorts. As well, insets of Denpasar and Singaraja are included. On the other side, we have added a new map of Lombok, the island just to the east of Bali, within Indonesia. Lombok is growing in touristic development, especially in the three small islands known collectively as Gili Island. These two islands probably constitute 80% of the country’s tourists. Apart from this title, ITMB has recently published a detailed map of Java, to the west of Bali. Printed on paper, double sided; AVAILABLE.

Cuzco and Southern Peru Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2009 1:10,000/1:1.5M ISBN 9781553415473 UPC 815534154774 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – This is the third printing for our very popular map of Cuzco and Region. Not a lot changes in this area, but we’ve done our best to update the artwork. This time, we’re pleased to do what should have been done earlier – add a detailed map of the southern portion of Peru. Now, one map will cover all the routes to Cuzco, as well as the gem of South America – Manchu Picchu!  AVAILABLE

French Guiana Travel Reference Map (see Surinam map for description) 2^nd Ed. 2009 1:500,000 AVAILABLE

Greenland and North Pole Region Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed./1^st Ed. 2010 1:3m/1:9M ISBN 9781553418412 UPC 815534184177 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – I love doing something new! Greenland itself doesn’t change much, but we undertook a major review of the artwork and spent weeks organizing the digital files and replacing a tremendous amount of text. Geo referencing is really coming into its own! This map is sharper, with fjords and ‘green’ areas more correctly shown, contours more visible, and place names properly aligned. That, in itself, would be noteworthy, but we have added a brand new map to the previously blank ‘back side’ of the paper. This is the first-ever commercially available map of the North Pole and surrounding regions north of 60 degrees. Thanks to a marvelous effort by the National Atlas people at Natural Resources Canada, who compiled and prepared this map as their contribution to the International Scientific Year of the Polar Ice 2009, we are proud to be supplementing their beautiful map by marketing it internationally.  The polar regions, both the Arctic and the Antarctic, are severely affected by global warming, and ITMB is very pleased to be the first and only cartographic firm in the world to bring you maps of both polar extremes, and in the same year as well. This is a beautiful map, that really deserves its own separate sheet, but economic times being as they are, combining it with Greenland is a good option. The Circumpolar Regions map is also available flat, as a wall map. AVAILABLE

Himalaya Region Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2009 1:1,300,000 ISBN 9781553415480 UPC 815534154859 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – The ‘Roof of the World’ is an apt name for the Gordian knot of mountains that radiates out from Tibet like a galaxy spiral – north to the Aleutians, south to Indonesia, east to Japan, and west to Europe. The Himalayan region is not only of paramount strategic value (why else would  India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir so ferociously or China cling to Tibet so tenaciously?), but it is a lovely and exotic part of the world. Think of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, the Karakoram Highway, the new rail line to Lhasa, the hill towns of India, the sanctuary provided to the Dali Lama, the mountain treks in the Mustang Valley, the majesty of Mount Everest! It is all on this double-sided map – from Kabul in the west to Assam in the east and from the isolated Tibetan plateau in the north to the Indus Valley in the south.  Printed double-sided on paper; AVAILABLE

Java Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2010 1:600,000 ISBN 9781553415466 UPC 81553415466 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP - Indonesia is a huge and varied country of many islands and many cultures. The Javanese dominate the country. Not only is the island centrally located, but the rich soil and hard-working people has turned the island into the economic powerhouse driving the country’s economy. Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, is located on the island’s north shore, and is the subject of a separate ITM map. This map concentrates on the island’s many charms: the temples of Yogyakarta, the colonial architecture of Surabaya, and the rustic charm of mountainous East Java. The map abounds in insets, including central Jakarta, but also Cirebon, Bandung, and Solo. The famous island of Krakatoa is also included. Printed on paper, double-sided (east/west); AVAILABLE. ITMB also publishes maps of Indonesia as a country, Bali and Lombok, the Kalimantan province on our Borneo map, and is working on maps of Jakarta and of Sumatra.

Jerusalem and Northern Israel Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2010 1:10,000/1:225,000 ISBN 9781553416531 UPC 815534165381 $10.95cdn/us, E6.95 6.99GBP – Fifteen years ago, I spent ten days in Jerusalem, researching it for a future ITM map. Little did I think that it would have such a long gestation period! A few years later, we sent our cartographer Andrew to the region. He was in Cairo on 9/11 and was trapped in his hotel for four days by jubilant demonstrators. He flew to Jerusalem as soon as he could, but obviously, the mood for doing detailed mapping wasn’t strong.  Finally, we felt the timing was right and the force was with us. This is a lovely map of most of Jerusalem (southern suburbs omitted for lack of space) with a huge inset of the old part of the City with all of the streets shown and major buildings identified. It is also notable in that it clearly designates the Via Delarosa, with all of the stations of the cross shown. To be fair, the Western (or Wailing) Wall and the Temple Mount Haram are shown equally prominently. The ‘heart’ of Israel and Palestine is the uneasily shared central portion of the country, from Hebron in the south to the Lebanese border. Combining the urban area of Jerusalem with a regional map that includes Tel Aviv/Jaffa, the airport, Palestinian West Bank, Galilee, and all access points to Jordan, provide the user with the detail needed to enjoy that part of Israel/Palestine most likely to be visited by the average traveller. Printed double-side, on ITM plastic; AVAILABLE.

Malawi and Mozambique Travel Reference Map 5^th Ed./2^nd Ed. 2010 1:900T/1:1,900T ISBN 9781553413080 UPC 815534130839 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – Well, finally Malawi returns to the market, for its 5^th edition. This is one of those ‘quiet’ countries that don’t make news headlines. It is a lovely, scenic, and friendly country, doing its best to survive in the harsh African reality. ITMB publishes the only map of Malawi, and enjoys a close association with that country’s tourism office. I’ve been to Malawi several times and have very fond memories of the kindness and generosity of the people. With this edition, we are complementing the map with a separate map on the reverse side – Mozambique The two countries share a common destiny in Africa, but not a common heritage or history. ITMB is trying to make several of our maps more useful for users, by combining separate maps on opposite sides of the same piece of paper. Mozambique is dark and mysterious, with an enormous unexplored northland and a troubled history. Malawi is open and sunny and in complete contrast, but the two countries fit together nicely. I spent a memorable Christmas vacation in Beira with my father many years ago, eating cashew nuts and relaxing by the ocean, so I have good memories of Mozambique as well. Both maps have been ‘modernized’ digitally, and updated. Printed on paper, double-sided AVAILABLE

Manhattan and USA East Coast (formerly NYC: Manhattan) Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2010 1:12,500 and 1:2,300,000 waterproof ISBN 9781553416838 UPC 815534168382 $10.95cdn/us E6.95 6.99GBP – The island of Manhattan exemplifies New York City and we decided to change the name of our first effort to more clearly identify what it was that we were showing. A proper NYC map will be released at some time in the future. This map updates all of the information related to Manhattan as far north as Harlem, including the new 2^nd Avenue line and the extension of Line 7 currently being constructed. The rapid transit inset map has been expanded and the current changes to the 9/11 site noted. The really new addition to this map is our brand new East coast of the USA map on the reverse side. Stretching from the Canadian border to Florida, and west to the Appalachians, this map is ideal for those visitors to this part of America to combine the best of NYC with a regional map they can use in travels to Washington, Boston, or even Toronto. Printed on durable ITM plastic; AVAILABLE.

Mozambique Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. (see Malawi map for description) 1:1.9M AVAILABLE

North Pole Travel Reference Map (see Greenland Travel Reference Map) 1:9M AVAILABLE

Peru Travel Reference Map 4^th Ed. 2009 1:1,500,000 waterproof ISBN 9781553413646 UPC 815534136442 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – What can one say about Peru that hasn’t been recounted many times? This is our 4^th edition of this important and scenic country and it just keeps getting better with each new updating. The artwork by Volker Schniepp is so good that most of our work is to keep the digital files current and add some man-made improvements to roads as time passes. This is a marvelous map of an interesting, attractive part of South America, portrayed on a double-sided piece of ITM plastic paper for durability, with excellent inset maps of Lima and Cuzco to assist visitors. AVAILABLE

South Korea and Seoul Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2010 1:550,000/1:15,000 ISBN 9781553412762 UPC 815534127617 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – There is nothing dramatically new about this popular title. We have updated the road network and modernized the spellings of quite a few place names. AVAILABLE

Spain and Portugal Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2010 1:900,000 waterproof ISBN 9781553413721 UPC 815534137258 $12.95cdn/us, E8.95 7.99GBP – This is actually a brand new map. Our previous map of Spain was shared cartography, done with a firm that has ceased business. This is our own version, through co-operation with a renowned European firm and it is much more detailed, more informative, and more easily marketed as a result. The map is double-sided (east/west), with motorways colour-coded into free and toll roads, major highways, and scenic secondary routes, all with distances shown. As well, important touristic attractions, scenic spots, and as many cultural sites as could fit, have been added to the artwork. Portugal, although smaller physically, has also been shown to good advantage, as have the Canary Islands and the three Mediterranean islands of Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza. Ferry routes are also shown. Printed on ITM plastic; AVAILABLE.

Surinam and French Guiana 4^th Ed/2^nd Ed . 2010 1:720,000/1:500,000 ISBN 9781553413622 UPC 815534136282 $12.95cdn/us E8.95 7.99GBP – Surinam is actually in its 4^th edition; the map erroneously shows it as being the third edition; sorry about that; librarians please take note. This is another instance where ITMB has decided to combine two separate maps on to one piece of paper. The reason is simple - Surinam is popular and goes through a print run much more quickly than neighbouring Guyene, or French Guiana. As a result, it has gone through three editions in the same time as slower-selling French Guiana has worked its way part way through one. Answer: combine them and ensure that updates to the French overseas territory’s map are guaranteed more regularly. Plus, by combining, the print run is expended more quickly, thereby ensuring new editions of both country maps more regularly. It’s called win-win. All we have to do now is make sure everyone realizes what we’re doing, so the marketing of two separate maps carries on! Both maps have been updated with as much new information as we can find, and special thanks to Pied a Terre for some useful reference material, but we recognize that both these areas are largely unexplored and unmapped countries, so we’d greatly appreciate further help. Printed on paper, double-sided AVAILABLE

USA East Half Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2010 1:2,300,000 ISBN 9781553419006 UPC 815534190062 $7.95cdn/us, E6.95 6.99GBP - The United States of America is a humongous travel attraction. Whether one is thinking of NYC or Disneyland, Hollywood or longhorn cattle, America is a fascinating place. ITMB specializes in mapping exotic travel destinations and in making even well-known places exotic. This is the first of a series of maps that we hope to publish on the USA in the years to come. We decided to start with two maps, East Half and West Half, because the size of the country and its complexity mitigated against doing one map for the entire half-continent. Even at the scale chosen, it was extremely difficult to portray all the parks, national monuments, battlefields, and touristic attractions that this fascinating country offers. One side covers the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Florida, with insets of Washington, the Florida Keys, and Orlando/Disneyworld. The other side overlaps the previous side somewhat, but takes one as far west as Dallas and Omaha, and from the Canadian border to New Orleans and a bit of Mexico. Both sides show all Interstates (motorways) and toll roads (called Turnpikes), as well as all State highways and as many secondary roads as made sense to add. National and State heritage and conservation sites have been noted, as well as a tremendous number of parks and historic sites. AVAILABLE By the way, Alaska and Hawaii are not included in this two sheet series, as they are separated physically and mapped separately at a better scale than could be shown on this sheet. The map is on paper, double-sided.

USA West Half Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2010 1:2,300,000 ISBN 9781553419037 UPC 815534190307 $7.95cdn/us, E6.95 6.99GBP – Fortunately, the second half of the USA arrived from the printer a few days after the eastern half, so much of what has been said above pertains to this map as well. The West Half of the USA is more arid and less populated than the East, and the mountain ranges are more dramatic, so the colour variation on this map is more significant. The West map is also divided into two parts: the westernmost segment, the Pacific coastal States and their adjacent interior neighbouring States, are on one side, along with inset maps of the San Francisco Bay area and the Greater Los Angeles freeway system. With a small amount of overlapping, the other side covers the Rocky Mountain States and the Great Plains as far as Houston in the south and Fargo in the North. Insets of Denver and San Antonio are also provided. The place names index has been sorted by side, so everything related to Colorado, for instance is on the same side. Finally, some coverage of Mexico on the south and Canada on the north has been provided for cross-border travellers. This is an excellent long-distance travel map. It shows pertinent information for travellers much better than other maps. This is a first edition, and it is of a densely populated nation that lives in small towns, so there are a LOT of place names. Although we have done our best on both sheets to portray the USA comprehensively and accurately, there are so many place names that we may have left off an urban area of significance or mis-spelled something accidentally.  Hopefully, we’ve created the perfect map, but if not, we ask our American friends to chide us in their own inimitable way and rake us over hot coals for our weaknesses. I should also add that we have left ten deliberate spelling errors on each map, and the first person to find all ten will win a prize. This map is printed on paper, double-sided; AVAILABLE.

TITLES THAT ARRIVED IN JULY and AUGUST, 2009

Costa Rica Travel Reference Map 7^th Ed. 2009 1:315T ISBN 9781553411826 waterproof

Cuzco and Peru South Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2009 1:10,000 ISBN 9781553415473

Everest Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2009 1:100T ISBN 9781553415527

French Guiana Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2010 1:500,000 ISBN 9781553413622

Greenland and North Pole Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 1:3,000,000 ISBN 9781553418412

Himalaya Region Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2009 1:1,300,000 ISBN 9781553415480

Malawi (& Mozambique) Travel Reference Map 5^th Ed. 2010 1:900,000 ISBN 9781553413080

Manitoba Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2009 1:900,000 ISBN 9781553418207

Newfoundland & Labrador Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2009 1:750T/1:1,385T ISBN 9781553418399

North Pole Region and Greenland Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2010 1:9,000,000 ISBN 9781553418412

Ontario Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2009 1:1M(S)/1:1.5M(N) ISBN 9781553418191

Peru Travel Reference Map 4^th Ed. 2009 1:1,500,000 waterproof ISBN 9781553413646

Quito and Northern Ecuador Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2009 1:12T/1:650T ISBN 9781553416586

Saskatchewan Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2009 1:900,000 ISBN 9781553418184

Surinam (& French Guiana) Travel Reference Map 4^th Ed. 1:720,000 ISBN 9781553413622