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

            Normally, I write a brief introduction and get on with the business of mapping. This month, I have to pause and thank everyone who offered support and condolences to Lan and myself on the passing of my mother. Your letters and cards are much appreciated. Mom lived to 96 and was quite active until a series of mini-strokes began deteriorating her health one step at a time, about two years ago. She was my biggest supporter when I was young and the world’s worst worrier when I was travelling. I’ll miss her, of course, but am also grateful that she has been freed from an increasingly distressful end-of-life situation. Thanks, Mom, for everything.

NEW STAFF

            In mid-summer, northern hemisphere, business normally tends to slow down a bit. Not us! ITMB is expanding yet again, welcoming a new editorial cartographer to our midst. Hai is from Hanoi, Vietnam, and works for the Educational Mapping Authority. He will be with us for several months on a technology transfer arrangement between our two countries. We also welcome Umay to our production staff. She is originally from China, but has been in America for several years. We also welcome Takumi who, in spite of his Japanese name, comes from Chiapas, Mexico. He is working in production on our new Mexico series of State maps and is also helping out in our sales force to gain business experience. Stephen, also from China, is a business major, here for a year’s study in how North American businesses work. Throwing him into our retail store is going to be great training! He has a difficult goal to overcome if he hopes to figure out our crazy company. Michael has just started in wholesale, picking orders and trying to figure out place names written in French or German on purchase orders. By the same token, we are losing Cathy in retail, Philip in Wholesale, and Laura in Production to returning to school duties.

ITMB’s PROPOSED MOVE TO NEW PREMISES

            Relax; nothing will be happening for another six to nine months. However, we have secured our new building, and are now going through the legal steps to, in essence, buy another company. That will make three! The next stage will be the financing requirements, fortunately not too onerous, then the final legal stage. Once we gain possession, renovations will be necessary, so we’ll be at 530 until sometime next year.

JUST FUNNY STORIES

            This one was submitted by an Axis member. It’s not so much funny as proof positive that a mother’s love conquers all. A Siberian tiger in a zoo in California gave birth to three cubs who, unfortunately, died shortly after birth. The mother went into what humans would call post-partum depression, generally losing interest in life. Calls to other zoos, hoping to find some orphaned cubs needing a mother, came up empty. In desperation, somebody decided to wrap half a dozen suckling piglets in fake tiger’s fur and turn them loose in the tiger’s cage. Would they become lunch or friends? Well, it was love at first sight, and I have some charming pictures of the piglets nuzzling up to their loving mother, who is as proud of her ‘off-spring’ as any mother could be, and is constantly licking them clean. I can’t enclose the photos with this newsletter because many computers now routinely block bulk mail that includes photos (too much porn), but I’d be happy to forward the photos to anyone who would like to see a true motherhood story. Now, if only the rest of us could get along as well!!

I have another set of photos of unusual photos that I can forward to anyone wanting to see some great snaps!

            Animal stories always make good copy! This one was on the front page of every paper in Vancouver. A frantic man called police about a 15 foot crocodile in his back yard. Needless to say, that’s a bit unusual, so several emergency vehicles responded. What they found was a foot-long lizard, probably a Bearded Dragon. The funny part isn’t the dramatic shrinkage of the ‘croc’. With all of these big, burly policemen surrounding this poor, frightened, little lizard, it took a police woman to pick it up and place it in a shoebox for transportation to the local animal shelter. The men were too frightened.

NOT THE BRIGHTEST STARS IN THE FIRMAMENT

            This month’s award for the dumbest crooks goes to the kidnappers of Gabriel Mak in 2005 in Vancouver. Having imprisoned him in the basement of a house and taped his eyes shut with duct tape so ineptly that he could still see, the bad guys then fell asleep. Mak managed to free himself and walk to a neighbouring house, where he called police, but the gang had left by the time the cops arrived.

            Two weeks later, the same gang broke into a man’s apartment and kidnapped him, taping his girlfriend’s eyes and mouth, but not her hands or feet, with duct tape. Needless to say, within seconds of their departure, she had the tape off and was on the phone to the police. The kidnappee was left in a car with a guard who promptly fell asleep. The prisoner managed to open the car door and hop to safety. The crooks, now caught, confessed to an undercover policeman planted in their cell how they were going to do their next kidnapping, having, they thought, learned from their mistakes. They are now sleeping off a couple of years in jail.

SPHERICAL CONCEPTS GLOBES BOUGHT BY HERFF JONES (CRAM GLOBES)

            Spherical Concepts, of Fraser, Pennsylvania, has been purchased by Herff Jones, the owner of Cram Globes, of Indianapolis, Indiana. Spherical Concepts, who also market National Geographic globes as well as their own line of globes, will remain in Fraser and will continue to operate as an independent division of the expanded company, with John Szal and Karen remaining in place and working to develop the marketing potential of Cram Globes in the retail sector, as well as their own two lines. This merger reduces the number of American globe manufacturers to two.

ITMB ARTWORK PROVES TO BE POPULAR WITH THE MOVIE INDUSTRY

            We support the movie industry. ITMB allows TV and movie companies free access to use our artwork as props for cinematic productions. About twice a week, I receive a phone call from a harassed prop person somewhere in the world, hoping to use map X in a forthcoming play, movie, or TV show. They are usually pleasantly surprised to find that we agree to allow them to pin one of our maps on a scenery wall, or use it to track down some criminal, free of charge. We give permission about 100 times per year – only, of course, for maps for which we hold the copyright. Occasionally, we are asked to customize our maps to create huge wall maps, which we have done for a movie on the genocide carried out in Rwanda, and most recently Lan has created special wall maps of Europe, the USA, and South America for a film on the Incredible Hulk. We have provided a humanitarian map for use in the Darfur region of Sudan, a base map for a futuristic vision of Toronto, and are currently working with a museum to create a backdrop map for a mountaineering exhibition and a customized wall map of British Columbia for the logging industry. As a publishing house, we can’t do a lot of custom work, as we have to focus on our own production needs, but if you are contacted by some frantic prop acquisitions person, desperately needing legal permission to use a map in a movie or television production, suggest ITMB to that person. If we can, we’d be pleased to help. It is my belief that we can subliminally educate people in the importance of using a map. If viewers see prominent actors solving mysteries or accomplishing good by using a map, isn’t that bound to make a small impact on those enjoying the film? All map publishers should co-operate with production firms. End of lecture.

ITMB TITLES: WORK IN PROGRESS

            Lan gets upset when I start waffling on about new map titles that ITMB is developing. Understandably, such talk raises expectations of imminent arrival that can’t always be met. A perfect example is Chile, which many of you know has been an ITMB project unfulfilled for several years. Lan wants to focus on one map at a time; I prefer to forge ahead with a dozen different projects around the world. Lan wants to make each map perfect before it is released; I’m less exacting; even a map that fills a void imperfectly is better than no map at all. Lan always wins, because she’s in charge of production, but I keep pressing. We both agree on one point: no matter how many maps we publish each year, it is never enough to satisfy market demand – and none is perfect!

Amazon is now out of copies, and Lan is hard at work transforming Kevin’s single-sided manual artwork into a double-sided map at an improved scale. We have created completely different artwork to cover this important part of South America, and hope to have the new map printed and available in October.

Antarctica has suddenly depleted to next to no inventory, thanks to a large order that wereceived. What we want to do is to show the differences in the actual shape of the icy continent over the past seven years by noting those segments that have carved away thanks to global warming.

Brasil is running low on copies and will need updating before the end of the year.

Chile is once again moving forward, thanks to brand new GIS data that helps fill in gaps that have delayed this important title for years. It is too early to promise anything, but we’re moving ahead.

Croatia is another title that is moving ahead, and should be released in October.

Ethiopia is out of copies. A new, updated, edition is already at press and expected in mid-September.

Guangzhou, or Guangchou, formerly Canton, China, is being developed as I write. This will be our fourth city map of China, and place ITMB in the forefront of mapping important destinations in this rapidly-expanding tourist country. We hope to launch this city map in October.

Mauritius, a new ITMB title, is slowly being created. No ETA is available yet.

Melbourne, Australia, a new, original ITMB title, is at editorial proof-checking at the moment and should be available by October. This will be our third title related to Australia, with more to come in 2008.

Mexico is already at press. We hope to have it available again by the end of September.

Moscow is depleting in inventory quickly. An update is being undertaken; no ETA yet.

Mumbai, India, a new, original ITMB title, is at press, and will be available early in September. This will be the first time that this huge metropolis will have been mapped by anyone outside of India.

New Zealand is at press and expected very soon. The artwork for this map is brand new; a GIS-downloaded satellite image map that takes advantage of the latest technological technology imaginable – at least, that’s what Lan says, and who am Ito contradict the boss?

Prince George and Region has run out of inventory and has been discontinued. Sorry.

Sierra Leone has run out of copies. A new, updated, edition is at press, for release in October/November.

Sonora and Chihuahua States, Mexico: we are developing a new series of more detailed travel maps of interesting parts of Mexico, starting with these two. This title should go to press in the next month or so. This is the first of a series of more detailed 1:1M maps of major states and regions in Mexico. Jalisco, Chiapas, and Oaxaca are possible future ventures. We’re also considering doing a ‘border states’ map, showing both sides of the Mexican/US border. That should ruffle a few feathers!

Southern Africa is running low on availability. Due to the large number of maps needing to be updated, I am not able to guarantee when this title will be back in print once it runs out of copies (228 left).

USA West is at an advanced stage, but the area of coverage is so complex that we are moving forward slowly and cautiously. This map should come out in 2008, once we’re ready. This map is a detailed digital data base. Once completed, we will be well-positioned to prepare off-shoot maps, such as Pacific Northwest, California, and, God luv us, Texas. Actually, we’d like to do more maps of both Canada and the USA in the years to come. There are just so MANY exotic travel destinations needing to be mapped that America always end up short-changed.

Vancouver Island has run out of copies. A new, updated, edition is at press and is due in the next few days. In the meantime, our Vancouver Island South map covers the most developed part of the island.

Yucatan Peninsula is beginning its next updating period. We hope to have it available again in October.

FORTHCOMING TRADE SHOWS

IMTA Philadelphia, September 23-25, at the Society Hill Sheraton – Yes, we will be exhibiting at this trade show, as well as participating in the geocaching event, the Avenza workshop, and various workshops.

Frankfurt Book Fair, October 10-14 – We hope to see quite a few associates at our stand 3.1M666.

IMTA Portugal, in Cacais, near Lisbon, in February, 2008 – At this point, we plan on attending.

NEW TITLES RECENTLY RELEASED

Caucasus Region Travel Reference Map, waterproof, 1^st Ed. 2007 1:650,000 ISBN 9781553410553 waterproof $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – The traditional geographic border between Europe and Asia has been the mountainous region between the Black and the Caspian Seas. This double-sided map shows the entire region in excellent detail, with Georgia on one side, and Armenia and Azerbaijan on the other. The map also has insets of Yerevan, Tbilisi and Baku. It also shows significant touristic sites, churches, fortresses, and museums. This map would be ideal for anyone exploring all three countries during one visit. Printed on ITM plastic paper for durability AVAILABLE

Ethiopia Travel Reference Map – due any day

Europe Road Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 1:2,500,000 ISBN 9781553410423 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – FINALLY!!! Our new Europe road map is here and it looks great. Coverage is from Gibraltar in the south to Norkapp on the Arctic Ocean, and from the westernmost tip of Ireland all the way to Moscow. It’s a huge sheet of double-sided paper, easy to read and use; AVAILABLE

Germany North Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 1:500,000 ISBN 9781553415718 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – Germany, like Italy, is too big and too heavily developed to show everything on a country map alone. We are pleased to announce two new and very detailed road maps to help visitors to this important country. This map covers from the Danish, Polish, and Benelux borders south as far as Koln/Cologne and Dresden, showing numbered interchanges on the motorways/Autobahns, points of touristic interest, historic towns, camping areas, rest areas on autobahns, and ferries; again, on a huge sheet; indexed and AVAILABLE

Germany South Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 1:500,000 ISBN 9781553415725 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – This map covers the southern portion of Germany, from the Ruhr Valley south to Switzerland and east as far as Prague and Salzburg, with the same attention to detail as is on the northern sheet. Again, it is a huge sheet of paper, printed in Europe, and is AVAILABLE.

 Sweden Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 1:750,000 ISBN 9781553414193 $13.95cdn/11.95us/E8.95/6.99GBP – ITMB extends its coverage of Europe with this double-sided map of one of the larger countries in Europe. Sweden is much like most of Canada: lightly populated, but being blessed with thousands of lovely lakes and forested areas. This is a very detailed map of a wonderful place to visit AVAILABLE

Vancouver North/Port Coquitlam 92G6/G7 NTS Waterproof Topographic Map 6th Ed. 2008 1:50,000 ISBN 9781553419839 $14.95cdn/13.95us/E9.95/6.99GBP – This is history in the making. For the very first time, Canadian topo maps are being printed privately. This is an experiment, conducted by ITMB with the approval of the Government of Canada’s Map Office, who nervously agreed to this venture, which is unique in Canada, and possibly elsewhere. Naturally, this map will find its best market opportunities locally, but these two maps of the north shore mountains are two of the most popular NTS maps in print. Actually, neither has been in print for quite some time and have been available only as print-on-demand plots. NTS, for National Topographic System, maps are government survey maps, similar in purpose to Ordnance Survey, IGN, Auslig, or USGS. It takes 13,500 separate maps at this scale to cover Canada (OS’s 204 maps covers Britain; a drop in the bucket!). The maps are printed on ITM plastic paper for durability, with North Vancouver 92G6 on one side and Port Coquitlam 92G7 on the other side, with two separate covers. This map is available only folded; anyone wanting flat copies will have to make do with a plotted copy. The government will not be reprinting either of these maps AVAILABLE

Vancouver Island Travel Reference Map – due any day

Whistler/Vancouver Travel Reference Map, waterproof, 7^th Ed. 2007 1:50,000 for Whistler, 1:20,000 for Vancouver ISBN 9781553418917 $8.95cdn/8.95us/E7.95, 5.99GBP – This constitutes a major re-working of our most popular recreational map. As Canada gears up for hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, ITMB has re-worked our traditional Whistler and Region map into a new map appropriate for the future. On the one side is a detailed map of Whistler Region, showing all the Olympic skiing and sliding sites currently under construction (and well ahead of schedule) as well as all of the current, and expanding, attractions of North America’s Number One ski resort. In addition, we have included two new large inset maps showing mountain biking trails, and a detailed map showing the Sea to Sky highway area joining Vancouver and Whistler. The other side of the map shows a detailed map of the City of Vancouver, with all of the Olympic venues in that city shown, as well as all recreational activity normally associated with bike-city NA. The map is printed on ITM plastic paper for durability AVAILABLE.

TITLES RELEASED TO DATE IN 2007 (50 titles to end of July, 35 still to go – keep at it, 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

Budapest ITM City Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553416104

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

Fraser Valley/Vancouver Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553419822

Ghana Travel Reference Map 5^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553412267

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

Lombardy Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415787

Madagascar Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413066

Mali Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413141

Mauritania Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2006 ISBN 9781553413226

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

Mexico Central Region/Mexico City Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415893

Mexico Pacific Region/Guadalajara Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415886

Morocco Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413349

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

Nicaragua Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413486

Nigeria Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413523

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

Oman/UAE Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413561

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

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

Puerto Rico Travel Reference Map 4^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415909

Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii Travel Reference Map 5^th Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553418634

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

Russia Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413769

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

Samoa/American Samoa Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553413875

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

Tonga Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553414346

Uganda Travel Reference Map 3^rd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553414452

Umbria & Marche, Italy, Travel Reference Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553415794

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

Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia Region Travel Reference Map 2^nd Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553410416

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

Warsaw, Poland, ITM City Map 1^st Ed. 2007 ISBN 9781553417200