Hand-drawn maps

[caver.adam@outlook.com]

I've had this argument a number of times in the States. Generally what I find is that people who like hand-drawn maps like the fact that they look very nice and are easy to read by the user (when done well). The secondary argument I hear is that digital maps don't include all the historical data, but this argument is a complaint against digital cartographers and not against the medium.

Then there are a lot of advantages of digital. It is quick and easy to update with new information. It can produce 3D models. Etc, etc.

My personal feeling is that I prefer to have a digital map from a source like Therion when I'm working on a project trying to learn about the cave and continue mapping it. We are working a project for a cave that is 22km+ with over two dozen unsurveyed leads. And we are trying to connect this cave to another one that is over 8km+ long with leads that are difficult to get to due to prolonged cold and wet conditions. I don't want to have to wait for a hand-drawn sketch to be updated between each survey trip. I want to get the information out of the trip and use it to plan future trips. Later I'm hoping one of our resident cartographers can help make it pretty.

 

[Kenilworth]

Aye. You make some valid points. How's Big Bat going?

I've just noticed Graham, that I missed your earlier question...

But can I query something that you said earlier, please? You now say, "The caves I survey are small, and I like to tell myself that I do a thorough job of exploring and surveying before I put any ink on paper." This seems to be somewhat at odds with your previous statement that, " I have guessed that there may be relatively little new exploration ongoing in the UK, and that original surveying projects are less common than here in the US where many secluded caves provide plentiful opportunities for original discovery." Could you elaborate?

...and admit that I don't know what the question is. I can, any time I choose, drive for a few hours and walk for a few more and be almost guaranteed to find a virgin cave. I've assumed that things like population density, relative lack of forests, longer history of exploration, etc. would make such a thing improbable in the UK. This doesn't mean that I'm finding huge caves.

 

[Bottlebank]

Aye. You make some valid points. How's Big Bat going?

I've just noticed Graham, that I missed your earlier question...

But can I query something that you said earlier, please? You now say, "The caves I survey are small, and I like to tell myself that I do a thorough job of exploring and surveying before I put any ink on paper." This seems to be somewhat at odds with your previous statement that, " I have guessed that there may be relatively little new exploration ongoing in the UK, and that original surveying projects are less common than here in the US where many secluded caves provide plentiful opportunities for original discovery." Could you elaborate?

...and admit that I don't know what the question is. I can, any time I choose, drive for a few hours and walk for a few more and be almost guaranteed to find a virgin cave. I've assumed that things like population density, relative lack of forests, longer history of exploration, etc. would make such a thing improbable in the UK. This doesn't mean that I'm finding huge caves.

I think it's probably easier to think of the UK as being a state in Europe, if you want to get a comparison with the US.

Whilst you're quite right that it's very difficult to walk into even small virgin caves here in the UK we're far closer to say Spain, France or Austria than an West coast US caver is to the Virginia, for example. New discoveries, mainly small but some larger, are found very regularly in the UK but most are from either surface digs (often long term) or underground digs but UK cavers are finding many, many miles of new passage every year just in Spain for example as well as many more in other European countries and other places around the world.