The colourful Plantation Surnames of Ireland map At Dennis Maps we don’t only print maps…
Dennis Maps’ customer EastWest Mapping has been creating maps of Ireland since 1990, plotting the country’s majestic mountains and many waterways, for customers to explore by foot, bike or boat. Barry Dalby, the company’s founder, tells us more.
How and why did EastWest Mapping begin?
I worked in land surveying until there was a recession in Ireland in the early 1980s, which stopped a lot of building work and surveying. I began working in outdoor pursuits instead, as I already took part in activities like orienteering. In 1990 I started EastWest Mapping. The business combined my interests in outdoor pursuits, land surveying and cartography.
How has the company evolved over the years?
Originally, EastWest Mapping produced orienteering and recreational maps of small areas of Ireland, using mapping techniques like compass work and pacing. As technology advanced, we were able to map much larger areas of the country. Improved aerial imagery, adoption of handheld GPS units, plus the release of data from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission – the first dataset covering land elevations across most of the earth – made this possible. As field work became easier, we produced our first topographic map of the Dublin Mountains, followed by similar maps for the Wicklow Mountains. Technology keeps moving, allowing us to develop better maps with aerial survey data from Bluesky Ireland. Even now, we still spend a lot of time in the field ground truthing though – looking at the map on the ground to see how the user would view it.
What makes your maps unique?
It’s the attention to detail. We spend a lot of time trying to add local place names and heritage information to our maps. Most of the official place names in Ireland were recorded in the 19th century but not for all areas. Names of upland areas often weren’t recorded in the era, so we go there and speak to locals to find out what they call these places – it often differs from what other sources call them. You have a duty of responsibility as a cartographer to research place names. They also add an extra layer of interest in addition to the topographical information on our maps.
Do you have a favourite map from your collection?
I have a couple of different favourite maps. Aesthetically, the map of the Connemara Mountains looks the best, because there’s lots of topography to see. The whole hill range also sits nicely on one sheet, rather than being split over different ones. I also like the maps of Wicklow, which I’ve done lots of research on.
When did you begin working with Dennis Maps and why?
Initially, our maps were printed in Ireland but by 2008 there was a lot of attrition in the country’s printing industry because of recession, with many commercial printers closing. The quality of maps from remaining printers could be variable. Around 2016, I started looking around for a new printer and realised that OS used Dennis Maps. They’re a specialist map printer and can guarantee a consistent product, so we began working with them in 2018.
Can you tell us more about the products Dennis Maps prints for you?
Dennis Maps prints 18 of our 22 maps. We use the same format and folding width as OS Explorer maps, meaning the printing presses don’t have to be set up specially for our maps. Folded maps are our main products, but we also sell a small amount of wall maps.
Are there any more maps in the pipeline?
I’m working on a revision of the Achill Island map, updating detail & contouring. This map will be printed by Dennis Maps on Polyart 90gsm, a lightweight, waterproof material. At the moment, our maps are printed with a choice of paper or encapsulated versions and Polyart will potentially replace both these versions. We’ll see what the feedback is like from customers!
Dennis Maps is one of the leading map printers in the world, producing more than two million maps and charts every year. We offer comprehensive pre-press services, large size printing – large format print solutions using both large format litho printing and large format digital printing, plus specialised map folding and map finishing techniques.