Have map will travel

Avid travellers will be over-the-moon with this latest tome by Lonely Planet, writes Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal

MAPS! Don’t you just LOVE maps? I do. And I guess if you love travelling and seeing the world as much as I do, then you’ll understand my dizzy delight when the latest LP tome was heaved onto my hands.

H-E-A-V-E-D because it’s truly a monster of a book. In size and content. With 205 maps, 195 countries covered and everything you’d need to plan your adventure, Lonely Planet’s (LP) The Travel Atlas is the ultimate cartographic companion for globetrotters.

As a child, I used to love those miniature table globes, which had countries clearly marked out by different colours.

My primary school Geography teacher had one on her table, and I recall spending joyous minutes before the beginning of class spinning the globe with my manky little hand, scrutinising it when it stopped and dreaming of seeing the different countries when I grew older.

And as I grew older, my fascination with maps, atlases and globes never abated. In fact, I went a step further in my obsession — I started collecting road maps of different countries that were readily available in the travel agents around town, which were complimentary for customers to pick up.

Suffice to say, I amassed plenty over the years. But as I got older, I became more picky; I wanted only those maps which were what I considered high quality — with precise details and pleasing aesthetics.

This LP tome, which has, according to the authors, probably been in the making since 1997, when LP first began creating its mapping database using GIS (Geographic Information System), doesn’t disappoint on both those criteria.

The maps initially began as satellite images, digitalised using ArcMap and then processed from LP’s database into files, which were subsequently passed to the writers.

They then proceeded to undertake painstaking on-the-ground research to capture the vital human-scale information needed to flesh out the initial data preparation.

NAVIGATING THE BOOK

Big enough to cause damage to your toes if you happen to drop it, this book might appear formidable to navigate from the outset. The size — and weight — alone makes it a finicky proposition.

But fret not. It’s actually reader-friendly. It’s so reader-friendly that there’s a section dedicated to how to commence.

The book is organised by region, which could be a single large country (Australia or the US), or a group of neighbouring countries.

Within each region, the first map presents the entire area covered by that region, complete with the region’s most frequented transport hubs and page references to more detailed maps of parts of the region and also to detailed city maps at the back of the book.

Flip the page and you’ll find a series of large-scale maps of areas within the region. These maps showcase some of the highlights of the region which are categorised according to whether they’re sights, such as museums (in red), or activities, like hiking, eating or shopping (in blue).

The authors have also added one or two suggested itineraries (of varying durations) to each map, which recommend sights and experiences, and these are marked by a coloured ring.

There’ll be pages where there are two small detailed maps, instead of just one big map on the page.

In these instances, the maps will either be of adjoining regions, in which case they’ll share places of interest and itineraries because travellers will be likely to move across both maps. Or, they may be of entirely distinct regions or countries, and will have separately numbered places of interest and their own itineraries. The tome concludes with detailed maps of 28 world cities and a comprehensive index.

Suffice to say, you’ll end up spending hours (or days) being delighted by what you find in the pages. Take your time to savour

the hard work that has been put into putting this tome together.

If there’s one word of caution I can offer, it’s this: Be warned. By “immersing”yourself in Lonely Planet’s The Travel Atlas, you might not be able to contain yourself from purchasing a flight ticket to somewhere in the world.

And that’s not such a bad thing!