Maps are getting better

If you were relying on Google maps to get to the top of Ben Nevis this spring, you might have run into trouble. It was directing users to the car park nearest the summit at Upper Falls, and a ‘highly dangerous’ route up the mountain’s south slopes. Pressure from Mountaineering Scotland and the John Muir Trust means the Californian company has updated things, now taking you to Glen Nevis where the most straightforward ascent up the Mountain Track begins (find a detailed guide at walk1000miles.co.uk/bonusroutes). As devotees of the Ordnance Survey we’d stick with their maps, and they’ve been adding more detail to Britain’s shoreline to help The Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The agency is called to 33,000 incidents a year and locations often come in by their local nickname – Stinky Bay or Nuncle Dicks, say – so the OS has been creating a national crowdsourced gazetteer to add to the map to speed response times.