Maps for Airmen

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 74, 28 March 1936, Page 3

Maps for Airmen

PREPARATION BEGUN AVAILABLE IN 18 MONTHS Preparation of a series of strip maps of the Dominion for use by air pilots is now well advanced, and it is expected that tho work, which has been under-taken by the Lands and Survey Department, in conjunction with the aviation branch of the Public Works Department, will be completed in less than 18 mouths. These air maps will be based on the Lands and Survey Department’s four miles to the inch series, but the scale will be reduced to eight miles to the inch, and there will be about six strips to cover the whole of the Dominion. Information will be shown on these maps in appropriate colours. Water will be blue and roads orange. Well-known landmarks and prominent buildings easily visible from the air, and lighthouses, will be clearly shown, together with topographical names, aerodromes and landing grounds, and the principal air routes with their bearings and distances. Tho magnetic variation as it affects each sheet in the series will also be shown.

Topographical information will be shown in four grades of colour, heights being indicated in varying tints up to 6000 ft. Land rising above that height will appear in the map as colourless areas.

The strips will be approximately 30in. by 6in., and they will be bound in covers, so that the maps will fold up to Bin. by Sin. They will be printed on a special cloth, which is stated to have the advantage of being practically indestructible. A further advantage is that the maps, if they become dirty by use, can be washed and still retain their fairly approximate scale. The maps will be based on a modified polyconical projection, similar to that on-which the parent maps were produced. The first strip,'covering the area from the Ilobsonville Air Base, Auckland, as far south as Palmerston North, and from Rotorua to Tauranga on the east, is nearly ready to go to the printer. The second strip, a representation of the land from Palmerston North to Kaikoura, will be ready for printing within two months, and the other strips will be issued at intervals of approximately three months until the full series is completed. Great care has been taken in the mapping operations and to ensure that there shall be no distortion all are being drawn on a special material on which any drawing remains constant to scale, irrespective of atmospheric conditions. Some indication of the magnitude of the task can be gained from the fact that four drawings are required in the oreuaration of each map, _