Paper maps of Britain go digital

London: The art of folding them can often be as challenging as the ability to read them. But after decades as an indispensable guide to the outdoors, the humble paper map appears to be heading the way of the sextant, the north star and other seemingly outmoded navigational aids.

After years of declining sales, with consumers increasingly relying on electronic satellite navigation systems, the Ordnance Survey (OS) is planning to end its policy of routinely producing paper maps covering the entire country. Instead, people who require a paper chart will have to order it.

Paper map sales accounted for just seven per cent of the firm’s £141.9 million (Dh867 million) turnover last year, as numbers sold slipped below two million for the first time since the 1:25,000 scale Explorer and 1:50,000 Landranger hiking maps went on sale in the Seventies.

OS, which accounts for 95 per cent of the leisure map market, is a government agency and part of its remit is to map the entire UK.

The agency’s plans mean that paper maps will only be available on demand, although popular hiking areas such as the Lake District will still be produced, while custom-made maps can be centred on any location, such as a home address.

In a further sign of the times, a “map amnesty”, allows the public to exchange an old, paper chart for a discount on a digital version.

It has already received in excess of 3,000 paper maps. The project runs until the end of April, to ensure maps in use are up to date.

The OS makes 10,000 changes a day its database — new properties, changes to road layouts, closures of pubs. Digital versions update instantly, but paper versions are modified every two to five years.

All OS maps are printed in Frome, Somerset, and sold to Waterstones, large stores or book wholesalers. The Ordnance Survey traces its roots back to the mid 18th century, when it was established to survey Scotland in the wake of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion. Leisure mapping began at the start of the 20th century.

While paper maps sales have declined, though, sales of digital products such as apps have been rising. A spokesman said: “Paper maps remain an important part of [our] brand.”