Barry Dalby of EastWest Mapping

Barry: "It was an interest in geography and history that first drew me into the world of cartography. This combined with early exposure to mountain walking and orienteering in my teens. This was initially through a school club, then independently and then via college. I later became a mountaineering instructor at Tiglin Adventure Centre in Wicklow. If you want to learn the nuts and bolts of any craft, then it helps to teach it."

"The difference between any map and a better map is always fieldwork. Traditional mapping used to be entirely based on fieldwork, whereas modern mapping of detail is based on remote data capture (aerial imagery, digital surface models etc.). The best results are from a combination of fieldwork to prove and supplement remote data capture. One can never, ever do enough fieldwork."

"Part of the fieldwork I like to do for EastWest Mapping is including places of local cultural and heritage interest. I will initially go through multiple written sources that others have collected in a region, maps & records that predate the Ordnance Survey of 19th Century, Schools Collection, etc. Sometimes you come across references to caves/hides or wells etc and it's very satisfying to track these down and mark their location accurately along with names attached."

"Insofar as possible, I source local placenames from people who are 'seed & breed' of an area, following the principle that local people know their own placenames best. When more than one name exists for a location, I will go by the locally accepted name where known."

"The process for printing maps has changed a lot since I started. The first EastWest Mapping maps that were prepared for colour printing were hand-drawn on sheets of film, one for each colour, in a process called 'Spot Colour' printing. Now maps are printed using CMYK Process Colour presses, with the files handed over in digital PDF form."