-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: KAPPA Map Group LLC - umbrella - map publishing Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:50:32 -0700 From: timross <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]> To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship <[log in to unmask]> Russell, excellent summary! This is very useful for those of us who still actively purchase trade maps for our collections and/or receive queries from students and the general public re the best travel maps. Best, Tim Ross Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library, UW Milwaukee wrote: > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: KAPPA Map Group LLC - umbrella - map publishing > Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:31:59 -0400 > From: Russell Guy <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > > > > A few more bits on map publishers: > > Kappa is finally getting their multiple map lines integrated into a > single product listing after sorting through competing titles from their > various imprints and reducing duplication. As part of that, some titles > are going away - a lot of American Map and ADC titles for instance. > Kappa is keeping the various imprints such as ADC and Mapsco on the > appropriate maps, while using Kappa as the publisher name. Kappa is > beginning to update many of the maps that American Map and Universal had > let go out of stock. For instance, in January Kappa released 88 new > editions plus 25 new editions in February. A listing of these will be in > our next new arrivals listing. > > Rand McNally continues to have a significant trimming of their printed > map line. From a high of over 1000 map titles a few years ago, RM are > now down to 475 titles in their 2012 product list. This list is expected > to continue to shrink. Paper maps of smaller cities have been the bulk > of the titles discontinued, but laminated "Easyfinder" maps and > spiral-bound "Streetfinder" atlases are also being discontinued. > > Hema Maps of Australia has closed their US office and warehouse. They > have also discontinued most of its international map to concentrate on > producing their very popular line of maps of Australia. Hema have a > great series of outback maps of the center of Australia,, plus route and > regional maps for eastern Australia, as well as city, state, and country > maps for Australia, New Zealand, and parts of the South Pacific. > > Borch, Nelles Verlag, and Freytag/Berndt continue to let slow-selling > titles go out of print. For instance, Nelles is not reprinting/updating > their popular China regional series. > > Freytag has introduced a tourist-friendly line of country travel maps. > These are printed on waterproof paper and include several city insets on > each map, general facts about each country, tourism information, etc. To > date nine titles have been released for this new series. > > Gizimap, the Hungarian map publisher, continues to produce one or two > new titles each year. She specializes in north Africa, Central Asia and > Middle East titles., but she is beginning to expand beyond that with > recent titles covering St. Lucia and St. Helena. Other new titles > include Yemen, Sudan/South Sudan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan/Kabul, and > Pakistan.. > > Collins/Bartholomew have discontinued all of their non-UK map titles, > including the very popular continental map series. They are > concentrating on providing map data and digital maps for books and > atlases. They continue to publish a variety of road and city maps for > Ireland, Scotland, and the UK. It is a shame to see the famous > Bartholomew name and map line falling by the wayside. > > The British Ordnance Survey, which is required to be self-supporting and > receives no government funding, has discontinued their very popular > single-sheet and 9-sheet regional series of the UK. This leaves only the > AA nine-sheet series of maps or the Michelin four-sheet series as the > only reasonable coverage of the UK. A recent UK government decision is > forcing OS to provide their topographic data to commercial publishers at > very reduced rates, so watch for 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 > topographic/hiking maps by AA to hit the market in the next few months. > With less and less revenue coming in from map sales, I expect to see the > OS map line continue to shrink unless the UK government realizes that OS > cannot be tasked with collecting/collating/verifying the map data and > then give it away for very reduced prices and still be self-supporting. > > Rough Guides has discontinued their country road map line, which were > all Reise Know-How maps in a Rough Guide cover. > > National Geographic Maps is greatly expanding their "Adventure Travel > Map'" line, with well over 50 new titles planned for 2011-2012. Nearly > all of these titles are based on Reise Know-How cartography and > updated/rebuilt in NGS's traditional map style. > > ITMB continues to produce new maps at a significant rate, as well as > updating many of their existing maps. Recent new titles include > "Canada-USA border", "USA Pacific Coast", "Route 66 road atlas", "Chile > South and Patagonia", etc. ITMB is also re-issuing many of their city > maps as a double-sided map with a city map on one side and a regional > map on the reverse, making them much more useful for a traveler. These > include such titles as Cuzco/Southern Peru, Jerusalem/Israel North, and > Tokyo/Central Japan. > > Cheers > Russell Guy > Omnimap > > At 09:38 AM 3/13/2012, you wrote: > >> We don't hear a lot about what's going on in the map publishing world. >> I'm cataloging a map I recently purchased for my library and see that a >> number of publishers have combined under an umbrella company KAPPA Map >> Group, LLC. >> >> Here is their website: https://kappamapgroup.com/t-companyhistory.aspx >> >> "Kappa Map Group, LLC was formed in early 2011 to provide a single >> umbrella over our growing family of map brands Universal Map, American >> Map, Mapsco, Hagstrom, and ADC." >> >> Also, Eastview Cartographic purchased Map Link's stock and website. >> >> http://www.evmaplink.com/ >> >> A few people from Map Link are offering maps from their new company: >> http://www.ritemap.com/ >> >> There was a brief discussion of this on Maps-L about 2 years ago (search >> Maps-L archives for 'map publishing' archives are here: >> http://www.listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=maps-l&X >> <http://www.listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=maps-l&X>=- ). >> >> Angie >> AGS Library > > > > ************************************************************************************** > > Russell Guy [log in to unmask] > Omnimap.com http://www.omnimap.com > <http://www.omnimap.com/>P.O. Box 2096 Tel.: 800-742-2677 (USA only) > 1004 South Mebane St. Tel.: 336-227-8300 (International) > Burlington, NC 27216-2096 USA Fax: 336-227-3748 > > Past President (1996) and Member, International Map Trade Association > ************************************************************************************** > -- Tim Ross, Map & Reference Librarian Koerner Library, Univ. of British Columbia 1958 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z2 Phone: (604) 822-6191 Fax: (604) 822-9122 Email: [log in to unmask]