Show me the way to go... anywhere I want

Obsessed with perfect paths and tucked-away tracks, Will Gore ponders the value and aesthetic of the humble map

Maps should be pored over, examined for what they can tell us about our surroundings – about geography and about history too (Photos Getty)

What are maps for? To help us explore, or simply to act as a route planner?

As a literary device, maps offer the perfect means by which protagonists make discoveries or uncover mysteries. The creation of a map can even be an end in itself, especially in children’s fiction. Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons became ever more proficient at map making – they were as much professional surveyors as they were child sailors by the time their series of stories had come to an end.

For past generations of Britons, maps were objects of imperial pride; evidence of British influence around a world that had been brought to heel, recorded and civilised by the nation’s armies, explorers, missionaries and men of business.