Forget routes – maps are all about finding roots

In the latest in his series of reflections about ideas of place and pathway, Will Gore searches the Ordnance Survey for context

Maps tempt you to go places you may never visit (Getty)

What is a map for? In the modern era, technology has given us maps at our fingertips; satellites beaming live information to our phones so we can know in a moment the best (or, to be more accurate, quickest) way from A to B, wherever in the world those locations may be.

While the scale of the data available to us has expanded exponentially, for the most part we have reduced maps to route planners. No longer need we thumb through a printed road atlas, jotting down directions ahead of a long journey and noting alternatives in case of bad traffic. All that’s required now is to follow the highlighted line on the satnav, turning left or right as instructed. It is broadly unnecessary to know where you actually are until you reach your pre-programmed destination.

But maps can offer so much more than this. At the most basic level, they can show us what is just out of sight – the lay of the land beyond our immediate vision. Depending on their scale, they can show where we fit in the world’s family of nations, or the extent of a city’s built environment, or the contours of a neighbouring valley.