ABSTRACT
The development of cartographic techniques, products and applications has closely paralleled advances in human activities such as navigation, exploration, education, recreation, legislation and administration, throughout history. The nation state, as an instrument of societal organization, has influenced, and often directed, all such activity and has therefore impacted significantly on mapping. The epitome of such impact has been the emergence, maturity and success of national mapping agencies (NMAs), creating products of benefit in all these fields. During 1991, Ordnance Survey (OS) was celebrating two centuries of world-leading surveying and mapping activity, but also facing an uncertain future direction. That OS was regarded as a world-leading example of an effective national mapping agency, able to adapt to the contemporary world at the end of the twentieth century is testament to the skills and nature of both its leadership and its staff up to that time.
