Urban maps

[DaveK]

Anyone who has produced an (A3 ish) urban map care to give me an idea of how many man/women hours they think it took to produce please? I have to say that my Canterbury map took a (very) substantial number of hours (albeit I was on a bit of a learning curve), so I'd appreciate an idea of what others would consider the time required for undertaking such project.

[seabird]

I've done several that size as an amateur. May be slower than some.

Never done the calculations but I would guess 20-25 hours in the field plus a bit extra for double checking and between 3 and 4 times that for drawing!

[andypat]

Thats probably close to my estimation of about 3-4 working weeks. But that was spread over 2 years and included learning how to use OCAD.
Reckon I could do one in about half that time now, quicker if I had good base data to import. Mine was done with and OS basemap and overlaid google earth photos.

[Big Jon]

Buy the appropriate OS digital data (expensive, but keeps you the right side of the law) and you can reduce the drawing time significantly. My rule of thumb is to do a rough check of km-age of roads/tracks, allow 3km/hour plus extra time for drawing, then allow for any park areas, woodland that need doing, cartography approx 150 - 200% of the survey time.

[Angry Haggis]

My rule of thumb is 15 hours of survey and 50 hours of cartography for every square km (~2/3rds of an A4 sheet at 1:5000) - at least, that's always how long it's taken me to do the London City Race map. Google Street View and other modern sources have helped me cut keep down the survey time although every street and alley is wandered at least once. I don't use OCAD though, it might have been quicker if I had done so. If using digital mapping data (I haven't done so) this would, I think, cut down the cartography time quite a bit.

[Deaf Old Gorilla]

Windsor took me 7 or 8 visits for about 3-4 hours a time (plus occasional little looks when we got visitors who wanted to see the sights). About 3 times as much cartography as survey for an urban map.

[Roger]

I think that Didcot (A3 at 1:5000) took 100-ish hours, two-thirds cartography, despite starting with a very good OCAD conversion.

[DaveK]

Very interesting - many thanks for your responses guys. I guess I could be looking at the equivalent of 3/4 (7 day) weeks or so given that I'm (like Seabird) a bit on the slow side, for a second map. Largely I used Elgin (should I say that ) and Street View as well as ground survey, of course, for the earlier map.

[Freefall]

Largely I used Elgin (should I say that )

Elgin Roadworks as opposed to Elgin the WOC-embargoed area I daresay?