Cartography by hand, in 2026

Priya Raman draws maps by hand for people who could generate one in a second. I wanted to know who is buying them and why.

A drawn map is a claim about what matters. The software makes a claim too, it just does not tell you it is making one.
Priya Raman

In this episode

1. 01:55 The commission that started it: a parish boundary, drawn wrong on every digital map.
2. 12:40 How long a coastline takes, honestly.
3. 25:15 On deciding what to leave out.
4. 36:00 Clients: three museums, two councils and a great many walkers.
5. 44:30 Forty more years.

Mentioned

• On the Map by Simon Garfield
• The Ordnance Survey first edition six-inch sheets
• Her own inks, mixed and unrepeatable

Recorded at her drawing board in Easton, with a radiator ticking.