Water Dragon
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I was pouring over my collection of old maps and guide-books from zoos and I have noticed that a lot of the maps are actually quite hard to read or understand. I'll show you what I mean by using my local zoos:
Chester: Now Chester's map used to be fantastic and detailed and beautifully illustrated. That was up to the 2010 map. Since 2011 the map looks like it was drawn by a four year-old that was in a rush. It misses out a lot of exhibits and locations and has very little detail, and the illustrations are terrible. It is also very hard to read and I have struggled using it around the zoo in the past. Why they made this unnecessary change, I do not know. All I can say is that even the 2003 map was better than this new map.
Blackpool: Now the illustrations in Blackpool's map are better than Chester's, in my opinion. However, it uses a series of symbols for each animal/exhibit and it is really awkward and complicated to use. It also misses about a lot of exhibits and different locations in the zoo and is badly detailed. Personally I find even the Chester map easier to use.
South Lakes: It has been a while since I have visited this place but the detail in the map that I have is poor and the detail is quite bad. This also uses a numbering system and not all the numbers are on the map. It has been a while since I visited and I know that the map probably has changed since then.
Knowsley: Knowsley's map was very good at first but as time went on, it became another weird illustrated one. The map is easy to use but does miss out a bit of detail. It also uses a numbering system with a key, but they went wrong somewhere in the key and some of the places are incorrectly labelled.
Welsh Mountain: I admit that the map for this little zoo was also difficult to follow. I did get lost and confused a couple of times when I visited. The detail for the path could have been better but it is not as bad as Chester's map, if you ask me. Again, it uses the numbering key which I found quite hard to use.
With these examples, I find that most UK zoo maps are becoming very hard to read and understand. A lot of them use a number-key system which I am not against but I find some of them to be very hard to understand. I would like to know: are there any decent maps of UK collections that are detailed and easy to use?
Chester: Now Chester's map used to be fantastic and detailed and beautifully illustrated. That was up to the 2010 map. Since 2011 the map looks like it was drawn by a four year-old that was in a rush. It misses out a lot of exhibits and locations and has very little detail, and the illustrations are terrible. It is also very hard to read and I have struggled using it around the zoo in the past. Why they made this unnecessary change, I do not know. All I can say is that even the 2003 map was better than this new map.
Blackpool: Now the illustrations in Blackpool's map are better than Chester's, in my opinion. However, it uses a series of symbols for each animal/exhibit and it is really awkward and complicated to use. It also misses about a lot of exhibits and different locations in the zoo and is badly detailed. Personally I find even the Chester map easier to use.
South Lakes: It has been a while since I have visited this place but the detail in the map that I have is poor and the detail is quite bad. This also uses a numbering system and not all the numbers are on the map. It has been a while since I visited and I know that the map probably has changed since then.
Knowsley: Knowsley's map was very good at first but as time went on, it became another weird illustrated one. The map is easy to use but does miss out a bit of detail. It also uses a numbering system with a key, but they went wrong somewhere in the key and some of the places are incorrectly labelled.
Welsh Mountain: I admit that the map for this little zoo was also difficult to follow. I did get lost and confused a couple of times when I visited. The detail for the path could have been better but it is not as bad as Chester's map, if you ask me. Again, it uses the numbering key which I found quite hard to use.
With these examples, I find that most UK zoo maps are becoming very hard to read and understand. A lot of them use a number-key system which I am not against but I find some of them to be very hard to understand. I would like to know: are there any decent maps of UK collections that are detailed and easy to use?
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