Left: Souvenir of the route taken by
the Tour de France through David’s
home town of Holmfirth, in 2014.
A
n army really does march on its
stomach. But marching isn’t going
to do it much good unless it knows
where it’s going. This is why the armed forces
of most NATO members still have whole
regiments dedicated to producing topographic
surveys, geographic intelligence and terrain
analysis, or to put it another way – maps.
It used to be said that you should never give
a map to an officer. These days, we have GPS
receivers and hi-tech visualisation of terrain
in three dimensions. Officers in charge should
know exactly where they are, as well as every
Above: Bespoke map of South Otterington, for a wedding and reception, showing the guests how to get from one
location to the other.