Prestigious Award Win For Local Crowd Funded Start Up Business

Hampshire-based business SplashMaps, which creates innovative maps on high tech fabric for outdoor adventurers, and was one of the first UK companies to be crowd funded, has just won the prestigious Wallis Award by the Society of Cartographers.

As one of 10 finalists SplashMaps beat off stiff competition to win the Society’s coveted annual award for ‘excellence in cartography’ with its unique ‘Tour du Nord’ fabric map series. The maps, developed in conjunction with transport experts Steer Davies Gleave, were created for the highly successful Yorkshire-based opening stages of the 2014 Tour de France.

The maps were designed to encourage as many spectators as possible to get on their bikes and follow the event, plus help take pressure off the busiest areas along the route. Post event, they continue to provide riders with more than enough detail to discover the stunning areas on and around the Tour route, in a really user-friendly format. They can be easily wrapped around a neck as a scarf or scrunched into a pocket or elsewhere, and/or provide a permanent souvenir of one of Great Britain’s finest sporting spectacles.

Steve Chilton, Chair of the Society of Cartographers comments, “SplashMaps was commended by the judging panel for its very effective use of a novel medium, while retaining graphic clarity and displaying an excellent user-focused design.”

David Overton, SplashMaps’ MD says, “We’re delighted to have won this award. It proves that when you buy a SplashMap you’re getting more than innovative thinking and a novel concept; you’re getting award-winning cartography that enables you to navigate with confidence. I hope our Tour du Nord maps will continue to persuade riders of all abilities to try at least part of this truly spectacular route.”

The ‘Tour du Nord’ map sells through the SplashMaps website www.splashmaps.net and retailers in the area including the National Park Authority visitor centre. SplashMaps covering all the national parks and key outdoor areas and the new custom Make-a-Map service are available direct from www.splashmaps.net or through a growing number of retailers which includes Stanfords map shops in London and Bristol. For all the latest news visit our website www.splashmaps.net, follow us on twitter.com/splashmaps or like us on facebook.com/splashmaps.