Upcoming Changes to the Email Digest

My hosting provider has announced that it will be retiring the announcement list feature on which The Map Room relies for its weekly email digest. Which means that at some point in the near future it will need to find a new home.

The best option, from a features and privacy standpoint, is probably Buttondown (which I already use for my personal newsletter). But adding The Map Room and its subscribers to my account will move me up the paid plan ladder, so this switch will cost me a bit (insert subtle reminder here that the Patreon exists). I don’t begrudge doing so: my email subscribers are an active and significant part of my audience (to the point where I sometimes wonder whether I should go email-first) so it’s worth doing that aspect of The Map Room properly. And I’ve been eyeing a move to Buttondown in any event; my hosting provider is just making it happen sooner rather than later.

Because email subscribers have properly opted in to the existing service, I can move subscriptions over seamlessly when the time comes. I’ll try to give a heads-up before that happens, though.

The Map Men Visit the Ordnance Survey, and Also Wrote a Book

Map Men Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones visit the Ordnance Survey in a (sponsored) set of two (vertically aligned short) videos: part one, part two. Complete with map-folding mishaps, gratuitous hi-viz vest wearing, and a Google Maps dig.

Meanwhile, they’ve also gone and written a book: This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong (and Why It Matters) will be out from HarperCollins imprints in the fall of 2025: the U.K. edition will come out from Mudlark in October (£17) and the U.S. edition from Hanover Square Press in November ($30). Amazon (CanadaUK), Bookshop.