Cartographer

You would make the maps that people use every day to get around and find where they’re going. You could research, design and publish maps on paper and online.

You could produce maps for anything from tourist maps for walking or a road atlas for driving to maps used in satellite navigation systems. You might create maps used by industry and the armed forces. Other maps could show political boundaries, climate zones or the geology of an area. You might also design globes or maritime charts.

You’d use geographical information systems (GIS) and digital mapping techniques to record geographical information about an area and analyse it. You’d then present it as a map using desktop publishing and specialist computer software.

You would:

• Check that maps and charts are accurate and to scale

• Edit maps, add and remove new roads, structures or landmarks

• Collect and analyse data from remote sensors on satellites and planes

• Work closely with surveyors and designers

• Use geographical information systems (GIS) to model and analyse landscape features

• Plot the heights and positions of geographical features from aerial photographs

• Carry out surveys of the land, the sea and coastal areas

• Design maps for different media, like digital or paper-based maps

With experience, you could also manage mapping projects and lead a team.

• British Cartographic Society - Careers in cartography

• Ordnance Survey Careers - All about working at Britain's mapping agency