Caroline Robinson founded Clear Mapping Company in 2011. She has worked in the manufacturing, design and construction sectors for 20 years and has a wealth of practical design experience across commercial, local authority and other professional fields. Clear Mapping Company provides cartographic and design services for the public and private sectors, both in the UK and overseas. She creates illustrated maps and designs using geographic information systems (GIS) data.
“…By all means make sure that you are doing something that you enjoy, but also make sure it is profitable. I have seen so many women burnt out from starting a business, stressed of putting the effort in, to only realise that they couldn’t make a living from it…”
My fascination with cartography, illustration and design
I have always been fascinated by old maps, books and history. By looking at maps you can see how the place has changed, grown from village to town and from town to industrial heartland. However, after painting and drawing, I studied Information Design at Falmouth University (what today would be called ‘infographics’).
We learnt about different cultures, how people interpret data, how to make sure that data was accessible and met the target audience’s needs. I loved it!
I then worked for a toy company, an ecological / landscape business, before coming back home to infographics through setting up Clear Mapping Co.
Starting my own business with one laptop and a bicycle
I was really looking at what business could I start. I received excellent support from Outset Cornwall (a start-up support organisation based in Cornwall). I could have gone into all sorts of professions, but I decided that combining my skills in cartography would be the most interesting. I started with one laptop and a bicycle. The work has grown from there!
Cartography – trying to help people make sense of the world
Cartography is really an ancient discipline of representing the world on a flat plane. The world is really a squashed football shape, with many pits and rises, tides pulling the oceans from one side of the world to the other and spinning on an axis around the sun. As cartographers, we are trying to help people make sense of the world combining maths and art.
The maths helps us to organise the surface of the earth in to manageable spaces and the art helps us to draw the important elements in the space, interpreting the data in the best way for the audience.
There is no purer form of infographics!
How new technology around GPS and big data is affecting the way we work
More and more emphasis is on BIG data, but BIG data is only useful if you can find a use for it. Whereas many businesses were collecting locational data (governments too), only now are businesses asking themselves, yes, great, but what is it for?
With remote sensing becoming more affordable, satellite data becoming easier to get hold of and with projects like OpenStreetMap, lots of people will be scratching their heads. Some maps have been based on these data sources, but some are still not optimising their true potential.
Drones are the disruptive technology going from an expensive observation tool used by the military to a remote controlled toy used by anyone, with privacy / health and safety laws struggling to keep up. I see this tech becoming more familiar and potentially more regulated. Maybe our first artificial intelligence with be a flying drone rather than a walking robot.
Future trends
Information is power and so looking after datasets, maintaining privacy, yet making some maps open-sourced for the benefit of all humankind like Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team [HOT] will still be marching trends.
We enjoy the privileged position of being able to keep an eye on these trends and provide geo-spatial consultancy with an added creative twist.
Advice for other female entrepreneurs
By all means make sure that you are doing something that you enjoy, but also make sure it is profitable. I have seen so many women burnt out from starting a business, stressed of putting the effort in, to only realise that they couldn’t make a living from it.
No-one likes to talk about it, but running a successful business means making a profit. This means that you can invest back in the business, that you can provide great training for staff and that your hard-work pays off in the long run.
For anyone starting their own business, my best advice would be keep an eye on your sums!
Plans for the business moving forward
We are hoping to grow further and looking at establishing ourselves in markets overseas and as data becomes more accessible across borders this will become more viable. The future is definitely geo-referenced!
http://www.clearmapping.co.uk/
https://twitter.com/clearmappingco
https://www.facebook.com/ClearMappingCompany
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/caroline-robinson/35/a1b/560
