Russell Kirkpatrick's Journal
Famous again
21-Sep-2006
Well, nearly famous. I made the local paper yesterday. Here's the text:
Map maker gives Bahrain guidelines
20 September 2006
Hamilton map maker Russell Kirkpatrick is changing the face of part of the Middle East.
He has been commissioned to produce a detailed atlas of the small, wealthy island nation of Bahrain, along the lines of his Bateman Contemporary Atlas of New Zealand.
Dr Kirkpatrick is a part-time lecturer at Waikato University's geography, tourism and environmental planning department, a fantasy author and also has his own map-making business.
His study is filled with fantasy novels, computers and maps of the 665sq km Persian Gulf state.
Working on the project with Dr Kirkpatrick is Waikato University student Paul Beere, who pointed out their largest map of the main island.
"That would be the most accurate data-set of its kind in existence," he said.
The map, based on aerial photographs, shows a kite-shaped island whose north is covered in towns and whose south is largely desert.
Dr Kirkpatrick got the job after a well-connected Bahrainian student saw the map maker's Bateman Atlas, which had maps of a wider variety and presented more stylishly than the atlases in Bahrain.
The student mentioned his idea to his father, the head of Bahrain's natural gas company and a relative of the royal family, and in 2003 the company offered Dr Kirkpatrick the job.
At first he turned it down, as he had too much on his plate, but they gave him an open-ended business class ticket to the Gulf.
He flew out there in February last year, spent a week in the country, and changed his mind about the project.
"Bahrain has particular issues that they are trying to deal with, like all countries. They are coming to the end of a lot of their natural resources –- not only oil but also water . . . –- so they are facing a lot of social, environmental and economic issues. I think the feeling is that a book like this can help them get a feel for things. I'm not suggesting that we can tell them anything they do not know. But it's the packaging."
The country's Education Ministry, National Museum and university have got involved, and all of Bahrain's 160,000 school children are in line to have a copy.
The project is due to finish in October next year.
Or would you rather they got one of your fantasies instead?? lol...