Mark Ovenden F.R.G.S.

Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

 (born 20 June 1963, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, UK) is a broadcaster and author who specialises in the subjects of graphic design

Graphic design

Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

, cartography

Cartography

Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...

 and architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 in public transport

Public transport

Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...

, with an emphasis on underground rapid transit

Rapid transit

A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...

.

His first book Metro Maps of the World published in 2003 is a guide to the diagrams, plans and maps of every underground rapid transit system including images ranging from photos of the systems to rare and historical maps and every available current official plan. The book was supported by the UITP, the international association of transport operators, and by the London Transport Museum. A Dutch edition was published in autumn 2006 (titled Metrokaarten van de wereld), and an American edition (entitled Transit Maps of the World) was launched on 30 October 2007 by Penguin Books

Penguin Books

Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...

.

Paris Metro Style in map and station design, was published November 2008. Endorsed by the RATP, it traces the cartographic evolution and graphic design of the Paris Metro

Paris Métro

The Paris Métro or Métropolitain is the rapid transit metro system in Paris, France. It has become a symbol of the city, noted for its density within the city limits and its uniform architecture influenced by Art Nouveau. The network's sixteen lines are mostly underground and run to 214 km ...

. A revised American edition with a different title was published October 2009 and a French edition is underway. Railway Maps of the World was published in May 2011 in the USA, a British edition is due for September 2011. The author is now preparing a new book for Penguin UK on London Underground design and has several others about the wider aspects of graphic design

Graphic design

Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

 on public transport

Public transport

Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...

 systems in preparation.

Ovenden was previously a journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, news presenter

News presenter

A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...

 and radio producer

Radio producer

A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. There are two main types of producer. An audio or creative producer and a content producer. Audio producers create sounds and audio specifically, content producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature...

. He was founding editor of Due South Magazine

Due South Magazine

Due South was the name of a British Listings magazine which covered the cities of Southampton, Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Winchester.Due South was among a number of provincial "What's On"/Entertainment listings magazines produced during the late 1970s and early 1980s in a similar style to London's...

and was half of the independent production company, 'OutSpoken', which made BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

's 7-part lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 and gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 series Loud'n'proud

Loud'n'proud

loud & proud was a series on BBC Radio 1 aimed at young lesbians and gay men and their friends. It was presented by DJ Paulette and broadcast weekly in 1993....

 in 1993. He also worked in TV and radio for Kiss 102

Kiss 102

-History:The frequency was originally issued to Sunset 102 Radio - The Kickin FM but that suffered some financial problems. In May 1993, the Radio Authority made a decision to prematurely terminate Sunset's licence, apparently accusing the station of providing inaccurate information about its...

, as Programme Manager; Kiss 100

Kiss 100 London

Kiss is a UK radio station broadcasting on FM and Digital Radio, specialising in hip hop, R&B, urban and electronic dance music. It also broadcasts on DAB Digital Radio around the UK & nationally on Freeview, Sky and TalkTalk TV...

, newsreader; BBC Radio Five, reporter; BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

, producer of the Annie Nightingale

Annie Nightingale

Anne "Annie" Nightingale MBE is an English radio broadcaster. She is most commonly known by the more informal name of Annie...

 show; Planet 24

Planet 24

Planet 24 was a television production company. It produced The Big Breakfast and The Word had an animation division Impossible TV. Bob Geldof and Tony Boland founded Planet Pictures which merged with 24 Hour Productions headed by Charlie Parsons and Waheed, later Lord Alli...

, researcher on GayTimeTV; BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

, contributor to Map Man; Ministry of Sound

Ministry of Sound Radio

A UK based radio station operating since 1999, it is now found on the Ministry of Sound website as streaming audio.Current MoS radios DJs include X-Press 2, Hed Kandi residents Des Paul and Andy Norman, Markus Schulz, Ross Allen, Stuart Patterson, Terry Farley, DJ Storm, Hospital Records, The Idjut...

, Head of Radio; LBC

LBC

LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...

, producer; and MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

, music programmer. At Atlantic 252

Atlantic 252

Atlantic 252 was a long wave radio station broadcasting to Ireland and the United Kingdom on 252 kHz from its 1988 purpose built transmission site Clarkstown radio transmitter, which provided service to Atlantic 252 from 1989 until 2002. The station's studios were located just 12 km away in...

 he was a producer and newsreader and co-presented a review show with Chris Coco

Chris Coco

Chris Coco is a club/radio DJ, producer and music critic.As a club DJ, he is perhaps best known as the resident, at the hugely popular Coco Club. This underground Saturday night house music event ran from 1989 to 1994, at The Zap Club in Brighton.He is also now also playing full time in...

. He also spent several years (1990–1993) working for Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...

's Equality Group as a Gay Men's officer, charged with implementing their policy of non-discrimination and giving training sessions to staff countering homophobia

Homophobia

Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...

, during the period when Section 28

Section 28

Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the controversial addition of Section 2A to the Local Government Act 1986 , enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of Great Britain by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003...

 was being enforced.

Works

• Metro Maps of the World, Capital Transport, London, 2003. ISBN 1-85414-288-7
• Metrokaarten van de wereld, Terra Lannoo, Arnhem, 2006. ISBN 978-90-5897-583-6
• Transit Maps of the World (Paperback), Penguin, New York, 2007. ISBN 978-0-14-311265-5
• Paris Metro Style in map and station design, Capital Transport, London, November 2008. ISBN 978-1-85414-322-8
• Paris Underground: The Maps, Stations, and Design of the Metro (Paperback), Penguin, New York, October 2009. ISBN 978-0-14-311639-4
• Railway Maps of the World, Viking Adult, New York, 2011. ISBN 978-0-67-002265-9
• Great Railway Maps of the World, Particular Books, London, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84614-391-5

External links

• Personal website
• Metro maps of the world book website
• Review in New York Times Sunday Book Review
• Review in LA Times
• Book review in The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  
• Author article on subject in The Times
  The Times
  The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
  
  , London
• BBC News feature on Rail map book
• feature Wall Street Journal New York
• Library Thing
• BoingBoing review
• Interview on OutUK
• World urban rail poster
• Poster on Strangemaps
• Article on Beck and Paris