Boaters Directory project

I've long been collecting the A5-folded leaflets on the waterways.  These are mostly published by British Waterways and the Environment Agency and you can usually pick them up at boat shows and waterside tourist offices.  They might be free, but they can be very useful, pretty accurate, and a lot cheaper than the published guides. And if you can get hold of them before a hireboat holiday, they are a great way of planning your week afloat. 

A couple of years ago I started binding them in a lever-arch file, filed in A5 sleeves (pictured).  However, it's a pain keeping track of them, of which are up to date and which are superseded, and there's no particular filing order for them.   

I've been chasing BW, asking how they are published, and if it's possible to get a directory/catalogue of them.  The answer, apparently, is no.  My query to the BW publications dept was shunted around a bit ending up (perhaps inevitably, poor fellow!) with RIchard Fairhurst of Waterscape.  He writes:

Until now all the booklets have been produced locally by BW's regional/unit offices. Though there's a common set of design guidelines, the contents of each booklet does vary - so, for example, some booklets are issued per waterway (e.g. Gloucester & Sharpness), some per region (e.g. London).  As you've identified, this does mean that it can be difficult to keep track of the latest revisions and whether or not you have the complete set.

This is where Waterscape comes in, and the Boater's Directory project.  We're in the final stages of collating all the navigational information which has previously been held in these guides.

This means that Waterscape, and the dynamic, downloadable PDFs, will always be the master set of information. Local guides will still be produced, but based on this data rather than in isolation. It shouldn't be more than a month or so before you can test out the first nationwide version of the PDFs.

I think Richard released the first prototype (beta?) of one these in January on his site, Systeme D.  It looks a great idea, well executed, although doesn't have quite the glossy appeal of one of the official BW brochures.  But it looks like I'll have to abandon the A5 binder and get an A4 one.

I wonder how the Boaters Directory project will affect sales of Nicholson, Pearson and Geoprojects guides?  Ultimately, I think it's the strength of the narrative that sells those guides, plus perhaps the high detail of the maps.  Yet at between £9 and £13  a volume, and quickly often out of date, they are a costly way of learning about the waterways.  Of course, the Waterscape guides will never feature glossy pictures of Granny Buttons like the pricey ones!  If I was a guide publisher, I'd be writing more stories, tales and narrative to acompany the maps.  After all, laundrettes and shops may come and go, but once upon a time lasts for ever.  Publishing the traditional canal guides, page by page, on a regular subscription basis, might be the way ahead.

PS:  I was wondering where Richard got the name for his site, Systeme D.  He told me earlier, but as usual I wasn't listening properly, and forgot.  In hunting just now, I relearned the origin of the term.