BriefTea
Every story in sixty words
Get the free app no ads · no paywallExplained in plain English
Who owns Ordnance Survey?
Ordnance Survey, mentioned in the story for its booming map sales, is a government-owned company. It's Britain's national mapping agency, responsible for surveying and mapping Great Britain. This public ownership ensures its maps are widely available and trusted for everything from hiking to national infrastructure planning.
Stories that explain this
Paper maps outsell GPS, even tripling demand in some citiesQuestions this opens up
What is a national mapping agency? Who uses OS maps? How does OS make money?Related explainers
Ordnance Survey's big role How accurate are OS maps? How does active learning help? Benefits of 'old school' maps What is cognitive mapping? The digital divide in navigation How does GPS affect brains? Is GPS always accurate?The full catalogue
Browse every card filed under O →We would like to count visits and see which links bring readers here. That means storing a random ID in your browser. No cookies, no ads, no profile. How it works.