Promotion broadside

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 391, 18 June 1991, Page 6

Promotion broadside

• I have just picked up a copy of the latest ski promotion brochure for the Ruapehu region. In addition to skiing it also promotes a number of other sporting and recreational activities in the area including, on its front cover, photographs of white-water rafting, jet boating, fishing and horsetrekking.

On its inside pages a fuller list of activities is featured together with a number of accommodation houses in the region and, at first glance,, it appears to be a very comprehensive and handsomely produced brochure, put out I note, by an organisation claiming to be 'professional graphic designers'. But, turn to the back page (outside cover) and the whole effect is ruined by one of the most inaccurate, inadequate and slovenly produced maps I have ever seen. Among the many mistakes and omissions are the following: • The map shows the

location of the Whakapapa skifield as being on Mt Tongiriro instead of Mt Ruapehu. • The spelling of Mt Ngauruhoe is incorrectly spelt as Ngaruhoe. • The location of Turangi airport is not where it is shown. • Tokaanu, a popular place with skiers and other visitors to the area because of its hot springs, is not even featured at all. • The Pihanga Saddle Road, which is the one used by all travellers between the skifields and Turangi/Tokaanu, is not shown. • No rivers, not even the two best known recreational rivers

(Tongiriro and Wanganui) let alone the the lesser known fishing rivers (Whakapapa, Mangawhero, Manganuiateao etc) are shown despite the fact that rafting, jet boating and fishing are three of the activities featured on the front cover. • No railway line is shown despite the fact that Ohakune and National Park are both serviced by trains on the main trunk line (including the Kiwi Lager Express and steam train excursions) to gain access to the area. • The Chateau and Whakapapa village are not shown nor is the access road to the Chateau. • No access roads to the two skifields (Ohakune Mountain Road and the Bruce Road) are shown. • Not even the main highways through the area (SH1, SH4, SH 49 & SH49A, SH32, SH41 SH47) are identified nor are any of the secondary roads to the recreational areas, shown. • Raurimu is shown but neither Owhango (which has a hotel, accommodation and a ski shop which is featured on the inside pages) nor Rangataua (where the Ruapehu Homestead is located from which many recreational activities including whitewater rafting, horsetrekking, 4WD safaris etc are organised and which are also featured on the inside pages) are shown. Both Owhango and Rangataua are several times bigger than Raurimu but, as far as this map is concerned, neither township even exists. • Inside the brochure several accommodation houses are featured including the Tokaanu Hotel, the Erua Ski Lodge and the Ruapehu Homestead - but none of the townships (Tokaanu, Erua and Rangataua) are shown on the map. Quite apart from the mistakes omissions (and there are others) the quality of the map has all the attributes of having been done with a felt pen on the back of an envelope. Circles are not circular, road widths vary, the scale is not right and distances are omitted. All in all I cannot remember ever seeing such an appallingly crude, slovenly and inaccurate example of graphic design/ mapmaking/ cartography before.... at least not in a final printed form. And its all the more inexcusable when the expertise to compile, produce and typeset an accurate map of the area already exists within the Ruapehu region. There was no need to go out of the area to commission this artwork... at least the locals would know the Whakapapa skifield is on Mt Ruapehu and not Mt Tongiriro.

Dennis

Beytagh