Answer

By Country Walking magazine

The make of map you prefer is as personal as whether you love or hate Marmite and often depends on what you’ve been brought up on. Ordnance Survey and Harvey are the two main contenders in the UK market, and offer different features for different tastes. 
We’re all comfortably familiar with Ordnance Survey maps – the 1:50,000 scale Landrangers and the 1:25,000 scale Explorers – they’re easily available and cover the entire UK. They’re packed with info and the contour lines are every 5 or 10 metres so landscape relief is incredibly detailed – ideal for walkers. But sometimes the wealth of info can be a challenge – county boundaries and battle sites are interesting, but because you can’t see them on the ground they can be confusing when navigating unfamiliar terrain, and you can find yourself following a county line, convinced it’s a right of way.
Harvey maps come in 1:40,000 or 1:25,000 scale Superwalkers, but tend to be limited to mountainous regions, national parks and long distance paths. They use colour and shading to make the landscape sing – in rocky terrain the contours are coloured grey, on vegetation covered slopes contours are brown, and different shades of green fill are used for different densities of forest. They’re waterproof as standard and have an uncluttered look – no potentially confusing administrative info and contours are at 15 metre intervals which can be clearer in very steep terrain, with auxiliary contours where needed. It’s worth noting though that open access land isn’t currently marked on Harvey maps.
The best thing is to compare the two for an area you know well, and see which you find maps the landscape best - something as minor as the position of the lettering on a particular sheet can sway your opinion. And don’t think you have to pledge undying allegiance to one brand or the other – mix and match according to where you’re going and what you’re doing. After all, even those who love Marmite eat other things too.

www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk
www.harveymaps.co.uk