In May this year, the London Cycle Map Campaign was announced as one of six winners of the GeoVation Challenge 2011, run by Ordnance Survey. The theme of this year’s competition was ‘How can we improve transport in Britain?’, with over 150 individuals or teams entering. Following a 'semi-final' in March, the showcase final was held on May 4th at the headquarters of Ordnance Survey in Southampton, where the remaining nine candidates presented their ideas to members of the public and a judging panel of industry experts.

In view of our GeoVation success, Simon Parker and I are particularly pleased that his proposal has been spotlighted and supported by such a respected mapping organisation as Ordnance Survey. They’ve been around since the 1700s and are one of the world’s largest producers of maps, as well as being the national mapping organisation for Britain; so it is a huge honour that they have named Simon’s London Cycle Map, with its groundbreaking ‘compass colour system’, as an innovation that would ‘improve transport in Britain’ in the 21st century.

We are enormously grateful to the judges for their support and feedback: Roland Harwood (Co-founder of 100%Open, and formerly Director of Open Innovation at NESTA); Richard Kemp-Harper (a member of the Technology Strategy Board); Andrew Goodwin (a senior policy analyst in the Strategy Unit at the Department for Transport); Glenn Lyons (Associate Dean and Professor of Transport and Society at the Centre for Transport and Society, University of the West of England, and leader of the Ideas in Transit project); James Cutler (CEO and founder (with Justin Saunders) of emapsite); and Peter ter Haar (Ordnance Survey’s Director of Products).

We’d also like to thank the people who organised the event – especially Viv Alexander and GeoVation founder Chris Parker. And it was a pleasure meeting the other teams and various ‘helpers’ who attended – all of whom made for a fantastic experience from which we learned loads. Closer to home, we couldn't have succeeded without the efforts of Martin Lubikowski and Jon Haste, who have individually been responsible for drawing some of the maps that have been displayed throughout the campaign and competition. We're also grateful to Stuart France, who designed up a campaign guide for us in double quick-time, and Barclays Print who printed it even more sharply. Finally, a huge thank you to Cycle Lifestyle's copy-editor Rebecca Watts, whose brilliant advice, editing and logistical help was crucial throughout the bid.