Maps – they’re made to show us where we are, where we’re going, and how to get there. Right? Well, partly. Here at KOREC, we’re self-confessed mapping addicts, and we know that maps are so much more than this.

So, to celebrate the arrival of KOREC Mapping in May, we asked our colleagues to send us their absolute favourite map, and to tell us why they love it so.

From the sheer range of entries received, we see that maps can educate, inform, inspire – make us laugh, make us nostalgic, and yes, even occasionally let us lose ourselves.

Journeys through Space…

An ‘absolutely mad’ 115ha area of Russia was the choice of Harriet Brewitt. Known locally as ‘Saatse Boot’, the small area of Russia cuts a boot shape into Estonian territory, meaning the Estonian road 178 crosses the border twice and passes through Russian territory for around 1km. Whilst driving the road is allowed, stopping is not, and neither are pedestrians – as the signs on Google streetview attest!

Speaking of driving, Jim McEwan’s map shows us that in just 9 minutes he can be in his favourite pub, the White Horse! But don’t worry – his wife is very kindly doing the driving, or in Jim’s words – “she literally drives me to drink…and then home again”

And speaking of pub crawls, how’s this? Philip McCarten’s favourite map combines his passions of map-making, GIS data and a cheeky tipple to highlight all 24,727 pubs in the UK – and the shortest route between them! And before you ask – if you travelled on foot, it would take you 3 years to visit every single one of them.

…And Time

For Rob Judge, a classic map from the medieval world was his choice. The Mappa Mundi, made in around 1300, shows the world as it was understood by Christian Europe – with Jerusalem at its heart. Why is it such a marvel? For Rob, it’s the achievement of “producing a map with very limited technology, communications and the ability to travel long distances. A wonderful bit of history”.

Going further back, Simon Evans’ map shows a time when the United Kingdom was intimately connected to mainland Europe. No, not 2016, rather 16,000BC, when sea levels were much lower and a vast area of land known as ‘Doggerland’ occupied much of the present-day North Sea.

Coming back into the near-present, Lloyd Wilkinson submitted not 1 but 3 maps from the excellent collection at the National Library of Scotland of the same area – his hometown of Northampton. The series of maps from 1900 to 1935 show the rate of change and growth as the town experienced rapid industrialisation, a cause close to Lloyd’s heart as he studied urban industrial growth at university.

Up High….

Satellite imagery and remote sensing has transformed our understanding of the world and our sense of place. For Tracy Critcher, a Google satellite map of her childhood home of Chiswick brings back many happy memories of her Dad rowing down the ‘mighty river Thames’, summer days outside the pub, and of course, the biggest ice cream shop EVER. Couldn’t be put better than Tracy herself ‘ “the map looks busy because it is filled with life”

And down low…

From London to the remote north-west Highlands of Scotland, Laura Harper has chosen this geological map of Loch Assynt. Laura spent a happy six weeks mapping the shore of the loch for her Geology dissertation – despite almost constant rain and the dreaded Scottish flesh-eating midges!

This map combines the geological data of some of the oldest rock formations in the UK, whilst also being a work of art in its’ own right.

Maps as works of Art

And speaking of art, Karen Wentworth has chosen Stephen Walter’s Map of Liverpool (2008-09), a vast, beautiful hand-drawn and insanely detailed map of the city. As a proud Scouser, Karen loves this map due to the sheer amount of local history, knowledge, and local scouse lingo featured – not to mention the two famous football clubs, and of course Crosby, home of KOREC’s Liverpool office!

Literary Maps

Another Liverpool colleague, Richard Selby has chosen the map from the novel ‘Secret Water’ – from the Swallows and Amazons series of books by Arthur Ransome. In the story, the Swallows’ father maroons the children on the island with just the outline map of the area – leaving the gang to survey the land and fill in the gaps! Perhaps reading the novel as a 10-year old inspired Richard for a career in surveying?!

Maps as Nostalgia

To complete our tour through this world of maps, we look at three maps that create or inspire happy memories.

Graham Sharp’s map of Walt Disney World reminds him of the many smiles that this place has brought him and his family, young and old, over the years.

For Kirsten Moss, this jigsaw map of France, purchased when her daughter was 3 years old, brings back many happy memories of French family holidays over the years. Daughter Ruby would love pointing out all the places she’d been, as well as all the different regional birds, animals and foods! So much so, the jigsaw map still hangs on her bedroom wall to this day.

Our final map, another bedroom wall classic, comes from Melvin Penwill. Melvin has unashamedly passed his love of maps onto his son Jacob – who loves to point out all the places his Daddy has visited, as well as discovering the animals and where in the world they live. Jacob’s favourite place on the map? The UK, because this is home.

Thank you to all our map contributors, we had such a great time poring over all your entries.

“KOREC is firmly behind all the success I’ve achieved in the last 20 years at the Northern Ireland Forest Service. The right hardware, smart data capture software development and a great working relationship enabled us to revolutionise our data collection and management capabilities.”

At the end of 2020, former Information Systems Manager with the Northern Ireland Forest Service, Jim McEwan, joined the KOREC Mapping team as Customer Success Manager. In short, he liked the product so much, he joined the company!

Over the years, Jim has clocked up extensive experience in the forestry sector spending many of them working closely with KOREC and in particular, with our KOREC Mapping Lead, Paul Brodin. Jim tells us that an old dog can certainly bring some new tricks and here at KOREC we’re delighted to have him and his extensive experience as a high calibre resource for KOREC customers.

Experience counts

As Information Systems Manager with the Northern Ireland Forest Service (an Agency of the Department of Agriculture) Jim certainly has a wealth of experience to draw on, managing and implementing many projects from the development of his own real time data reporting systems using Trimble hardware and KOREC mapping software to introducing the first senseFly drones in the UK. Working in a sector as challenging as forestry, Jim has a clear idea of what really worked for him, as a customer, from the KOREC portfolio:

…but it’s all about the end result

During his time at the Northern Ireland Forest Service, Jim developed a suite of bespoke forestry management systems, with the KOREC Capture portal at the centre. He looked at areas such as forest inventory, asset inspection, tree safety and a wide range of other forestry management issues and produced apps that gave users the data they needed with all calculations performed and maps added as required.

But it’s all about the end result and Jim was rightly pleased with what was achieved. “The results were amazing. In one example, pre-harvesting assessment plots, the data from forest plots was collected on paper and brought into the local office at the end of the week.  Previously, the forester would spend two days a week inputting this data into excel to produce the stocking, volume and timber availability reports required. Now, the data is collected in the forest using Trimble’s Geo 7X ruggedised handheld and KOREC Canopy software. Once the data is sent back, the forester has the full pre-sales breakdown available immediately on a phone, tablet or laptop. The Forest Service has gone from 6 data loggers in 2009 to 120 today revolutionising surveying and data collection across the Agency.”

Jim’s success took him further afield within the Department. He worked with the Plant Health Inspection Branch and the Veterinary Service to produce real time reporting systems for Horticulture Marketing and Plant Health Inspections and developed the reporting system for a five-year project to monitor TB in badgers.

Talking Canopy

Now, Jim brings this experience to the latest KOREC Canopy software. “In terms of British Standard Tree Inspections and Tree Safety Management, we now have the solutions to allow you to collect, record and manage data quickly and easily. Combine that, with a full suite of reporting facilities and KOREC Canopy becomes the leading solution to the collection, management and reporting of tree data.”

Make no mistake, Jim understands the job from both sides of the fence!

If you’d like to learn more about KOREC Canopy from someone who knows the industry and the software inside out, please contact Jim at: jim.mcewan@korecgroup.com or call him on 07435 986865.

Jim McEwan at the Trimble Dimensions event in Las Vegas where he presented with KOREC’s Paul Brodin

KOREC is marking Mental Health Awareness Week with a series of initiatives aimed at supporting our network of staff and mental health organisations.

The last twelve months have been extremely challenging for us all, and even though the worst of the pandemic is (hopefully) behind us, the potential for a mental health pandemic is still very much present.

Inspired by colleague Aisling Griffin, this year the company is supporting Irish charity Pieta – which offers free, therapeutic advice and support for those struggling with suicidal thoughts, or those who have been bereaved by suicide.

Aisling took part in ‘Darkness into Light’ – usually a group walk beginning in the wee small hours and culminating with the sunrise. This year due to COVID restrictions, participants were encouraged to do so individually with a walk, cycle or even swim before sunrise.

After a 4.15am start in the pouring rain, Aisling headed to a local beauty spot, on the cliffs overlooking the beach outside of Cork.

“Even though the walk couldn’t take place this year, I was determined to take part in the event. I walked up to the headland overlooking the sea, it’s a very peaceful spot and at that time of day, you feel like the only person in the world. On the way back I chatted to some other people doing the same as me – some even swimming in the sea. There was a real sense of comradery between us”

As a nod to Aisling’s determination and early start, KOREC staff have been encouraged to share ‘Darkness into Light’ Teams backgrounds and to make a donation to the cause – generously matched by the company.

Other activities throughout the week include reminders to staff that a range of health and well-being resources, including a confidential support helpline, healthy eating plans, gym discounts and wellness treatments are available, and an invitation to take part in June’s ‘Bike Month Challenge’ to encourage staff to get on their bikes, and get more active this summer.

Useful Links;

Pieta

Darkness into Light

Love to Ride Cyclescheme

This February we were delighted to welcome Liam Hartley back to KOREC into the key role of Operations Technical Support. One month into the job, we had a virtual chat with Liam to see how he was enjoying the role, what it entails, and how it feels to be back at the Huntingdon facility.

Running a skeleton staff at Huntingdon throughout the various lockdowns gave UK Operations Director Kirsten Moss a chance to evaluate gaps in the team – particularly the importance of having technical help on hand to assist with queries from the Hire or Workshop teams. Knowing Liam’s technical expertise, coupled with his great relationship with the Operations team, he was the obvious choice for the job.

Liam’s role is a dual one. Firstly, he is responsible for preparing new equipment for customer orders.  This process includes ensuring kit is in good working order, fully charged, installed with the latest firmware, assigning customer licences (where applicable), and ensuring everything is properly calibrated.

 

A real perk of Liam’s role is getting to work with cutting-edge kit such as the TSC5, SX12, and TDC600

In short, Liam ensures that once the kit reaches our customers, it is ready to go, straight out the box. For Liam, one of the perks of this job is getting his hands on brand-new kit, before anyone else in the UK;

 

“All the equipment comes in as a blank slate, meaning I’m the first person in the UK to get my hands on anything, I’m the first person to turn a new piece of equipment on, like the brand new SX12 and TSC5. Which is very cool!”

 

The second element of Liam’s role centres around providing on-hand, technical support to his Hire and Workshop colleagues. Previously, if the teams had a technical query or an issue, a call to one of the regional technical team was required, or a call through to the Liverpool-based Support team. Having someone with Liam’s knowledge and experience on site, enables them to quickly and efficiently get their problem resolved, without having to pick up the phone.

 

“It really highlights the importance of having someone on hand who can quickly answer a question or solve an issue – which also frees up our Support and regional teams to help out with customer queries”

 

For Liam, how does it feel to be back working at the Huntingdon office, and has he noticed any changes?

“It’s always great to be back in Huntingdon, the people and the environment, the community at KOREC is like nowhere else. It’s great to see the company investing in the office, with a new reception area, new hire suite, and a complete refit of the workshop – improving the workspace for my colleagues and upgrading our capabilities for an even wider range of products”

I’m looking forward to seeing more of my colleagues when the situation allows, and welcoming customers into our new look office.

It’s good to be back”

 

Liam Hartley is based at the KOREC Huntingdon office. He can be found on LinkedIn, here.

How do we maintain our motivation in the depths of winter? How do we remain positive and engaged as a team when we can’t even meet face to face with our colleagues?

That was the challenge facing the KOREC team at the beginning of 2021.

A highly social group who aren’t averse to a challenge, sixteen members of the KOREC Irish team took on the Route 66 Challenge – walking, running, jogging and cycling the 3700km route from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Inspired by their Irish colleagues, Team UK decided on their own challenge which they named, Fit4Feb. They began their challenge on so-called Blue Monday (18th January) which is considered to be one of the most depressing days of the year – and the goal was to see how far they could get over the 6-week period upto the end of February.

At the time of writing, the Irish and UK teams have stacked up a highly impressive 3200 and 3000km respectively, the Irish team are nearing LA, and the UK team have reached the peak of Mont Blanc!

Both Irish and UK teams are now nearing the end of their routes – what challenge will they take on next?

Looking beyond the impressive numbers, the real achievement has been how the challenge has brought the team together through their shared goal, and motivated colleagues to keep active at a time of the year when it is hard to get outside.

Harriet Brewitt, who recently joined KOREC, explains the difference it’s made to her;

If I massively miscalculate my running route by a few miles, I think about getting further on our European road trip, and it spurs me on!

As both teams near the end of their routes, thoughts have turned to what challenge they take on next. The plan is to join both teams into one, and take on an even bigger, global challenge. Watch this space for the next update!

We are delighted to announce that we have extended our dedicated rail team with the appointment of Ric Kirman in the newly created role of KOREC Rail Business Area Manager.

With a rail career that began over 15 years ago, Ric has established his reputation as a specialist in the provision of advanced technical solutions with a range of roles that began in Signalling and Operations with Network Rail and more recently, has included working closely with the rail industry to focus on customer relationships.

Ric will be part of a KOREC rail team that is highly experienced at working within the pressurised rail environment and that has an excellent understanding of the industry’s pain points and how technology can be used to alleviate these challenges, with particular reference to Trimble’s GEDO suite of track measurement systems.

Ric and the KOREC rail team will be supporting the rail industry with extensive local knowledge backed up by access to the global experience and reach of Trimble Rail.

www.korecgroup.com/rail

www.linkedin.com/in/ric-kirman-001

This September marks something of a milestone for Debbie Vincent, our Operations Manager (Huntingdon branch) – 10 years at KOREC.

Many UK KOREC customers may be familiar with Debbie and her team, but to mark her decade with the company, we asked Debbie to look back over her years working with us. Here’s what she had to say;

So, it’s been a journey, let me begin,

Back in July 2010 I was made redundant from a position I had held for almost 15 years, sadly the company was no longer and I found myself in the big wide world along with many others looking for work.  I just happened to bump in to a friend who said ‘they are looking for admin staff where I work I am sure you would fit in’ – this was the start of my journey.  I started with KOREC on the 8th September 2010.

Covering maternity leave for the admin team working for the Machine Control side of the business – I loved this as it was similar to what I had come from, the majority of machine control kit had to be installed so you had a number of factors to consider on every sale.  At that time we covered the three operational roles which included sales, workshop and hire for the product area you were working in.

Debbie with some of her team in Huntingdon

After a couple of years a role became available in the hire department which I was fortunate enough to manage.  This role gave me a huge insight into the products, which has stood me in good stead throughout my career here.  Hire is extremely reactive so you have to be able to juggle a number of balls without letting any drop to the ground!

From the hire role I was promoted to Operations Manager at the Huntingdon depot something I continue to do to this day – this role allows me to oversee the day to day running of the depot whilst ensuring our clients get the best possible service.

How time changes things, I have seen the TSC2 now replaced by the TSC7, R4 GPS units now replaced with R12’s, and now a unit that calibrates itself, nothing stays the same for long in this fast paced working environment!

But, I can honestly say I have truly enjoyed my time at KOREC, the people I work with and have met along the way have been truly wonderful 😊

From all of us at KOREC, thank you Debbie for your decade of dedication!

Find out more about our world-class workshops & facilities on our Service page.