Britain's national mapping agency the Ordnance Survey has extended its range of plastic-coated weather proof 1:50K mapping to cover the whole of the UK.

Plastic-coated titles in the 1:25,000 Explorer series have been available for years, and in 2007 a selection of weatherproof 1:50,000 Landranger maps were also made available. Demand for these Active Maps has been so high, say the OS, that they've now released weatherproof versions of all 204 titles in the Landranger series.

Weatherproof Landranger sheets covering popular hillwalking areas have an obvious appeal, as the success of rival Harvey maps shows, but how many maps of East Anglia or London are the OS expecting to flog?

Richard Tyrrell, Product Manager at Ordnance Survey, said:

'Our active range of all-weather maps has proved to be very popular. And now we are seeing an ever growing demand for our 1:50 000 scale maps available in this format from consumers and trade.'

'Paper maps still very much have a place in the market, particularly if you can offer more versatile and useful products for our consumers. And it's certainly not bad timing to be launching more waterproof maps as we continue to get deluged by heavy rainfall.'

These rain proof maps can be written on with washable ink. The retail price of £12.99 may seem steep, but with their durable plastic coating they should survive years of hard use where a simple paper map would long ago have disintegrated. They do weigh a bit, though.