Daily Info's New Oxford Map

Review by Angeline Wong, Feb 2004.

Please note that this map has been replaced with an EVEN BETTER ONE and this review is still included only for the sake of historical completeness.

Most Oxford maps show you city-centre streets and shadows of colleges. But for the small fee of 50p, Daily Information's new Entertainment Venue Map will more than just show you the sights.

Incorporated into the cover is their Greater Oxford map, which (though small) gives you an excellent overview of the major roadways and tributaries in inscribed mile-marking circles, mainly to show the location of the Park & Rides. The cover also hints at the entertainment and points-of-interest summary and detail maps inside.

As promised, an index appears on the next spread, organized neatly by category and provides approximate map grid locations, opening hours and admission prices, and phone numbers for the various venues. Fully opening the map reveals a simple, yet sophisticated survey of the city centre and lower Cowley and Iffley Roads. Colleges are shaded shadow landmarks and the University Sciences and Engineering buildings are outlined. Major car-accessible roads are highlighted and the pedestrian pathways are incredibly and completely detailed, showing even the lanes of the Covered Market!

The venues are clearly shown on the map in their actual locations and the ones that appear in the index are conveniently colour-coded. (There are a number of extra points of interest marked on the map.) Directional-arrow entrances are clearly shown and sometimes several signs are given to guide you to a venue that may be nestled deep in the interior of one of the Colleges. (The only one I found that might cause some confusion was the Michael Pilch Studio, which at first glance almost looks like a part of the School of Geography and the Environment since it seems to cite the entrance as the School's fire escape. It's actually behind the bars of Balliol's yellow-bricked Jowett Walk Building next door.)

The list in the index and the tags on the map are of a manageable size or scattering such that you can easily browse between them. If you're looking for something nearby, look up your location on the map and then find out more in the index; if you're looking for something specific, look it up in the index and then find out where it is on the map.

This is an excellent map for first-time tourists and seasoned students, car drivers, bike riders, and pavement-pounding pedestrians, the academically interested, and the social-scene seeking. Clear, colourful, and practical, the Daily Info's Oxford Entertainment Venue Map more than fulfils just that purpose. With the venue tags looking a little like colourful confetti, it's the perfect place to pique your interest in perusing the large, equally colourful, prominently displayed Daily Info posters or logging on to www.dailyinfo.co.uk to find out "What's On" this week. The future's looking bright: I know what, when, and where things that interest me are happening tonight!