@magic.bas.ac.uk
The Mapping and Geographic Information Centre (MAGIC) provides geospatial information, expertise, and services to the British Antarctic Survey (@bas.ac.uk) and wider UK activity in the Polar Regions.
image of 3D Digital Twin of Rothera Research Station showing BIM models and tracked vehicles including SDA ship
We’ve been developing a 3D Digital Twin of Rothera, incorporating detailed Building Information Models (BIM) of the Discovery Building and other station facilities. We’ve also integrated live tracking data for our ship, aircraft, and vehicles. In this image you can see our ship docked at the wharf.
Map of the world showing countries symbolised as dark green if they are consultative parties to the Treaty, light green if they are non-consultative parties and white if they are not signatories.
Happy Antarctica Day! We’ve recently updated this map to show consultative and non-consultative signatories of the Antarctic Treaty, signed on this day in 1959. The Treaty designates Antarctica a continent for peace and science. December 1st raises awareness of this global agreement and its goals.
Image of person setting up a GPS receiver on a concrete pad at Signy Research Station, Antarctica. The ground is snow covered and there are mountains and the sea in the background. The green Signy buildings are also in view behind the person.
GIS Asset Engineer Nicole starts her mission across Antarctic stations on Signy, capturing precise geographic locations of buildings and other structures to improve management of these remote sites. Her work helps teams plan and operate effectively in one of Earth’s most challenging environments.
Map showing the Antarctic Peninsula, overlayed with a grid depicting the percentage of rock outcrop change comparing the previous Antarctic Digital Database rock outcrop dataset to the newly released one.
Satellite image map of Day Island in Antarctica depicting a green line to illustrate positions of the Antarctic Digital Database v7.10 coastline, and a red line illustrating the position of the Antarctic Digital Database v7.11 coastline. This illustrates where the new coastline has been improved.
New data alert 🚨📣:
Updated Coastline and Rock Outcrop of Antarctica released as part of the @scar-antarctic.bsky.social Antarctic Digital Database. With big improvements to date formats, coastline positions and more accurate rock outcrop!
📍View and download via the map viewer add.scar.org.
A bright, colourful map titled 'TECTONIC MAP OF THE SCOTIA ARC'. The map covers South America, the Scotia Sea, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Bathymetry is shown with varying shades of blue.
We've recently created a new collection of legacy maps in our Catalogue, which will be added to over time. For now, we have 3 interesting maps available to view and download: data.bas.ac.uk/collections/...
The Scotia Arc is one of our favourites. The map was a massive compilation effort at the time!
2 people looking at some of the maps in the giveaway. A large piece of artwork showing an icy landscape can be seen on the wall behind the maps.
An image of a poster advertising the giveaway. The text on the poster reads 'MAGIC Map Giveaway' and some old maps are shown faded in the background.
One of the old maps available in the giveaway. The title is 'British Antarctic Territory - Trinity Peninsula'. The map is a Directorate of Overseas Surveys (DOS) map from 1974 with artistic hillshading on land and a faded blue sea.
BAS staff members looking at some of the maps. 4 people can be seen looking at large paper maps placed on tables. The room has a large black screen in the background, and big glass windows/doors leading out to a balcony.
We ran a Map Giveaway for BAS staff & students this week, raising money for @mapaction.bsky.social! The maps were a mixture of beautiful, historical maps from the 70s and 80s, and previous versions of our main published maps. We had so much interest - thanks BAS for the support & generous donations!
The red Dash-7 aircraft after arriving at Rothera. 2 people can be seen in high vis walking next to the plane. Snow and ice are on the ground, and some buildings can be seen in the background.
The new, bright blue Discovery building. A large Operations Tower can be seen on top of the building which provides a 360 view of the skies around Rothera.
A view looking SW from Rothera over Ryder Bay. Snow-covered Mt Liotard on Adelaide Island can be seen in the background, and rocky Léonie Island in Ryder Bay can be seen in front.
An image of a large sign saying "Punta Arenas". A ship can be seen in the water behind the sign.
After a short delay in Punta Arenas waiting for a weather window, our first team member is now at Rothera Research Station, Antarctica, after travelling over the Drake Passage on the Dash-7 aircraft. 🛩️ While there, they will provide geospatial support to BAS staff as the science field season begins.
These maps are the result of a collaboration between SCAGI members (the SCAR Standing Committee on Antarctic Geographic Information) 🌍🤝 The maps are open & free to use - supporting research and safe air operations across Antarctica. Learn more: scar.org/library-data...
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🚨 New maps alert!
Sheets 1–7 of the SCAR Air Operations Planning Maps Series are now live in our catalogue 🗺️✈️ @scar-antarctic.bsky.social
Explore detailed Antarctic mapping, designed to support science across the continent.
📍 Browse and download here: data.bas.ac.uk/collections/...
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Our first team member is soon starting her journey south to Antarctica, to provide geospatial support to BAS staff at Rothera! 🛫🏔️❄️
In the meantime, we've all been busy preparing new maps, data and geomatics equipment for the upcoming season. Stay tuned for lots of exciting updates and photos!
The front cover of our South Orkney Islands and Signy Island map. There is a photo of the landscape on Signy, with a tall, crevassed glacier in the foreground (Orwell Glacier), and clouds and snowy mountains in the distance.
The front cover of our Alexander Island map. The photo on the cover shows a faded red tent, with snow-covered, craggy mountains in the background.
The front cover of our Bedmap3 map, which shows an extract of the map (without any of the labels). The terrain of the land beneath the ice is shown with a coloured hillshade, ranging from dark blue (deepest) to light brown and white shades (tallest).
Some of our recent maps were reviewed for Geology Today & we're pleased to see the positive opinions & appreciation of how much work goes into them 🎉 doi.org/10.1111/gto....
The maps include The South Orkney Islands, Alexander Island, and Bedmap3. Details available in our catalogue - bas.ac.uk/maps
The logo for the Arctic Passion project showing a map of the Arctic and the words Arctic Passion.
A long term project comes to a close. We have been in Potsdam at the last meetings of the EU Arctic Passion project. Our final reporting about improving risk information for ships in sea ice is complete, but publications are coming. More information soon. www.arcticpassion.eu.
The programme and presentation slides can all be found here uk.osgeo.org/foss4guk2025...
Thanks again to @uk.osgeo.org for a great few days!
A photo of many people sat in a room, looking at the camera. Some people are stood up at the back, one with their hands reached up. Photo credit: https://bsky.app/profile/uk.osgeo.org
An image from a presentation slide with the main words saying "For me the point of open source is freedom, trust, and collaboration." Photo credit: https://bsky.app/profile/uk.osgeo.org
We just attended #FOSS4GUK in Leeds. It was a fantastic couple of days meeting other GIS & software enthusiasts to learn about WWII coordinate systems, making maps accessible & much more, all using free & open tools anyone can use! We also presented the code and history behind our new map catalogue.
Building Information Model (BIM) of our new Discovery Building at Rothera. The image shows a 3D building with curved edges to the roof, and the building wall closest to us has been removed in the image, allowing us to see inside. A communications tower can be seen on top of the building.
A 3D scene on our GIS platform showing building models in geographical context with other mapping layers such as roads, cables and masts. Snow-covered areas and rocky outcrops can be seen outside of the main station area. The roads and paths are shown in red. Part of the runway can be seen on the right.
We're working on a new project to support building & modernisation at Rothera Research Station. This week we took part in a workshop showcasing how we will integrate 3D Building information models with our GIS platform and how it will form a key part of infrastructure planning and asset management.
We’re back from en excellent meeting at the annual International Ice Charting Working Group meeting in Tromsø. Lots of lively discussion, catching up with colleagues and we presented @bas.ac.uk work on AI for sea ice information plus the Ice Logistics Portal (www.icelogistics.info).
A satellite image of Skog Bay and the fronts of Murphy and Wilkinson glaciers in Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula. There is a red line showing the previous coastline, and a blue line showing the newly updated line. The date of the image is 11th Feb. 2025.
A satellite image of Hanusse Bay, NE Adelaide Island, and small islands including Weertman Island. There is a red line showing the previous coastline, and a blue line showing the newly updated line. The date of the image is 25th Jan. 2025.
A satellite image of SW Adelaide Island, just north of Cape Adriasola. Small icebergs can be seen floating in the water. There is a red line showing the previous coastline, and a blue line showing the newly updated line. The date of the image is 10th Feb. 2025.
We've been using recent satellite imagery to update the @scar-antarctic.bsky.social Antarctic Digital Database coastline, in preparation for a new version of our 'Adelaide Island and Arrowsmith Peninsula' map. It's important to update this data, to track changes and portray the current conditions.
Efe outlined his work on:
- Updating Antarctic topographic datasets
- Testing geospatial foundation deep learning models for rock outcrop segmentation
- Creating metadata records for historical maps
We’ve loved having his fresh perspective & energy on the team. Best of luck for the future, Efe!
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Efe presenting his work to other members of MAGIC who are all stood or sat around a large white table.
Efe presenting a slide titled "Antarctic Digital Database Task", showing an updated area of coastline.
Our GIS Intern, @a-efe.bsky.social, is finishing his 12-week internship at @bas.ac.uk today. We want to say a big thank you for his fantastic contributions during this time with MAGIC!
Yesterday, Efe gave a final presentation to the team showcasing his work.
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A few of our favourite maps include:
* Bedmap3, showing Antarctica beneath the ice: data.bas.ac.uk/maps/bedmap3
* A beautiful map of Ny-Ålesund in Svalbard: data.bas.ac.uk/maps/2035
* and this map of the Arctic: data.bas.ac.uk/maps/1015
Read more at: www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/e...
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We are so pleased to announce the official launch of the new BAS Map Catalogue 🎉🗺
The catalogue contains open access topographic, thematic and geological maps, as well as full details on where to purchase our professionally printed published maps.
Have a look for yourselves at bas.ac.uk/maps!
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A photo of 7 people stood holding certificates. These people were recognised in the Stanfords Printed Map category, and work for HarperCollins publishers and Esri, amongst another organisations. Photo credit: British Geological Survey.
These awards are extremely competitive, with world-leading cartographic organisations entering multiple categories each year. We received Highly Commended and Commended awards, showing the value and importance of the work we carry out mapping the Polar Regions!
2 members of MAGIC are stood in front of a large geological map (William Smith's map) covering England, Wales and part of Scotland. The people are holding three certificates.
A photo showing some of the maps that were entered into the awards. Our topographic map of Alexander Island can be seen at the front left of the image, and Bedmap3 can be seen at the back right.
We're very happy to share that three of our maps received awards at the @bcsmaps.bsky.social Annual Conference last week! Our Alexander Island and Bedmap3 maps were recognised in the Printed Mapping category, and our Ice Logistics Portal (www.icelogistics.info) in the Electronic Mapping category 🏆🎉
The new laser scanner placed outside on some grass.
A panorama of a scan output inside one of our workshops. A yellow glider can be seen on the floor.
A panorama of a scan output inside one of our workshops. Some poster stands can be seen on the left, as well as a glider on the right.
We've recently been testing our new laser scanner, acquired this year to enable accurate scanning of our facilities. It’s capturing in 3D now! MAGIC supports BIM modelling in Antarctica, where buildings will be scanned into point clouds to record detailed features - not even a socket will be missed.
A selection of the printed maps displayed for the awards ceremony.
A person presenting a slide titled ‘From peat to people - geological mapping at the British Geological Survey’
A person presenting a slide titled ‘advancing noise modelling with data science and fme enabled automations’
An image of a very large paper map. The map is William Smith’s geological map, often referred to as Britain's first geological map.
A couple of our team are attending the @bcsmaps.bsky.social 2025 annual conference taking place at @bgs.ac.uk today and yesterday.
It has been a fascinating few days so far and it’s great to see our maps displayed for the awards ceremony later today! #carto2025
A person looking at 2 posters during a training session. One is titled ‘Rothera Research Station’ and the other one ‘Mapping and Geographic Information Centre’.
Our new Geomatics Surveyor in the team is attending Pre-Deployment Training this week as he will soon be travelling to Rothera Research Station, Antarctica!
Everyone travelling to the Polar Regions with BAS must attend this vital training to make sure we are all safe when deployed. ⛑️❄️
A satellite image from 1st Sep. showing the island of South Georgia covered in snow and ice, and iceberg A23A lying about 65 km to the north. There are many clouds in the image. The berg remains as one large piece, with multiple smaller fragments around its edge. The largest fragment is still 35 km in length. A scale bar is shown in the bottom right corner, and a credit statement saying "Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery acquired 1st Sep. 2025".
Iceberg A23A is currently located north of South Georgia & over the weekend has fragmented into a several large pieces. While these individual icebergs are large & may get new names, they may be short lived as further breakup is now likely as currents push them all further north into warmer waters.
A small selection of the maps being prepared for Pre-Deployment Training (PDT) at BAS. There are maps of Bird Island, Thatcher Peninsula, Signy Island, the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Brunt Ice Shelf, amongst others. Some of the maps have nice scenery photos on their front cover.
@bas.ac.uk hosts 'Pre-Deployment Training' each year, for those going to Antarctica. Everyone attending receives a couple of maps in their pack and we've been busy printing and collecting up these maps ready for the event! Nothing beats a map to help orient people for their exciting adventure ahead.
A mosaic of 6 maps covering different areas in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. The maps have all got a similar style, with blue ocean and white land.
We're almost ready to formally launch our new Map Catalogue, containing a mixture of interesting & useful polar maps! 🗺️
Are there any small maps or graphics that you'd love to see available online? Any of your favourite locations that you've never managed to find a good map of? Let us know!
Map of Alexander Island showing the island geology.
Same island, new map (and new discoveries!) 🗺️
The Mapping and Geographic Information Centre (@magic.bas.ac.uk) and Geology Team have produced new maps of Alexander Island in Antarctica – the first update in 40 years!