Playing with cartographic accuracy on Microsoft Copilot certainly qualifies as a procrastination trigger, yet this 30 minute 8 hour task did result in this moderately usable, even fun, Infomappic for Broad Street Ward.
⚠️ CONSUMER SAFETY WARNING: BROAD STREET WARD INFOMAPPIC – BEAUTIFUL MAP, QUESTIONABLE GUIDE TO REALITY.
This Infomappania is intended for entertainment, civic pride, and the occasional intelligent conversation over a glass of something restorative. It is not suitable for navigation, surveying, architectural research, historical verification, or any activity requiring buildings to exist where they are depicted, or to exist at all.
Please be advised:
- Navigation: Streets may be approximately correct, improbably bent, or entirely at the mercy of artistic licence. Following this map could leave you five minutes from anywhere — including ten minutes from where you started.
- Landmarks: Buildings may be misplaced, misproportioned, duplicated, or enjoying facilities they have never possessed. No lavatory, entrance, courtyard, or convenient side door should be assumed to exist.
- Livery companies: Inclusion does not establish that a company occupies premises within the Ward. Exclusion does not imply that it has ceased to exist, gone bankrupt, or offended the Alderman.
- History: Erasmus, Thomas Cromwell, and other distinguished visitors may have been rearranged by the illustrator. Erasmus did visit England, but this map is not evidence of where, when, or with whom, though Broad Street Ward probably has the best claim to be the home of the ‘New Learning’, natural philosophy (1579-1660 when Gresham College was in the ward), and the scientific method (1660-1711 at Gresham College with the Royal Society until it decamped to Crane Court).
- International connections: Banks, law firms, churches, and other institutions are shown to illustrate connections, not to certify their current addresses, tenancy arrangements, or opening hours.
- Architectural verisimilitude: Any resemblance between an illustrated building and its actual counterpart may be coincidental. Gothic spires, brass machinery, and convenient rooftops should not be relied upon by conservation officers.
- QR codes and digital destinations: Scan at your own discretion. The code is intended to point towards the relevant website, not to transport you there physically.
IN CASE OF DISORIENTATION: Consult an actual street map, a reliable navigation service, a phone app, a City of London officer, or a perspicacious pigeon who probably has some idea of where the buildings have gone to.
DISCLAIMER: No buildings were intentionally moved in the making of this illustration. Any that appear to have moved are presumed to be exercising their right to artistic freedom.
Broad Street Ward: ten minutes’ walk, ten hundred years of connections, and not a single guarantee of cartographic accuracy.
