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Growth of Coverage
Other than Collins/Bartholomew, R P A Smith was the first of the present-day Scottish publishers to produce street maps on a commercial basis, although, just previously, the first maps in the house style of R P A Smith Street Plans were produced in 1980 for the former Strathkelvin District Council, based at Kirkintilloch near Glasgow.
It was apparent at that time that very few Scottish towns had a decent street map commercially available, and shortly afterwards, it was decided to proceed with the first two titles - Kirkcaldy and Lanark - to test the market. Following the success of this venture, it was decided to expand the range, concentrating initially on towns in Fife and Lanarkshire. Interest from retailers, wholesalers, local authorities and tourist boards over subsequent years has guided the publication programme.
A rough indication of the areas where communities are covered by our maps is shown on the outline map of Scotland. Over the last few years, it has been possible to complete coverage of the mainland Scottish towns (that is, all of the former burghs) except for the cities of Aberdeen and Glasgow, suburban Edinburgh, Clydebank, Rutherglen, Dunoon and the towns of southern Ayrshire (east and south of Ayr), Galloway and east Dumfriesshire. In addition, nearly every village with 1,000 or more inhabitants is included; plus all the main smaller settlements. The most recently published maps include Galashiels/Melrose/Selkirk, Johnstone/Linwood, Whitburn/Armadale, Greenock/Gourock/Port Glasgow, Troon/Prestwick, Irvine & the Garnock Valley, Strathaven/Stonehouse, Campbeltown/Lochgilphead, Renfrew/Erskine/Houston, Haddington/Dunbar/North Berwick, Musselburgh/Tranent/Prestonpans, Dumbarton & Vale of Leven, Helensburgh, Hawick/Jedburgh/Kelso/Duns/Eyemouth and Ardrossan/Largs/Saltcoats/Stevenston.
Until the decision was made in 2007-08 to cease publication of more maps, about three quarters of our maps in publication had been revised or first published within the previous two years. Certainly in Scotland, NO OTHER QUALITY STREET MAP PUBLISHER CAME ANYWHERE NEAR MATCHING THIS RECORD! Around 30 new publications were produced each year, making R P A Smith possibly one of Scotland's most prolific publishers.
Until forced by the wholesaling situation to stop further publications, it was our eventual aim to complete coverage of all the settlements in Scotland with a population of over 1,000 (although many villages with a lesser number of inhabitants have been included on our Street Plans).
The process of survey work, map drawing and index compilation is necessarily time-consuming because of the extra detail in our maps; thus it took about 25 years to produce the 97 Street Plans published. It was estimated that another seven to ten titles would have been required to complete mainland Scotland, plus another three or four if interest from the island communities had been forthcoming. Publication of these maps, and updates of any of the others, are still a possibility if requested by a specific customer such as a Council or a tourist organisation. A database of new streets, etc is still being maintained in case of need.
For the last 27 years, our Street Plans were printed by the Dunfermline Press, a long-established firm based at the Pitreavie Business Park, Dunfermline, Fife, KY11 8QS. Our maps are therefore very much a Scottish product, produced with pride in the many cities, towns and villages, the character of which we attempt to portray.
