The first time I opened the FlexiMap of London I was surprised at its compact size. Folded, it's about 4 x 9 inches (a typical Michelin map is 4.5 x 9.5"). It's not very thick, despite its rather thick lamination, and will slip easily into a back pants pocket.
Unlike many maps that have a height requiring three or more folds, the FlexiMap has only two (the map is broken up by two folds by seven folds which I shall call "panes" for the purposes of this review). Hmm, I thought to myself, let's see what I might be missing.
The map is in 1:12,500 scale, pretty common for city maps. But London's a big place, and not all of it is of interest to the usual tourist. Most maps of London truncate some of the city at the edges, and the Fleximap cuts off a bit more than the one you'll get at your hotel. Yes, most of what you'll need is right there, but some things are lost. For example, you won't find Little Venice on this map, although you will find close-by Regent's park, although just barely. The most glaring omission is probably the area to the west of Paddington station, which is not shown at all despite Paddington being a major point of entrance to London for tourists.
This shaving of London's edges will probably not bother 99 percent of tourists who will use it to tour interesting London attractions, especially first-timers, because the map is detailed enough to include copious annotations of interesting things to see for the tourist. For example, it will point out the Oliver Cromwell statue in front of Parliament, as well as labeling all the buildings that make up Westminster Palace.
But the FlexiMap shines when you access all the other information on it.
- The tube map is small, and reading it will be a challenge if you're over 40, but the resolution makes the print clear enough for the map to be quite useful.
- Four panes are taken up by Museum descriptions, giving location, opening times, and ticket cost.
- Two panes are devoted to a UK regional map of London and vicinity.
- Two and a half panes are devoted to floor plans of the British Museum, National Gallery, and Victoria and Albert Museum. There's a small section devoted to the floor plan of the Tate as well.
- Two panes are devoted to information on Special Passes, Disabled Access, Getting Around, Tours, Taxis, Telephones, Public Holidays, and Useful Websites.
- Two panes have street names in very small typefaces.
The lamination makes the map fold up nicely. In fact, if you lay it on a table it practically folds itself. The folds are sort of "molded in" so the map folds really flat. The bad part of this is that the very center of the map, where there is the most stress on the fold, the designers have opted to keep the paper map out of the fold, so the map has about 1/4" of blank space running horizontally across. See the picture to see what I mean.
All in all I like the FlexiMap very much. It's a good deal for visitors to larger cities in Europe, especially for first-time travelers who want to be armed with all their city information in one place.
