Meridian Maps - Ideal Maps for Bushwalking and Four-Wheel Driving

We recently caught up with Simon Spivak from Meridian Maps. We spoke about Meridian Map’s history and why adding their products to HEMA digital products is a good thing.

How did Meridian Maps start? 

Back in 1999, we recognised a gap in the market when the Victorian Government decided to stop producing tourist maps. Meridian saw an opportunity to utilise its skills and start producing recreational maps for the Victorian market. 

The first map produced was of Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, a place Simon first visited on a school excursion. Following that, other areas were chosen where existing maps were old and map data was not reliable and needed updating. 

What areas and users are Meridian Maps designed for?

Meridian Maps are designed for bushwalkers and four-wheel drivers and both groups are the primary users of the maps. We targeted areas where there is a high demand for comprehensive and detailed mapping. Areas around Werribee State Park and Lerderderg State Park, with their proximity to Melbourne, attract a lot of day walkers, hence the need for those areas to have up-to-date and extensively detailed maps. 

Other areas, such as the Otways, have lots of four-wheel drive trails and the maps are designed for four-wheel drivers, tourists, bushwalkers, hikers and even the locals. 

The lifestyle, state and regional maps are very much an extension of what Meridian Maps was already producing. In essence they are meeting the need for maps in specific areas or for specific purposes which consumers want.

Meridian goes digital with HEMA maps

We’ve been looking to expand the availability of the products. Printed maps are a mainstay, but digital maps and digital map products are a lot more prominent now. HEMA is a good platform for our products and our maps marry well with the products that HEMA already has on its digital map platforms. It's a good opportunity to expand the user base of Meridian Maps, plus HEMA has a world-class reputation regarding mapping. So, it is a great opportunity to partner with them considering they have also been distributing Meridian’s paper maps for more than 15 years. 

Meridian Maps are now available on HEMA HX2 Navigator and via the 4X4 Explorer app.