 Guernsey and Alderney, 20140730 Guernsey Post’s July 30th, 2014 issue from Alderney commemorating the life of British espionage author Ian Fleming features a “somewhat hidden” map. The set is comprised of six self-adhesive stamps, featuring black and white photographs of Fleming at various times during his lift. Denominations of the issue are 41p, 54p, 55p, 66p, 74p, and 83p. Also available is a ￡3 miniature sheet, and features Fleming driving a car resembling the one in his story, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” The hidden map is shown here on the 54p stamp. Fleming is shown in the foreground with a map of the world on the wall behind him. Centered on the Pacific Ocean, Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea are on the left, and South America on the right are all clearly visible on the map. An inscription reads, “The Life of Ian Fleming – Well traveled, he wrote vividly about the places he visited. ” The set of six singles are also available in sheets of ten, which additional descriptive text and images in the margins. From the web site, it was not clear if there are any more maps on the sheets, aside from the 54p issue.
 Korea 2014-03-20 On March 20, 2014 Korea Post issued two new stamps depicting a cadastral readjustment project taking place in the country. These fascinating stamps show a myriad of current high-tech devices used for surveying and mapping. The 300₩ stamp features what appears to be a GPS receiver of some type and a rotary aerial drone, whose intended use in this context, is probably aerial photography. In the background is a map graphic of the Korean peninsula. The 390₩ stamp features an Android smartphone, used as a mobile mapping terminal, with a cadastral map on the display showing what may be two different sets of parcel boundaries. In the background is what appears to be an oblique aerial image of an apartment complex overlaid with some vector GIS data depicting cadastral parcel boundaries. Both stamps are issued in the same joint sheet of 20 (4×5) format. A graphic of a satellite is shown in the upper right selvedge of the sheet. [ some geospatial colleagues in the Korean government pointed out this article, in Korean, which describes the project. another article in English was published in August 2013. this is not the first depiction of a smartphone on a stamp however it may be the first time where a map is shown on the display and the device’s intended use is for field-surveying. also, while this is not the first UAV/drone to be depicted on a stamp, we think this is the first time a rotary UAV has been shown on a stamp. we welcome any additional information and discussion on this very unique and timely cartophilatelic issue. — web admin ]
 Portugal 2014-02-24 On February 24, 2014 Portuguese Post issued a souvenir sheet and single stamp to mark the 400th anniversary of the publishing of Fernão Mendes Pinto’s Pilgrimage (Peregrinação). Pinto was a a Portuguese explorer and writer and the work is considered an autobiographical account of his travels and voyages throughout India, Asia and the far east. The Pilgrimage was published posthumously in 1614 and many historians have doubted the truthfulness of his many interesting stories. The €3.00 sheet features a single long stamp. A world map “Mapa do Mundo de Antonio Sanches, 1623” is shown in the background and covers about 70% of the sheet. The lower 30% of the sheet is covered by hand writing of what could be journal entries. The stamp is in the upper right hand section of the sheet, covering the continents of Africa and Asia, as depicted in the antique world map. In the bottom left corner is a sailing ship of the period and in the bottom right corner is the cover page of the Pilgrimage. The single €1.00 issue features some of the same motifs from the sheet, however there is no map.
 USA 2014-04-22 As a very fitting observance of Earth Day, the US Postal Service issued “Sea Surface Temperatures,” a new global forever stamp on April 22, 2014. The circular self-adhesive is valid for the $1.15 international forever rate, and is the second Global Forever issue to be of interest to cartophilatelists. The stamp depicts a representation of sea surface temperatures brightly colored in the ocean areas, while the land masses of north and south America and covered by a natural color satellite mosaic. “The image is one frame in a 1,460-frame animation created from the output of a computer model of Earth’s climate by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. The full animation shows how the surface temperatures of the oceans vary seasonally and change over time, and how surface ocean currents and eddies transport heat and water around the globe.” While the web site did not describe the data used, the sea surface temperatures could be derived from MODIS Aqua data and the natural color mosaic also MODIS or Blue Marble. [ please contact us if you know the details of the platforms/sensors/data depicted in this stamp –web admin ]
 New Zealand 2014-02-05 ($1.40) On February 5, 2014 New Zealand Post issued a new set of five stamps depicting native seaweeds of New Zealand. From the web site, New Zealand’s unique marine environment is home to nearly 900 species of native seaweed, a third of which occur nowhere else in the world. Seaweeds are an essential part of the marine ecosystem, providing food, habitats and shelter to a wide variety of marine life. This stamp issue reflects New Zealand’s remarkable marine biodiversity, and the five unique seaweeds portrayed are Hormosira banksii (70cents), Landsburgia quercifolia ($1.40) [shown at right], Caulerpa brownii ($1.90), Marginariella boryana ($2.40) and Pterocladia lucida ($2.90). The mini-sheet contains the same set of stamps. What appears to be a monochrome relief map of New Zealand, surrounded by bathymetric contours is shown on each stamp. Bathymetric contours are partially visible on the left edge of the mini-sheet. [thanks for the information Ingwi! -admin]
 Spanish Post started 2014 out with two issues of interest to fellow CartoPhilatelists. The first issue, of January 3rd, 2014, marks the fifth centenary of the arrival of Juan Ponce de León to the coast of Florida. On Easter Sunday 1513, also called Pascua Florida (the Festival of Flowers), the Spanish expedition led by Juan Ponce de León discovered a new land which they named Florida, in honor of the day’s religious festival. The self adhesive issue has a denomination of 0,92 €. The stamp depicts a partial portrait of the explorer on the left of the design along with a sailing ship. What appears to be a nautical chart with a partial compass rose and possibly islands on the chart is shown in the background of the issue. The second issue, of January 20, 2014, commemorates the 300th anniversary of the birth of Franciscan friar Junípero Serra. In 1749, Friar Serra was sent with other Franciscans to New Spain, now Mexico, where he was a missionary, preaching the gospel in various parts of the country. In 1768 when the Jesuits were expelled from New Spain, Friar Serra and other monks were sent to Lower and Upper California to found a range of missions reaching up to the bay of San Francisco in the USA. Over the years, these missions became important cities, such as San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. Friar Serra was beatified in 1988 by Pope John Paul II. The 0.92 € denomination stamp features a portrait of Friar Serra and an antique map showing Baja California cut into the shape of a cross.
[CartoPhilatelists will recognize previous issues of these themes namely USA sc2024 for Ponce de Leon, and then Spain sc2394 and USA scC116 for Friar Serra. If there are others, please tell us. In addition, the Spanish Post web site mentioned that the January 20, 2014 issue also was for Pedro Cieza de León, explorer and chronicler of the Indies. however I could not determine if there was an additional stamp or not Update: Julien from France informs us that there is a separate issue for Pedro Cieza de León however it does not have a map. Thanks! -admin]
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Welcome to the CartoPhilatelic Society Celebrating our 71st Year as a Society. Come and Join Us!
The CartoPhilatelic Society has entered our 71st year as a Society! In 1955 a group of philatelists with a keen interest in map stamps founded the CartoPhilatelic Society. Today we carry on their passion for map stamps in the collections we assemble and the research we conduct.
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