Unboxing the South Shetland Islands

Last year the Scottish Government introduced new rules which bans public bodies from putting Shetland in a box on all official maps of Scotland. Because of the distance between Scotland and the Shetland Islands cartographers had previously tended to place the islands in a small inset box when making maps of Scotland. This helped cartographers avoid having to design maps which are mostly sea.

The 'Islands Bill' was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament in May of 2018. This year the Scottish Government has decided to introduce a new amendment which will extend the Islands Bill to include the South Shetland Islands. If the new amendment is passed by the Scottish Parliament all official maps of Scotland will have to include the South Shetland Islands and these islands can not be placed inside a box as an inset map.

The Scottish Government has released a map to illustrate how official maps will look when the new amendment passes. The Scotland and South Shetland Islands map shows how Scotland and the South Shetland Islands can be displayed on one map, without the need for an inset box.