Melway
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Melway, commonly, and erroneously, referred to as The Melways is the most ubiquitous street directory for Melbourne, Australia and its immediate surrounds, including the city of Geelong. It is currently in its 34th edition, released on 17 November 2006.
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[edit] History
The Melway was conceived by Merv Godfrey and Iven Mackay in the 1950s. The first edition of the Melway was released in May 1966, after five years of work and research. All of the 106 original maps were hand-drawn in ink. Many detractors claimed it wouldn't be popular due to its high price at the time - $2.50 AUD, which was twice its most expensive competitor. However, quality prevailed, and the Melway thrived. The current RRP for a 2007 Melway is $47.95 (competitors' products are priced below $20). Map design was first fully completed by computer in 2000.
In 1982, after the fourteenth edition of the Melways had been released, the street directory was awarded the International Cartographic Excellence Award, as well as the inaugural award for Cartographic Excellence from the Australian Institute of Cartographers. Ausway later won the latter again in 1994 for its first edition of Sydway.
Almost every car driver in Melbourne has a copy of the Melway, as will every taxi driver, bus driver and some hire cars. It is officially used by the Victorian Police, fire brigade, ambulance service, St. John Ambulance Victoria and for the State government car fleet. Its main competitor is the UBD, which has a strong footing in Sydney and Brisbane, but is rare in Melbourne in spite of its dramatically lower price, except in rental vehicles where it is quite common.
[edit] A comprehensive directory
Primarily a street directory, Melway editions also contain details on public transport (train, tram, and bus routes, tickets and prices), bicycle paths, suburb and postcode details, public parks and reserves, landmarks (such as commercial buildings, telephone boxes, pubs and restaurants), attractions, and also boat mooring details in recognised docks. In addition to the "blue" and "red" street maps, there are "yellow" maps of university campuses and crematoria, and "green" maps showing routes through the country to Adelaide and Sydney. Many versions of the street directory are obtainable, usually in standard or large-print editions, wall-charts, or an online directory.
It is common for a Melway reference (in the format Map - Grid reference, e.g. 59 K5) to be given along with directions on, for example, an event notice or real estate advertisement. It is generally assumed that everyone has, or has access to, a copy of the directory in Melbourne. By comparison, the UBD reference for a particular "Melways reference" (as it is colloquially known) can be significantly different, but is rarely (if ever) provided. It is generally assumed that all such references, regardless of whether it is explicitly stated or not, are from the Melway directory and not from the UBD.
One of the distinguishing differences of a Melway-style map to other Australian street directories is in the rendering of roads. Rather than the traditional drawing of two lines with the road name printed in-between, Melway maps show a single line with the name above or below the road, in many colours reflecting the identity or usage of the road. This allows for much more detail to fit into the same size map, as well as showing dual carriageways, slip lanes, service roads, speed bumps, roundabouts, and other useful information. This difference has been copied by UBD in their Melbourne directory, in a bid to capitalise on familiarity of the Melway. Interestingly, UBD have only attempted this in the Melbourne directory, retaining their usual format for their other directories.
[edit] Expansion into other Australian markets
Melway is produced by the company Ausway, which also produces the "Sydway", "Central Coast" and "Brisway" directories for Sydney, central coast suburbs between northern Sydney and southern Newcastle, and Brisbane respectively. Although neither is as omnipresent in its target city, Sydway is gaining more recognition after many Sydney taxi companies officially switched to using them.
[edit] Trivia
- The company who produce Melway show the location of their offices within the Melway street directory. They are located at reference 70 F6, and would appear to be the only private business whose logo appear next to their map location.
- Some organisations provide a Melways year of publication in addition to their map reference (e.g.: (2006) 70 F6), to avoid confusion if map references change in newer versions of the directory.
