Tangents 173: The Cartographer Who Quit
Episode 173: The Cartographer Who Quit
Liesl Vermeulen spent fourteen years making the most accurate maps in the world. Then one morning she handed in her badge and walked into the hills with a notebook and no plan. We talk about the difference between a map and a memory, the village that officially does not exist, and the strange grief of finishing a thing you were brilliant at.
"A map is a promise that the world will hold still. I quit the day I admitted I had spent fourteen years lying beautifully.
"Liesl Vermeulen · former state cartographer
Chapters
00:00 The morning she handed in her badge
06:40 Fourteen years inside the national survey
19:15 Why she stopped trusting satellites
31:50 The village that is not on any map
48:05 A map versus a memory
58:30 The grief of being finished
1:04:12 What she carries in the notebook now
Liesl Vermeulen
Mapmaker turned walker. Fourteen years surveying, now none.