Bartholomew felt that there was a low quality of map craftsmanship within Britain and a lack of geographical societies as compared with the rest of Europe, and set out to investigate the situation in other countries, particularly in Germany.
Bartholomew je smatrao da je u u ovom dijelu Britanije kvaliteta izrade karata vrlo niske kvalitete, te da nedostaje geografskih društava za razliku od ostatka Europe, pa je kreuo istražiti situaciju u drugim zemljama, posebice u Njemačkoj.