United Tourist Promotions (UTP), the leading mapmaker in the Philippines, derives its inspiration from by this immortal line from 1916 inspirational poem by Robert Frost.

For more than a decade, UTP has been taking the roads less and frequently traveled, mapping them to help make a difference in the lives of travelers. The rag tag team was formed by Filipino graphic designer and civic leader, Ariel D. Jersey with the aid of foreigners when they saw the dearth of quality maps and travel brochures in areas with large concentrations of tourists and expatriates.

The young firm received its baptism of fire when it was commissioned by the Department of Tourism (DOT) to produce a series of 60 promotional brochures titled “Best of the Islands” in 1994 in time for the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in Manila. This was followed in 1996 by another project from the Philippine Convention and Visitors’ Corporation (PCVC) to produce tourist and street maps of the country’s key destinations for delegates of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Boosted by this vote of confidence from government’s tourism bodies, UTP began developing its own series of publications in 1997 under the brand name EZ Maps®, a handy pocket map which initially covered the major business districts in the metropolis—Manila, Makati and Quezon City-Ortigas.