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Pont’s cartography is not conventional in the modern sense. He gives the general disposition of the land, but not with geometric accuracy. Some of his sketches of mountains seem like rough perspective drawings, and the spontaneous quality of their draftsmanship suggests that they were drawn in the field. This contrasts to William Roy’s work in the 18th century, where the mass and void of mountainous areas is depicted symbolically by monochrome pen and ink hatching.

Before William Roy’s survey, Blaeu’s Atlas, based on Pont’s work, was the best map available. Yet a month after the Battle of Culloden, Captain Frederick Scott, writing from the prominent landmark of Castle Stalker in Appin, noted ‘this Place is not marked on any of our Maps’. He also found out that place-names differed between those shown on his charts and those used by local people in their daily lives. The 1745 rising demonstrated the need for an accurate map of the country. Cartographic accuracy, or the ‘quantifying spirit’, became an ideal for the Age of Reason.