Cartography – la croix de gattigues

February 9, 2022February 9, 2022

Mapping software update

Starting from 1 February 2022, the French mapping institute (IGN : Institut Géographique National renamed to Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière) implemented new API’s and new API keys for use of their WMTS mapping service. As a result, IGN base maps may have been unavailable on this site for several days, It took some time to understand the implications and make the necessary software changes. At present, most of the necessary modifications are complete and maps should display properly.

February 27, 2017April 11, 2018

A bad day for measurements

Here are the results of another try at comparing GPS track logs – in particular the elevation profiles – between different devices and applications.

The weather was fine, if a bit cold with gusty winds. The hike was mostly in open terrain or on wide forest tracks. Less than an estimated 20 % of the track was under forest cover. The devices and apps are : Continue reading “A bad day for measurements”

February 22, 2017April 4, 2022

WordPress mapping plugins

This site, built with WordPress, uses a couple plug-ins for mapping. They are Leaflet Map and WP-GPX-maps.

Leaflet Map

Leaflet map allows you to display a track on a map background. The plug-in allows for use of OSM maps via MapQuest. To use MapQuest you need to sign up for an API key from their website, and for modest use like this website, the API key should be free. However, I opted not to use Mapquest. This is France and France has the IGN (Institut National de l’Information Géographique et Forestière). This institute publishes folding paper maps at many scales and the 1:25000 scale maps are outstanding for hikers. It seems that every department in the country has a hiking trail plan and these trails are all marked on the IGN maps. One point of warning though. The paper versions are sometimes out of date. Continue reading “WordPress mapping plugins”

Hiking in south central France

This site is about walking, mostly in south central France, specifically the Cévennes “mountain” range, the Grands Causses area with it’s plateaus and canyons, the departments of Gard with the garrigue landscapes, the Vaucluse, the Herault, sometimes the Ardèche, the Avéyron and the Drôme. There are descriptions of interesting walks, but sometimes also the non-interesting ones. There are occasional articles about the hardware and software you might use while hiking and in particular handheld GPS devices and smartphones. There are also references to cartography both in the field and on the computer screen back home. The progress in the area of web mapping in the past several years, with the arrival of services like Google Maps, Nokia Here (now “Here we go”) and the OSM Open source map service, has been spectacular.

However, hiking in this region is more than just walking with eyes focused forward or concentration on the GPS screen. It’s also about observing and understanding the landscapes, villages, farms, ancient ruins and various geological curiosities. Often the subject of interest is not the “what”, but the “why”. Why did people settle here hundreds of years ago? Why did the ancient trade routes pass this spot?

In this region, traces of human activity are everywhere – in the still occupied villages and farms, but also in the undergrowth, on the riverbanks and and on the abandoned hillsides. This site aims to explore these subjects, traveling on foot, at about 3.5 km per hour.

This site is also for people who like maps. There are maps in nearly every article, often with interactive features. Try them out.

For every walk mentioned in an article, the site provides a downloadable gpx file suitable for use on a handheld gps device. The site provides additional access to a database of some 700 circuits also complete with downloadable gpx. It is worth noting however, that a gpx track is a perishable commodity. Over time waymakings change, land owners block walking routes, obstacles appear. For this reason, when available, dates of the most recent passage on the circuits are also provided. Use with care.

Everywhere you go on these hiking routes you are likely to see a field cross. They can be in iron, stone, or wood and can be simple or ornate. These field crosses are supposed to have protected travellers from bandits – as supposedly no bandit would dare attack near a symbol of the all powerful religion.

So the french word “croix” translates to cross and holds the connotation of the cross as a religious symbol. However, in the context of this site, cross means crossroad or intersection. “La Croix de Gattigues” refers to a crossroad in a hamlet in the Gard department at which, no surprise, there is also a fine an iron cross.