Cartography – la croix de gattigues

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 The paper versions are sometimes out of date.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. South central France means the Cévennes mountains, 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 Aveyron and the Drôme. There are descriptions of interesting walks. And a focus on technology – namely the hardware and software you might use while hiking. There are also references to cartography both in the field and on the computer screen back home.

Hiking in this region is about observing and understanding the landscapes, villages, farms and ancient ruins and the 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.

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 500 circuits also complete with downloadable gpx. It is worth noting however, that a gpx track is a perishable commodity. Over time waymarkings 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.

Category: Cartography

A bad day for measurements

WordPress mapping plugins