Geocaching in Spain - All you need for your Geocaching in Spain
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The most important range of maps is that produced by the National Geographic Institute (Instituto Geográfico Nacional). The M range consists of excellent maps at a scale of 1:1,000,000 and 1:2,000,000. Excellent for hanging on the wall, but of no interest to us for Geocaching. The 500 series is at a scale of 1:500,000 and comes in a series of 15 sheets or in book form. Again of little interest to geocachers. The Digital DTM Topographic Map of Spain (Mapa Militar Digital de España) is a CD set based on the 1:250,000 topographic maps plus 100m contour information in DTM files. It comes with a viewing program allowing visualization in 2 or 3 dimensions, calculation of distances, and zooming. The 200 Series is a series at 1:200,000 consisting of 48 printed maps. Also available in digital form both as maps and altitude grids. The series 50 and Series 25 are the most useful paper maps covering all of Spain at scales of 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 respectively. Their current availability is a bit patchy and you can find the current status using the inetarctive map provided by the National Geographic Institute. For any geocache, you can find out the 1:50,000 sheet number from the page for that cache on this web site. Go to the main map and find the cache of interest. Clicking on the cache will give you a page which includes a link to the sheet number finder. The 1:25,000 sheets are the same as the corresponding 1:50,000 sheets followed by a roman numeral indicating the quadrant as follows:
There are numerous regional maps from the various autonomous regions of Spain, many in digital form and some available free on the web. I am currently building up a complete list of these resources and if you know of a useful map that is not included here please let me know. Andalucía The Junta de Andalucía offer some excellent products. There are CDs containing the provinces of Andalucía at a scale of 1:10,000 as geo-referenced raster maps in black and white. The actual maps (without the georeferencing) are available free for download from the web, but I have found that the site is not always reachable. You have to give your name and contact details but there is no charge for the download. To access the maps on-line you need to know the 1:10,000 sheet number. This can be derived from the 1:50,000 sheet number (see above) by imagining the 1:50,000 sheet divided into a 4x4 grid. The columns of the grid are numbered 1-4 starting at the west (left) and the rows numbered 1-4 starting at the north (top). The sheet number is then the number of the column followed by the number of the row. For example, on 1;50,000 sheet 1065, the 1:10,000 sheet covering the bottom left would be numbered 106514 (first column, 4th row). Then you go to the download page. The address is of the form: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/obraspublicasytransportes/cimfa/ica.jsp? image=MTA10/xxxxxx.sid&level=2 &nserie=Mapa%20Topogr%E1fico%20de%20Andaluc%EDa%201:10.000 &nhoja=xxxxxx (but all on one line) where the xxxxxx is the sheet number. When the page displays you will see a small disk icon marked "Descargar" near the top right of the map. Clicking this will take you to the download page. La Rioja There is excellent availability of maps for La Rioja. The maps are downloadable as either topographical maps, relief maps or aerial photos. They are ideal for use with GPS mapping software and easy to find and download. The main index can be found on the sigCAR page (Sistema de Información Geografíca de la Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja). More information on using maps with GPS mapping programs on your PC will be available here shortly. Catalunya The Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, on its pages Cataluña hoja a hoja, also provides an excellent range of high-quality, freely downloadable maps. They come in Mr. Sid format. More information on using maps with GPS mapping programs on your PC will be available here shortly. Navarra The Dirección General de Obras Públicas. Gobierno de Navarra, on its pages mapas gratuitos, provides excellent freely downloadable maps of Navarra and its road system. |
You can obtain all the maps you need, as well as GPS units and accessories, at the excellent
Mapas y Compañía in Málaga. Contact details as follows:
Mapas y Compañía C/. Compañía, 33 29008 Málaga Tel: 952 608 815 or Click Here |
