An Act Of CARtography

22 May 2009, 11:27am

The “battered BMW” in the process of being decorated with XYZ’s maps.

XYZ Donates Maps For Barcelona Bangers Expedition

The XYZ Digital Map Company have provided Salford GIS with a range of XYZ, Global Mapping and People's Map maps with which to decorate their vehicle for their Barcelona Bangers expedition.

The Barcelona Bangers event is a weekend long rally that sets off from Calais and terminates in Barcelona. Although not intrinsically an event for charity, many participant teams take the opportunity to raise money for a charity of their choice.

Paul Coward and Chris Nelson, from Salford GIS, have bought a “battered [16 year] old BMW”, costing £198, for the occasion and intend to raise at least £3000 for MapAction, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to providing field information and relief maps for disaster emergencies.

The two-man team will be departing from Southport on the 21st of May 2009 to join the other teams in Calais, before heading down to Barcelona on a trek, which lasts from Friday the 22nd, to Sunday the 24th of May... providing the car makes it. The one rule regarding the type of car that the 67 teams can use for their trip is that it should have cost under £200.

The participating teams are encouraged to decorate their vehicles, and in an inspired move, The XYZ Digital Map Company have agreed to provide maps for which to decorate the BMW.

XYZ have donated a range of XYZ, People's Map and Global Mapping wall maps to decorate the car.

The roof is covered by the Global Mapping World Map; the bonnet by the Global Mapping Europe Map; the boot by the Global Mapping British Isles map created from People's Map data; the doors are covered by by XYZ Postcode maps and by France and Spain from the giant EARTH atlas, which was created by XYZ from XYZ digital databases. The maps were chosen in order to reflect the route that they will cover.

They are calling the decoration an act of CARtography.

www.xyzmaps.com

If you would like to donate to their cause, please visit their Barcelona Banger’s

GeoConnexion UK