----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Greetings Folks. At Easter, I shall be leading a party of geography students on a field trip to the Limburg area of the Netherlands. We are staying near Maastricht and, during the course of the week, hope to spend time in Limburg itself, and also on/across the various borders into neighbouring territories of Belgium, Germany, as well as - time permitting - a day further afield in Luxembourg. I have been trying to anticipate and review our mapping requirements, both for planning (thematic and logistical) and also for use in the field, and would appreciate your advice and suggestions. Indeed, if anyone knows of a field studies guide to the region, this would be wonderful! My specific questions regarding maps are as follows: Firstly, 1:50,000 scale maps seem to offer the best combination of detail with portability in the field. I have been looking at the relevant pages of Geo Katalog, and see that there is a fair bit of overlap between maps produced by the Dutch, Belgian and German authorities. This prompts me to ask whether, on qualitative grounds, there is any strong difference between these? Of the three, I am only really familiar with the Dutch mapping, which seems good, but is it the best...? Is there much to choose from in terms of amount of detail, legibility and currency? One bit of detail I would appreciate having (which I believe IS present on the Dutch sheets) is field boundaries. Do the Belgians and Germans also include this on their 50,000 mapping? Secondly, can anyone recommend any good maps showing walking routes in the Ardennes? I understand there are a number of way-marked trails in the mountains on the Belgian/German border, in the Liege/Spa/Aachen area, and would like to obtain details of where these walks are and what they can offer in the way of field studies... Thirdly, I would be glad of general recommendations regarding thematic mapping (geomorphology, soils, land use, etc.) for the area concerned (roughly, 100km around Maastricht). Fourthly, can anybody recommend good maps (or texts) to guide a study of the redundant lands and disused facilities from the now-closed coalmining activities in the area? Finally, if anybody could please provide me with the addresses (snail, electronic or Web) for the Dutch, Belgian and German (Nordrhein-Westfalian) state mapping agencies, this would be very much appreciated. My apologies for the length of this enquiry. If anybody is interested, I will summarise, but I suspect it may be too specific a request to be of much wider interest? Darius Bartlett *************************************************************************** Darius Bartlett Darius Bartlett Department of Geography Roinn na Tireolaiochta University College Cork Colaste na hOllscoile Corcaigh Cork, Ireland Corcaigh, Eire Phone: (+353) 21 902835 Fax: (+353) 21 271980 Mobile (in Ireland): 086 8238043 Mobile (from abroad): (+353) 86 8238043 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Web URL: http://www.ucc.ie/ucc/depts/geography/djb --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message was transmitted using 100% recycled electrons.... ***************************************************************************