Morocco map that covers the WS....
 

Hi,

I've been to Maroc a few times now, so already have various maps (Mich 742, rough guide map, insight travel map).

But I hope to going for about 6wks after Easter, this will hopefully give me a chance to get down to the WS, are there any good maps out there that cover WS?

Thanks for any help, cheers Mark

First of all, never mention WS in your communication in Morocco, for them it is South Morocco. West Africa map of Michelin covers the region but not very detailled.

I think the REISE KNOW HOW map does, but cannot check now, I am not at home at the moment.

GRTZ,

JP

On mass market paper I think the Mich 742 is as good as it gets at 1:4m scale - certainly better than RK-H for WS.

(actually as JP said, 741 'North West Africa' covers WS at the same 4m scale)

You will find various MINURSO and similar pdfs if you search online.

There are old 250k French maps which all cover WS in two dozen sheets but as they (and others) pre-date the Polisario war and all that followed, I'm not sure I'd rely solely on them.

Short of that, I'd hope the new Gandini book's maps would be useful down there.

Ch

Morocco Overland ~ Morocco map reviews

The RKH Westafrika Sahelländer covers all the Provinces du Sud on a 1:2.2 million scale. Shows some more geographic features, but still a very small scale.

As Chris says, search online for various MINURSO maps, also sketches of bird-watchers like Go-South can be interesting.

Also pre-ordered a copy of the new Gandini Atlantic Sahara, big hopes as the new design of his updated guidebooks and maps makes them finally a pleasure to read and use. You can have a preview here, looks promising.

Good luck.

That was my problem with the Gandinis - well researched background detail but terrible format - but that was years ago.

General map of Vol 6 looks pretty useful alongside a Mich, let's hope detailed maps inside offer a bit more.

Do us a review Rafke when you get yours.

What I would do if planning to visit that area is get the 500k TPC maps (if available still). Good paper, incremental grid and so once cut down they're easy to use to mark up yourself into a custom 'master map'.

Ch

As said by others before.
If you intend to stick to the paved roads in WS, you don't need more than 742 offers. No map at all will also do, the road network is not complicated and you will find clear signs indicating directions on most crossroads.
If you intend to explore pistes, Gandini is the best choice so far as far as the written guidebooks go.
Don't forget also to search this forum for info, you can distill some ideas, especially from posts by moro, florence of arabia, pera and some others contributors.

Cheers Gents for all the replies, very helpful, thank you.

Yes of course I mean South Morocco. :)

Has anyone had any experience of these 2;

Morocco 1/800 :IGN.M.P.85108: Découverte des pays du monde. Routes. Autoroutes. Informations touristiques. Plan des villes principales: Amazon.co.uk: Institut Geographique National: Books

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Saha...ern+sahara+map

Yes I have a REISE one, I'll look into the others mentioned, thanks again, Mark

The travel journal is a new one on me and at £7 almost ordered it to see what it was like. Check a few reviews of their others and they appear to be just journals for writing stuff in rather than a guide

you can also download russian military maps, which although old are quite detailed. If you are looking at a specific area don't forget good old google maps and satellite view!!

Thanks again everyone.

As above, this one looks quite useful;

Pistes du Maroc Tome 6 (2014) - Extrem'Sud

Google trans;
SECOND EDITION

The new edition (2014) , revised and greatly expanded ( 408 pages instead of 128) of Volume 6 4x4 J. guides Gandini illustrated and is now strongly full color ( 400 instead of 48 pictures ) .

It offers 40 routes (27 in the previous edition), with the 1100 GPS survey points ( instead of 510) , totaling 6,800 km of tracks ( instead of 3800) deLaâyoune / Smara to the Mauritanian border , inter alia, new courses off piste completely new .
The Atlantic Sahara , or Western Sahara, nothing like the traditional Sahara northwest Africa that media reports had we used to make us dream . If large desert areas are present in Atlantic Sahara , no massive dunes like huge ergs of Algeria or Libya, or point Tanezrouft Ténéré , mountainous massifs point remains full of pre-Islamic as Mauritanian Adrar , Hoggar and Tassili in Algeria or Akakous and Messak Libya.
The Atlantic Sahara is a different world where the ocean sea entries have shaped a different landscape ... In 2006, during my first survey routes , and in February 2013 for this new edition , I had the chance to cross a desert like our European meadows , a huge green carpet with exceptional rains that nomads had not seen for a long time. Wadis flowed in many areas , wells and aquifers were full of water, wildlife and birds kept us company ... not to mention butterflies around lights at night ...
The Atlantic Sahara is another vision of Morocco, Morocco a little known DPM . The Atlantic Sahara nothing like the tourist Sahara of southern Morocco encountered between Merzouga and Foum Zguid and we traveled a few days trying to avoid columns 4x4 agencies or groups of friends coming to a " raid " ...
The Atlantic Sahara there are hundreds and hundreds of kilometers of reg with light beautiful reliefs or depressions indicating the presence of a wadi where sometimes some thorny acacias invite you to bivouac. The Atlantic Sahara are also areas of great emptiness where you will not meet anyone hundreds of kilometers , nomadic camps are rather in the south where the reliefs provide accreditation in the landscape.
In summary, the Atlantic Sahara desert is good , the true desert ...

RAFKE; Also would like to hear your report on it.

Off course I have Chris Scott's books, MO 1&2 and Sahara Overland. :) Always like as much info as I can absorb.

Yes started looking at google maps, funny enough the older Olaf link I have covers more of South Maroc, than the newer link that doesn't seem to cover it at all.

Thanks again, cheers Mark

oh, and you can get them on android:thumbup1:

@Chris, @uknomad OK, by popular demand I'll report back later, the book should arrive in 2 weeks.
Cheers,
Raf

I think these are the best and more recent than the French ones. You can buy them here Digital topographic maps download - mapstor.com . The prices are reasonable.

I think I´ll have it sooner...

I received the tome III a week ago. The content is updated with new tracks and texts. It´s full colour but composition and printout is not the better I´ve seen.

OSM mapping is slightly better than olaf for the WS once you zoom in far enough :)

It only looks better. OSM has not much usefull info than old Olaf´s. It has streets in the cities but out of the principal roads, most the tracks are the old Spanish pistes, it´s not updated.

I don't believe thats quite true Pera, I did a lot of planning for last years trip and Olaf didn't have pistes where OSM did. Olaf certainly has more topo details.


Neither are probably very upto date though

You might be interested in these
Many maps / tools out there! as you say not always up to date but sometimes the best you can get.
Always a good idea to have a paper map, a good compass and the ability to engage 'brain'! :Beach:

Belive me The Warden, OSM has less data than the Russian ones that Bertrand shows. Old dated info but more than less. Many of the pistes shown in these maps doesn´t exist today.

But the Russian ones are the best for visualise the terrain.

are the russian ones available to load onto a garmin unit or only andriod?

If you know how- you can take an image, for example a screen shot of say google map then geo-reference it.
This image can then be placed in your Garmin and will appear as you reach the coordinates.
It's quite a lot of work and certainly not practical for overlanding- unles, for example you need a big close up of a harbour/ trail you wish to ride etc.
Useful for small areas you wish to explore but images still take up too much room IMHO. It all depends what your needs are.

I remember have read anything about georeference raster images on Google Earth and send them to the GPS as .KML, it´s quite the same.

Hi,

Well this arrived today; www.extrem-sud.com/guides/6-pistes-du-maroc-tome-6.html#descriptif

have to say a similar sized book to Morocco Overland, loads of pics, loads of info, excellent routes/GPS co-ords etc, loads of info it'll take a while to go through it, especially as it's in French, but initial thoughts....worth the money certainly but the routes don't seem to be as well laid out as Chris Scott's book, maybe it's my lack of French, even so I would still buy it if I was visiting the WS.

Cheers Mark

Mark- you can't read French- give me that book immediately!!:rofl:

For those who just want the gpx files- you buy them and down load them directly here

To buy .GPX files.............GGGRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

All around the world people share their GPS info, we for example have a database form 1999 till now from all the trips made by camper or 4x4 camper from all over the world, brought together by 50 equipes it is a total of millions and millions of km. They are totally worked over, cleaned, waypoint added etc etc. Ok we don't ride bikes and therefor may be not so interesting for this forum but many times people ask me for parts of it and get it for free of course!!

GRTZ,

JP (the gps track fanatic)

Yes but Mr Gandini is making a living through his very comprehensive guides and supporting information.

If you know who to ask there are plenty on here who'll share their gpx files free :)

I´ve received Gandini´s 2014 guide yesterday. Fortunately the imprint work is better than the 2013 edition of third volume.

It has new pics and texts but the best is that about 70/80% of tracks in the guide are new.

Bertrand; LOL. And thx for the info.

Pera; Thx for the update.

Well we all got it the same day it seems!

Still I've made a hands-on review, FWIW:
Pistes du Maroc, Le Sahara atlantique, shamelessly driving some visitors to my new site where's admittedly not much to see now.

Bottom line: it's certainly worth it, and not only because it's to my knowledge the only dedicated guidebook available today for the region.

Curious how @vrecha's project stands?

Cheers,
Raf

Vrecha is also waiting to check the updates in the new Gandini, but it will take him some months to come home and check his mailbox.
Until then, the WS Inland project will be on hold, maybe some teaser photos on FB now and then.

Yes if you really want to geo-reference each image one at a time and have a spare lifetime to do it in!
OR
The easy way but only if you have the Garmin Android powered Monterra:thumbup1:

Love too but my montana is going strong and I can't justify a new gps at the moment

As above, I've also got a Montana, love it.

Hate Android, always updating/downloading s*** on to my HTC One, how does the Monterra cope with this?

Cheers Mark

Hello all,
Have to say just brought another paper map, the F&B Marokko, it seems the best yet IMHO for the South Morocco, a very good map at 1:2 000 000, though none of the colours and excellent cartography with the Mich 742.

Cheers Mark

Just turn the network off!:Beach: