Recently in Europe Category

In March 2008, I joined a Dragoman truck to embark on an Overland journey from the UK to St Petersburg, via Central Asia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. (See the full route here.) Starting in Istanbul, and continuing every driving day since then, I have been recording the route that the Dragoman truck has taken, using my Garmin GPSmap60Cx GPS receiver. (For technical details of how this was done, see here.) I thus have a series of files, one for each day, that stores all the details of speed, position, and altitude as the truck moves about each driving day. Some trekking or walking maps are included as well. These files have now been processed to produce an online Google Map for each day, plus a detailed Route-Report that shows a number of graphs and useful statistics. The first set of maps, covering the route from Istanbul to Beijing, can be seen here. The second set of maps, covering the route from Beijing to Almaty, can be seen here. This page completes the journey, providing maps and route reports from Almaty to St Petersburg, and then staying with the truck as it transited to Dover.

To view the maps, click on the links below. The map will initially load with the Satellite view, as this seems to be more effective in an area that is little-mapped, even by Google, but you can also select a standard roadmap, or a hybrid view of the two, using the buttons in the top right of the screen. The amount of detail that the Satellite view will provide depends on Google's current satellite photos for that area. In the countryside this might just show a general view that identifies built-up and rural areas, whilst in bigger cities you can often zoom in to see individual buildings, and decide which exit we took from a carpark, or even where we parked in that carpark! The detail can often be astonishing. You can click-and-drag to move the map around, and zoom in and out using the +/- slider on the left of the screen.

The Route Reports are stored as PDF files, so to view them you will need a PDF reader installed on your computer. (Available free from Adobe.)

And so to the end of a truly memorable journey. Since we started at Calais on the 17th of March, the truck has driven exactly 38,138 Kms, or in other words, 23,836 Miles. Many thanks are due to drivers Toni, for UK to Beijing; Blair, for Beijing to Mongolia; Vernon, for Kazakstan to Calais; and a very big thanks to Jay, who drove the whole way with me, Calais to Calais.

Note: All route and stored position data are copyright 2008 Tim Makins and MapAbility.Com