Slovaquia I'm Looking For Maps

[Les Gaulois (romary)]

Hello geocacher from Slovaquia

 

I'm a geocacherin France. I love to play with my GPS for geocaching but also for hiking (that's the main utilisation of my etrex summit). I will spend my next summer vacation in your country. I have a problem, I am looking for hiking maps and or guide and apparently it is very difficult (when I say difficult it is apparently impossible) to find some in France.

 

So, if somebody can help me. I am looking for map at 1/25000 or 1/50000. I am specialy interested by the Tatras area and the slovaquian paradise area (is it the same place?). Also, if you can help me to choose the right hiking place.

 

BUT if you have other idea I would be very interested, the Tatras seems to be very popular. perhaps there are lots of people. So, if you know interesting place for hiking, please tell me.

Any help and/or idea (even place to visit) will be welcome. Of course, I will take the opportunity to geocache, What are the best caches in Slovaquia?

 

Thanks in advance

Les gaulois

Romary, Astrid, Nathan, Niels

[+BalkanSabranje]

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/3850...7387410-7526669

 

Pas trop difficile, je dirais

 

Salut de l'est,

BalkanSabranje

[Les Gaulois (romary)]

Sometimes you look very far what youcan find very close (for map and for cache).

 

It is possible to check at the editor site : http://www.freytagberndt.at/shop/

 

Merci pour la réponse en français.

 

I'm still interested by information about slovakia.

 

Avec mes amitiés

 

Les gaulois

 

[+BalkanSabranje]

http://www.freytagberndt.at/shop/list.php?id=159 (si vous comprenez l'allemand)

 

http://www.sacr.sk/index_fr.php

 

http://www.government.gov.sk/english/slovakia.html

 

HTH,

BalkanSabranje

[cezanne]

Bonjour les Galois,

 

I will respond to your question in English to avoid excluding people who do not understand French and who might be able to contribute to this thread. (Moreover, my English is much better than my French.)

 

I believe that not many cachers from Slovakia are reading this forum. So it might be better to try to contact some Slovak geocachers directly. (Their number is, however, not that high. Geocaching is not popular in Slovakia.)

 

I am specialy interested by the Tatras area and the slovaquian paradise area (is it the same place?).

 

No, it's not the same place. Maybe the following web site about the Slovakian paradise

(in English) contains some useful information for you.

 

http://www.slovenskyraj.sk/en.html

 

Any help and/or idea (even place to visit) will be welcome. Of course, I will take the opportunity to geocache, What are the best caches in Slovaquia?

 

I cannot help you much in that regard. I have been in Slovakia, even in the Tatra mountains area, but I attended a conference there and had no time for hiking. Moreover, 10 years have been past since then. There is an Austrian cacher (geocaching name: wiworu) who has spent some days last year in the area and has found one cache there and has even hidden one (which is, however, in bad condition). His English is not that good, but you might still try to contact him and ask him for suggestions. He is a kind person and apparently he likes hiking very much.

 

Avec mes amitiés

Cezanne

Edited February 11, 2004 by cezanne

[+Toniczech]

You can order hiking maps of Slovakia through this site http://www.vku.sk/uk_05_03.html. Vojensky kartograficky ustav is a leading map publisher in Slovakia. The popularity of geocaching in Slovakia is not so low as it might see at GC.com, but local cachers prefer to use this site: http://www.geocaching.sk (in Slovak only).

Edited February 13, 2004 by Toniczech

[cezanne]

The popularity of geocaching in Slovakia is not so low as it might see at GC.com, but local cachers prefer to use this site: http://www.geocaching.sk (in Slovak only).

I was already aware of the Slovakian site, but I have to admit that I only had a very short look at it some time ago. I was disappointed to see that yet another country prefers a local data base over an international one.

 

Do you by chance know why most Slovak cachers prefer the Slovakian site? How is the situation in the Czech republic? Almost all Slovak people I met had at least the same level of proficiency of English than the people in my home country, Austria. (Most of them also speak several other foreign languages quite fluently.) Are there other reasons than simply the language reason? I guess that there must be other also reasons for the popularity of local systems in come countries as, for example, an overwhelming number of people in the Netherlands speaks English while a large number of caches there is only available in Dutch.

 

Cezanne

[Les Gaulois (romary)]

You can order hiking maps of Slovakia through this site http://www.vku.sk/uk_05_03.html. Vojensky kartograficky ustav is a leading map publisher in Slovakia. The popularity of geocaching in Slovakia is not so low as it might see at GC.com, but local cachers prefer to use this site: http://www.geocaching.sk (in Slovak only).

You can order hiking maps of Slovakia through this site http://www.vku.sk/uk_05_03.html. Vojensky kartograficky ustav is a leading map publisher in Slovakia

 

Thanks a lot. I will contact them.

local cachers prefer to use this site: http://www.geocaching.sk (in Slovak only).

Do you know if all the caches in geocaching.sk are on geocaching.com.

 

I will try to guess what it is writen in Slovakian but it is a lot more easier for me in English.

 

Toniczech, looking to you profile (and your nickname) you live in Czech Republic. We also intend to visit Prague. Can you tell me what are the caches your prefer in Czeck republic?

I know by experience that geocaching in a foreign country is a good way to visit and to discover places you would not have go otherwise. It is also a good way to meet people (we had some fun experience in London).

 

Les gaulois

Edited February 13, 2004 by romary

[+Toniczech]

Do you know if all the caches in geocaching.sk are on geocaching.com.

No, there are some caches (about 20) only on GC.sk. Slovak and Czech languages are mutually very well intelligible, so I'll try to translate some basic instruction of them into English for you (but you'll have to wait a few days).

This situation is very similar to that in Hungaria. The Hungarians have an excellent http://www.geocaching.hu, but in Hungarian only (which is all Greek to me) . Their "geo-traffic" concentrates on GC.hu and only a minority of Hungarian geocachers logs their visits also on GC.com.

There is another reason (except the language), why some caches in Slovakia aren't listed on GC.com. Not all of them comply with the GC.com rules (burried caches etc.) Slovak geocachers are very astute and some of their treasures are quite hard to find.

 

Do you by chance know why most Slovak cachers prefer the Slovakian site? How is the situation in the Czech republic?

We, geocachers (or most of us), like to share their "hunting experiences". We have different native languages - French, German, Czech, which allow us to express 100 % of our feelings and experiences. But only among people of the same native language. This doesn't apply for English as the language of our mutual communication. We're able to express (let's say) 95 % of "technical information", but much less of those "heart feelings" when we communicate in foreign language. That's why it's so attractive to use those GC.national sites. I appreciate the international character of geocaching and try to preserve it. On this point I'm agreed with most of my Czech colleagues. There is another important aspect - most of geocachers in CZE (and wihout any doubt also in SVK, HUN etc.) are people connected with IT or electronic, well educated and betwen 20-35 years of age. We can call them "1st and 2nd generation of geocachers". They can speak English. But as the use of GPS spreads, there appears geocachers, for whom English is quite strange language - major part of the mid-aged and older people in our country knows only a bit Russian...

 

All Czech caches are on GC.com. We have our national hub on http://geocaching.globenet.cz or recently already on http://www.geocaching.cz. You can find there a map of caches in the Czech Republic (more detailed than on brillig.com). But this site serves mostly for the communication within our Czech geo-community, if we need to log our visits, we use GC.com. This is quite similar to the situation in Austria isn't it?

 

Can you tell me what are the caches your prefer in Czeck republic?

I visit all caches I can. No matter whether it's traditional, micro, multi, city cache, deep forrest or high mountain. A cache is there - and that's enough.

 

Please mail me when you intend to travel to CZE and SVK. By car? What type of lanscape do you prefer for hiking? We have some nice areas of limestone hills and sanstone rocks or volcanic hills (such a little Auvergne ) in Bohemia.

I'm not so familiar with hiking in Slovakia, but give me a few days and I'll try to find out which maps of CZE would be the best for you. The whole territory of CZE is covered with two series 1:50.000 maps by KCT and ShocArt publishers. There are also 1:25.000 maps of some selected regions of northern Bohemia (Krkonose/Giant Mts., Ceskosaske Svycarsko/Elbe Sandstones, etc.). An electronic 1:50.000 map for GPSr use (based on KCT map, but with less details) has been recently published. I'll also send you some suggestions for good caches in CZE. ¨Meanwhile you can ask some informations using these links: Directories of information centers in SVK http://www.infoslovak.sk/english.htm and in CZE http://www.atic.cz (useful words: stredisko=centre, kraj=region, cestovni/a=travel (adj.)).

 

Toni

(Toniczech, antoni@post.cz)

Edited February 15, 2004 by Toniczech

[cezanne]

The Hungarians have an excellent http://www.geocaching.hu, but in Hungarian only (which is all Greek to me) . Their "geo-traffic" concentrates on GC.hu and only a minority of Hungarian geocachers logs their visits also on GC.com.

 

Greek is easier to handle for me than Hungarian . But more seriously, it is really a pity that so many Hungarian caches are available only on the Hungarian site and only in Hungarian. Moreover, a great number of Hungarian caches at gc.com has not been put there by their owners, but by a very active Hungarian cacher. I very much doubt, however, that he is able (finds time) to copy important logs (missing cache, changed coordinates etc) to gc.com - the maintenance work would be very difficult. Probably he copies the caches to gc.com to be able to log them himself and increase his number of finds on gc.com.

 

We're able to express (let's say) 95 % of "technical information", but much less of those "heart feelings" when we communicate in foreign language. That's why it's so attractive to use those GC.national sites.

 

I do not think that this fully explains the popularity of national sites in some countries. I feel that it is perfectly ok if people use their native language for logging on gc.com if they prefer to do so. Of course, it would help foreigners if important messages like "cache is missing" are repeated in 1-2 English sentences if possible.

Take for example Germany. Their the majority of cachers logs in German and the majority of caches on gc.com is available only in German (I do not appreciate the latter).

 

To be able to use the interface of gc.com, a very poor knowledge of English suffices. It seems to me that much depends on the decisions of the pioneer cachers in a country. Many cachers that start later imitate the example of the pioneers.

 

All Czech caches are on GC.com. We have our national hub on http://geocaching.globenet.cz or recently already on http://www.geocaching.cz. You can find there a map of caches in the Czech Republic (more detailed than on brillig.com). But this site serves mostly for the communication within our Czech geo-community, if we need to log our visits, we use GC.com. This is quite similar to the situation in Austria isn't it?

 

Yes, more or less. We do not have, however, something like a national gc site at all. The Austrian geocaching statistics (in English!), the Austrian geocaching discussion board and a recently started map project are all on different sites and managed by different cachers.

In Austria geocaching is relatively young, and almost all cachers belong to what you describe as cachers of the first generation (though some of us are older than 35 ...).

 

 

Cezanne

[Les Gaulois (romary)]

Hi everybody

 

I'm very glad to see that the topic about Slovakia, I started creates so many reactions.

 

The original subject was about Slovakia. Can we stay on that subject. Any suggestion about some countries near Slovakia are also welcome. Some other geocacher can be interested by such subject. And that can give idea to people to discover a country.

 

If local geocacher prefer a local internet site I think that their problem. I will try to on on Slovakian site (with the help of Toniczech) to play with them.

 

Les Gaulois

Edited February 16, 2004 by romary

[+BalkanSabranje]

If local geocacher prefer a local internet site I think that their problem.

C'est pas un problème de site nationale mais plutôt de langue.

En utilisant seulement leur langue particulière pour les caches et les descriptions de cache, on contourne les efforts des autres d'établir un sport internationale.

 

BalkanSabranje

[Les Gaulois (romary)]

Hello,

For people interested for maps in Slovakia for hiking and or geocaching. I could not by throut amazon the Austrian map (freytag). Sorry Balkansabranje it was a very idea but it did not work.

But it is very easy to find VKU maps in Slovakia (http://www.vku.sk/uk_05_03.html). They good 1/50000 and 1/25000 map for hiking. And they have the very good idea to put a very convenient ruler in each map to calculate the coordinate with a good precision. It is also very easy to find hiking guide for the main hiking areas areas.

 

Thank you for all the ones who help me throug the forum or directly on my email.

 

Les gaulois

[+drevokocur]

Hi

I am Slovak living in Czechia so you can contact me too if you plan to go caching to Slovakia and need some info.

 

Regarding the national/internation geocaching site - most of people in Slovakia don't speak English and though you need only a little knowledge of English to be able to log your finds, still nobody has made the slovak-english geodictionary until recently.

 

We had a very little oportunity to learn English until 1989 and a zero oportunity to practise.

 

Also there is some resistance against the foreign languages, many people are proud to be Slovaks and believe that their language is #1 and everyone else should learn Slovak :-)

I believe it is the same with Hungarians.

 

Drevokocur