The Baltic States by Bicycle

Map of the Baltic States, with a meandering route drawn on. A route is drawn in pink: Tallinn, Vormsi Island, Tartu, Suur Munamägi, Gulbene, Jekabpils, Riga, Kuldiga, Liepāja, Curonian Spit, Šiauliai, Trakai, Vilnius — The Baltic States by Bicycle: The meandering route I took on over the course of a six week tour in 2013. Highlights included: a few monuments to the Struve Geodetic Arc; a meteorite on Vormsi Island; swimming in Ventas Rumba—europe's widest waterfall; the highest point in Estonia: Suur Munamägi (318 m); all the beautiful lakes; ice cream. Made for Day 5, My Data, of the 2024 #30DayMapChallenge

projection	UTM Zone 35N
tools	QGIS, plus a bit of python for wrangling `.gpx` files and making the elevation profile.
data	OpenStreetMap contributors; Copernicus Global DEM, ESA; Natural Earth
font	High Tide Sans by Filipe Rolim
comments	Apart from the hillshade making the map look a bit dirty, because well, there aren't that many hills over there and I couldn't think of a better way to add texture. Also, not particularly enamoured with the green. I do quite like the stippled sea, and the swimming icons that distinguish sea swims from lake swims. A few too many drop shadows.
date	05/11/2024