Geotourist maps for hikers

The National Blue Trail of Hungary was the first long-distance hiking trail in Europe. Its trail was first waymarked in 1938. Since then – with moderate modifications – it has operated continuously and attracts thousands of hikers from all around the continent.

The route of the National Blue Trail passes through the most diverse geological and relief areas of Hungary, where the stones that lie in our path tell the story of millions of years from the Palaeozoic to the Cenozoic. A blue hiker unfamiliar with geology will walk past many geoscientific (geological, geomorphological, hydrological and soil) features that they think are mute. However, rocks tell stories of ancient marine sediments and wildlife, devastating volcanic eruptions, earthquakes or even the transformations and deformations of rocks buried under mountains.

Geotourist maps serve as essential tools in promoting sustainable tourism by highlighting natural and cultural geosites, aligning with the principles of geotourism that emphasise conservation, education, and community involvement (Hose, 1995). These maps play a pivotal role in interpreting geological heritage for non-specialist audiences, transforming complex scientific information into accessible narratives. By integrating cartographic design and geoscientific data, geotourist maps facilitate the spatial visualisation of geodiversity, enhancing visitors' understanding and appreciation of the Earth's dynamic history (Reynard, 2007; Albert & Pál, 2022).

The GeoBlueTrail book (Veres, 2024) aimed to present the geological values of the almost 1200 km route in a professionally authentic and readable way. Complementing the author's photos, 11 maps also were published for all 11 landscape unit-based chapters. They present basic geological information, the location of the most interesting geosites, and geo-related cultural objects to the hikers.

Our work is to present the editing steps and use cases of this special middle-scale geotourist map series. The generalisation of the 1:100 000 geological content, reaching balance with all other topographic content and selecting the geosites to be presented were all the tasks of the authors. The result is 11 separate maps at the beginning of every landscape chapter. They provide the non-scientist reader with an overview of the country's hundreds of millions of years of history and the most spectacular abiotic sights of the hiking trail they chose to walk over.

 

Albert, G., & Pál, M. (2022). Geological maps for geotourism in Hungary. In EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (pp. EGU22-2018).

Hose, T. A. (1995). Selling the Story of Britain's stone. Environmental Interpretation, 10 (2), 16-17, in: Hose, TA,(2006). Geotourism and interpretation", in: Dowling RK and Newsome D.(eds)(2006), Geotourism. Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 221.

Reynard, E., Fontana, G., Kozlik, L., & Scapozza, C. (2007). A method for assessing" scientific" and" additional values" of geomorphosites. Geographica Helvetica, 62(3), 148-158.

Veres, Zs. (2024). Geokéktúra – Az Országos Kéktúra földtudományi értékei (GeoBlueTrail – the geoscientific values of the National Blue Trail). GeoLitera Publishing House, Szeged, Hungary. ISBN:  978 963 306 988 2.