Okay, so I’ve been obsessed with the Paris-Dakar Rally lately. It’s just this insane off-road race, and I wanted to really dig into the route. Not just the general idea, but like, really see where these guys were going.
First, I started by just hitting up a general search. You know, the usual “Paris Dakar route” query. That gave me a bunch of overview maps, and a basic understanding. A lot of websites, Wikipedia of courses, some old news articles. It painted a big picture, but I wanted more detail.
Digging Deeper
Then I realized I needed to be more specific. I started looking for individual stage maps from different years. Because, duh, the route changes! I found some dedicated fan sites and forums, which were kind of a goldmine, though some were pretty old and clunky-looking.
- I spent hours clicking through broken links.
- I tried to filter a lot of old information.
- I pored over scanned maps that looked like they were drawn with crayons.
It was a mess, honestly. But I started piecing things together. I used online map tools to plot out some of the coordinates I found, trying to match them up with the old maps. I also found a couple of books on the rally at online library, and these had some decent route descriptions, though not super detailed maps.
Visualizing It
My big breakthrough was finding some GPS tracks. I’m not sure how “official” they were, but I found a few websites that claimed to have GPS data from past rallies. I downloaded a few of these files (in some weird formats I had to convert) and imported them into a mapping program.
Finally! I could see the actual routes, zoom in, and follow the tracks across the terrain. It was amazing to see the tiny little lines snaking through the vastness of the desert. It really gave me a sense of the scale of the race and the challenges the drivers faced.
I’m still working on it, to be honest. I’d love to create a comprehensive map of all the different routes over the years. It’s a slow process, but it’s pretty satisfying to uncover these little pieces of rally history.
