Email or username:

Password:

Forgot your password?
Top-level
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

2/ Catalonia is today the name given to an autonomous region of Spain ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ

Historically, Catalonia's borders extended further. The 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees saw Spain cede "Northern Catalonia" to France ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_o

#geoweirdness

16 comments
OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

3/ The treaty however created some border complexities.

Weโ€™re passionate about exclaves here at OpenCage, and Catalonia has one!

The treaty gave all villages north of the Pyrenees to France ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท

But this meant the Catalan "town" of Llรญva was not part of the transfer.
Today this Catalan town is completely surrounded by the French โ€œdรฉpartementโ€ of Pyrรฉnรฉes-Orientales

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ll%C3%AD

#geoweirdness

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

4/ In the interests of brevity and neutrality, we will not explore the entire history of Catalonia or the independence movement in depth.

Here is a summary which brings you up to speed, taking into account the critical Independence vote of 2017.

It's complicated and there are many opinions (many very strongly held)

youtube.com/watch?v=__mZkioPp3

#geoweirdness

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

5/ Nevertheless, in the interest of #geoweirdness we do need to mention Tabarnia.

This fictional region of Catalonia imagines an area that opposes independence. It is a neologism whose name combines two Catalan provinces, Tarragona and Barcelona. Opponents of independence often use it to highlight the political challenges of the independence movement.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabarnia

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

6/ Many people know about the linguistic situation in Catalonia. Itโ€™s one of the purest linguistic examples of diglossia (two dialects or languages are used simultaneously by one community), but there are actually three officially recognised languages in Catalonia.

Catalan, Spanish and Aranese.

Aranese is a dialect of Occitan spoken in the Val dโ€™Aran. It has protected official status, and it is the only area of Occitania where the language is protected.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranese_

#geoweirdness

6/ Many people know about the linguistic situation in Catalonia. Itโ€™s one of the purest linguistic examples of diglossia (two dialects or languages are used simultaneously by one community), but there are actually three officially recognised languages in Catalonia.

Catalan, Spanish and Aranese.

Aranese is a dialect of Occitan spoken in the Val dโ€™Aran. It has protected official status, and it is the only area of Occitania where the language is protected.

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

7/ Val d'Aran is also interesting because it is the only region of Catalonia in which the water flows to the Atlantic ๐ŸŒŠ via Toulouse and Bordeaux ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท

curiositatcat.wordpress.com/20

#geoweirdness

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

8/ While Aranese is a tiny linguistic island, Catalan is much more widely spoken. It is the official language of Andorra ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ฉ, has official status in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Valencia, and in the city of Alghero on Sardinia, Italy ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_

There is an active campaign to have Catalan recognized as the 25th official language of the EU
catalaoficial.eu/en/

#geoweirdness

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

9/ Best way to practice your geospatial Catalan?

Follow @Raf who posts daily about interesting geospatial stuff in Catalan. Raf is of course a regular Barcelona geomobster

You should also follow the @osmcatala to keep tabs on the OpenStreetMap community in Catalonia

#geoweirdness

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

10/ The capital of Catalonia is Barcelona, it is the second largest city in Spain.

Because of its grid system maps of Barcelona typically do NOT have north at the top! Instead maps are aligned so that the city's unique grid system is shown up-down/right-left.

#geoweirdness

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ

11/ As if that is not confusing enough for the 12 million tourists who visit Barcelona each year (approximately ten times the city's population), residents of the La Salut neighbourhood successfully campaigned to have the ๐ŸšŒ ๐Ÿš 116 bus route removed from Google and Apple Maps to battle overcrowding caused by tourists trying to visit the world-famous Park Gรผell, designed by legendary architect Antoni Gaudi.

theguardian.com/world/2024/apr

#geoweirdness

11/ As if that is not confusing enough for the 12 million tourists who visit Barcelona each year (approximately ten times the city's population), residents of the La Salut neighbourhood successfully campaigned to have the ๐ŸšŒ ๐Ÿš 116 bus route removed from Google and Apple Maps to battle overcrowding caused by tourists trying to visit the world-famous Park Gรผell, designed by legendary architect Antoni Gaudi.

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ replied to OpenCage

12/ We'll leave our look at Catalan #geoweirdness there, thanks for reading and sharing ๐Ÿ™ What did we miss?

We hope you can join us at Geomob Barcelona #geomobbcn in a few weeks.

Until then we have more threads about specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc over on our blog: blog.opencagedata.com/geothrea

If you enjoyed our look at Catalonia, you may also appreciate our threads about:

Spain ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ en.osm.town/@opencage/11056498
and
France ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท en.osm.town/@opencage/10993004

12/ We'll leave our look at Catalan #geoweirdness there, thanks for reading and sharing ๐Ÿ™ What did we miss?

We hope you can join us at Geomob Barcelona #geomobbcn in a few weeks.

Until then we have more threads about specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc over on our blog: blog.opencagedata.com/geothrea

OpenCage ๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸŒ replied to OpenCage

Wait! Forgot to post about one of the most delightful #geoweirdness things in Catalonia.

In the Catalan town of Badia del Vallรจs not far from Barcelona the street layout is actually a map of Iberia

openstreetmap.org/#map=17/41.5

Colm Donoghue

@opencage how is the Val dAran not on the north of the Pyrenees like Llivia?

Erwan ๐Ÿš„

@opencage the road between LLivia and main spain territory (D68 on the map) has a special international statute, of little use today since France and Spain are both member of the Schengen area

Jocelyn

@opencage

Not sure to understnd, is that because Llรญva had the status of "town", not "village"? What defined that status?

Go Up