May 08, 2013 -- Aerial photographs from Bluesky are to feature in a soon to be published book ‘Le Tour 100’. Licensed by Cosmographics, an award winning cartographic services company, the Bluesky images were used to create graphics illustrating stages of the world famous Tour de France cycle race from 2007 and 1974. The actual race routes were plotted on the high resolution images of central London and Plymouth before being ‘draped’ over a terrain model to give depth, and rotated to provide the best perspective for illustrative purposes.

“A stage of the Tour de France was chosen for 100 of the past races,” commented Alan Grimwade, Owner of Watford based Cosmographics. “The two stages that were chosen for the UK were the 2007 London stage and the 1974 Plymouth stage. Having worked with Bluesky in the past we knew their archive to be extensive and their images to be of the highest quality, and we were not disappointed.”

He continued, “Using the carefully selected Bluesky images we plotted the actual route taken by the race during the stages identified. Then using a simple terrain model we created graphics with depth and perspective to give a multi-dimensional ‘real world’ view.”

The book ‘Le Tour 100’ charts the history of the world’s most famous road cycle race - the Tour de France. Containing 100 computer generated artworks, including those created by Cosmographics using the Bluesky aerial photographs, Le Tour 100 is a unique and stunning reference guide. Published to commemorate the 100th race, 100 seminal moments were chosen by a panel of authors. A double page spread is devoted to each selection and shows the route, the story of the stage, the topography, pictures from the race, statistic and features. Written by Peter Cossins, Isabel Best, Chris Sidwells and Clare Griffith Le Tour 100 is due to be published by Cassell Illustrated in May 2013.     

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