Roman Catholic Diocese of Varaždin (Dioecesis Varasdinum)

ABSTRACT The paper describes the research and creation of the map of the Diocese of Varaždin. After many changes in the Diocese over the years, this map has finally been completed and published for the first time. The process of the map making is described. Furthermore, it points at the problems related to some specific contents of the map and provides solutions to those problems, specifically, the divergence of the borders gathered from different sources. This extensive project resulted in the creation of a map in A2 paper format on a 1:225,000 scale. The GIS and the data collected about the specific map content were both the starting point and the source of data for the visualization of the map of the Diocese of Varaždin. This is important because there are none that precede it. Such a thematic map would therefore mark an advance in the field and be appropriate.


Introduction
Regarding the cartographic representation of the spatial organization of the Roman Catholic Church, it is important because there are none that precede it and to emphasize that it is a spatially and hierarchically wellstructured system. Such a thematic map would, therefore, mark an advance in the field and be appropriate. This system changes in accordance with social, especially political changes, as well as the practical needs of organizing religious life. Of course, there is a need to use a mapping of the church spatial units in order to gain a good insight into the spatial scope of such an entity, but also to perform various spatial analyses.
The presented research of the map of the Diocese of Varaždin is a continuation of the projects of drawing a thematic map with the depiction of the ecclesiastical spatial organization of Croatia launched by the Faculty of Geodesy. Tradition of the making of maps with the depiction of Diocese of Varaždin throughout the history is almost non-existent, so nowadays it is very difficult to find sufficient and adequate map sources. Although it has recently become quite popular to collect and automatize the map making processes, sometimes it is not possible because cartographers cannot always rely on the available data sources. Instead, they must focus on the investigative cartography and collecting of spatial data. The Diocese of Varaždin was established by Pope John Paul II at noon of 5 July 1997, by the decision and Bull Clarorum Sanctorum (on the division of the Zagreb Archdiocese) (Varaždinska biskupija, 2017). As such, this new ecclesiastical province had no defined borders of the Diocese, deanery or parishes. The territory of the Diocese of Varaždin covers mostly territories of Varaždin county and Međimurje county. Also, it covers some parishes that belong to the neighbouring counties, for example to Bjelovar-Bilogora, Krapina-Zagorje and Virovitica-Podravina counties, the latter being units or territories of the regional self-government in the Republic of Croatia. This means that we could not establish a relation between the bishopric and county borders or with any other existing data. Another problem was the division into even smaller spatial units, such as deaneries and parishes. The only solution was to do fieldwork on the geodata collection at hand, and focus, for example, on the parts of the deanery borders. Some data were also available from the smallscale maps, but first, they had to be updated and amended. This was achieved and presented on the new map of the Diocese of Varaždin, which we have released for the first time on the large scale and in large format. The similar method was used in the creation of the maps of the Gospić-Senj Diocese (Župan, Lapaine, & Frangeš, 2010) and the Diocese of Požega (Župan & Frangeš, 2015), which had been completed, described and published earlier. We will show problems and opportunities in the thematic representation of spatial units. It is commonly posed by the question of precision in the presentation of boundary lines surrounding the spatial units, especially when they are not clearly established by some regulation or are not marked in the field.

Diocese of Varaždin in the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy
Christianity spread in present day northern part of Croatia from Late Antiquity. It encompasses the territories within the counties of Varaždin and Čakovec and parts of the Hrvatsko Zagorje and Podravina regions, covers the area of 3100 km 2 and has the population of 387,100, of which a total of 95.2% are Catholics (HBKa, 2017). Including Slovenian, Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovakian, partly Albanian and other minorities, 86.3% of the population declare as Roman Catholics, according to the 2011 census (Magaš, 2015). Some 4.4% of the population (mostly Serbs, some Croats, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Bulgarians, etc.) are Orthodox Christians, while only 0.3% of the population are Protestants or members of other Christian denominations. Muslims account for 1.5%, while other religious communities (Jewish, other religions, Eastern religions, movements and world views) account for 0.13% of the population. Only 2.2% of the population did not declare their religion, 3.8% are atheists, 0.8% are agnostics or sceptics, while 0.3% did not respond. Since 2010, after various geographical changes in terms of territorial organization of the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia, the Catholic Church in Croatia was territorially divided into four provinces (Metropolies) and one self-standing archdiocese, ten corresponding dioceses, the Military Ordinariate of Croatia, the Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Križevci, and a number of provinces of Catholic orders. The oldest dioceses with cathedral sees are located in the coastal Croatia, where Christianity first arrived. Today Croatia consists of the Province of Zagreb, the Province of Split-Makarska, the Province of Rijeka and the Province of Đakovo-Osijek, while the seats of the Archbishops and Metropolitans are located in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, and Đakovo, and in the Archdiocese of Zadar. The Province of Zagreb, or Metropolitanate, consists of the Archdiocese of Zagreb the dioceses of Varaždin, Sisak and Bjelovar-Križevci, and the Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Križevci. The Đakovo-Osijek Metropolitanate covers the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek, the dioceses of Požega and Syrmia (in Vojvodina, Serbia) with sees in Đakovo, Požega, and Srijemska Mitrovica, respectively. The Rijeka Metropolitanate consists of the Archdiocese of Rijeka with the see in Rijeka, and the dioceses of Poreč-Pula, Gospić-Senj, and Krk with sees in Poreč, Gospić, and Krk, respectively. The Split-Makarska Metropolitanate consists of the Archdiocese of Split-Makarska and the dioceses of Šibenik, Hvar-Brač-Vis, Dubrovnik, and Kotor (which is entirely in Montenegro but is also a part of the Split-Makarska Metropolitanate). The Zadar Archdiocese is self-standing, and, like the metropolitanates, it is under the direct governance of the Holy See. When Croatia gained its independence, the dioceses of Požega, Varaždin, Sisak, Bjelovar-Križevci and Gospić-Senj were established as a result of the spatial restructuring of the Catholic Church in Croatia, as well as the Diocese of Syrmia (Srijem), which has traditionally belonged with them, but is now in Serbia (Vojvodina). The Croatian bishops are active in the joint body of the Croatian Bishops' Conference. Theological studies are taught at the Croatian universities in Zagreb, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, and Osijek (Magaš, 2015).
In the beginning, the Diocese of Varaždin consisted of 97 parishes in nine deaneries. The Deanery of Ludbreg and the Deanery of Čakovec are newly established. As regards its territorial and pastoral organization, the Diocese of Varaždin nowadays it comprises 11 deaneries and 105 parishes: As for the universality of the Church, i.e. its global character and changes in the organization of the Catholic Church in Croatia, a comparative analysis was provided by Kajinić (2016) and in that analysis, he depicts also spatial changes of Diocese of Varaždin.
The seat of this Diocese is in Varaždin at the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, which was proclaimed cathedral after the establishment of the Diocese. The patron saint of the Diocese is St. Marko Križevčanin. Its current bishop is Josip Mrzljak and the Metropolitan Archbishop is Cardinal Josip Bozanić.
3. Overview of the project strategy used in the creation of the first or student map version The creation of the map of the Diocese of Varaždin was part of the scientific research project at the Faculty of Geodesy (Department of Cartography). The project began as a students' assignment at the graduate course in Practical Cartography at the same Faculty. We aimed to produce a map of A2 format (594 × 420 mm). Students usually rely on a few basic parameters. As for the rest, e.g. data collecting, designing and shaping of the map, etc. this is where his or her creativity, resourcefulness and knowledge of cartography adopted during the studies come to the fore. The data were collected online but also checked and additionally obtained through fieldwork from the vicars and priests in the Diocese of Varaždin. All other data were collected as free spatial data, including some work done in free open-source applications and some using commercial specialized cartographic software e.g. OCAD. The combination of softwares was necessary for the best results.

Coordinate system
The coordinate system used in this project is the official Croatian coordinate system, i.e. HTRS96/TM (Transverse Mercator, conformal projection). This projection uses the GRS80 reference ellipsoid. The central meridian is the 16°30 ′ E. False Easting is set to 500,000 m and the projection deformation scale is 0.9999 (Lapaine & Tutić, 2007).

Data collecting
The key questions need to be answered regarding data collection were: Which data to use for base map and where to find them? Which data to use for special church map content and where to find them? The most data used for the student version of the map is available online and used for the base map. Special church content was also available online but only in a descriptive form which has to be visualized on map (e.g. seats of deaneries and the parishes). The biggest challenge was the Diocese's borders, which can be found on small-scale maps and there is a generalization issue. In the final version of the map, the border issue was solved by receiving a correct borderline from Msgr. Koprek. The most important feature of the map is the border structure (degree of generalization in accordance with the map scale) of the Diocese of Varaždin and its deaneries and parishes. A simple raster map of the borders can be found on the web page of the Diocese (HBKa, 2017). It shows the borders of the diocese, deaneries and the locations of the parishes' seats, including also names of the deaneries and the parishes. Conclusion regarding data collecting efforts is that one needs to make a serious investigation and for best results is contacting with church representatives although some data remains inaccessible.
Next data to be collected was the topography of the area. The topography on the first map version is represented with a hill shade map and a land cover map. They were both obtained as WMS (Web Map Service) from the OpenStreetMap (OSM, 2017). The OSM data covers a global level and it is available under the following license: All OpenStreetMap derived data on the download server is licensed under the Open Database License 1.0. You may use the data for any purpose, but you have to acknowledge OpenStreetMap as the data source. Derived databases have to retain the same license. (Geofabrik, 2017) The data on roads, railroads and rivers were collected at OSM Geofabrik. Geofabrik has a server for free download of OSM spatial data (GF, 2017). The data were grouped by continents and then by countries. We collected the data for Croatia, but also for Hungary and Slovenia. The country file from Geofabrik contains spatial data on buildings, land use, populated places, railways, roads, waters, etc. They are vector files, all available in .shp (Shape File) and .dxf (Drawing Exchange Format). Sometimes we rely on the general geographic content of the map, because the borders of the diocese and other special objects found in documents or oral source of ecclesiastical representatives are often found along with natural objects such as rivers, lakes, forests etc.
Land border is obtained from free program DIVA-GIS and free spatial data (DIVA-GIS, 2017). The server contains free spatial data grouped per countries. The available data include administrative borders, waters, roads, railroads, etc. Spatial data for the country border from DIVA-GIS is coarse and will only be used for the overview map.
Border data can also be obtained using WFS (Web Feature Service) from Natura2000 service or from (DGU, 2017) State Geodetic Administration (DGU-Državna Geodetska Uprava). Natura2000 is an ecological network for Croatia. It contains spatial data about protected areas, wildlife habitats, natural regions, etc. (NA, 2017). Natura2000 is also used for obtaining spatial data on the rivers in Croatia. Colours and some symbols were harmonized in accordance with the official Croatian cartographic symbols (Landek et al., 2010). A buffer was added for every label for better legibility (Figure 2). The individual maps of three towns were added. Varaždin, Čakovec and Koprivnica are shown in the upper right corner as maps inserted in the Main Map of the Diocese of Varaždin on a 1:80,000 scale.

Map design of second and final version
The final map was created after the thorough analysis of the first version and the removal of its flaws in cartographic terms. The first version of this student map was deficient in data and was available only in the Croatian language. It missed the specific cartographic content of sacral topics and also attributive data pertaining to the areas outside the Diocese of Varaždin. Also, it abounds with inconsistent degrees of generalization and the choice of contents, which is inappropriate and contrary to the cartographic rules. In addition, the background of the map largely diminishes the legibility of other important contents.
The new map was therefore drawn when the gathered data were thoroughly checked and verified, and new data on the sacral features added (seats and borders of parishes, names of churches). The data were then visualized in accordance with cartographic rules, using OCAD software. Thanks to church representatives as sources we manage to gather enough data for second (improved version) of the map, which had a big impact upon the construction of the map.
Since the colour palette did not provide enough contrast between deaneries, in the final version we replaced it with different colours.
Owing to the cooperation with the representatives of the church community in the area of the Diocese of Varaždin we have acquired valuable data. We are particularly thankful for the data on the specific sacral topics.  Data collecting was completed in September 2016. It included editing, updating, fieldwork and interviews with several parish priests of the Diocese of Varaždin, all performed by the senior students during their onesemester Cartography course at the Faculty of Geodesy. Their activities also included revision of the settlement mapping and positioning in accordance with the database provided by Bajić, Husak, Kosina, and Savin (1992) and the Official Gazette (1992Gazette ( , 1997aGazette ( , 1997b.

Conclusion
The creation of the map of the Diocese of Varaždin proved to be a challenge. All of the spatial data were freely collected. Some sources proved to be better equipped with finer data than others, such as Geofabrik, which has more detailed data than DIVA-GIS, though it lacked in some areas, such as administrative maps. The real problem of this project was the lack of any georeferenced data on the borders of the Diocese of Varaždin and its deaneries. All of the work was done as a synergy of three pieces of software. QGIS was used for georeferencing, editing and preparation for print, OCAD for vectorizing using, and AutoCAD for line editing. Though it could use some more refining, this map can be useful as a starting point for the creation of the GIS in the Diocese of Varaždin administration.
It is very hard and time consuming to collect the data for any part of church map (including map of Varaždin diocese) in Croatia or their special thematic content since there are no previous maps of that kind. Because of that, it was necessary to develop a network of associates who will, through their work and dedication after several years of data collection, provide the necessary raw materials, namely the design of the final map version. The map updates remain as a regular procedure in the future.

Software
Each step taken in the process of collecting data for the map includes the use of OCAD and QGIS softwares. OCAD is a software (sic) used for drawing maps of all types. It was developed by Hans Steinegger with the aim to generate digital orienteering maps. Nowadays OCAD is used in every field of professional cartography as software publisher claims in OC (2017). QGIS is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) licensed under the GNU General Public License. QGIS is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) (QG, 2017). We did not have any of the problems with selected programs and also experienced no limitations associated with the collection and processing of described data. students who worked on the project, all those who helped us with their suggestions and information to improve the appearance, functionality and usability of the new map of the Diocese of Varaždin, and to the Bishop of the Diocese of Varaždin, Msgr. Josip Mrzljak. The authors would like to thank the Croatian Science Foundation that funded the GEMINI project entitled: "Geospatial Monitoring of Green Infrastructure by Means of Terrestrial, Airborne and Satellite Imagery" (Grant No. 5621, 2016] under which this research was conducted.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.