Sayid shows Jack that overlapping three of the French maps creates a triangle, where the angles are coordinates - latitude and longitude for an area. The triangle's angles on the first map read:
38 degrees (top angle)
36 degrees (left angle)
41 degrees (right angle)
On the "top layer map" (third map), near each angle of the triangle is a drawing -- three drawings total. These drawings look like they could be of three dark clouds or three islands. On the "bottom layer map" (first map), written beside the three drawings are the words, "Les trois ilots" ("the three small islands/islets").
Also on the "bottom layer map" (first map) is the word "rafiot," meaning "wrecked ship."
The "wrecked ship" seems to be located next to a "black-colored rock" or a dark-colored rock.
There is a big dark structure on one of the islands/islets on the "top layer map" (third map). This may or may not be the "black rock."
There is a bay of some kind.
The "middle layer map" (second map) only has one drawing (island/islet?) in the triangle, while there are two drawings (islands/islets?) outside the triangle.
The "middle layer map" (second map) may have "Alex" written on it.
QUESTIONS:
The Three Small Islands/Islets: There just so happens to be three tiny islets located at the top-right portion of the following overview map. Are the "three small islands/islets" ("les trois ilots") in any way related to the three tiny islets located on the following overview map of the island?
The word "ilots" stands for "islets" and aren't islets little tiny islands? If "les trois ilots" turn out to be the three little islets on this overview map, then at least we know where these little islets are! In addition, it would mean that the castaways are located on the island (the bigger land mass) and NOT on one of "les trois ilots," because they would be able to see the island (the bigger land mass) from the horizon if they were on one of the little islets.
The Triangle: Are the coordinates locating the positions of three islands/islets? In addition, could this be a map of the bay? As for the bay's name, here are some possibilities:
La Baie des Craintes - "The Bay of Fears"
La Baie des Crapules - "The Bay of the Villains"
La Baie des Cranes - "The Bay of Skulls"
The Black Rock: Is that the "black rock" the "wrecked ship" is located by? Or is the "black rock" the big dark structure on the right side of the highest island/islet on the "top layer map" (the third map)?
Alex: Is the word "Alex" written on the "middle layer map" (second map)? If the map does indeed have "Alex" written on it, it would seem to make sense that the French woman, Danielle, is making maps to search for "Alex" since the first thing she asked Sayid was, "Where is Alex?"
Also, here is a link to another overview map (both overview maps are from ADAWHEN):
(Please note the circular structure on the map. Could it be a volcano?)
Another Overview Map
Volcano (thanks to LostEmpress at the Fuselage)
Also, I ran into a website that has some great screencaptures of the maps Sayid took from Danielle, the Frenchwoman... I managed to translate some of the French from the screencaptures. Certainly not all of it, just a couple of labels for some features on the map, and only what I could see, and I speak far less French than Shannon, but maybe it would help:
blackrock site
Some neat things I noticed - "ALEX" written on the water beside one island... what the heck is she doing there?
"RAFIOT" written beside the ship on the rocks. I had a hard time finding a translation for that word... turns out it's a French colloquialism, referring, as I suspected, to a boat... specifically, "an unseaworthy tub" (wreck?).
ultralingua.net
"LE CRETERE", le cratĂŞre, refers, interestingly, to a crater
ultralingua.net
Alright, "La Cratere" is a volcano... you can see the picture of the volcano pretty clearly in one of the drawings (map4), apparently from two different angles, conveniently marked "La Cratere". My first impression would have been an impact crater from, say, a magnetic meteorite or something even more exotic, but the word written above a good drawing of a volcanic cone clears that matter up.
"LA BAIE DES CRA...", The Bay of... Huh I tried a translation of just "CRA" and got back references to "crabe" ("crabs"), "crac" (CRACK! BOOM!), and several versions of "crach-" words referring to spitting. "Des" ("of"), if I understand Latin-derived languages well enough (I'm no expert, I took a lot of science, and some Spanish classes, and am out of practice on both), implies the word immediately after it to be plural. Of these possibilities, "The Bay of Crabs" seems the most likely choice, but that depends on seeing more of the word.
"LES TROIS ILOTS (?)", "les trois îlots" - it's hard to make that last word out, looks like "ilots". Picture depicts what appears to be three small islands ("islets"), but the word "îlots" refers to groups of houses, villages, neighborhoods, city blocks... strange.
ultralingua.net
"COURANT (?) COTE", "couran... cĂ´te" - part of the first word is cut off, this seems to say "course/stream/current... shore/coast"... shoreline? ("Current" could refer to the flow of water, or to the flow of electricity... this might be a reference to the beach where Sayid found that cable? Probably not, I'd say "shoreline", or a reference to ocean currents near that shore, is probably more like it.)
Thanks to yronimos at the fuselage
