world travelling

[mdc100]

Can anybody please explain for me …

Can I buy a North American GPS Navigator (Garmin, Magellan, whatever) but also get maps for Europe, Australia & New Zealand?

Since the base maps are usually pre-loaded & unchangeable, does that mean the unit is only suitable for its original geographical area?

In other words, if you do some degree of world traveling, is there one unit that could be used in various countries?


Malcolm

[zogman]

a gps brought in the states for instance will work anywhere in the world...if it has the facility to load maps onto it then you can load whatever maps you wish...the usa ones do have a north american basemap but these are as said 'a base map' and do not interfere with any after market loaded maps..
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[mdc100]

Thanks, zogman

Is it correct to assume the larger suppliers like Garmin or Magellan will have the more complete, accurate & extensive set of “other” maps? Or are there other sources of maps for these?

When it states a unit has several hundred MB of memory, does the base map occupy most of this or just a small amount? If it takes SD cards, can you have (for example) Europe on one SD card, Australia on another etc. etc.?

Thanks again ….

[zogman]

i think garmin have the most extensive range of mapping..my old 60c handheld claimed to have 56mb of memory and indeed it did have...the garmin i3 and the garmin cx range have card slots for mapping which you can buy or you can buy blank cards and load the maps onto them remembering that with this method you load only the regions you are travelling through..

have a read through all the treads on this very informative forum not only this section but the rest as well...some stuff wont interest you but alot will.....
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[Skippy]

The basemap doesn't take up much memory, on my Quest it's about 13 Meg. The detail level in the basemap isn't great though - some roads are 100 meters or more adrift from reality. It is a fairly rough guide.

As for maps of the world, you can get a "World Map" from Garmin which comes on a single CD. From this you can upload the maps for the areas you are interested in, though the detail is "basemap" quality - only major roads and even then they are pretty generalised.

As for detailed maps, it varies from country to country. You can get Garmin maps for New Zealand, for example and the coverage is right down to street level and minor roads.

For some other countries (eg Eastern Europe), they only show major roads and streets in major cities. It all depends on what they can buy from the map providers (usually Navteq).

If you have a unit with an SD card then you can load different maps on different cards and switch them. I think all of Western Europe will fit on a 2GB card.

Garmin maps can be expensive, but there are also other people who have created maps for Garmin units. Some of them are given away for free, though I don't know how good the quality is. See this thread
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Gone fishing!

[gcb]

JUst something I thought was worth noting here. I have used both I3 and a C310 both UK purchased. Both come with UK, Ireland and northern France on SD card. However the base maps seem to differ.

It seems the I3 only has Europe (or maybe just Western Europe) base map when bought in Europe. I presume the I3 bought in USA will have North America Base map.

It can be hard to actually work out what base map you have because you cant scan the maps. You need to load Europe POIs and then try and visit them. I tried putting African POIs on an I3 and it just failed to load them? OK there are 3 POIS loaded that are across the world the 3 Garmin Head Offices, you can go to one of these and pan out and confirm that a UK model does not have any USA base map. Anyway dont have the I3 to check any more.

C310, Base maps are diferent. My C310 has base maps for Europe, Africa and Middle East. What the Americans refer to as EMEA I would think a USA C3?? would have base maps for North and South America and an Australian one all of Australasia. Asia and Australia.

[tomaspa]

Hello there,

I have a StreetPilot c310 and spend time in Barbados. I have just ordered a Garmin World Map but in the meantime I would like to have a look at those free maps you talked about in your message. I have clicked your link but nothing came out.

Can you please tell/send me links to free maps that will work on my c310?

Thanks a million :D

[Skippy]

[gcb]

Got the I3 back, I realise now even the I3 has about 1/3 of the Garmin world maps on it. Its not easy to spot on the I3 because you cant move around easy but my I3 has Europe/Middle East and Africa. Base map.
I would not buy World Map personally, You will get 1/3 of it free and judging from the base map thats in the unit its OK to look at like a map but not realy to navigate by.

For some places, there are some free maps that look really good, its true. Follow the links on this site.

All you need is to download the image files .img and use something called sendmap20.exe
A google search should get you sendmap20

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