|
|
18 Sep 2010
|
Registered Users
HUBB regular
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: England
Posts: 85
|
|
GPS vs paper maps of central America?
Most people seem to be navigating with paper maps of CA and SA. Does anyone know if it`s possible to get good, accurate GPS maps of those areas and is it worth it, or would it be better to use the old fashioned method?
Thanks
|
18 Sep 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: California
Posts: 142
|
|
Mapears is Awesome!
I can't say for Central America but the free Routable Garmin Map named Mapears is great for Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. I tried it out last week and was amazed, every dirt road was on it and the routing worked grat!
|
19 Sep 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Germany
Posts: 147
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Steam Turbine
I can't say for Central America but the free Routable Garmin Map named Mapears is great for Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. I tried it out last week and was amazed, every dirt road was on it and the routing worked grat!
|
Good find. Didn't know about these. In case somebody else wants to download the maps: They are at Proyecto Mapear . Instructions in English at http://www.proyectomapear.com.ar/eng_tutorial/index.htm
IMHO it is always worth to have a paper map. Easier for planning and nice to have the treeware backup. GPS maps can be wrong and GPS units can die.
Cheers
|
19 Sep 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 118
|
|
Garmin makes a mapset for Central America. I have it, though i have never tried it for accuracy
|
20 Sep 2010
|
|
Gold Member
HUBB regular
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Toronto
Posts: 43
|
|
Mapear was invaluable for me, but useless for Bolivia. Paper maps were also invaluable for route planning, and also as confirmation of GPS and vice-versa.
We went over 24,000km with only one significant misdirection (i.e. more than 100km) and that was in Bolivia where virtually every road was under construction and the "desvio" was king.
|
20 Sep 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 118
|
|
There is no Mapear for Bolivia. I use ConoSur for Bolivia. For Brasil, i use TracSource.
|
26 Sep 2010
|
Registered Users
New on the HUBB
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Norway
Posts: 6
|
|
I got a tip from another forum about a map called Smellybiker's wonderlust worldmap.
Smellybiker's Wanderlust Worldmap • Index page
Unfortunately, it looks like the test/demo option has been disabled. Has anyone else heard about this?
I'm also on my way south from NA, through CA, and to SA in a norwegian Nissan Patrol. Info on unurban
And thanks for the tip about Mapear!
E
|
26 Sep 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 118
|
|
The mapset i use for north/central/south america is the following:
Canada/USA- Garmin City Navigator North America
Mexico - BiciMapas Mexico MEXICO GPS ATLAS GARMIN
CentralAm - BiciMapas Latino GPS Atlas Latin America GPS Atlas
Colombia - Colrut Colrut | Mapas ruteables
Venezuela - VenRut gpsyv.net Hogar del VENRUT, el Mapa GPS Ruteable de Venezuela para Equipos Garmin Nuvi, GPSMap, Nokia y HTC
Brasil - TrackSource Tracksource - Mapas Gratuitos para GPS
Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay - Mapear Proyecto Mapear
Peru - Perut perut.org - Introduccion
Bolivia - ViajerosMapas ViajerosMapas - Mapas gratis para GPS
Ecuador - Proyecto Ecuador Ruteable Mapas Ecuador GPS :: Indice
Suriname - Garmin Suriname Map Online Map Of Suriname
Fr.Guyana, Guyana - Garmin World Map
While these GPS mapset i am using is the best available, it is not perfect by any means. Outside of cities, midsized towns, and major roads, the mapset is vastly inferior to good local paper maps.
Last edited by gunt86; 2 Oct 2010 at 20:18.
|
2 Oct 2010
|
|
Gold Member
HUBB regular
|
|
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chilliwack, BC (outside Vancouver)
Posts: 40
|
|
Hi Guys,
Call me stupid, but I'm pretty frustrated at this point. I'm meeting my bike in Chile on Wednesday and been gleaning over all this GPS stuff and am totally confused. I think my brain just can't process this stuff anymore.
My GPS is a Garmin 755T. I bought it because of the SD card and the ability to play music. I found out how to unlock it and somehow have been able to load a Peru map on it. But I am taking a Macbook with me and I thought I could learn and load maps en-route.
Yesterday, I read on Garmin that I need to install "Mapconverter" and convert maps from a PC to Mac to be able to download maps from my Macbook to the GPS.. Is this true? Then I find out that when you download maps onto the SD cards, it deletes any other info that on the card. It appears to me that finding and installing maps is a complicated process.
All I want is a map set of Central and South America, similar to the North America map.. Is there a simple way or simple procedure to install the maps needed or would it be simpler to just buy a new GPS in South America? And If I did that, would it have a map set like that of North America?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, you are allowed to laugh a my stupidity.... so long as you help.
Mark
|
2 Oct 2010
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,187
|
|
Have you tried Garmin Worldmap (can get it off Bittorrents)? Might be what you have on your base map anyway if your GPS is from the other side of the pond. That's all I used (in conjunction with paper maps) and as all you really need is to check you're heading for the correct next town and be able to save the odd waypoint etc, I found it perfectly adequate.
|
2 Oct 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 118
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjredl
Yesterday, I read on Garmin that I need to install "Mapconverter" and convert maps from a PC to Mac to be able to download maps from my Macbook to the GPS.. Is this true? Then I find out that when you download maps onto the SD cards, it deletes any other info that on the card. It appears to me that finding and installing maps is a complicated process.
|
Sorry man, but your problem is that you have a Mac. The best advice i can give to you is for you to make your Mac into a dual-boot machine which can run Windows XP. When you have Windows running, then you can do amazing things with GPS mapsets. There are some excellent forums about how to find, unlock, load, modify, configure mapsets...i suggest you check out noeman.org
It takes a bit of tech skills to mess around with all these mapsets, but all the instructions are on that website. By the way, you can combine maps into one mapset and then load it onto the Garmin. The device + SD Card can hold four separate mapsets if they are all named correctly. Read the forum for all the details. Too complicated to explain to you in a post here.
I reread your post, and it seems like you have a Windows machine at home, but are taking a Mac on the trip. If you do have access to a Windows machine and you have Mapsource installed, then you are pretty much there. I assume you have Garmin City Navigator NorthAm on the GPS factory install. Before opening Mapsource, download and install all the maps in my list to your Windows machine. Then open Mapsource, connect your GPS unit, select each map with the yellow mapselect tool, then SEND TO Device (select SD Card). This will combine all the SouthAM map sets into one mapset and put it on your SD Card. If you have another mapset on the SD Card, it will be erased unless you rename it before you do the instructions i gave you. have fun!
Last edited by gunt86; 2 Oct 2010 at 20:48.
|
4 Oct 2010
|
|
Gold Member
HUBB regular
|
|
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chilliwack, BC (outside Vancouver)
Posts: 40
|
|
Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies. You basically told me what I suspected. Yes, I do have XP on my MAC at home, but even installing from XP seems to be a huge learning curve for me. Do I take the time while on my adventure to sit in front of the computer when I could be out socializing and ? Beer sounds like a lot more fun.... I have maps and can buy more. As mentioned by numerous riders, maps invite interaction with people.
Just wondering now if buying a similar unit in South America would come with a map set of the continent, like North America? It could save me a bunch of time and as the old saying goes "Time is money"...
Thanks again
Mark
|
5 Oct 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: somewhere on the road between Ushuaia and Alaska
Posts: 377
|
|
Maps: OpenStreetMap
You might need "img2gps" software (free) to upload img files.
Mac: Get Parallels Desktop or something similar. Works a treat for me.
|
5 Oct 2010
|
|
Contributing Member
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Whangarei, NZ
Posts: 2,214
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bjorn
Maps: OpenStreetMap
You might need "img2gps" software (free) to upload img files.
Mac: Get Parallels Desktop or something similar. Works a treat for me.
|
OpenStreetMap Garmin maps can be had here: Worldwide routable Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap Mac compatible. You may have to download a free program from Garmin to manage the maps.
It is my understanding from what I have read in passing in other forums that MapSource (Garmin's Windows application) doesn't run in emulators. It needs Garmin Windows USB drivers, you see...
Smellybiker.com: contact Bob (owner) via PM on the site to find out if/when the map will be released.
|
10 Oct 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Panama
Posts: 187
|
|
GPS vs paper maps
I've done central America three times (I live in Panama) and pretty much all of South America. IMHO, you need all three: GPS, paper maps, and lots of info from locals. No one of these is always accurate. Some of the available GPS maps are great (Mapear and ConoSur for Chile and Argentina), but others, like for Bolivia, are way off. Even the paper maps are often missing roads or have roads on them that don't exist. My advice: use both types of maps, and then ask at least three locals about where you want to go. If you receive the same answer twice you can figure you have a 60% chance that it's right.
In other words: try everything, but be flexible. And remember, getting lost is just an excuse for going somewhere that you didn't know existed ! Have fun.
__________________
Steve Barnett
Panama City, Panama
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 Registered Users and/or Members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.
Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.
Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
What others say about HU...
"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia
"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK
"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia
"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA
"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada
"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa
"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia
"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany
Lots more comments here!
Diaries of a compulsive traveller
by Graham Field
Book, eBook, Audiobook
"A compelling, honest, inspiring and entertaining writing style with a built-in feel-good factor" Get them NOW from the authors' website and Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk.
Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!
New to Horizons Unlimited?
New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!
Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.
Read more about Grant & Susan's story
Membership - help keep us going!
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
|
|
|