this post is five years old, and refers to some kind of bulletin which is more than ten years old--both are completely out of date. Rode through russia last summer with a gps and did not have any problem at all. stopped several times by police, they could not care less about the gps, although some did ask what it was. gps are very common here now.

note, however, that as far as I know there is only one set of routable maps for russia, and they are only in russian and require that you "russify" your gps by changing the firmware.

And I seriously doubt that your local Russian embassy would have any idea about this issue, even if you can reach them in the first place.

Yep, I'll second that - used a Garmin all the way from Vladivostok to St Petersburg last year, the police all thought it was cool to see one on a bike.

The World and Base maps are next to useless though, other than for major highways.

Garry from Oz.

Maybe interesting, or at least a curiosity:

GPS íàâèãàòîðû Garmin, ïðè¸ìíèêè, GPS íàâèãàöèÿ, íàâèãàöèîííûå ñèñòåìû
Google translated
Translated version of http://www.garmin.ru/

"Roads of Russia with the routing. RF. Version 5.13
Price: 2580.00 EUR"

:eek3:
Is that price for real, or is that Google translator mis-translating "Russian Rubles" ?

Heh, that's the price in rubles--about $75.

2580 Russia Rubles about 58 Euro

Has someone secretly posted that I am crazy or unbathed? There have been six riders in the past year come through South Korea and only one couple has dropped by to say hello or spend a weekend.

I will repeat it. We live 35 miles south of Seoul and just a toss off the freeway and an equally short distance from the highway legal for bikes that runs parallel to the expressway. Our home is open and there is secure parking. drop a line if you are coming by and we'll throw down the yo and ilbo and make you welcome.

Joe & Kwang Hee

Um, might help if you post this in a thread that has something to do with Korea?

Gosh, Why didn't I think of that. Oh, I did. It has been under the friendly places around the world to stay for years. The reason it is here under the Russian bit is because I noted that Motoride just left South Korea.

Hi Hindu, wasn't ignoring you mate, I actually saw your posting about receiving visitors before I entered RoK. Unfortunately, due to limited time I didn't get across to the Western side of the Korean peninsula. I did spend a night with a fellow rider in Daegu though enroute to Sokcho.

Garry from Oz.

GPS accuracy degraded in Russia?
 

I know it's not quite OT but a Google search led here so may as well ask.

On the SPOT Tracker website it says.

In Russia, the GPS accuracy of your SPOT is limited (degraded) in accordance with Russian regulations restricting the accuracy of GPS performance for devices utilized in Russia.

I've never heard of this nor can I find any mention on the web. No answer from Spot whose customer service is famously bad. I wonder if anyone else knows.

thanks

Chris S

Interesting, I haven't heard this. It wouldn't surprise me if GPS devices sold in Russia had this limitation, but how could the Russians limit the accuracy of GPS devices brought in from elsewhere? The satellite signals should be the same, right?

On a strictly anecdotal level, I use a GPS here pretty frequently, with Russian maps, and for what it is worth, the GPS directions generally align with the map (in other words, there is usually a road right where the GPS tells me to turn right...), but the maps are not the greatest, and many roads are missing or incorrect.

sounds like crap in general to me.

I noted most of the time travelling across Russia to get normal GPS accuracy to within 3-4 metres (10 feet).

Every now and again the GPS accuracy blew out, but no more than it seems to in the UK / Europe in general.

I also note when comparing other peoples tracks and my tracks on the same roads, that they completely overlap to within about 2 metres. If GPS accuracy was an issue, tracks made on the same road at different times would be out by significant amounts, not by the width of a car.

I'm mainly interested in whether this would even be technically possible...and you would think SPOT would have some basis for that statement on their website, but maybe not...

Thanks for your replies - crap it is then, but why would they even make it up?

I have read of Russian-made GPS scramblers used to mess up GPS-guided missiles during 2001 Afghan invasion but I dont think they could scramble a whole country.
The Pentagon could of course but again I read that the part of the idea of turning off SA was to help GPS compete against Glonass and all the rest.

Chris S

The whole point of this regulations that still exist but they never enforce was so civilian travelers (probably of other country's) could not go round pin pointing there location and mark Russian military targets.

The paranoia has come down a bit hence why gps's are now fine.