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Using Handhelds, GPS and Eastern European Maps?
RedDork asks: "I just graduated with a BS in Comp Sci and am planning a trip to Europe this summer with a Computer Engineer friend. We are renting a car and driving around much of eastern and western Europe including Croatia and the Czech Republic. We were originally intending to use a GPS and a handheld (iPaq 3870) to navigate, but are now having trouble finding maps for the previously mentioned countries. Additionally, we don't know what software or GPS units are behave the best with the iPaq platform. We were wondering if any of our fellow Slashdotters have done this kind of thing, and what recommendations they have for software/hardware/map combinations."
Most of them have lat and long along the edges. You wont get an exact track of your progress down to 20 feet, but you should be able to narrow it down to the nearest block.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
Dude, any non native in those countries with such equipment can end up accused of being a spy. I would be careful. Most of the time you get accused of spying after you didn't pay bribes or let them steal your shit. It's no biggie, a week or two before the consulate makes them let you leave the country, but it does ruin the vacation.
If anyone starts asking questions, be sure to behave like a stereotypical and harmless American tourist. I recommend asking directions to the nearest McDonald's, and also some questions that indicate total ignorance of geography, such as "how many days drive is it to Sydney, and from there can I go by train to Vienna and the rest of Australia ?"
If you start to get nervous, ask the authority who has stopped you to "watch your stuff" while you make a phone call. Don't come back. This is a standard way of buying your freedom. I had to do this four times in Scotland.
this is europe, not the outback! you didn't say where you come from, but i guess it's the us... in that case you'll have to find a whole new definition of "small"...
you can have a sufficient (in fact better than any ipaq screen) map of the whole continent at every gas station. And if you get lost, just ask somebody.
sometimes modern is too modern!
take a look at http://gpsdrive.kraftvoll.at/ for a fairly good program. You can download maps from mapblast and expedia (I don't know if they have all the east-european countries, but take a look. If you can't download the maps, you can scan in some paper maps, enter a few co-ordinates and scale and use that instead.
Sure, we might LOVE our interactive devices, but they might get taken away. sells good basic road maps of almost all countries. Try as they also have detailed maps of various world places.
Take your GPS coordinates and simple match them to a map. practice in the US first, it might be a good idea. Also, realise that hardware fails, and there isn't an iPaq vendor Slovakia. GPS is also interupted by mountains, extremely bad weather, ect. Travel with caution. Good Luck.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
- Most European countries require a person to be 25 or older to rent a vehicle. If you've just graduated, there may be an issue there.
- Take LOTS of cigarettes with you. Whether you smoke or not, as bribes they will make your journey much easier in the old eastern block countries..
- Research. Thoroughly check the areas you want to visit well ahead of time.
- Language phrase books. If your truck breaks down, a Linux box with Garmin GPS will not help you at all. Practice the lingo before you go.
- Get the phone numbers and addresses for all US/British embassies for each country you travel to. If you have a major problem, you can speak to someone in English.
- Get a friend/relative/babelfish/school mate to create a letter with "In Emergency Please Contact" in every language plus your family contact details and keep it in your pocket/wallet.
In other words, to hell with GPS/iPAQs and that crap. Get good, up to date paper maps and some plastic map protector covers. You will spill coffee on them.I've been looking for the best GPS solution for iPAQ and this is the best one;
I am using NAVMAN GPS jacket for iPAQ.
It comes with mapping software and European maps of diffrent countries and resolutions. (Vector maps of course). The "Eastern Europe High resolution" I am using is really high resolution map that have even a lot of streets in cities. Very detailed. Weights only 4 MB. By the way NAVMAN is sleek, small jacket, has CF slot built in!
Bundled SmartPath software itself is just what it needs to be. Much better than others.
Probably the best GPS solution for iPAQ out there.
Check out at navman.com. I bought it from expansys.co.uk.
I have an eMap and whil eit is different then the III+, I could still reccomend Garmin GPS units. The GPS III+ also has expandable (yet proprietary) memory modules allowing you to upload detailed maps to it. They also have a European CD as well (alsp works with the GPS12MAP and NavTalk).
Gorkman
You can find everything you need on Google:
;-)
* Croatia: http://www.maptown.com/croatiamaps.html
* Czech Republic: http://www.maptown.com/czechrepublicmaps.html
Come on here, use some common sense before posting to Slashdot!
Ryan
If you eventually visit Hungary, you might find aeromap useful. I tried it on a trade show last year and was impressed.
--dzsino
Nope, maps of that area of the world DO NOT exist. I lived there and, well, when they see you guys coming they're going to firing up the kettles 'cause the fresh meat done arrived in town.
Here's some advice from an old timer.
Instead of taking a GPS and fiddling with it all the time, you could (HORROR), try a service station after you arrive in Central Europe, or (SHREIK) try local language portals like www.seznam.cz or (EEEEE!) even call their national tourism offices in New York and Washington DC.... or the most dastardly thing of all..... order a European road atlas from Amazon.co.uk.
Low tech, but effective.
Czech is home to the worlds sexiest/friendliest girls (Croatia too, but I don't know so much about there). Unfortunately they're not the type of girls impressed by high-tech cool geek kit(shame really).
;)
Also, you're really asking to have it all stolen while drunk.
Not that anyone backpacks through eastern europe just to drink alot and shag around....
Microsoft Automap. It is GPS compatible and maps can be exported to the PocketPC. This product is not sold in US, you will have to find a dealer in UK or go to your favorite P2P network. I have Streets and Trips, which is a similar product for US with US map, and it is better then online services. It was unable to find a street address for a hotel in Washington DC located next door to the Microsoft's DC office, but this is an another story...
.... for example to spend a week of "dolce vita" with only 500 EUR (hotel included).
:)
10 days in Romania totalized 135 EUR this month. This was using only taxis, eating 75% of time in restaurants (2 persons), around 4 beers (belgian beers) each evening. This did not include trip and accomodation (which was to my parents' house
Of course, not speaking the country's language may make things more expensive.
How can you get lost in countries with Trains?
GPS is great for undeveloped countries like the U.S. but having lived in eastern Europe and visited the places you mention - I think you will realize even maps are redundant. The local Train guide will have both maps and routes.
One of the joys of travelling is interaction. With your GPS and Cellphone - you could travel George Bush style - get your passport stamped and otherwise got home with no more cultural understanding than when you arrived. Leave your watch, your map, and your iPaq at home - Instead learn a few local phrases like "What time is it?" - "Where is the Metro?" and "Where is a good place to eat?"
Honestly - from experience - the best times come from simple questions to strangers - give yourself as many reasons as possible to interact with the native people. - Unless of course - your goal is to become the President of the US.
From what I recall reading not that long ago, it's really unlikely you're going to find a rental car company that would rent you a car for travel in Eastern Europe. One reason is that the car will probably be stolen by the many grassroots socialists (i.e., thieves) in those countries. And insurance? The rule of law? In case of an accident? Yeah right. If I were you I'd do a LOT of web and Usenet searching before considering such a dangerous trip done in any way.
Ay, I just gotta reply to that...
If you wanna see third world shithole, go hitchhike through the midwest. Eastern europe, especially Croatia, is more civilized than anything that North Americans can ever hope to achieve. Anyone can travel through the region with merely the basic cautions, without fear or any risk. I've seen Italians travel the Dalmatian coast with only 100DEM, a sleeping bag and a hash pipe, hitchiking from city to city. In states, that guy would end up with a sore ass in an Iowa road-side gas station washroom, or a bullet through his forhead in a dumpster behind the liquer store in L.A.
Well, posting in reply to an obvious troll will get my karma dropped, but this was too provoking.
What happened to paper maps and a compass? What about dead reckoning? Can't anyone do terrain association anymore?
Orienteering isn't that hard, and a lot cheaper than buying a GPS + iPaq + software, and is a lot less tempting to theives.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.