Successfully navigate with GPS in Bkk

[Qpik]

Just a check, has anyone managed to drive around Bkk using a GPS.

 

FR fm a fren who bought a Garmin when he drives into Bkk, seems that it is still ok but comes the magic hours where certain lanes are off limit to car, that is when the chaos begin for him.

 

Been relying on the trusty map & memory to get around in Thailand. Thinkg of gettg a GPS as I thinkg it wld be handy when I go for fly & drive hols in Thailand.

 

Appreciate any feedbacks on which GPS/website to DL the maps.

 

TIA

[Wanderer]

There's only 1 official distributor of Thailand Street Maps for Garmin and their map is the most detailed.

 

Company is ESRI and it's based in Bkk

 

You just have to bring your GPS to their office and they will do the rest for you after payment. The trick is how to get there when you are driving from SG....

[Poortraveller]

with my limited knowledge, GPS will not tell you during which time, what lane will be closed for traffic or change in traffic direction. if you see the road is close, all you have to do is detour and end of the day, it will bring you to where you want to go.

 

when getting GPS and alot of ppl will ask which GPS unit is the best. To me, its not the make of the GPS important, its the map that is important. example, if you buy a super expensive GPS with all the function and can even show you all the ants trail in singapore but when you bring out of singapore, it straight away become a paperweight or get a GPS with limited function but with lots of maps support and you can bring it everywhere on Earth.

 

i think there is a website where you can donate and get some good maps for free ... think is rotwiller or something like that ...

[Dwoon]

Forget about Rotweiler....

[Roger78]

to navigate within Bangkok with a GPS is only so much limited... you got to have at least a brief idea of where you are driving and heading to... Garmin Thailand maps are not that bad... But the computing of the routes are not that great and road changes from time to time and you might encounter some under reconstruction roads now and then..

 

But I will vouch for the reliability of Garmin maps for traveling in Greater Thailand... it really can brings me to any where far away out of Bangkok to remote provinces ... Even my drivers are amazed of this nifty device which can point the way to far out places...

 

[Kb27]

I drove to Hatyai a couple of weeks ago.

 

The hotel carpark was full and they asked me to park "opposite" which happened to be quite impossible to drive direct there as it was blocked by another road cutting across in the middle.

 

Then someone told me to go around under the overhead road, but I couldn't understand.

 

When I go there and try to u-turn, there's a no u-turn sign.

 

But according to ESRI and mfm map, you can do u-turn.

Of coz, not all maps are accurate in every detail.

Sometimes, you just have to use common sense and follow the real road-sign, unless you don't care about the traffic rules.

[Kelpie]

  On 2/20/2010 at 8:31 AM, Poortraveller said:

with my limited knowledge, GPS will not tell you during which time, what lane will be closed for traffic or change in traffic direction. if you see the road is close, all you have to do is detour and end of the day, it will bring you to where you want to go.

 

when getting GPS and alot of ppl will ask which GPS unit is the best. To me, its not the make of the GPS important, its the map that is important. example, if you buy a super expensive GPS with all the function and can even show you all the ants trail in singapore but when you bring out of singapore, it straight away become a paperweight or get a GPS with limited function but with lots of maps support and you can bring it everywhere on Earth.

 

i think there is a website where you can donate and get some good maps for free ... think is rotwiller or something like that ...

 

Some GPS tend to be stubborn, if you bypass the quided route, it will still route you back to the initial route .

 

I find a GPS is never complete without a Junction view these days. I'm using Papago, which has SG, MY and TH maps. I bought it in MY.

 

Regards,

[Itsec]

go check it out...

mfm has bkk maps which is cool ... just updated my papogo app...

 

however, the routing do have some routing issues.. and the map is huge, ranging from SG to thai bangkok