One of the more common questions I receive relates to international (non-U.S.) maps — where can I find maps of a particular country? There are actually many options, and I suspect that most people aren’t aware of them all. Some are even free. I’m going to focus on Garmin in this post, which has the greatest variety of international maps readily available, at least for any of the top selling GPS receiver brands in the U.S.
Lets go through the options one by one…
Garmin City Navigator international maps
Created by Garmin, these products provide turn-by-turn routing. Some come in two versions, City Navigator or City Navigator NT. The NT maps use a different compression method and are generally compatible with newer units. A compatibility tool , to see which units they work with, is available on Garmin’s “On the Road” cartography page. Unfortunately, it isn’t always up to date.
Each page below has a link to a coverage map; the image on the right shows the European coverage map. There is also a MapViewer tool on the cartography page, allowing you to
zoom in and view any area covered in each product. These maps are one of the best options for the countries and regions for which they are available:
- Australia
- Brazil NT
- Europe NT
- Europe
- Mexico (City Select)
- Middle East NT
- Middle East
- New Zealand
- Singapore / Malaysia NT
- South Africa
- Thailand NT
Garmin MapSource WorldMap
WorldMap is a very general map designed for areas for which Garmin has no other coverage. A pretty weak offering, even Garmin says it “is generally recommended only if no other coverage is available for the area.”
Garmin international topo maps
Garmin offers international topo maps for Canada and Great Britain, though some third-party maps in the next section include topo maps too.
Third-party international maps
These are created by vendors that have established a relationship with Garmin. They may or may not include turn-by-turn routing. These third-party international maps are listed on the Garmin website:
- Argentina
- Austria
- Bahamas
- Belgium
- Chile
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Korea
- Lithuania
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Peru
- Poland
- Republic of Turkey
- Romania
- Russia
- Slovakia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
Mexico maps
This is a special, “close to home” case, that has a attracted a number of developers. In addition to the Mexico City Select maps above, I’ve covered several offerings in previous posts:
Other sources of international maps
EDIT: I was just reminded that there are maps for sale of other countries too. I’ll add more as I become aware of them:
- Afghanistan (UPDATE: This looks like a greatly improved Afghanistan topo)
- Canada
- Iran
- Iraq
- Japan
- Nigeria
- Phillipines
UPDATE: I’ve also been reminded that TravelByGPS.com has routable maps of Africa, Costa Rica, Iraq, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan and Panama.
A word about Garmin nuvi x70 models
If you are planning a trip to Europe, you may want to consider purchasing a Garmin nuvi 270, 370, 670 or 770. All of these units have pre-loaded maps of the U.S., Canada and Europe (see coverage map above). Generally, it is cheaper to buy these units with pre-loaded maps rather than buy a model without them and purchase the maps separately. Check out my Garmin nuvi comparison chart to see the differences in other features in these transatlantic units.
Free international maps
Be sure to check out the followup post on obtaining free international (and U.S.) maps for your Garmin GPS.
Related post:
About Rich Owings
Apparently there are no Garmin maps for Israel. here are some free ones though…
http://downloads.cloudmade.com/asia/israel#breadcrumbs
http://mapcenter2.cgpsmapper.com/catalogue.php?country=221
Thanks Rich
You’re welcome!
I am looking for any maps in egypt
Try http://mapcenter2.cgpsmapper.com/catalogue.php?country=25
and
http://downloads.cloudmade.com/africa/egypt#breadcrumbs
I own the Garmin GPSmap 60csx. I am traveling around in south Sudan with a medical team and would like to record the routes taken from village to village. All that I need are topo maps that will load into my unit. I havn’t been able to find anything yet. Has anyone found anything for that area?
Dear Sir/Madam,
I plan to use my Garmin 255W in China, specifically. Do you know where I can download a free China map for use. Thanks
http://downloads.cloudmade.com/asia/china#downloads_breadcrumbs
Dear Sir/Madam,
I want to explore into the various parts of Ethiopia with a group of ornithologists. Could you help me which type of gps I can get from u?
Thanks.
I don’t sell anything; I just link to folks who do. IMHO, your best bet would be a Garmin handheld, due to the widespread availability of free maps. Here are some sources:
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/country/et
http://downloads.cloudmade.com/africa/ethiopia#downloads_breadcrumbs
http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php
Hey Rich, I just read this article. I have to say that this is a great site! I am going to spotlight this site on our blog on Friday.
I was wondering if you would update this page with links to our GPS maps for sale?
http://www.gpstravelmaps.com/index.php
We also can build custom maps if you can not find a particular GPS map.
You can also see our blog here –
http://gpstravelmaps.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Michael Burr
Co- Owner GPSTravelMaps.com
Come see how your GPS Map purchase is helping others in the world – http://gpstravelmaps.blogspot.com/2011/09/guatemala-gps-education-for-children.html
Michael, I’ve added it to my to do list for once I’m back from vacation.
Rich, thank you very much for updating this story. Enjoy your vacation!
Best Regards,
Michael Burr
I am planning to visit Jamaica in a couple of months. Is there a map available for Jamaica?
This may be the best, but it’s not free: http://www.garmin.com/us/maps/third_party_mapsource_developers#Jamaica
A free topo map:
http://rwsmaps.griffel.se/
Here’s a free road map, but don’t expect it to be as good as what you’re used to:
http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
I just bought a Garmin nuvi1490LMT in Canada. On the box it says for use in Canada and the U.S. I am in Australia a lot, but not sure if this GPS has compatibility for Australian maps? Do all Garmen navigators have this function or just some?
Yes, it will work fine. The easiest thing to do is get the Australian maps on a micro-SD card. If you are only in one or two big cities, the CityXplorer maps are a cheaper solution than City Navigator Australia.