Sunday, March 18, 2012

International maps for your Garmin GPS

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:

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:

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:

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

Rich is the owner, editor and chief bottle-washer for GPS Tracklog. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus.

Comments

  1. Rich Owings says:

    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

  2. Samsoon says:

    I am looking for any maps in egypt

  3. Rich Owings says:
  4. Shane says:

    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?

  5. Carter says:

    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

  6. Rich Owings says:
  7. Salomon Hailu says:

    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.

  8. Rich Owings says:

    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

  9. Michael Burr says:

    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

  10. char white says:

    I am planning to visit Jamaica in a couple of months. Is there a map available for Jamaica?

  11. Kelly says:

    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?

    • Rich Owings says:

      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.

Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!

*