Satalite Navigation Unit

[Kimera]

Are there any Satalite Navigation units, Garmin , Tom Tom etc available on Phuket with maps of Thailand and English Language?

[HDRIDER]

HI

Try in Central, there is a stand just when you come up the escalator to the floor where they sell mobile phones, have seen a few Garmin there.

Or try one of the marine shops in Phuket, they might have them, or: http://www.gadgetrend.com/

[fiddlehead]

There was a thread about 2 months ago about a website that had the detailed map data for Thailand that you could upload

to your GPS. I think they wanted a $100 donation (Lifetime???) for it though.

I am presently buying one on ebay as mine was stolen 2 months ago.

[fiddlehead]

Here's a link to the one i meant: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=122681

That topic has been closed but it looks like there was a knowledgeable guy on there that could answer your questions. Perhaps you can pm him.

I've found that the detailed map data that you upload to the Garmin Legend's anyway, in the US, is quite good.

If i knew they were the same quality here, it would definitely be something to have.

//Edit: deleted reference to moderation issue.

Edited March 4, 2008 by Maestro

[Jingjok]

What great news! Ive been looking for a Thailand map for my Garmin for ages. All I could find last year was an unknown product at an rip-off price.

It looks like this Rottweiler guy (who had his thread closed for commercial advertising) has good (locked) maps for USD 100. Routeable and, from today(!), fully searchable on the Nuvi.

BTW, anyone who needs maps of Malaysia or Singapore could do worse than visit www.malsingmaps.com

It's an enthusiasts' site. All maps are free.

Their maps work in the chaos which is KL, so I'm impressed!

[Boater]

What great news! Ive been looking for a Thailand map for my Garmin for ages. All I could find last year was an unknown product at an rip-off price.

It looks like this Rottweiler guy (who had his thread closed for commercial advertising) has good (locked) maps for USD 100. Routeable and, from today(!), fully searchable on the Nuvi.

BTW, anyone who needs maps of Malaysia or Singapore could do worse than visit www.malsingmaps.com

It's an enthusiasts' site. All maps are free.

Their maps work in the chaos which is KL, so I'm impressed!

My company provided me with a Garmin GPS system, it came complete with the Thai Map built in

It is ALL english and precise to about 1 metre, it is also very up to date, and i notice it updates itself with new roads....

it is now something i cannot live with out now...

[LivinLOS]

Thai maps from garmin themselves with an included memory card are 120 USD..

ERSI maps are now 7k baht installed with 1 year updates.

Rotwieller are 100 USD donation for all of them.. Not properly searchable on some brands of garmin equipment. Fead the FAQ's.

Loads of GPS threads in the tech forum.

[LivinLOS]

It is ALL english and precise to about 1 metre, i

Not trying to niggle.. But civilian GPS is only accurate to about 15m in the horizontal plane.. After that its averaging past position signals and lockup to fix nearest road for auto navi stuff.

Certainly useless for the land offices task of defining the 80m build limit. Then again thats usually defined by how much you pay the tesabaan anyway

[LivinginKata]

LOS, you are quite right about 15m GPS accuracy, however if the GPS receiver has a differential correction channel, AND a correction signal is available from a nearby station, then 1m accuracy is possible. BUT... it's unlikely that hand held units have the differential facility OR that this corectionl signal is even available on Phuket Island. My point is that 1m accuracy is technically possible .... ....

[LivinLOS]

I think the newest differential is about 30cm in real world and down to 10cm in theoretical.. But as you say no differential coverage here.

[LivinginKata]

I think the newest differential is about 30cm in real world and down to 10cm in theoretical.. But as you say no differential coverage here.

LOS, Clearly you know what you are talking about. It's a subject dear to my heart as I think (??) I made the first drill rig positioning on GPS in Indonesia way back in 1986. BTW it was called NavStar back then and the receiver was a converted IBM word processor. Ah... those were the days. Not 24 hour coverage with 5 sats, more like a few hours window with 3 sats.

[munggri]

I think the newest differential is about 30cm in real world and down to 10cm in theoretical.. But as you say no differential coverage here.

LOS, Clearly you know what you are talking about. It's a subject dear to my heart as I think (??) I made the first drill rig positioning on GPS in Indonesia way back in 1986. BTW it was called NavStar back then and the receiver was a converted IBM word processor. Ah... those were the days. Not 24 hour coverage with 5 sats, more like a few hours window with 3 sats.

Interesting couple of links here ,describing, raw gps accuracy.Averaged positions over a few days.....

http://www.syz.com/gps/gpsaveraging.html

http://users.erols.com/dlwilson/gpsavg.htm

Not too technical.... might interest somebody.

[LivinLOS]

I think the newest differential is about 30cm in real world and down to 10cm in theoretical.. But as you say no differential coverage here.

LOS, Clearly you know what you are talking about. It's a subject dear to my heart as I think (??) I made the first drill rig positioning on GPS in Indonesia way back in 1986. BTW it was called NavStar back then and the receiver was a converted IBM word processor. Ah... those were the days. Not 24 hour coverage with 5 sats, more like a few hours window with 3 sats.

Wasnt trying to be a smart arse just have looked at land thats right on the 80m limit a few times around Patong hillsides and hence became aware quite how poor GPS (the tool the tessabaan claims to use) is for this task.

[LivinginKata]

I once tried checking out the height of a piece of land we bought and the Z height component of the GPS fix solution was all over the place +/- 20m at best. I took a lot care and several hours worth of fixes, but still hopelessly inaccurate. How the Tesiban can use GPS to check land height is beyond me, guess it depends who is paying them to do the checks....

[fiddlehead]

Many watches including Suunto and some Casios have an altimeter built in. These have to be set daily to be fairly accurate as they work off of barametric pressure. They are more reliable than a GPS for altitude. Possibly some of you divers have these watches already. I still wouldn't want to buy land believing in them to be within a few metres but are probably pretty reliable to 30 metres anyway (if you set them daily at a known point like sea level)

[LivinLOS]

my brother has one of those.. Seems accurate enough to reliably tell if you lift from the floor to full stretch its 2 - 3m different..

[DrDave]

I once tried checking out the height of a piece of land we bought and the Z height component of the GPS fix solution was all over the place +/- 20m at best. I took a lot care and several hours worth of fixes, but still hopelessly inaccurate. How the Tesiban can use GPS to check land height is beyond me, guess it depends who is paying them to do the checks....

Handheld GPS units typically use either satellite telemetry, or barometric pressure for the Z height calculation. Surprisingly enough, the barometric pressure method is considered more accurate (according to the manufacturers), although I doubt that either method would be more accurate than +/- 10 or 15m. I too was surprised to learn a while back that the Tessabaan uses a GPS to determine land elevation for building permits (not that the height restrictions are consistently enforced ).

[smartecosse]

well i got the rotweiler maps a few weeks ago and so far have been very impressed

they are running with no problem on a garmin streetpilot

next week i am doing phuket to laos and back again by car so will see how good they really are but seem great especially at the excellent price

[cotambear]

how do you navigate. in the uk I use postcode followed by streetnumber, in thailand?

[fiddlehead]

well i got the rotweiler maps a few weeks ago and so far have been very impressed

they are running with no problem on a garmin streetpilot

next week i am doing phuket to laos and back again by car so will see how good they really are but seem great especially at the excellent price

Are they topo? or just street/road maps?

In their example from their website, they only show BKK.

(I use them for running and exploring terrain also)

Looking forward to hearing your opinion after your trip. Thanks

[Kimera]

What great news! Ive been looking for a Thailand map for my Garmin for ages. All I could find last year was an unknown product at an rip-off price.

It looks like this Rottweiler guy (who had his thread closed for commercial advertising) has good (locked) maps for USD 100. Routeable and, from today(!), fully searchable on the Nuvi.

BTW, anyone who needs maps of Malaysia or Singapore could do worse than visit www.malsingmaps.com

It's an enthusiasts' site. All maps are free.

Their maps work in the chaos which is KL, so I'm impressed!

My company provided me with a Garmin GPS system, it came complete with the Thai Map built in

It is ALL english and precise to about 1 metre, it is also very up to date, and i notice it updates itself with new roads....

it is now something i cannot live with out now...

Thats what I need do you know where your company got the Garmin unit from ?

Edited March 9, 2008 by Kimera

[LivinLOS]

Gadgetrend in BKK is a big seller...

Maps available online.. Or from Garmin direct (in the USA) or ERSI in thailand.

[tonyhowes]

[email protected] this guy has them in BKK

[HDRIDER]

Hi

Got mine here, good service as well

http://www.gadgetrend.com/

[Kimera]

Hi

Got mine here, good service as well

http://www.gadgetrend.com/

Thnks for the input,

[mikethevigoman]

how do you navigate. in the uk I use postcode followed by streetnumber, in thailand?

This is the tricky bit,you need to get the spelling right, that in itself is a chore, jomtien is spelt entirely different ,( chom thian ) or something, they should give a directtory book with the garmin map, can be very frustrating

[HDRIDER]

Hi

Very hard to get the spelling right, Patong is Pa tong. better to find a hotel or shopping center, or pizza hut or gas station or or or

[LivinLOS]

I dont know whose maps are in it (you want the ERSI maps) but I see that bookshop under big C (SE-ED books) are selling a little touchscreen GPS mapping unit for 6900 baht..

[LivinLOS]

http://www.se-ed.com/eshop/NonBook/NonBook...mp;TypeMCode=LL

Thats the unit.. Price is now 6900 not whats listed in that webpage..

Nice looking little unit, small enough to go on MB handlebars also... All hinges on how good the maps and OS are tho.. The Garmin Nuvi range are pretty slick and run many other mapping systems. You can get a 250 w widescreen for 120 GBP on amazon.co.uk.. Add 100USD for the rotwieller maps or 120USD for the ERSI maps and its not much more than this for a lot more universally supported hardware..

[sibeymai]

Got a Garmin e-trex Vista Hxc direct from ERSI in BKK. They threw in the Thailand map for free. Good unit but it doesn't talk as it's a hand held portable unit more designed for trecking than driving. The altitude measurement is barometric, but unless you know the height and pressure when you calibrate it the measurement will be out. At least over a short period of time it will accurately tell you the difference between a high and low point. Over several hours, when the barometric pressure at the location has changed the reading will become more and more inaccurate until recalibrated.

Edited April 19, 2008 by sibeymai