[xxaarraa]

Folks, I am going on a trip to Manali soon and currently researching who has the best GPS maps available for the Shimla/Manali/Dharmshala areas in Northern India. I am looking for general real time tracking with the built in GPS receiver, I am not looking for navigation.

I have Nokia maps loaded on my 5800, but its mostly only for the 8 big cities in India. Has anyone tried google maps or yahoo maps? Are they any good for India? Please advice, thanks!

[tsk1979]

If you are not into routing, then you can use mgmaps to download google maps and use them. They are pretty decent, and free too

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

If you are not into routing, then you can use mgmaps to download google maps and use them. They are pretty decent, and free too

Very much the case, I use them since many months. You can also use Yahoo India maps (in.maps.yahoo.com), and these being based on mapmyindia are generally more detailed outside metros and big cities than google maps. Google is improving all the time, though.

I have also used mgmaps for routing and navigation, but that's in US. It uses google for the routing and driving directions. One day google will add driving directions for the India map, and then mgmaps will get even better for users in India :-)

[Abes]

I found this on the web, OpenStreetMap, where one can use, share and contribute to free open source street maps. Detailed Information could be found at OpenStreetMap - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Since I own a Garmin device, I found the cloudmade (CloudMade Downloads) interesting as they have Garmin Map Files

[rkbharat]

Most of the mapping companies like satguide or mapmyindia does not have a very good maps for Himachal, specially navigation, which anyways does not works on hills.

For tracking puspose, Google nad Yahoo maps are the best, but unfortunately none of them is perfect for all the areas in Himachal. Yahoo has best maps as compared to Google, in Himachal.

I suggest you use MGMAPS and download, zoom level 13 for all Himachal and zoom level 17 for main places Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala etc.

and download for both Yahoo and google, should be around 500 mb of spaces required for all.

You can refer to steps I documented here, but its more specific to WM6.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1109162-post681.html

Originally Posted by xxaarraa

Folks, I am going on a trip to Manali soon and currently researching who has the best GPS maps available for the Shimla/Manali/Dharmshala areas in Northern India. I am looking for general real time tracking with the built in GPS receiver, I am not looking for navigation.

I have Nokia maps loaded on my 5800, but its mostly only for the 8 big cities in India. Has anyone tried google maps or yahoo maps? Are they any good for India? Please advice, thanks!

be aware that in.maps.yahoo.com is localized for language. So might see Punjabi, if you download Ludhiana map. Safest bet is maps.yahoo.com.

Originally Posted by lancer_rit

Very much the case, I use them since many months. You can also use Yahoo India maps (in.maps.yahoo.com),

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by rkbharat

be aware that in.maps.yahoo.com is localized for language. So might see Punjabi, if you download Ludhiana map. Safest bet is maps.yahoo.com.

rkbharat, maps.yahoo.com didn't have the details for India that in.maps.yahoo.com has when I actively compared all online maps available for India including maybe 6-8 months back. I just took a look now, and that situation seems to have changed. OTOH, could you confirm if the level of detail on maps.yahoo.com for India is same as in.maps.yahoo.com ?

BTW, I think I posted this in one of the threads earlier. I reported the vernacular language maps issue in the mgmaps forum, and this was fixed with v1.39.17. So, my in.maps.yahoo.com maps are rendered in English since many months :-) IIRC, the map URL needed a language specifier once Yahoo India added local language support - it defaults to the language of the map area, I guess.

Also, mgmaps has been made opensource a short while back. If some has Java MIDP knowledge, and they could contribute to mgmaps development esp since the author is quite busy with professional work from what I understand.

Cheers,

[rkbharat]

Details are 98% same, I found some of the POI are bit on the wrong position in maps.yahoo.com. Other both are almost same.

Also basically when you download the maps using mapcacher.com, it downloads the localized map. No idea how I set he language. so I downloaded from US version. good for me.

Originally Posted by lancer_rit

rkbharat, maps.yahoo.com didn't have the details for India that in.maps.yahoo.com has when I actively compared all online maps available for India including maybe 6-8 months back. I just took a look now, and that situation seems to have changed. OTOH, could you confirm if the level of detail on maps.yahoo.com for India is same as in.maps.yahoo.com ?

BTW, I think I posted this in one of the threads earlier. I reported the vernacular language maps issue in the mgmaps forum, and this was fixed with v1.39.17. So, my in.maps.yahoo.com maps are rendered in English since many months :-) IIRC, the map URL needed a language specifier once Yahoo India added local language support - it defaults to the language of the map area, I guess.

[mmmjgm]

I use google maps for the Nokia E90, great job, very accurate, (works without network thanks to built in GPS in the phone) Tracks rural areas as well within India.

Nokia maps do not have B & C cities, major cities are fine, but out on the highway and on kuttcha Google maps is the best. Google maps works while tracking your moving position as well, it was accurate to +/- 2 feet. very neat !

I have yet not experienced Mapmyindia or equivalent on the move. May be you may need to upload their firmware for India. By and large, google maps is the best IMHO, I am not a power user for this as the battery of the phone goes in 4 hours (standby) as against 48+ hours.

Cheers

[dskumar]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

If you are not into routing, then you can use mgmaps to download google maps and use them. They are pretty decent, and free too

As per my understanding, Google Maps were not working with Mgmaps.
Only Yahoo is working. Is there any version which supports Offline google maps ?

[tsk1979]

I use OSM too, but himachal is not very well mapped, the main highways are there, thats about it. However I think mgmaps does work with google maps as well as yahoo maps and you have to select the tiles to download, and you can have them on your cell

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by dskumar

As per my understanding, Google Maps were not working with Mgmaps.
Only Yahoo is working. Is there any version which supports Offline google maps ?

Offline google maps does work with mgmaps. I have it running on my N95 since last 1.5+ years :-)
Ok some history - google had served a notice on author of mgmaps (since they started copying mgmaps and similar apps and came up with Google maps for mobile). So, Cristian (mgmaps author) was required to remove explicit support for Google maps from the phone menu for map types. However, he added a 'custom' map option in which you can add the right URL for Google and be able to browse Google maps online. Also, you are able to cache Google map tiles offline and use them though this may violate Google Map terms. Very strangely, Google didnot serve a similar notice to j2memaps which continues to support Google maps explicitly.

Originally Posted by rkbharat

Details are 98% same, I found some of the POI are bit on the wrong position in maps.yahoo.com. Other both are almost same.

Also basically when you download the maps using mapcacher.com, it downloads the localized map. No idea how I set he language. so I downloaded from US version. good for me.

Oh, I see now. Using the latest mgmaps versions, allows online access to Yahoo India maps get the English language maps. The offline map download utility needs to be changed to use the modified URL as well, which may not be the case. This should be a trivial fix in the perl script or the GUI program (easier for the perl script). mapcacher.com just generates a .map file with rectangle coordinates for which map tiles need to be downloaded.

For bhpians interested in mgmaps, you could browse these links
Mobile GMaps :: Index
Mobile GMaps - Map Tile Caching tools
Map Creation Tool for MGMaps

Cheers

[sam003]

Will mgmaps works in N73 music edition. Please suggest

[lancer_rit]

Originally Posted by sam003

Will mgmaps works in N73 music edition. Please suggest

Sure. You would need a bluetooth GPS receiver to be paired to your phone. For the phone support in mgmaps, you can lookup their website, and also the download page.

[wildon]

Guys, I'm looking forward to purchase a good GPS unit with maps. Can anyone of you suggest a good one. Most of my travel comes in Karnataka, Kerala , Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. Which manufacturer provides the better maps for these south states. Please suggest?

Is there is any alternate method of getting customized maps from google india maps or yahoo india maps

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by wildon

Guys, I'm looking forward to purchase a good GPS unit with maps. Can anyone of you suggest a good one. Most of my travel comes in Karnataka, Kerala , Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. Which manufacturer provides the better maps for these south states. Please suggest?

Is there is any alternate method of getting customized maps from google india maps or yahoo india maps

If you have a GPS enabled phone with a data connection then you can buy the software from Map My India MapmyIndia iNav : GPS navigation for mobile phones! Nokia, Blackberry, HTC, ASUS GPS phone navigation software all India

Btw wanted to know from Garmin / MapmyIndia users whether they have detailed road mapping for J&K or not.

Cheers