I have a 10 day trip to India - Calcutta. My hotel is a small
backstreet place and by no means a big well known chain hotel that
every taxi driver will be able to find. I've just spent a few hours
looking in to gps mapping solutions which will only lead to purchasing
expensive maps from Indian suppliers for only 10 days use.

All I really need is the ability to find my way back to the hotel when
on foot. Paper maps are useless in India as street name signs are
mostly non existent. So I was wondering if something like a Garmin
60CSx or Etrex Vista, once programmed with the hotel location, will
point me in the right direction, say compass style? I know there are
cheaper more basic models but these are ones I want to use elsewhere.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...

> All I really need is the ability to find my way back to the hotel when
> on foot. Paper maps are useless in India as street name signs are
> mostly non existent.

There speaks someone who can't read a map for ****.



--
Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't
looking good either. - Scott Adams

On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:31:17 -0000, Conor <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
>says...
>
>> All I really need is the ability to find my way back to the hotel when
>> on foot. Paper maps are useless in India as street name signs are
>> mostly non existent.
>
>There speaks someone who can't read a map for ****.


Do you have a point to make or anything useful to contribute?

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a 10 day trip to India - Calcutta. My hotel is a small
> backstreet place and by no means a big well known chain hotel that
> every taxi driver will be able to find. I've just spent a few hours
> looking in to gps mapping solutions which will only lead to purchasing
> expensive maps from Indian suppliers for only 10 days use.
>
> All I really need is the ability to find my way back to the hotel when
> on foot. Paper maps are useless in India as street name signs are
> mostly non existent. So I was wondering if something like a Garmin
> 60CSx or Etrex Vista, once programmed with the hotel location, will
> point me in the right direction, say compass style? I know there are
> cheaper more basic models but these are ones I want to use elsewhere.

Google maps seem quite good - why not print out the environs of your
"hotel"?

On Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:48:16 +0000, (E-Mail Removed) wrote
(in article <(E-Mail Removed)>):

> I have a 10 day trip to India - Calcutta. My hotel is a small
> backstreet place and by no means a big well known chain hotel that
> every taxi driver will be able to find. I've just spent a few hours
> looking in to gps mapping solutions which will only lead to purchasing
> expensive maps from Indian suppliers for only 10 days use.
>
> All I really need is the ability to find my way back to the hotel when
> on foot. Paper maps are useless in India as street name signs are
> mostly non existent. So I was wondering if something like a Garmin
> 60CSx or Etrex Vista, once programmed with the hotel location, will
> point me in the right direction, say compass style? I know there are
> cheaper more basic models but these are ones I want to use elsewhere.

When I go abroad and travel around on foot I carry a very basic Garmin unit
(a GPS 72) which has no built in mapping at all. Whenever I go anywhere on
foot I first make sure I have marked and saved my starting position on the
GPS. This is often the hotel where I am staying but could be the bus stop I
want to return to, or the place I left my rented car or whatever. Then if I
carry the GPS switched on I will get a 'bread crumb' trail showing my route
as I walk. If I get lost I can then easily retrace my steps using the GPS.
Even if retracing your path can't be done for some reason, the GPS will
always show the direction and distance of your destination that you marked
(your hotel in this instance). You therefore will know which direction to
head.

I have found that a small magnetic compass is useful in some situations. If
you know from your GPS which direction you should be going, it's often a lot
easier to follow a compass than a GPS pointer - especially if the satellite
reception is a bit difficult as it often is in cities.

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...
>
> On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:31:17 -0000, Conor <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> >In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
> >says...
> >
> >> All I really need is the ability to find my way back to the hotel when
> >> on foot. Paper maps are useless in India as street name signs are
> >> mostly non existent.
> >
> >There speaks someone who can't read a map for ****.
>
>
> Do you have a point to make or anything useful to contribute?

Well for a fact, a handheld GPS won't help you any more.


--
Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't
looking good either. - Scott Adams

On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:26:22 -0000, "R. Mark Clayton"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>
>Google maps seem quite good - why not print out the environs of your
>"hotel"?
>

Unfortunately they're not that good. They pinpoint my hotel in the
middle of a blank block showing none of the minor roads. The one
paper map I found on Amazon has another map overlaid on the very
section where my hotel is located. The Microsoft Live maps show a
handful of major roads only.

On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:02:12 +0000, Mike Lane <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>When I go abroad and travel around on foot I carry a very basic Garmin unit
>(a GPS 72) which has no built in mapping at all. Whenever I go anywhere on
>foot I first make sure I have marked and saved my starting position on the
>GPS. This is often the hotel where I am staying but could be the bus stop I
>want to return to, or the place I left my rented car or whatever. Then if I
>carry the GPS switched on I will get a 'bread crumb' trail showing my route
>as I walk. If I get lost I can then easily retrace my steps using the GPS.
>Even if retracing your path can't be done for some reason, the GPS will
>always show the direction and distance of your destination that you marked
>(your hotel in this instance). You therefore will know which direction to
>head.
>
>I have found that a small magnetic compass is useful in some situations. If
>you know from your GPS which direction you should be going, it's often a lot
>easier to follow a compass than a GPS pointer - especially if the satellite
>reception is a bit difficult as it often is in cities.


This is the useful information that I was wanting to read. Thank you.

On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:55:51 +0000, (E-Mail Removed) wrote
(in article <(E-Mail Removed)>):

> On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:02:12 +0000, Mike Lane <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>> When I go abroad and travel around on foot I carry a very basic Garmin unit
>> (a GPS 72) which has no built in mapping at all. Whenever I go anywhere on
>> foot I first make sure I have marked and saved my starting position on the
>> GPS. This is often the hotel where I am staying but could be the bus stop I
>> want to return to, or the place I left my rented car or whatever. Then if I
>> carry the GPS switched on I will get a 'bread crumb' trail showing my route
>> as I walk. If I get lost I can then easily retrace my steps using the GPS.
>> Even if retracing your path can't be done for some reason, the GPS will
>> always show the direction and distance of your destination that you marked
>> (your hotel in this instance). You therefore will know which direction to
>> head.
>>
>> I have found that a small magnetic compass is useful in some situations. If
>> you know from your GPS which direction you should be going, it's often a
>> lot
>> easier to follow a compass than a GPS pointer - especially if the satellite
>> reception is a bit difficult as it often is in cities.
>
>
> This is the useful information that I was wanting to read. Thank you.

Yes, well I've been lost a couple of times abroad. The first time was years
ago in Cairo when I went for a walk from my back-street hotel and got
hopelessly lost. I even had a street map but soon realised it was useless as
I couldn't read any Arabic and trying to match the squiggles on the map with
any road signs I found was impossible. It was quite a scary experience which
is why I take precautions these days. :-)

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire

In message (E-Mail Removed),
Conor <(E-Mail Removed)> Proclaimed from the tallest tower:

> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
> says...
>>
>> On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:31:17 -0000, Conor <(E-Mail Removed)>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
>>> says...
>>>
>>>> All I really need is the ability to find my way back to the hotel
>>>> when on foot. Paper maps are useless in India as street name signs
>>>> are mostly non existent.
>>>
>>> There speaks someone who can't read a map for ****.
>>
>>
>> Do you have a point to make or anything useful to contribute?
>
> Well for a fact, a handheld GPS won't help you any more.

Why not? it will be more helpful than a streetmap when the street names
arne't known...

--
Regards,
Chris.
(Remove Elvis's shoes to email me)