Emigration and European GPS units ??

[Pukmeister]

Hi, I have a BMW Nav 2 unit (27XX clone) with the European basemaps running City Navigator V6. I may be emigrating next year to Australia and taking my GS with me (or selling it, taking the extras with me and putting them on a newer model).

If I purchase the Australian maps from Garmin and load them onto my Nav 2, will I experience any problems due to the wrong basemaps being permanently loaded for the region, or will it just happily run the Australian software maps on top of the units European basemaps with no loss of detail ?

Sorry if this sounds a bit daft, I just want to be sure it will work OK in advance of emigrating, or sell up to someone who needs a European unit and replace it later with an Austalian/Asian basemapped unit as necessary.

 

[Muppet]

You say the base maps, but surely you can delete whatever maps are on the unit and reload new ones from a different region? I did this by mistake once on my 2610 when trying to figure out how to use it (yeah yeah, I know..RTFM ) and ended up with nothing on there at all, so it should be possible.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

hey - thats what i did ?

don't worry about the base maps - just buy City Navigator Aus and you'll be right.

So you're on your way then ?

 

[Schtum]

You say the base maps, but surely you can delete whatever maps are on the unit and reload new ones from a different region?

You can delete maps on the CF card in the 2610, but you can't change the basemap. That's permanently installed in the GPSR. Attempting to navigate in Australia with an Atlantic basemap, for that's what European units have installed, would be pretty pointless. I know, I've found myself with nothing but the Atlantic basemap when I've missed installing a particular map for parts of California and Arizona and it's been useless.

However, so long as you install the appropriate maps for the terrain on which you'll be travelling, you'll have no problem.

 

[PanEuropean]

don't worry about the base maps - just buy City Navigator Aus and you'll be right.

However, so long as you install the appropriate maps for the terrain on which you'll be travelling, you'll have no problem.

Uh, both of the above statements are incorrect.

First, for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with the 'base map - detail map' issue, here's a quick primer: The GPSR itself has two kinds of maps inside it. One is what is called a base map. The base map is a fairly coarse map - it shows major highways, the occasional railroad, and rough drawings of shorelines and political boundaries. If you look at a basemap when the zoom level of your GPSR is set to 5 miles or greater, it looks quite alright. If you zoom in any tighter than that, it looks horrible - very chunky, all straight lines and no curves. The level of detail provided on the base map is very similar to the level of detail contained in the 'WorldMap' product. The base map is 'burned into' the GPSR memory when it is made, and cannot be changed.

'Detail Maps' are the maps that show all the individual residential streets. These maps either come preloaded with the GPSR, or, you can buy detail maps on CD or flash memory cards and install them in your GPSR. City Navigator is a detail map.

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The GPSR uses the detail maps to draw the image on the screen when the zoom level is set to 5 miles or less, and uses the base map to draw the image on the screen when the zoom level is set to greater than 5 miles. At very wide zoom levels, the individual street detail is not needed, and the GPSR can draw the map faster using the basemap than it can by looking up the information from the detail maps, then stripping out 95% of the detail that is not shown at wide zoom levels.

If you have a GPSR with a European basemap (referred to as an 'Atlantic' basemap) and European detail maps, and you are in Europe, all this happens behind the scenes - you don't notice anything at all. If you have a GPSR with an American basemap (referred to as an 'Americas' basemap) and European detail maps, and you are in Europe, everything works great until you zoom out wider than 5 miles. Once you do that, there is no regional basemap in the GPSR to draw the screen image, and as a result, you see a very angular, crappy screen image. The same thing would happen if you had a GPSR with a European basemap, loaded Australia detail maps, and took the thing to Australia.

Note that none of all this affects navigation - if the appropriate detail map is installed, routes are always calculated and displayed using the detail maps - regardless of what map is being used to draw the screen image (in other words, regardless of your zoom level). Keep in mind, though, that nothing from the detail map is displayed past the 5 mile zoom level, so, your route can look kind of funny when it is overlaid on a base map that doesn't have a corresponding road present in the base map.

So - to answer the original poster's question, the best thing to do would be to sell the European GPSR in Europe, then buy an Australian model GPSR once you arrive in Australia. It's a PITA, I know, but look at the bright side - it gives you an excuse to get a new GPSR, and if your employer is transferring you, you might be able to claim the expense as a legitimate moving cost, same way you can claim the costs associated with having to change TVs, VCRs, etc. if the standards are different in the destination country. I don't think you will be reimbursed by HM Government if you are going to Australia as a result of having been sentenced to transportation, though.

Michael

PS: I just know some bright light is going to come along and say "Hey, just install WorldMap, and the GPSR will use WorldMap to draw the screen at wide zoom levels." Technically this is correct, but WorldMap is 10 years out of date, the roads don't match up when the GPSR zooms out, and WorldMap has very little detail in it for Australia. Best thing to do is sell the European GPSR and buy an Australian one when you get to Oz.

 

[BurnieM]

The SP2610 basemap is identical to WorldMap in Australia.
WorldMap will not autoroute but if you had City Navigator Australia loaded it would autoroute.

A Pacific basemap SP2610 with City Navigator Australia and car mounts/cables is AU$1389

City Navigator Australia CD is AU$349

PS There are no plans to bring the SP27xx series into Australia
We believe a SP28xx model will be here November/December but do not know if the release of the Zumo will effect this.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

well my uk bought sp3 works fine with CN loaded.

i never zoom out past 5 miles - why would you ? i keep mine around 300m.

GPS's are more expensive over here - so i'd still say keep it and buy the maps.

Depends on your finances ? mine were tight

 

[Pukmeister]

Nicely explained Pan, now I understand.

(Apologies on my earlier mistake, I meant the Nav 2 is a 26XX clone)

I expected the unit would work outside its basemap area, I just wondered what ill effects there might be with displays etc. As I will be travelling around a lot and Australia is a truly huge country, I suspect I will be zoomed out well beyond the 5 mile scale. I recently drove from Brisbane to Sydney (not far on the map) and it took 11 hours over two days.

I may well take your advice Michael before I go and sell my Nav 2 with accessories including BMW bag, software, R1200GS cradle/power and car kits. In the meantime I could use my PDA if I buy a weatherproof bag for it. £145 for the Garmin maps of Aus is possibly wasted money if the unit is not truly care free to operate with them installed. I also much prefer the 3D display of newer GPSRs as you can anticipate approaching junctions etc more easily than a small plan view in 2D.

I could buy a TomTom rider instead if they ever get around to sorting out the mounting/vibration problems as I have a PDA with TT5 and Australia maps and when I used it in April whilst on holiday it was a godsend. I don't tend to use mapsources features much, I mostly ask the GPSR to navigate to an address or postcode, though I can see the advantage of pre-planned routes in mapsource if touring etc.

Phil, I have just received an email from the Aus government regarding my job offer from the Royal Australian Navy. I still have a long way to go with the employment and emigration processes but the initial job offer is in place so I reckon on 12 to 18 months. I reckon 12 months in Melbourne followed by years in Sydney (favourite) or Perth.