WisconsinTed

We will be spending a week in the South Island in September, splitting it between Abel Tasman and Picton areas. We've booked a car, but I just started looking for Michelin maps and it doesn't look like there is any such thing. Any recommendations for best resources? Thanks in advance. We will only be on the north end of the SI so don't need comprehensive maps.

Bokhara2

Here's one
http://www.nztourmaps.com/

Google shows AA maps which also look good.

margo_oz

We bought a map book, I think Hema maps, and it was outstanding. Just picked it up in a newsagency.

Melnq8

Hema maps are my favorite too. You can pick up free area maps at any I Site in NZ also.

Melnq8

If you need to do some research before you trip, you can also find area maps online like these:

http://www.wises.co.nz/l/Picton/#c/-...174.000082/16/

http://www.picton.nz.com/maps.aspx

Your car rental company will also give you a map if you ask.

annhig

we bought a Pathfinder map book published by Kiwimaps from a petrol station on our way out of Auckland, our car rental company having refused to give us a map [or a loo, or a drink of water - so much for Apex's customer service].

it's a nice size with regional and city maps, and a very useful map showing driving distances and times. it's the times we used most.

it would have ben most useful to have had it before we left for the trip as we might not have been so ambitious with our route.

WisconsinTed

Thanks all. Sounds like it will be OK for us to get a map once we get to NZ (or AU since we will be in Brisbane for a week prior).

We are just wanting to mostly get from from point A to point B, then point B to point C. Not a lot of previous research needed.

tt7

I'm amazed that, in this age of iPads and smartphones, anyone would still contemplate using a printed map. Apart from anything else, the singular advantage of online maps is that the gps tells you where you are - in my experience, the 'you are here' sticker on printed maps doesn't move when I do.

I can't speak to the areas you are visiting but we spent 2 weeks on the NI earlier this year and navigated our way around just using online maps, without any issues.

annhig

I guess that some of us are just old-fashioned, tt7.

IME the GPS is ok for the moment, but what about taking it into the restaurant to look at where you want to go tomorrow? or looking at it in bed to plan next week's route?

and the 'time needed to get from one place to another" page was absolutely invaluable.

Melnq8

Guess I'm old fashioned too. Can't imagine needing a GPS in NZ. There are only so many roads! In our 12+ trips there we've always used a paper map...it's led us to some truly off-the-beaten path gems we'd not have found otherwise. I rather enjoy poring over a map the night before a day of driving and exploration.

margo_oz

Yep. Another vote for maps. GPS and online maps are fine for the single minded - but - they are not too flash for browsing and what ifs.

tt7

I think you all miss the point (or I simply don't understand the points you are making). The GPS function on an iPad or smartphone is used solely to pinpoint your physical location on the map (so you know where you are) and can then figure out - from the same map - how to get where you want to go (by 'reading' the map, the same as you would with a paper map). As for using it/browsing the map in a restaurant or in bed .... umm, no issue with doing that on an iPad or a smartphone. As for the "time needed to get from one place to another", most online maps will suggest multiple routes from one location to another (including from your 'current location' based on the GPS) and the time needed. I really don't understand why anybody would bother with a paper map.

aprillilacs

Ahh, ttttttt, some people just like the feel of the good old piece of paper in their hands. Remember paper? And piecing together the parts of the map after it's been folded and perused so many times it's ripped apart from shear wear.

On a more practical level, there's the cost of the data plan for a smartphone or tablet when you're traveling abroad and can't access wifi. Those roaming charges add up fast when you're traveling internationally. Ka-ching.

tt7

No 'Ka-ching' involved. If you're using an iPad or an iPhone, the Apple maps are vector maps, so you just need to browse (when you do have a good/free/cheap connection) the map for the area you're interested in and they'll be available offline (and the GPS works offline).

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/...or-a-wide-area

Melnq8

<I really don't understand why anybody would bother with a paper map.>

Nor do I understand why people bother with gadgetry, particularly in a wild and remote place like NZ, but to each their own.

Map reading seems to be a dying art.

You'll no doubt be shocked that I've never owned a GPS and just bought my first cell phone a few months ago. Not loving it. An IPAD doesn't appeal to me in the least, but I'm glad it works for you.

tt7

I've no idea what 'gadgetry' (as you call it) and the fact that NZ is a 'wild and remote' place have to do with each other but c'est la vie. I would have thought that the more 'wild and remote' the place, the more useful the 'gadgetry' would be.

Map reading is not a dying art. I just choose to read the map in electronic form rather than on a piece of paper. Nobody (at least not me) is talking about using the GPS function to navigate - it simply shows you on the map where you are - something a paper map is never, ever going to do. Good luck with the paper map when you've missed a turning, you're in the middle of nowhere, with no street signs, place names or anything else and you don't know where you are.

I've never owned a (standalone) GPS unit either and have no need of one. I can read an online map as easily as a paper one, the GPS function constantly shows me on the map where I am and, given an online connection, I can retrieve (for free) a map of anywhere in the world. Not much point in buying paper maps....

Melnq8

Good on ya tt7. Let's just agree to disagree on this one. If we all liked the same things the world would be very boring indeed.

WisconsinTed

Wow, I picked a scab! I love maps for their esthetic appeal of revealing, in a 2 x 3 ft panorama, all the possibilities of where I could go. I don't have an iPad or tablet and the iPhone screen is too small.

Maybe a generational thing. I also wouldn't dream of taking books on a trip in a tablet. Even better if they have that "used book store" smell. That's the best.

nelsonian

Well I must admit we use maps on the I-Pad rather than paper maps, and we live in NZ. Use the GPS when we are driving in Auckland too. The main reason we do this though is I am hopeless at navigating, and don't even know how to read a paper map properly. The online maps, and GPS save a lot of arguments and stress. My DH research the night before on the I-Pad. We have used them in Hawaii and Australia.