FREE GPS maps for Argentina (best site)
 

Hi there, greetings from Buenos Aires!
The best source for GPS maps of Argentina is to be found at: Proyecto Mapear (name can be translated as "mapping project"). This is a non profit association that permanently receives input from their members. After being checked, this input goes to the GPS database. If you want it, your GPS also can show you the "Lugares Peligrosos" (areas with high criminality) along your trip. There are also off road maps of Cordoba and Mendoza AND nautical charts for the Rio de la Plata and delta of the Parana and Uruguay rivers. You need to have Mapsource from Garmin and to register at the site to get it all for free.:D
PS: Mapear also offers free maps from Uruguay, Chili, Brazil and Bolivia. I cant tell how good or reliable they are.

Can anyone please tell me which of these can be downloaded direct to a Zumo without using Mapsource etc, in the way OSM can? I've been told proyectomapear can, but don't know about the others.

Thanks!!!

Hi!
You can download *.img files and use without Mapsource:
Perut
Bolivia/Argentina/Chile: ViajerosMapas
Brasil: Tracksource

Perut
 

Hi,

I just got back from 6 weeks of riding in Peru using the PERUT on my Garmin Zumo 350LM. I never used the routing function as I already had tracks made up with my planned route.
I was really happy with the GPS detail and found the maps to be fairly reliable for where we were riding (Northern part of Peru). The maps where handy in the cities. Very happy with the free maps.

My most recent analysis (on the road) of what are the best maps to use in South America

Central America - CenRut or BiciMapas
Colombia - OSM
Venezuela - VenRut
Brasil - Tracksource
Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay - Proyecto Mapear
Peru - Perut
Bolivia - RutaBo
Ecuador,Suriname, Fr.Guyana, Guyana - Open Street Maps
Southern Africa -Tracks4Africa

If you need a database of Campgrounds for South America, see this link
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-america-76785

Hi there..

I didn't read all of your posts - so you got this link already!

I am travelling around SA since 8 months.. The Topo Maps here are really good...

Free maps for Garmin from OpenStreetMap - Maps Download

Greetings Martin

free map application
 

For mobil device you can download OSMAND there get free map and they are good. I really advice it!

That would be me. OSM maps rock and are getting better all the time.

Garmin's South America NA make the big sucking noise, mostly because the Garmin product is missing two or three countries. I am not kidding.

I can't speak for the other products out there and there may be some that are better for this area or that country. For most travelers you want to get from point A to point B and OMS is going to do that, pretty much. They aren't perfect, and you'll figure that out if the GPS loaded with the OMS map set starts suggesting a crazy route. The reason is there is a small gap in the map, so the GPS has calculated the next best thing, which doesn't make sense.

I have seen gaps like this in Bolivia between Potosi and Uyuni, (as in the Salar de Uyuni), between Villamontes and Tarija, and the main traffic circle in Picos, Brazil. One day I will get together with the OMS group in NYC and fix this gaps.

Until then, use your brain, and don't follow a GPS that sends you on a weird route that would add hundreds of miles to your trip. I know its a lot to ask, but deal with it, because OMS maps are free! And you can fix and enhance them... Plus, they have gotten easier to use then they were a few years ago.

I added/extended roads in Belize and southern Nicaragua to OMS. You can too.

Last word, I recommend traveling with paper maps and a GPS. Paper maps have higher data density and jut plain have more information. You can draw on them and people can assist you better by looking at a paper map. A GPS will tell you where you are when you are lost. Something that a paper make can't do.

Yes, Garmin's offering does suck because of the missing countries. Why on earth can't they give OSM a bit of funding and use their maps.

OSM for Bolivia is very functional and has dirt roads and across-salar tracks that really don't exist except to locals in the know.

Yes, tiny gaps in the maps do cause some silliness - one being a missing 20 metres in the ferry route across Lake Titicata - but when the routing tells you that it is 500 km to a destination that you know is only 50km away, it is a pretty good giveaway.

I doubt whether I'll bother buying Garmin's map products again except perhaps those like the US where you could spend your whole life getting around some of those interstate interchanges without lane guidance.

I'll be back in Oz in a month or so and will be interested to see how OSM compares with the TomTom. I do know that outback in the Simpson and similar, the OSM map is likely to be far superior to the citicentric TomTom maps.

Agreed. Paper maps, even bad paper maps, are the only way to get a broad overview of route options.

Guys,
Your posts over the past few months relate to this other thread, the one linked below, which deals with the use of smart phones for navigation including the issues of the hardware, software and fixing the hardware to vehicles, specifically bikes.
It also goes into some detail about OSM which is being widely adopted as the mapping software mounted on phones and tablets.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...in-et-63191-21

My current specific interest is in what maps are being used by the manufacturers of the hardware, alongside user experiences.
It seems to me that you guys have much to offer!

The thread is pretty big (it's a big topic that is changing fast) so it is best read backwards i.e. most recent posts first, more or less.

Just a thought!

I always have both maps, the one from mapear and the conosur map (www.gps.com.ar). Especially in Patagonia and off the beaten track they are not always complete but most of the time one of them has the map where the other one does not.

Instructions in Spanish make this very difficult to understand with any confidence. Can someone supply an English step by step guide to these maps. Thanks.

Use Google translate to get a pretty good idea. Browser Google Chrome will often translate whole web pages.


BTW there is already a Sticky topic for this exact topic. Do we need TWO stickies for the same topic.

I have been posting and recommending regarding this GPS maps for Argentina and surrounding countries from when I was a noob member long ago on 2002/3. Fist was that Conosur and then when a member of that group stole the maps and name, MapeAR was created. There was a English page on the web time ago but don’t know if still there now. I have posted the link before but can’t find it now (maybe check my very old posts)
Anyway there in Mapear all is easy now:
First you have to register yourself, on an email they will send you a password, when you have it you login and go to “descargas” and there you will find all the downloads, direct ones to Garmin devices, Mapsource or BaseCamp ones, I think there still exist some for Macs, TomToms and others geeks things… Isn’t complicate at all as was before when you need to pay a nerd to do it, and now with google translator I can even understand Esperanto.

Saludos

Some free GPS tracks from South America:

Cuzco - Nazca, Peru

Ruta 40, Argentina/Patagonia

Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia