I will be traveling in Europe for 5 weeks this Spring. I will be in cities and doing some easy hiking at lake sides and national parks. Is there a map application that I should have that would make walking and hiking more easy? Would google maps be good to find my way around various cities? Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks in advance for your assistance. John
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
Knowing where you plan to visit could help us answer more completely.
Posted by
OP
Portland, Maine, USA
34 posts
The trip will be to Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia.
Posted by
Forest Grove, OR
11336 posts
Personally I like good old hard copy maps in hand when I am walking about. You can find various degrees of detail from Streetwise Maps to Michelin Guides. There are also many hiking maps. I recently came across this site http://www.omnimap.com/. Waiting for my first shipment from them. Not everything is in stock, so plan ahead. FWIW I did use Google Maps to plot some walking directions in Rome and Milan, and it was fine. I was unimpressed by Google's directions for driving in Tuscany since the Italian's don't label streets and highways as clearly as we do. :-)
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
I'm not exactly sure if an app exists, but it would seem to have to require data use on your device, the cost of which will eat you alive. Google maps are a waste of time. The TI in any city or town will give you a free throw-away map that will serve your needs. Most trails near any tourist area are well marked with a diagram at the trail head and markers along the way. Depending on which national park, and in which country, you might need to buy something ahead of time. You'd probably want a scale of 1:50k or larger. For short, half-day walks you won't need them since those are essentially a 'keep the creek on your left' type of thing.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
I agree, paper maps will suffice. I even usually make do with the maps provided by the car rental company I'm using, rather than buy a more detailed one. (Of course, how comfortable I would be with that would depend on where I was driving.) And Ed is right, the basic maps you get at Tourist Information offices are fine for getting around town.
Posted by
Sacramento, California U.S.A.
10230 posts
The maps you get from TI's are fine. Just be aware that they are not always free. Some places charge a euro or two.
Posted by
Germany, Germany
813 posts
I have the google maps app on my iphone and it works great for driving and walking around towns. It does use the data roaming though. A suggestion for hiking, since many driving maps won't have trails, is to stop at the town closest to where you'd like to hike and pop into the local information office. Tell them where you'd like to hike or what you'd like to do and I've found they have good suggestions on where to go, as well as give you some maps.