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Will my Vista work in Japan?


NOV8TR

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I may be traveling to Japan in a few months (business) :) . I downloaded some free maps for Japan that load into mapsource just fine. So when I load them onto my spare micro SD card, will they work when I get there? As this area is outside of my "base map" area I'm not sure it will work. Anybody out there tried this? I've seen a few caches in the area I expect to be visiting, and would really like to add another country to my list of cache finds! ;)

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If your GPS don't locate maps when you get there, you may have to go through an initiation procedure. In the satellite screen, hit menu, then New Location, then either use the Auto mode or the Map mode to select your relative current location. You may have to go through this procedure again when you return home.

 

When I travel abroad, I use Google Earth to make tracks to upload into my GPS showing routes from the airport to my hotel, caches and other areas I want to visit.

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Sorry, but your question reminded me of the following joke: LINK

 

So what maps did you find? There's no telling what will work with the info presented. If you have a Garmin US model, then CN Japan will not work as you don't have the fonts inside the unit to display the text. OpenStreetMaps are sort of in the same pile here, but generally have English along with Japanese text. UUD makes the best set to use with a US model, they have TOPO and roads but are not free. You GPS unit will, in any case work there if it isn't broken. You will want to change the local time zone and maybe the units to metric. As noted above, selecting 'new location' in the sky view should get you a faster first fix once you are there.

Edited by coggins
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If your GPS don't locate maps when you get there, you may have to go through an initiation procedure. In the satellite screen, hit menu, then New Location, then either use the Auto mode or the Map mode to select your relative current location. You may have to go through this procedure again when you return home.

 

When I travel abroad, I use Google Earth to make tracks to upload into my GPS showing routes from the airport to my hotel, caches and other areas I want to visit.

 

That was the answer I was looking for. The maps went into map source (and displayed perfectly)with no problem.

This one looks like the best "http://www011.upp.so-net.ne.jp/mametaro/kanto-e.html"

And this one is less detailed (maybe more non road specific) "http://rwsmaps.griffel.se/"

 

I should be able to load all the maps I need on the same sd card (I still have plenty of room).

Cool! now I am not dreading the potential trip so much!

Thanks to all who responded. Caching in Japan might be interesting :laughing:

Edited by 1XL-on-XR650L
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If your GPS don't locate maps when you get there, you may have to go through an initiation procedure. In the satellite screen, hit menu, then New Location, then either use the Auto mode or the Map mode to select your relative current location. You may have to go through this procedure again when you return home.

 

When I travel abroad, I use Google Earth to make tracks to upload into my GPS showing routes from the airport to my hotel, caches and other areas I want to visit.

That was the answer I was looking for. The maps went into map source (and displayed perfectly)with no problem.

This one looks like the best "http://www011.upp.so-net.ne.jp/mametaro/kanto-e.html"

And this one is less detailed (maybe more non road specific) "http://rwsmaps.griffel.se/"

 

I should be able to load all the maps I need on the same sd card (I still have plenty of room).

Cool! now I am not dreading the potential trip so much!

Thanks to all who responded. Caching in Japan might be interesting :laughing:

Actually, I mis-worded that. It should read "If your GPS can't lock onto satellites..." But, I think you get the picture. Have fun. When I visited Japan several years ago, I missed out on some caches because my GPS wouldn't lock onto sats and I didn't know about the initiation procedure. I missed out on two other countries until I happen to read a thread about it here.

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