Guia "T" or GPS

[Mike1]

Is anyone familiar with it? I've been using it for quite a while now and it is a godsend if you're relying on colectivos to get from one place to another (beats the taxis and remis in terms of savings, $1-2 ARS a pop for a colectivo vs. $8 ARS or more, depending on where you have to get to). The BIG one covers Capital and Grand Buenos Aires province, while the bosillo version only covers Capital. Have anyone had any experience with using the GPS auto navigation units here? I gave mine away to my parents when I moved because the unit I've had was compatible with the US & Europe only (TomTom). I just got a new Garmin Nuvi unit sent from home since I have found out that there are maps available for Garmin Nuvi GPS units in Argentina.
Has anyone used a Garmin auto GPS unit here yet? What's your outtake on it, please let me know.Thanks, Mike

 

[TangoCaz]

Hi Mike. I'll be moving there soon and was planning on purchasing a Garmin Nuvi before I left. Did you purchase the Argentine maps for it and if so, how much was it and how is it working for you? I have the city map book that my GF and I use when we are driving around the city, but this can be a little dangerous to use at night when you can't see the street signs very well and some places are just too dangerous to stop and look at a map. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.Thanks,Caz

 

[Mike1]

Hi Mike. I'll be moving there soon and was planning on purchasing a Garmin Nuvi before I left. Did you purchase the Argentine maps for it and if so, how much was it and how is it working for you? I have the city map book that my GF and I use when we are driving around the city, but this can be a little dangerous to use at night when you can't see the street signs very well and some places are just too dangerous to stop and look at a map. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.Thanks,Caz

I have a Nuvi unit and it works flawlessly here. There are
commercially available 3rd party maps for Argentina & Garmin has a
city NT map for Brazil on Garmin's website. The one that I'm using is
a free one from http://www.proyectomapear.com.ar/
This map can be loaded into either an SD card or the Nuvi unit by
itself using the Mapsource software. There are streets numbers and a
few POIs with phone numbers as well, so street navigation is pretty
flawless and covers 95+% of Argentina's city streets, 100% of Downtown Buenos
Aires, including the cities in Uruguay. The ones missing would be small
villages & Ushuaia, for example. All you have to do is to register
and wait for a confirmation email to download the maps. Check your
junk mail filter since that was where my confirmation was at. Get the
Nuvi unit in the US, it's about $899 USD for a Nuvi 660 here for
example... and forget about the extras like traffic or MSN receivers,
it's non-existent here at the time of this writing.
Mike

 

[TangoCaz]

Thanks Mike. I'm downloading the latest maps right now from the site you recommended. Last night I actually purchased a new Garmin Nuvi 760. Fyi, for the week of June 8th, 2008, the Nuvi 760 is on sale at BestBuy.com for $350. If you are as lucky as I was, you can see if the product is available for local pickup and save yourself the cost of shipping. Then ask your contacts to send it to you if you are already in BsAs, without the retail packaging of course. Regular price for this is $600. Unbelievable price!So for all of you who know someone in the States and would like to purchase a GPS now, this price can't be beat...for now.

 

[Mike1]

I have the 360, it's smaller and has a longer life than the widescreen models and is a lot more portable. Thanks for the heads up tho. I don't think it's a good idea to have it shipped here since there's a 50% import tax imposed on all new electronic items sent to Argentina. Get what you need/can before you get here because it's not exactly like the US, it's a task to get the LATEST stuff for the techy, believe me, I know A LOT about it.

 

[TangoCaz]

As you recommended, I downloaded MAPEAR v6.01 and loaded it onto my Garmin Nuvi 760. This is a bodacious alternative to paying USD 189 + IVA (21%) for the Garmin 3rd Party software "Mapas INAV para GPS cartografía de Geosistemas". I'm sure the Geosistema maps are more like the Garmin maps with TTS and 3D, but FREE is definately for me. The map looks good and I think my Nuvi will serve me well driving around the city. Can't wait to use it there. Let me know if you come across other or better maps of BsAs.
Thanks Mike.

 

[Mike1]

TTS works with Mapear as well as adresses.

 

[marcopolo66]

I bought a uvi 760 recently and it has suddenly opened up the city to me.

One weird thing is that whilst driving double a two way avenida, the GPS has directed me several times to make a left turn (when there is no left turn traffic light). I've been running the latest version of Mapear so not sure why this happening.

I'd also love to get a map that indicates the direction of the streets. Anyone know if one is available?

Cheers
Mark

 

[jimdepalermo]

I've been using a Garmin 250W for a year now, and I love it. Looking at its routes, I've occasionally thought it was directing me to an illegal left turn, and I've taken a parallel street instead, only to find a left-turn signal when I cross the intersection.

I bought my GPS locally from a lady who sells electronics on MercadoLibre. Price was comparable to US prices, and it came pre-loaded with the mapear digitals. (I've since learned to download updates.)

As for street maps, I have yet to find a decent paper map. The best city map I know is the electronic map on the city web site, http://mapa.buenosaires.gov.ar/sig/index.phtml, which shows the directions of streets and has photos of every building in the city. It also offers very good routings. Unfortunately, it's not portable. http://www.mapred.com can also be handy, with its directory of nearby parkings, cafes, hospitals, etc. (even telos!) The mapred site includes most areas of the country, include the GBA provincia.

 

[bily8888]

me recomendaron un servicio tecnico en cap fed ,ya me lo solucionaron me cargaron mapas de toda argentina,ahora quedo barbaro !! te paso la pagina ,espero que te sirva ,salu2 http://www.mapeo-gps.com.ar