OpenStreetMapper here, thanks for the praise! Please try to report map errors if you encounter any, this makes it easier for others to see where there is still work to do :)
@@DNAofDoggie ohh yes, although I am considering to ship vehicle to either Mombasa or Nairobi and drive from there. I don't see anything other than hassle to drive from Mauritania to Angola. So as the plan starts, European rout with visit to Morocco and Mauritania, then head back to find port and ship the car south. But still couple of years until I move on with my plans. With war looming, it might never be.
Cheers! I expect I'll ruffle a few feathers in the industry in the coming months with that repeated advice - but it's true, so I'm not going to lie about it.
The best info I have found yet on overlanding maps, especially all the free yet good ones. This will be great for the offroad trails here in the U.S. Thanks again!
Please do for I meant it as a compliment. I enjoy your excellent clarity of concept and thought provoking dialog. I first saw you on PBS now watch each episode as you publish them. Good going man. To bad the Earth is so small. There’s always Jupiter.... (-;
True to the point without being flashy. Watched a lot of 4x4,s with screens all over obscuring the view, even renting the passenger air bag a killer. Thank you for quality info.
Love your channel. The Sudan book brought back memories. I was kinda lost and hungry in port sudan heading to egypt. A guy brought me to sizzling lamb meat on top of a burning rock in the desert. Best barbecue ever.
Great video. I'm glad you push a dedicated GPS unit. I can not tell you how many times people say "just use google maps on your phone". They have no idea that if your phone has no signal that your phone cannot calculate the route. A dedicated GPS never has that issue.
What a super helpful video. Really liked you concentrating on the essentials and especially the few screens shots Of how to upload and down load the various data sets. Great to know which systems can work together. Most people either gloss over this stuff or just recommend some incredibly expensive new piece of electrics. Many thanks
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm never going to recommend anything incredibly expensive, because I want to spend my money on adventures. So I'll always find a budget way to do things, and I'm going to teach all of you how to do it too!
I rode Alaska to Ushuaia, sailed to Antarctica, on to South Africa, then up to Egypt over 30 months. In my experience, Tracks4Africa’s mapping was unparalleled, providing excellent routing all the way up to Cairo. The open source maps for Central and South America were also excellent. My Garmin Zumo was, and still is, awesome. Now 13 years and 380 000 km old, it just works. It is surprising that a touch screen electronic gizmo can last this length of time.
Great showing example of how you use all those apps ! Already saw all of them mentioned on other channels but never with detailed explanation of how to use them and live example, that's helpful.
Hi! South American here, in big cities, i use Google maps, its just more convenient. On the highway, roads and backroads, o use Google Maps and a Garmin 64s side by side, with openstreet maps loaded. And we use iOverlander here too!
Excellent excellent advice. I think people are not aware of these options. Couple things I would add: There are lots of open source topo maps you can load in a similar matter, They don't display 100% correctly on a gps meant for street maps but they are still amazing resources for free. Also it is worth spending a bit of effort to get one the the Garmins that have a branded feature that is basically a form of dead reckoning when the signal is blocked like a tunnel or trees or buildings (for a limited time). This is really useful for urban areas or tunnels. As an example my gps with this feature worked perfectly in Guanajuato Mexico in all the tunnels which have intersections and exit ramps under ground.
Good hints mate. We navigate with the same OSM maps. They are really good. The options on the Garmin device are a bit poor (e. g. navigation a track). Therefore I went for a "gps map" version of the same manufacturer. This device allows me also to navigate easy in remote areas. Tracks4Africa is really good. And no doubt, paper maps are sometimes very helpful to have a rough overview. And yes: Out in the wilderness Gaia gps is usually very good and helpful for any kind of activity.
I'm really loving all the videos, I didn't even know about all the back roads and wild camping right here in Alberta!! Definitely time to get my 4runner tuned up.
Very informative video and I totally agree with how good Garmin and Tracks for Africa are. When we beat the London to Cape Town record (20 countries in 11 days) we needed faultless navigation. They both provided it.
Thanks for all the info provided, especially for the Garmin. Unfortunately this model is not available now, maybe discontinued. Also the benefit of the sd card is not mentioned in any available model. So, I would be grateful if you suggested a current model with these features. Thanks in advance, Michael.
Once again first class information right here. Worth a pot of gold this vid. Not a lot of people cover this subject which frustrates me. There are a lot of costly options out there...
That was extremely good information and found out that my little Garmin GPS unit has so much more potential that I had no idea about. Thank you for the info!
Great advice's. It is very nice to hear someone much more experienced and know that we both made the same or very similar choices. After a couple of wrong choices (and wasting time for searching for paper maps locally :) I decided to use maps on my smartphone in Australia. Unfortunately 3 years ago in Victoria data cover was not enough (no mutter on Great Ocean Rd or in the Vic's 'outback' :) and even GPS positioning was not good. Than I decided to buy Garmin sat nav with EU (where I live) maps pack, but with option to use OSM maps on other continents. The only disadvantage I found immediately in Uruguay - 1st country outside EU I visited with new nav - my Garmin was treating every dual carriageway road as two separate single carriageway roads (yes, OSM has cons). It was annoying to have been said to choose fifth exit on the roundabout keeping main road, but with little attention navigation worked nearly perfectly anyway. 2 years ago during EU travel (G, F, H, P) I used four sources: my new Garmin (slow wake up), online Google Maps (very good if you have mobile data access), and 2 offline: MapsMe and Here Maps (both annoying, but it is good to have offline backup - just in case).
Thanks for this great essential information. I have used most of those apps for quite sometime but learned a great deal of new information about them. Thanks again!!
@@TheRoadChoseMe Can you tell me if you bought your jeep new before your trip or used? What model year is it? I would like to travel central asia and your set up would be ideal..
Very good video with solid info. I agree with most of it. I totally agree with how bad Michelin maps are. The paper is fragile and they don't even have a coordinate grid so you don't know where you are even if you have a GPS. Useless in fact. I use OSM a lot but the biggest negative is that the line widths often don't reflect the importance of the road or track. This can be very misleading. Where I disagree with this video is about the devices. I too have a Garmin on the dashboard but the screen is just too small for many purposes. For planning I use a laptop running QuoVadis or maybe Basecamp. It sits on the cubby box and I can use it for navigation too if I am too lazy to upload to the Garmin. A final point. You are always dependent on the accuracy of the maps which can be very flaky for off road trails (and I include both Garmin's proprietary maps and OSM in this). For this reason I often download track logs from Wikiloc and superimpose them on OSM using QuoVadis. It works pretty well for off road trails. For really remote regions with unreliable mapping I download satellite images from Google Earth and import into OziExplorer. In featureless desert regions this is the only way to know where you are IMO.
Another wonderful video. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and be willing to help the rest of us along. Lots of useful, real world advice. I had a similar experience trying to leave Mexico City in 2008. I kept going around in circles for hours, ending back to the same place, and so I eventually just got a room and left early the next morning. Looking forward to more 👍
I couldn't agree more about Tracks4Africa. I've used them for years in Southern Africa. They are upgraded twice a year and if theres ever any problem the Tracks office are always very helpful. There is also a Southern Africa map book ( A3 size) with distances and expected time of travel that is accurate. Lately they have published guides for Namibia and Botswana (Zambia to follow) listing accommodation by area and giving contact details.
Nice! One thing I forgot to mention is they're essentially useless in West and Northern Africa. In Mali for example they have about 10 roads total. So it's really a southern Africa thing!
I think if I had a drone, I'd try looking for overland routes on FSR's. Otherwise, I'd use a MTB to scout a path where maybe someone would have built a bridge or ferry.
Hi your videos are the most comprehensive I've came across. I have a question regarding Internet and mobile phones. How to get Internet and a mobile phone network that will work in different African countries without spending a fortune.
Hi greeting from Indonesia..I am using garmin too for navigation and openstreetmap for map. We are a same interest. I love overlanding in my country and travelling to overseas. When I am outside Indonesia I use Google map and sygic for navigation. Before I use garmin for Europe but I must update it. Next December I will go to Spain Portugal i will use garmin with openstreetmap map downloaded.
Hi Ron, No - it doesn't have any ability to connect to the internet. As I showed in the video, you download the OpenStreetMaps (FREE) onto an SD Memory card, then put that into the Garmin. You can also load in the iOverlander points of interest completely free too.
@@TheRoadChoseMe Thanks. Yes, I did see the sd card thing. So you get the map, but your vehicle will not show up on the Garmin like on a smart phone, I gather. Kind of old school meets new school, sort of, ha. Thanks again.
Oh, sorry. The Garmin is a GPS, so it talks to satellites to know where you are, put the vehicle on the map and then do all the navigation! You don't pay for that kind of connectivity.
Nice overview Dan, and now more tools for my kit bag. I noticed that the Garmin inReach wasn't included. I'm a fan of having both satellite navigation and satellite communication (text) bundled together, along with the SOS feature. Have you had any experience with any of the inReach models? Also, being from Maine, I have to throw in a shameless plug for DeLorme Gazetteer maps. They were bought out by Garmin 4-5 years ago, but until then they were the premier large scale map books for the States. Just something about holding an 11"x14" mapbook to get a great feel for an area and not burn out your eyes in the process.
I would love to get to the expos this year, but they've all been officially cancelled.... so I'm not entirely certain what I'm going to do to be honest.
I own three garmins... was considering the overland version... I actually own the $100 one u have which has run thousands of miles but always falls off windshield because the garmin mount is terrible... however the gen2 garmin/ramx system is brilliant! the overland variant is just a lmt700dezel repurposed that is getting very dated... the tablet gps are becoming more common imo as a professional driver
I concur with Júlíus, don't EVER take this video down, it is GREAT! I am at the birth of my Overlanding, I have a Jeep now and am starting to equip it. I am a LONG way from going international, but I do have some questions for you... In summary: Q1: Does the Garmin Drive 51 allow you to load a predetermined route via GPX file and follow that route. Q2: Does the Garmin Drive 51 allow you to record where you actually go for historical purposes? Background: I come from a cycling background where I create routes online (RideWithGPS.com) and then download the GPX route file to my Garmin bike computer. Once I started riding, the bike computer would give me turn by turn based on the route in the GPX file I downloaded. When I do my exploring around here, I would like to do the same thing... download a predetermined route. This not to say I won't go off the route, it is just nice to have a general plan as I head out. Does the Garmin Drive 51 allow you to load a predetermined route into it and then give you turn by turn for that route? I am 99.9% sure the new Garmin Overlander will. The other question I have is about recording where you have been. The Garmin bike computers I use automatically for me. It was my impression that the regular car unit's, like the Garmin Drive 51, don't actually record where you do go, they only show you where to go. How do you record where you have been?
Hi Sam, I'm happy to hear the video was helpful! Q1: As far as I know, the Drive 51 can't do that. I've never looked into it though, so maybe it can. Q2: Yes, when you turn on the feature the Drive 51 records everywhere you're going into gpx files on the unit. It stores them for a long time, and you can transfer them to a computer whenever you plug it in. I'm not a big "track log" guy, but I do have the last 1/4 of my Africa route. Good luck out there!
Great info, I’m not an Overlander as such but we have used Garmin in many countries, Garmin maps & OSM combination have been great in New Zealand, Australia, India, Southeast Asia and now Europe, 3 Garmin latest 51 Drive with a earlier 5” as backup (full of OSM) as the 51 sometimes shuts down in 40c+ and a etrex20, maps.me has been great, iOverlander App not too happy with as can’t use off line but the POI data on the Garmin was very useful in the Balkans.
I know they're working hard on an ioverlander that lets you use offline maps. For now you can still use it in list view, then just choose "open in mapping app" to see the point in maps.me or whatever. It works pretty well. Or stick those ioverlander points into your garmin too!
The Road Chose Me , it’s a bit clunky to use maps.me but it works, I would happily pay for an offline version for iPhone/iPad, Garmin should make it available for other models as most can’t afford or justify an Overland Garmin and it’s huge or have slightly older models which still work OK
Great video and confirmed we are going down the correct track with our kit. Have you looked at Pocket Earth Pro. Costs £5. Uses open source again but with contours. There is a free version too but no contours
What is wrong with Google Maps? Why don't you recommend them? Just curious. Because even without data package, you can use them by downloading individual countries or regions ar a time.
In many countries in the world Google Maps is atrocious. All around Africa, much of Latin America. It doesn't have the detail in the cities, and it hardly has any roads other than main ones. Even today when I want to find a place I was in Africa the roads simply aren't in Google Maps.
@@TheRoadChoseMe Cool. I binged watched your videos last night..excellent content. Very brave of you to take a Chrysler product on such an epic adventure. I'd stuck to Toyota Landcruiser 76 series!
Maps.me has always worked good for us in North America and Europe. I find the best all around setup is Gurumaps.app. We have it on a tablet, and phones. It has been flawless, eving showing old 4wdr tracks, hiking trails as well as great city coverage. It uses vector maps which uses less space. For instance the whole map pack for the Yukon is only 45MB. You can easily download a whole continent beforehand.
A point on Garmins - vibrations wear out the cable contacts in the device after a while - went through 2 as a result on a trip around africa - anyone got ideas to prevent this. Doubt it would be an issue in many areas though so dont panic too much but worth thinking about if it all goes wrong in middle of nowhere
Yes, that's the one I have and it works perfectly (min's called a "Garmin Drive 5") Just make certain it has an SD memory card slot in the back (I think they all do, but double check.)
@@TheRoadChoseMe Awesome!I wasn't sure because in the link you posted it has the Garmin "51".Iv found a Garmin "52" on kijiji so I just wanted to make sure it will work with the software:)and IL definitely check for the SD slot.Thanks again.
This is a great video!Does the Garmin GPS come with the SD card or do I buy that separately?I'm trying to buy this for my Dad.He wants it for searching for minerals in Africa.He wants something that will work in the middle of nowhere where there's no wifi.
Hello Dan, I'm loving your book because it contains many important tips and inspiring stories, congratulations. I intend to take a car trip through urban areas in Brazil. I must not travel off-road. Do I really need a GPS? Is Google Maps enough? I have never found a video that compares Google Maps with a GPS device.
We navigated from the UK to Namibia, down through west Africa using ONLY maps.me (free app and maps) on our android mobile phones. Together with iOverlander and our paper Africa lonely planet , maps.me was one of only three sources of information we used during the whole trip (other than word of mouth recommendations from locals). As a first back up we had a second mobile phone with these apps installed. As a second back up we did have some large scale Michelin maps but we NEVER used them to navigate! When we are eventually able to return we will probably try and download some kind of "tracks for Africa" thing as we head into South Africa- thanks for the recomendations.
(To be fair we've come a long way - Kev's first overland trip involved a single A4 print out from a CD-rom and was way before smartphones. Made it all the way from the UK to Russia on a bike using this single piece of paper and a daily post-it list of village/town names written down by numerous friendly locals - who needs a map?!)
Nice, thanks for the real world input! Do you use maps.me for the turn-by-turn as well? Are you happy with it? It always bugs me and takes me on stupidly small roads, so I don't use it for that.
@@TheRoadChoseMe yes, BUT we always have a quick look at the route (just zoom out on maps.me) to check it - every so often it does something silly but we just add a way point to fix it. (It did not like the Congo into DRC boarder near luozi in particular- had to add loads of way points!) 2 years ago we had no 4x4 vechicle and had just started watching your videos for some ideas! Thanks for the great videos, we hope ours can be as useful to someone!
@@TheRoadChoseMe You mentioned you used Tracks4Africa maps when offroad, which map set were you using on your Garmin for remote Northern Territory or WA for example?
Hi Dan! Love your books and these videos are a wealth of information! Just wanted to let you know that I've been trying since you posted this video to download the files for North America and have not been able to do so. I emailed IOverlander site and they replied that the servers have trouble downloading files with other 2000 places in them. Do you know where else I might be able to get those files for my Garmin? Any help would be great!! Thanks and Happy Trails!!
Hi Jim, Thanks for the support! Oh wow, that's interesting. For iOverlander I've never had a problem downloading the files for any country, that's a shame. Sorry, I don't think they are anywhere else.
Plenty of common sense and excellent advice. Have you ever used Google maps or google earth? Is it because internet connection is sparse outside North America or Europe? Thanks.
Stress, man just watching that intersection with a zillion motorbikes was stressful. I couldn't drive in a lot of countries. I need street lines, marked roads, people following driving laws.
It's a bit intimidating at first, but you really do get the hang of it. Just go with the flow. There are TONS of vehicles slower than you, so just go at your own pace and you'll do fine.
I just learned about this too - you can use the search function, and as long as there are less than 2000 results you can download a GPX.. so do a search for one type of camping and download that, then do another type and download that. An annoying extra step, but it will still work perfectly.
@@TheRoadChoseMe Thank you for replying Dan!, i was so happy i received the device that i totally forgot to thank you about the insights on this video wich made me incline to buy this handy gps! now im going to upload the maps and the GPX files into it!!! im going to find out in a bit if i can upload several GPX files!
hmmm, when people use phones and tablets in foreign countries dont they need cellular/internet connection for the device to know where youre at? as suppose they could be used like a paper map data base where you can look at routes but need to know where youre actually at to navigate do you find it to be a hastle to need to connect the garmin to a computer mid trip and upload new maps for the upcoming region or is it a nonissue? im assuming you can download the entire world map or atleast any regions you might use to the laptop at home and just transfer them as needed no wifi required
No, the devices all have built in GPS for the actual location, and you can download maps when you do have wifi or whatever then use them offline later. It's not a pain to load in new maps, and you're right, you could do it all in one go if you wanted to
Hi,I finally got the Garmin for my Dad.I just have 1 more question:I want to load it with the Zambian tracks4Africa map for him and send him the gps.My question is,can he use the Garmin to plan your trip without a computer and Basecamp?Like can he key in directly into the gps directly without the computer?He doesn't have a laptop at the moment.
Hey Trey, Yes, he can look around on the gamin screen to see where he wants to go, but it's kind of small and not ideal. You might want to buy the paper tracks4africa map of Zambia to be a guide. It's really, really good!
@@TheRoadChoseMe oh ok I see..can he use an iPad maybe with bandcamp?I like the idea of the paper maps but his going into the Bush and he wants to use coordinates to set his destination,so I don't know if the paper would be idea for that kind of thing?
I agree great video, I notice you are using Mac and I am using Windows. but I’m no numpty and I can’t get the maps to work on my Garmin. Nor can I upload the POI file using the software you’ve given us the links to. I have the garmin 51. Even when I loaded.ImG file under the garmin folder on the device. I then reboot the device but the map is not being picked up.Is there something in windows that I am not doing? Any help really greatly appreciated.
Some good info. I have used an iPad mini as a GPS for at least 7 years and would not use any of my small ass Garmins in lieu to the iPad. UR concern with crossing a border with a tablet - pop it off the stand and slip it in a cubby. UR concern with being distracted by the screen - a little button on the side will shut it the f off - problem solved. That iPad has seen at least 150k miles and I would recommend it "All Day Long"
@@TheRoadChoseMe Not International - CA USA - Baja. I use the Garmin App - "Navigon". There are other apps that work with the iPad - this is the one I used. And the bigger screen makes navigating so much easier - no squinting required - which can be dangerous in dense traffic.
We are going to France in October. I bought the European map and installed it on my Garmin. I live in North Carolina. I have changed the map to France and I'm putting in addresses in the unit of places we are going but it doesnt recognize any of them. It should find them, right?
Inputting addresses can be painful, they have to be in just the right format. Try putting the North Carolina map in there and see if you can use it for driving around..
@@TheRoadChoseMe It works fine here in North Carolina. When I change the country setting to France and put in addresses like our hotel or museums, it's not finding them. Should it find them? Or will it not work until we get to France?
I think it should work. What happens when you just zoom way, way out until you can see other continents, then just zoom way, way into France - can you see individual roads? If it's working, you should be able to zoom in on Paris until you can see literally every single road, named perfectly - it will be extremely dense in a big city like that.
@@TheRoadChoseMe I can zoom in on France, so the European map works. I created a trip from Paris to Caen and it gave me driving directions, but when I put it a specific address like the address to the Pegasus Memorial Museum, it says it cant find address. Thats odd.
It might be how you're entering the address - every country has a different format it seems (street number before street name, for example). Try looking for the museum in attractions or whatever other categories your GPS has.
I forgot to add that Google Maps is terrible in many parts of the world - it simply doesn't have all the streets and isn't accurate. And you won't always have internet either.
