ESRI Thailand vs. OSM Free Non-commercial GPS

Jan 4, 2014
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For those of you who have both, is the ESRI map worth buying? If so why?

In other words what does it have that the OSM map that Brian so gracefully updates and posts every month doesn't? Is it about the detail?

I use a Garmin Montana 600. Thanks.
 

Oddvar

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Mar 18, 2013
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ESRI is a waste of money.
OSM is free.
Updated comes quickly.
And "everybody" participate in making the OSM maps better.
 
Jan 4, 2014
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Thanks for the reply Oddvar. Started using the OSM map this month. Will look into how I can add and make it better...
 
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Javawa

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CraigBKK;300971 wrote: Thanks for the reply Oddvar. Started using the OSM map this month. Will look into how I can add and make it better...
While there maybe not that much difference between the ESRI and the OSM map in terms of roads shown, there is a considerable difference in the information shown with the ESRI map showing almost all of the road names in cities and the ESRI map has many more village names, Points of Interest, etc.. Not sure if that is of interest to all - it does for me - so I use the ESRI map. If you are a bit Internet savvy, it is easy to find a bootleg copy of the latest ESRI maps (just saw version 2014.20 which was announced by ESRI on the 1st of August) as well as maps for the USA, Europe and many Asian countries, etc.
 

jsbkk

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Dec 13, 2010
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Javawa;300973 wrote: While there maybe not that much difference between the ESRI and the OSM map in terms of roads shown, there is a considerable difference in the information shown with the ESRI map showing almost all of the road names in cities and the ESRI map has many more village names, Points of Interest, etc.. Not sure if that is of interest to all - it does for me - so I use the ESRI map. If you are a bit Internet savvy, it is easy to find a bootleg copy of the latest ESRI maps (just saw version 2014.20 which was announced by ESRI on the 1st of August) as well as maps for the USA, Europe and many Asian countries, etc.
True. ESRI maps do seems to have lots of other information than just roads. I many times have located accommodation, convenient store, gas stations and clinics from my location. This gets very helpful when one has to make unscheduled stops overnight.

Otoh I have noticed the OSM have more marked trails and tracks going off road.

I have them both on my 62s and enable/disable as required.
 
J

Javawa

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jsbkk;300980 wrote: True. ESRI maps do seems to have lots of other information than just roads. I many times have located accommodation, convenient store, gas stations and clinics from my location. This gets very helpful when one has to make unscheduled stops overnight.

Otoh I have noticed the OSM have more marked trails and tracks going off road.

I have them both on my 62s and enable/disable as required.
Yes, I have them both also on my 62S as well as the North Thailand Offroad map which has a lot of offroad tracks in the north of Thailand and use enable/disable depending on where I am going. On my iPad I have another Thailand map which is again different from the ESRI map as the iPad/iPhone uses mapdate from Garmin/Navteq
 

Oddvar

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Mar 18, 2013
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Smartphones connect you to this forum, and you can easily find recommended restaurants and hotels that riders have actually stayed at.
Mr Google will find anything else.
Again. ESRI is a waste of money.
 

jsbkk

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Dec 13, 2010
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Oddvar;301012 wrote: Smartphones connect you to this forum, and you can easily find recommended restaurants and hotels that riders have actually stayed at.
Mr Google will find anything else.
Again. ESRI is a waste of money.
OSM + Google is a tough combo to beat. But what happens when you don't get a decent Internet connection. Searching info is painfully slow provided you get a data connection. It is in such situations the ESRI map, though not as updated, is useful and reliable. I wouldn't call it waste of money.

You may find this article interesting.
http://www.advpulse.com/adv-prepping/poll-results-dedicated-device-vs-smartphone-for-gps/
 
Mar 30, 2010
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I use a combination of both..

ESRI is the best commercial map on the market.. No doubting that.
Still using an old 4 year old map..

Surprised how many trails it has for off road..

But OSM has a lot tracks and trails that you and I add.. and other riders can update when they change.
You won't really get that really with the commercial maps.
The information is as accurate as the last update :)

Cheers
Brian
 
Sep 7, 2014
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Agree.

And for those of us who do not ride off-road there's no need for the trails and tracks.

jsbkk;301021 wrote: OSM + Google is a tough combo to beat. But what happens when you don't get a decent Internet connection. Searching info is painfully slow provided you get a data connection. It is in such situations the ESRI map, though not as updated, is useful and reliable. I wouldn't call it waste of money.

You may find this article interesting.
http://www.advpulse.com/adv-prepping/poll-results-dedicated-device-vs-smartphone-for-gps/
 
Mar 30, 2010
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jsbkk;301021 wrote: OSM + Google is a tough combo to beat. But what happens when you don't get a decent Internet connection. Searching info is painfully slow provided you get a data connection. It is in such situations the ESRI map, though not as updated, is useful and reliable. I wouldn't call it waste of money.

You may find this article interesting.
http://www.advpulse.com/adv-prepping/poll-results-dedicated-device-vs-smartphone-for-gps/

You can cache your Google Maps too :)

http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-cache-offline-maps-in-google-maps-7-0/

Lots of good trails and tracks to be explored or alternatives where the GPS may lack.

Cheers
Brian