Hey Folks, Not overly sure where else to stick this so I'll put it here and if it offends any mod, please feel free to move. Anyway, I'm looking into to taking a trip to Tokyo later in the year and I wanted to see if I could wrangle a GPS for when I'm walking about. I'm shaken with spoken Japanese and I know little to no script so I thought might be a good idea to have if I decide to go for a wonder as I am so often want to do. Anyway, I asked a few friends and most of the GPS units I've looked at so far really only work for cars and similar applications (does anyone really do one for walking route planning?) but also most don't do maps of Tokyo instead charging masses for them. So what units should I be looking at? Any way to rent ? (I'm cheap) Or am I just slightly boned on the issue. Thanks for any information.
What's your budget? I've used a few basic GPS units for mapping, and they're pretty useful if you need to be taking down grid references on a regular basis or logging routes/distances you've walked, but beyond that I'm not sure they're much use. They need to be used in conjunction with a decent large scale map, and know what coordinate system it uses. And if you know how to use a map, you shouldn't need to use a GPS unit anyway (though they are often a massive time saver). For a unit like that, you're looking at around £100-150ish, depending on features, and Garmin models are probably your best bet. However, what you're probably after is a unit with a built-in map function, and they cost several times more (last time I looked they ranged from about £300 to £500, and you often have to pay extra for maps of different regions of the world). To be honest, I've never looked into these so I can't really advise which ones are best. I'm not aware of any way to rent either, but I suppose it depends on how much you're willing to spend.
Drat, I was hoping not to spend much just as it only going to be for a week. Maybe have to see how much rental costs on that sort of unit are. Well, I got no iPhone for one and then that ties me into ... errm ... I have no idea how the iPhone works. So would it be call costs or wifi? Either way using an iPhone ties me into other systems I might not have access to.
tbh, I was just suggesting it cos I know it works well within the UK, no idea about out in Japan. Sorry if I'm useless.
If you have a smart phone you can check on the networks website to see if it is supported worldwide. My N95-1 has world maps from Ovi so I would think most have by now.
I think what reggie50 means with regard to the iPhone is use the phones built in GPS, and the Google Maps App. I've used the same process on my HTC Hero when trying to find a place. If you went with this route, you would need to either setup a contract with a mobile phone provider, or buy a Phone and Sim card from a provider (Orange, O2, Vodaphone) If you get a phone like the iPhone/HTC Hero/Google Nexus One then it has Wifi built in as well, and considering Japan is probably the home of Technology, i wouldn't be surprised if the city is one giant wifi Hot Spot, meaning you could use the phones Wifi and GPS to find your way around the city. Hope that clears some confusion. Sam