Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with maps and travel

Help me help my boss not get lost.

chiababe — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:50:48 -0800

My boss wants me to research GPS units for him to use since he'll be traveling a lot more in the near future. Any recommendations? I really don't know what I should be looking for in a good GPS unit. He wants to spend less than $200. It also needs to be fairly simple to use and update. He's an awesome boss, but not so good with tricky technology. Most of his travel will be within North and South Carolina. We're looking to purchase this within the week, so I won't be able to wait for new models that might be around the corner. I've read a few of the previous questions on this, but I'm wondering if there's anything new and exciting I should be looking at.

Map my contacts

tarvuz — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:38:17 -0800

Google Maps is great but I wonder if I can input my contacts so that all of them appear on a map that I can look up as I travel about the world. Is there another program that does this or will I have to do it by hand?

HD animated maps for video?

nitsuj — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:54:58 -0800

What's the easiest way to create HD-quality (1080x) animated maps for use with video? iMovie '09 has the nifty little map feature, but I use Final Cut Express and don't want to plunk down the extra cash for another editor. Is there a similar -- perhaps a bit more professional and detailed -- solution for creating animated maps for importing into Final Cut Express?

Ideally this would be a standalone program that creates the maps and outputs them into a format that is easily ingested by Final Cut Express.

(Other details: Final Cut Express 4, OSX.5.6, 2.4GHZ MBP + 4gb RAM)

Istanbul Travel Tips

mary8nne — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:19:35 -0800

TravelWiki: Tips, Suggestions or Advice on Things to do in Istanbul. Off to Istanbul for 5 days (4ppl -2 Couples). What must we do? We are all in Late 20s to early 30s and travel preferences probably range from:

Local restaurants / delicasies you just _must_ eat when there
Good bars to drink in
Historical/ Monument type stuff that is good to see.
Markets / Cultural Experiences.
Short Day Trips out of Istanbul

And Google map links or addresses / references are appreciated. (We are making a monster Google Map of things to do before we go).

Save my Seoul (Trip)!

larsks — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:20:23 -0800

Good street maps of Seoul, South Korea? That I can buy in Boston? I will be traveling to Korea some time next week. I'm curious if someone knows of a good source for street maps of Seoul somewhere in the Boston area. I'm looking for something that has both English and Korea names, at least for the major administrative divisions. I've tried the travel bookstore in Harvard Square and they don't really have anything.

If it helps, I'm going to be staying around here.

Not an atlas, mind you...

jon1270 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:17:27 -0800

Help me find the best map for an itinerary-free cross country drive. 10 years ago I had, and lost, a beautiful fold-out map of the entire United States. It was so large as to be unwieldy when fully opened. It was richly detailed, with freeways and state routes, parks and national forests, rivers and mountains. It was printed on heavy paper, with a slightly waxy surface that could tolerate a bit of rain without dissolving.

In 2 weeks my wife and I are going on a very loosely planned drive from Ohio to Montana with a friend who is moving there. We expect to camp most or all of the time, and would like to take the trip slowly and see what's to be seen. I wish I had my old map back, but I don't even remember who published it. What would you recommend?

Between the Woods and the Water--help, I'm lost!

Chrischris — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 10:05:48 -0800

I've decided to spend August with the books of the Eminent Patrick Leigh Fermor, but I've found I may need a map to help me... I'm looking for a very large, fairly detailed (meaning that small towns and villages are represented, as well as--hopefully--prominent geographical features (famous alpine locations, etc.) map of Europe from the Netherlands to Instanbul.
Free (as in online and downloadable) would be preferable, but I'm willing to invest a little cash to help me better visualize Fermor's journey. I've trolled the usual online repositories (Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, etc.) but have not seem anything that seems detailed enough. Suggestions, anyone?

Collaborative maps online: does it exist?

mrhaydel — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:42:16 -0800

What's the best possible way to plan out a series of trips on a map, preferably online, by two people in two different locations? So let's pretend that I and my lady friend are always coming up with places we want to go, and things we want to see when we get there.

Sure, we could just create a Google doc or spreadsheet, and start a list in that fashion (actually, we've done that already), but what I'd really want to do is be able to collaborate on a shared map, with both of us being able to put points of interest and notes on it.

I feel like I've played around with Google's "My Maps" enough to determine that I don't *think* it's possible there, but, I might also be missing something.

So, HiveMind, does anyone have any solutions to this conundrum? And, for what it's worth, it doesn't necessarily *have* to be online; I'd also love to hear of any off-the-shelf products, if they exist, or even less, uh, technical, ways of doing such a thing.

Maps vs. GPS - Choosing High Tech or Low Tech Travel

Dreama — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 15:02:02 -0800

Roadtrip technology. Which would you prefer, high-tech solutions (web-enabled phone/Palm, laptop, GPS) or low-tech solutions (maps, AAA Triptiks, GoogleMaps printouts) or some combination? I'm embarking on a bit of a road trip soon, and I'm trying to come to a conclusion about technology and what I want to schlep along and whether or not it's worthwhile to pay the premium for in-car GPS to the rental agency and so forth. I'm a map nerd, and the more detail the better, and I love having a paper map that I can take into a diner and pour over as I drink some coffee. On the other hand, I'm also a tech nerd, and the idea of a GPS that can say "Turn right in 50 yards" gives peace of mind, but I fear a situation in which a GPS put a friend in the parking lot of a KMart when they were aiming for the (easy to find) Pittsburgh airport.

If you were driving across four states through major metropolitan areas and making a variety of stops in unfamiliar places, what directional technology would you use? How would you combine options to have the best coverage and least opportunity for hair-rending moments of "where in blue blazes am I?!?!?!"

Driving from Alabama to Seattle.

bamassippi — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 19:17:55 -0800

I'm driving cross-country and I'm looking for an online guide as to what I need to see along the way. I'll be driving from Jasper, Alabama to Seattle, Washington within the next 2 weeks.

I'm looking for particular websites/sources that will show me what will be in my area as I drive 2,600 miles across America.

Anybody?

How do I map-out my world travels using Google Maps?

bamassippi — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 08:18:00 -0800

How do I map-out my world travels using Google Maps? I would like to show my friends and family where I've been using a connect the dots with lines from location to location using Google Maps.

What is a good website that uses a program (for free) to do that?