Navigating abroad

[Slimalex]

When I last visited Europe I owned a Garmin sat nav. Accompanied with the aires/stellplatz book and a map I navigated around entering lat/long etc.

Without using loads of data etc, what do people use now? My partner has a European Garmin but that doesn't have any way of coordinates in.

Thank you

 

[Geistguy]

Have you tried the " What3Words" app on a smart phone or tablet ?, you can zoom into where you want to go, get the 3 word code and go. It uses Google maps and accurate to 3 mtrs. Works all over Europe and beyond.

 

[kevenh]

You can search by place name or address in a sat nav.
I’ve rarely felt the need to enter Lon/lat coordinates.
What’s the advantage?

You could create a new waypoint on most/all sat navs & enter Lon/lat there.

 

[Slimalex]

Have you tried the " What3Words" app on a smart phone or tablet ?, you can zoom into where you want to go, get the 3 word code and go. It uses Google maps and accurate to 3 mtrs. Works all over Europe and beyond.

I've used what 3 words when a tree landed on and wrote off the vehicle I was driving. Thank you, though

 

[Slimalex]

You can search by place name or address in a sat nav.
I’ve rarely felt the need to enter Lon/lat coordinates.
What’s the advantage?

You could create a new waypoint on most/all sat navs & enter Lon/lat there

In the past the aires book had lat/long coordinates so I used that to find the place more accurately.

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[tacr2man]

In EU post codes dont cut it , so they use lat long , Garmin satnavs (well every one I've ever owned)have the facility to use various lat long types , its not always intuitive on where you get to enter them . It pays to check you are using correct type as using wrong one can put you out by quite a long way .

 

[kevenh]

A typical Garmin SatNav set of instructions:

Finding a location using coordinates
You can find a location using latitude and longitude coordinates.

1. Select Where To? > Coordinates.
2. If necessary, select Options and change the coordinate format or datum.
3. Enter the latitude and longitude coordinates.
4. Select Go!.

edit: Added clarity/lost formatting

 

[Guigsy]

We did a long tour around Europe a couple of years ago. We generally used the various camping site apps (Park4Night, etc) to find where we wanted to be. Then clicked through from the app to navigate. Select Google Maps. Then plug the phone into the Android Auto enabled radio. Presto.

Planning and Navigation

Disclaimer: Everyone is comfortable with different levels of certainty and different levels of technology. After several weeks of experimentation, the following works for us… although we&#821…

endlessweekend.co.uk

 

[MichaelT]

If you get the search for sites app you can use the inbuilt functionality to navigate to your site and for general use you can use google maps or waze if you don't want to buy a Sat Nav device. We have a Tom Tom Camper we use which is great and also shows speed and warns of danger spots, speed limits etc.

 

[kevenh]

My partner has a European Garmin

What is the model # of this Garmin?
I'd be surprised if our European neighbours got a feature limited satnav.
Between us we should be able to find out how to add a destination from Lon/Lat on it.

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[ontheroadagain]

I usually find the exact location on Google maps and drop a pin (which will also give you the co ordinates).
I can then use Google maps to navigate to that point or enter the co ordinates into the Garmin and save it as a POI.
I think you can enter co ordinates into all Garmin satnavs - I would be very surprised if you cant.

 

[royandsharont]

I’ve always used the Tom Tom sat nav for years so being familiar with it makes it my preferred choice but having done over 39k miles in the MH using it I think it has some excellent features for the likes of us. I’ll have a go at recalling them whilst I have my coffee .

The actual mapping system I find excellent with easy to see direction indicators and Lane guidance, live traffic & speed cameras plus warning if you go over the speed for the road, very helpful in Europe where most of our driving is done. I have free lifetime map updates & speed cameras etc which is a real bonus. Not that you could speed easily in a 4t van.

It allows input by addresses, finding POI’s and both formats of Lat & Long positions. I find the latter really good for accuracy both here & abroad as postcodes or internet positions are not always correct where the gps position given by the site is generally spot on.

I can sit in an armchair & plan my routes to go the way I want to go not the way the sat nav wants to go and then I can save them and if it’s a common route for us travelling then they can be used time and again. It is easy to alter the route to deviate using waypoints etc or POI. We’ve found over the years that we stop overnight at many of the same places when heading south so this is easy. I can avoid tolls etc with the press of a button which stays like that until I decide otherwise.

The best bit I liked, which I cannot do in the same way now, is enter and save many things, like campsites, supermarkets I can get into with the van, good fuel stations etc as my own POI and put them into categories of my choosing with their own icon. I find this helps me with my planning and very easy to set a route to somewhere I have been before. Unfortunately on the newer devices, like mine, I can transfer in my old POI from my previous one but I cannot create new ones in the same easy way or add to existing ones. All at the expense I guess of live traffic & being able to plan on the phone or laptop & transfer to the device with ease.

I do always use maps though and check the route there before relying on the sat nav, they all seem to make mistakes trying to send you down narrow roads etc even if you enter your size & weight, which is why I don’t bother now with a specific camper one.

A big bonus is it doesn’t rely on the internet or data allowance and phone signals to work. Our new van will not have a sat nav built in, relying on CarPlay or Android connection to the phone and internet needed. I recall once travelling north through France in horrendous weather for a full 24 hours with no phone connection due to telecoms problems, I was glad I was using a dedicated gps device and not a phone adding to the stress of the weather.

Well I’ve finished my coffee now, I hope this gives my perspective of how I navigate in the van. My wife cannot read maps so I have to make sure I plan in advance & get the sat nav to do what I want it to do

 

[robnchris]

Road maps are pretty good at getting us around, used them for years and they still work fine.

 

[irnbru]

If you buy the paid for version of searchforsites you can download the POI quicksearch to your Garmin. Each POI has a code for example S28208S, you just need to look at the app on your phone and enter the code on Garmin, saves having to enter co ordinates.

 

[ChrisSue]

Road maps are pretty good at getting us around, used them for years and they still work fine.

How often do you update?

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[vwalan]

yes . use a map.
cant be better than using a map.
oh, and use a compass.
catch a ferry to spain , land and head south. when you meet the Mediterranean turn right and follow the sea .
take every road to the sea and then turn right ,you end up back at santander.
easy when you know how. hee hee

 

[Figaro]

Road maps are pretty good at getting us around, used them for years and they still work fine.

You need a good navigator though who can read a map and not get distracted by fluffy matters.
Few of us are lucky in that respect, certainly me for one

 

[robnchris]

How often do you update?

When my wife showed our son in law our road maps he asked how do you zoom in....

Being sailors we are used to using charts, despite having GPS, Sat Nav systems we always check the charts before setting off we adopt the same method when travelling by road, better to be safe than sorry.

 

[ChrisSue]

When my wife showed our son in law our road maps he asked how do you zoom in....

Being sailors we are used to using charts, despite having GPS, Sat Nav systems we always check the charts before setting off we adopt the same method when travelling by road, better to be safe than sorry.

Priceless it's a first world issue I think

 

[cmcardle75]

When my wife showed our son in law our road maps he asked how do you zoom in....

My daughter tried to pinch-zoom a paper Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 the other day.

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[Speve]

When I last visited Europe I owned a Garmin sat nav. Accompanied with the aires/stellplatz book and a map I navigated around entering lat/long etc.

Without using loads of data etc, what do people use now? My partner has a European Garmin but that doesn't have any way of coordinates in.

Thank you

I bought our Garmin 770 in Germany and it’s exactly the same and you are able to change coordinate formats easily, from memory when you go to input coordinates it then gives the options in a drop down box.

 

[Terry242]

You need a good navigator though who can read a map and not get distracted by fluffy matters.
Few of us are lucky in that respect, certainly me for one

Many many years ago (40 odd years married today) we were on our way to Newquay with my wife doing the map reading. I had travelled the route once before and as we neared our destination, I informed her that there would be a left junction in a couple of miles.

A few miles later, as she studied the map, I asked how far to the junction.

She replied that there was no junction. A good barny ensued!

I pulled over and asked for the map. She thrust it at me and pointed to the map saying "look, there's no junction."

"That's cause your following a fecking river!" I replied.

Terry

 

[JockandRita]

I used to enjoy studying the route on Microsoft's Autoroute and noting the coordinates, (which I now get from Google Maps), and enter them to my Truck specific Sat Nav which uses iGo software. It means we go the route we want, and not the route it decides on. They are usually the same anyway when compared on the screen.

At the end of a day's driving, I check out the next stage between waypoints, making sure we are still on track.

Cheers,

Jock.