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View Full Version : New map book - Perfect!



Pancakes
18th November 2007, 22:24
I hate the internet maps. Spend enough time on the PC as it is. I like browsing at real paper and have a bit of time up my sleeve at the 'mo so have been getting lost (intentionally) in the near North. Been looking for a good map book for a while now.

Most seem to have just town centres and assume your taking the main highways to the next motel that was the same as the last, have a city and outskirts or lots of roads but no road names shown (or if it's gravel etc). Really need road names for when it's time to stop at that next cross-roads and get bearings or to know how to find those corners that look magic on paper.

I found the whole North Island in one book with EVERY!! road named on it for under $30!!

Go Kiwimaps - "North Island complete drivers atlas with indexed country roads"

Sample pic down there.

edit, I know there is a Motorcycle touring one with rides in it but it didn't have the detail, prefer this one.

Gremlin
18th November 2007, 22:29
kiwimaps website doesn't seem to exist? Been thinking I need an update to date map (not 7 odd years old :laugh:) and this sounds good

Pancakes
18th November 2007, 22:47
Yeah don't know if they do an online one but they all seem to be a bit shit to use to be honest. Nothing like a coffee and a book to dream up an adventure.

Going by some areas I know well this looks like the bizzo and $27.95 from tons of places, servos, book shops etc isn't much really. Is a little bit big to put in the storage on my bike but would go in the clear bit of a tank bag. I use the colour copier at work and keep that in my pocket normally. And not that big considering it's every road in the Nth Is named clearly!

Gremlin
18th November 2007, 22:49
right... ok... seems easy enough to find then :cool:

Pancakes
18th November 2007, 22:53
ah you want to BUY it online not use it online? Mobil had them but I had decided at that stage. Got it from a book shop. Same price everywhere.

Duc
28th December 2007, 16:23
I agree...its the best Map book around. Only wish it would fit in my tank bag with the window on top.

xwhatsit
28th December 2007, 20:46
How big is it? Need one that fits in a small satchel.

Edit: woot woot, they have it at UBS. https://www.ubsbooks.co.nz/bookweb/details.cgi?ITEMNO=9415871002663

sunhuntin
28th December 2007, 21:10
I agree...its the best Map book around. Only wish it would fit in my tank bag with the window on top.

im not 100% but there may be a small size [read folded map size] avaliable. likely as not doesnt have the full detail though.

i LOVE maps and have quite a collection... i buy any that appeal. i find the old AA maps to be the best ones.

Steam
28th December 2007, 21:17
Do they do a South Island Complete drivers atlas with indexed country roads?

Howie
28th December 2007, 22:53
Do they do a South Island Complete drivers atlas with indexed country roads?

Yep they do a South island version as well, I find them good for back road touring as the roads are named.

jrandom
28th December 2007, 23:04
What an awesome-looking map book!

I shall buy one for the tankbag immediately.

:yes:

Pancakes
30th December 2007, 11:48
How big is it? Need one that fits in a small satchel........................

200x260 including the rings. Ringbound is great. Can flip and fold it open without wrecking it.

It is bigger than some tankbags but lots would fit it too I recon and smaller would be a waste cos this shows big area's all on the same page and the smaller roads show well at this size. I might be doing Hawkes Bay and back in the next few days and I'm scouting out roads on the map now. Has all the towns in the back too.

Lucy
5th January 2008, 01:30
But it shows the road from Raetihi to Pipiriki as being sealed (yellow) but it is only half sealed, apparently it's in the pipeline to be sealed as far as Pip, but it's not yet, so it makes me slightly concerned about others they may have jumped the gun on.

Pixie
18th January 2008, 10:53
The veracity of the seal status,especially on the minor roads, is less accurate than the AA NZ Road Atlas.
The books complement each other: AA shows sealed/unsealed more acurately but was last updated in 1999 and doesn't name all the roads.

Kiwimaps names all the roads and is supposedly up to date,but the sealed/unsealed is decidedly dodgey

ceebie13
23rd January 2008, 13:44
The veracity of the seal status, especially on the minor roads, is less accurate than the AA NZ Road Atlas.

I've yet to come across a seal on a minor road..the last ones I saw were all basking on the rocks near Kaikoura. Good that the AA warns us of these creatures in their atlases though! :niceone:

Ixion
23rd January 2008, 14:13
My 1958 series AA maps are far and away the best there are as far as tree bit maps go. But nowadays, with Google maps on my phone, paper maps really are past their use by date. Sort of in there with milestones and carriages. Can't stay stuck in the past y'know.

warewolf
23rd January 2008, 14:39
The veracity of the seal status,especially on the minor roads, is less accurate than the AA NZ Road Atlas.They're all as bad as each other. The older they are, the less accurate. They try to get around this problem by marking some works-in-progress as completed, and people still complain.

The free AA maps are pretty accurate and are my 'reference' maps. No need to make copies, just go get another free one. Remember to copy across all the updates to the sealed roads that you've noted! Sometimes when adventuring I need the detail in the topo maps, but otherwise the AA maps rule. I used to say that they had every public road marked, I've now found one or two that aren't. And sometimes they get the road names wrong, particularly the minor unsealed ones, but you can usually work around that by the shape of the intersections.

This book looks like a beauty.

tri boy
23rd January 2008, 15:25
Kiwi Maps "Path finder" series sre pretty good. (I prefer the actual pocket maps though).
I use them as an overview map in conjunction with the much more detailed Land Info 1:50 000 scale maps for plotting rides.

I have to disagree with Ixion on the lack of need of paper maps.
Digital systems just become a pain if you are scanning a wide area for routes, plus the day the Marine Sector says they are irrelevant, is the day I will throw all paper maps out.(anyone remember the Police Launch that ran aground on Waiheke from relying on GPS/Digital plotting?)

the mouse
27th January 2008, 12:13
quote "Nothing like a coffee and a book to dream up an adventure."

Then you need a copy of Great Escapes. Every motorcyclist's dunny should have a copy.
http://www.mcycle.co.nz/

Bonez
9th February 2008, 12:52
I have to disagree with Ixion on the lack of need of paper maps.
Agreed some folk get so hung up on technology they can't see the woods for the trees ;).

With paper maps your mates can look over your shoulder and make suggestions as to where to ride to next on those runs where there's no fixed route. I use Kiwimaps myself and found it fine for the type of riding I do.