What maps do you recommend?

[Anonymous]

#1599

Hi,

We're Canadians planning to bike around NZ in March. Really enjoy all the great ride reports to help with route planning. However, having some challenges locating the rides.
What maps or map books do you guys recommend?
I bought the NZGPS map software from Brent Cannard, but this has basically no search capabilities.

George & Margo
Calgary, Canada

[Dave Ross]

#5684

The best one to get is the New Zealand Motorcycle Atlas, by Peter Mitchell from HEMA maps. ISBN 10: 1-877302-32-5 hemamaps.com You will love it here.

Cheers,
Alex

[Arne Rohde]

#5685

It depends on whether you want maps on the computer, paper maps, or maps for a navigator of some sort.

For computerized maps the best I have found is the one from TUMONZ (http://www.tumonz.co.nz) but I would not like to use it as a map to plan routes or to print out for following a route during a ride. It can be difficult to get just the details you want without extraneous information. But for computerized seaching for road names or features it can be useful.

For paper maps my recommendation is the series from Kiwimaps. There are Pathfinder maps for all districts of NZ, and Minimaps for local areas. I've heard that they are available in book form, but have not seen this. The maps have names on every road, and there are town maps for most of the towns and villages in the district covered by the maps. I don't know if they are available outside NZ, but most bookstores and map shops in NZ carry them.

If you are members of the Canadian equivalent of NZ's Automobile Association, then there are a large number of good, detailed district maps that will be available to you free of charge. But you will probably have to collect them personally from an AA office or agent. Make sure you bring your membership card.

The NZ Motorcycle Atlas can be useful, but I have two problems with it. One is that some of the maps are really old. For example the one of South Auckland shows Highway 22 south of Tuakau as being a State Highway. It is not, and has not been for many years. The second problem is that very few of the roads are named. So if you want to find out where you are by checking on road names, you are out of luck. It has a few town maps, but not very many, and only covering the CBD of the cities.

For navigators I don't have any experience except with the Navman maps (http://www.navman.co.nz). They are detailed, and all roads are named. But the route planning part leaves a bit to be desired.

If you plan on spending any time in the South Auckland/Waikato/Coromandel/Bay of Plenty area I'd be happy to give you a few route suggestions, depending on what type of ride you want. Whether scenic, gravel, twisty backroad, or just the quickest way from A to B.

[Anonymous]

#5686

Thanks for the map tips. We were planning to do a ride all around the Coromandel peninsula (highway 25). Any thoughts on this road? Are the roads across the top (Whitianga – Coromandel) gravel or sealed?

[Arne Rohde]

#5687

SH25 around the Coromandel is one of the best rides, and is sealed all the way. As is SH25A (Kopu – Hikuai), SH26 (Kopu – Paeroa) and SH2 (Paeroa – Waihi). Several of the other roads on the peninsula are partly gravel (Coromandel – Cape Colville, Tapu – Coroglen, Highway 309).

BTW TUMONZ now have an on-line version of their map available on their web site. It requires Java, and does not have all the information of the one you can buy, but it may still be a useful tool for you.

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