http://www.minimap.co.uk/features.htm

I saw this on a science programme on the BBC a few years ago and thought it was a good idea. I hadn't thought about it until a recent thread made me think about bugging out and needing a map.

For those with GPS kits and such this may seem archaic but should the situation arise were your batteries are flat or your GPS got damaged then something like this may have a place.

Alot I know will depend on what maps are available in terms of the areas they cover and the scale of the maps.

I just found this of interest and thought to share it with the forum.

id give it a try.

That's very cool. Now if I could just take my own existing maps and convert them to a form that is readable by this nifty little gadget then I would buy one right away. I'm a GPS guy. I love my GPS. I keep it in the truck all the time and sometimes even take it when I hike (usually just when in a new area or when going way off-trail). It's pretty hard to get lost when you have a GPS with a tracking feature and plenty of fresh batteries. Of course that is the key... fresh batteries. I don't know about other GPSs but mine is a Magellan Color model and it eats up batteries like a hungry bear at a honeycomb convention. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> When I'm hiking with it I am very careful about my battery usage and in the truck I always carry a good ole fashion (laminated) paper map as well.

Last time I checked, they only had G.B. maps !!
No french map.
So, what's the use ...........???........... <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hi Frenchy

I contacted them recently and asked them what maps they have covering Europe. They only have road maps of the major capitals. Same goes for the US. The coverage for the UK is pretty extensive.

Following their reply I asked if they have any future intentions of increaseing their range of maps to include France.

I may be wrong, I'll wait for the reply but I'd suspect that there maybe a problem with copyright or reproducability.

I think this device has merit it seems a shame that it's held back by the limited number and coverage of it's maps.

I don't see why you can't do the same thing by photo-reducing your regular maps and looking at them through a loupe. There was another guy who wanted to do something like that on an earlier thread, though he wanted to do it with survival texts rather than maps.

Paulr

I'm not sure you can get the same resolution. Also you'd have to get your maps copied in colour then laminated.

This kit gives you all that with a magnifying glass set to the correct focal length to view the maps clearly. I'd seen a demo model in a store in the UK a few years back and was amazed at the clarity of detail. Back then I was young and poor and didn't have the mindset I have now, being older (and poorer, mortage, kids) <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />. I supose I should make disclaimer I don't work for this company and have no affiliation with it. I like the prinicple of the product and just wish it was marketed for a wider audience than just the UK.

This same product can be obtained here in the U.S. I just remembered seening it on the T.A.D. website. it can be found here: http://www.tadgear.com/x-treme%20gear/micromap.htm . Hope this helps. For those who have never dealt with TAD, they are fast and have a great variety of products.

I've got one order from TAD on the way...looks like another will be headed here soon.

Their site says you can just shrink a map down and print it out yourself. Guess I'll give it a try one day.

Typical computer printers may not have enough resolution to print usefully that small. I was thinking in terms of photo reduction, i.e. use a camera with slide film, probably a medium or large format camera, but 35mm could be ok. Then use a loupe for viewing. It looks like the Minimap is about 5x magnification, which is no big deal at all for reasonable photo stuff these days.