Re: Advice required re Malta mapping

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply David. I have been to Gozo several times
and as I'm sure you will agree it would be hard to get lost there. Having
said that I love the place. Malta on the other hand I do not like, but going
there becomes necessary when the little lady gets bored! I think I will just
take a compass with me and keep heading in the right direction until I find
the ferry! As a matter of interest if you are ever back in Gozo and feel the
need for a half decent fry, try Moby ***'s at Xlendi Bay. The Cornucopia
Hotel do a carvery and dance on a Friday night but personally I think it's a
waste of money for all you get. There is a nice little restaurant in
Victoria but I can't remember the name. It's down below the police station
on the right hand side. They do a nice steak and great pasta. The local
lager is very good too. A nice little bar with country and western music on
Gozo would be nice but I haven't found one yet. Thanks again for the reply.

Alex

"David Lee" <davidlee_malvern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:VaKdnY1QkfjOxd_ZRVnytA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
JAT wrote...
I'm looking to buy a sat nav system. Although it will be used at home in
N. Ireland and on the mainland the main reason for the purchase is to
take
it on holiday. I was thinking about the Tom Tom 700. Would this be a good
purchase? I would be using it on Malta this year. (anyone who has ever
tried to find their way in Malta using the local signs will know why!) Do
the Europe maps cover Malta as no one seems to know? Went into Halfords
today to ask this question but I don't think the guy even knew what day
it
was. As I'm new to this game I would appreciate any advice you can offer.
Many thanks in advance.

Speaking as someone who has spent a lot of time lost in Hamrun with a
friend
who told me that all roads seem to lead her to the main island rubbish
tip, I can fully
sympathize.

I doubt that the Tom Tom maps will be any good - the Garmin ones certainly
aren't so I doubt that you'll find anything suitable.

Your best bet will be to use a decent GPS that will give you a proper
coordinate fix, together with a paper map. I don't know much about Tom
Tom units but I've looked at the manuals for a couple of models and they
didn't appear to have any way of actually telling you exactly WHERE you
are - just places you are NEAR and a location on the screen, neither of
which are any good if you need a map reference!

Decent maps of Malta seem to be hard to find - the Ordnance Survey did
produce detailed 1:25,000 mapping of Malta and Gozo for the Department of
Overseas Surveys and these were identical in quality to the UK products.
However these were last updated in 1962 and are no longer available. The
Mapping Unit of the Malta and Environment Planning Authority has produced
topographic mapping based on 1994 Aerial Photography. I believe that
these are also 1:25,000 but they have printed the Malta map on a single A0
*** which will be very unwieldy to use in a car - Gozo & Comino is much
more user-friendly at A1 size. These maps don't seem to be commercially
available anywhere but apparently you can buy them directly from the Malta
Planning Authority. In an email about a year ago Alison Zammit
(Alison.Zammit@xxxxxxxxxxx) quoted me Lm8.40 & 4.20 for the Malta and Gozo
maps respectively.

There is a GIS server on their website (www.mepa.org.mt and click on Map
Server at the top right hand corner) - keep on zooming in and you get to
the level of individual buildings unfortunately I can't get the Print PDF
function to work.

If you are into wildlife then click on the Environment tab then
EcoExplorer in the drop-down box under publications. This is a list of
Maltese Flora and Fauna with pictures and notes - some very brief and some
detailed. Certainly worth looking at the reptiles section so you will have
some idea what you see scuttling around (or flattened on the road!).

Have a great holiday - Fontanella's just inside the walls of Mdina (the
opposite side to the city gate) used to be a marvellous tea garden serving
the most fantastic home-made cakes, I used to drive all the way from
Valetta just to go there!

David



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