Getting maps on the road

[Greg]

Maybe I'm brainwashed from the army, but every time I came to a new town or island I always had an urge to get my hands on a map.

Buying an expensive tourist map for every little place was out of the question, so these are some tricks I came up with out there:

1) Internet cafes are usually everywhere. I would pop into one, go to http://images.google.com and look up wherever I was. Most of the time you can find some sort of map image and then just print the one page there for a few cents.

2) If the cafe wanted to charge me too much to print, I would take my little digital camera and actually take a picture of the map on the screen. When I needed a map, I would just look at the LCD on my camera, zoom in, and scroll around - no piece of paper to loose!

3) I would do the same thing when I encountered other travelers that had a guidebook, I would snap a picture of the map and then use it in my camera.

[robert.kekic]

since im getting ready to head out i grabbed a national geographic map a bit pricey $100 but its water proof and its a very detailed world map..and since then ive been researching monuments and this site for fruit picking orchards and etc. and marking them on my map.. im also in the army so i hear ya about the map thing..lol

[Greg]

Here in Indonesia I snapped some photos of maps on the walls in the guesthouse and have been looking at them on my laptop (or just on the camera) works surprisingly well!

I also tear them out of my poor, butchered Lonely Planet. 

Back in the day, I used to order maps from USGS by the grid square (wasn't expensive at all) for places I was trekking in the states.

[Tony]

I travel with my iPhone, so before I get to a new city, I bring up a map of the city through the "maps" app. I do this while I'm connected to wifi and don't touch it. When I arrive, I've already got a map on my phone that I can zoom in and out of even if I'm not connected. Saves time and cash!