With a lack of local knowledge, a journey through Thailand can be very nerve wracking. In a large city like Bangkok, this can lead to massive stress. Even with a good street map, orientation is really difficult because the information on the map often differs from the street signs. When driving, the necessity to make a split second decision is too much for some drivers and therefore surely leads to insecurity on the roads. Once you are lost, the situation seems to get worse and worse. A road map can also only be read by a passenger and does not help a driver who is alone on the road in the middle of a large town.Directions with the assistance of an electronic navigation system can help the above mentioned problems greatly. The systems are often already built into cars of a higher class. There are however solutions available for building the system into a car.
The navigation system, of whichever type, is simply attached to the windscreen within direct view of the driver. The power is attained from a cable attached to the cigarette lighter attachment in your car. After entering the destination, a graphic presentation as well as a section of a map will appear and show the position of your car and the direction to follow. The loud speaker function gives you instructions in advance of the direction to take. You are informed of lane changes and receive information about the way to turn and the distance (how many hundred metres). The actual instruction comes when the turning point is reached. Should you be unable to follow a direction e.g. the road is blocked by road works, the system will immediately calculate a new route and leads you safely to your destination.
I personally use a Garmin Nüvi and I am very pleased with the system. It is, however, not perfect and sometimes does not recognise a town bypass but Garmin_nuevidoes ease the
journey considerably. The reception performance is very good. Loss of contact to the navigation satellites hardly comes about, even in unfavourable situations. Understandably there is no reception possible inside a multi story car park. For this reason it is necessary to drive out of the car park and manage a few minutes without navigational assistance until the system has found its direction once again.GPS navigation with smartphones
An alternative to ready-to-use navigation systems is the possibility of using a smartphone with a car holder required.
Apps for offline navigation
Sygic GPS Navigation für Android, iOS, Windows Phone
TomTom GO Mobile für Android, iOS
CoPilot GPS für Android, iOS, Windows Phone
Free Apps
Navmii GPS Android - iOS
MapFactor android
Categories
Vehicles in Thailand
Motor vehicle insurance in Thailand
Driving license
≡ Menu
All data provided without guarantee!
I, the webmaster of www.Siam-Info.com (Heinz Klaus Thiesen), have no business connection, with the enterprises specified on Siam-Info. I therefore naturally take no responsibility for the information of the enterprises specified above. The contributions show only my personal opinion.