Proven GPS maps of Costa Rica

[rritterson]

Last time we were in Costa Rica, we relied on a compass, a full tank of gas, written directions, and occasionally a helpful local. Even finding a map with anything more than the lowest level of detail was hard, so we spent 60% of our time on roads not on the map. When off the major paved roads, every road intersections had signs pointing how far to different towns down each fork, but it often seemed that town X was east of us at one intersection and then west of us at the next. When we were trying to get from Monteverde back to the Interamericana, we knew that if we kept going west, we eventually have to run into it, and, after what seemed like forever, we finally did.

I looked back at google maps near Monteverde just now. It's better than the map we had with us, but still doesn't show much compared to the number of potential routes that are actually there. If you went with a GPS that was only as good as google maps, you'd be hurting. The sample shots from gpstravelmaps.com look quite good though.

[Hipster]

I used the Cen Rut map set for Costa Rica and it worked very good. However, the auto routing feature didn't work very well as it would sometimes route you the very long way around (to main highways) to get you to your end point.

[herfjr]

Originally Posted by Hipster

I used the Cen Rut map set for Costa Rica and it worked very good. However, the auto routing feature didn't work very well as it would sometimes route you the very long way around (to main highways) to get you to your end point.

Thanks!

[dakrause]

Cenrut 2.8 is out and includes significant improvements in Costa Rica. Check it out- it's free, you have nothing to lose!
http://www.cenrut.org/adw/over.htm
(Yes Dan, the link for the Mac version is there!)

I would like to say that if you want the overall best available map of Costa Rica and don't mind paying the money, then buy the map from NAVSATCR. These two are the only two options worth considering in Costa Rica: Cenrut(I am part of the project) and NAVSATCR( I have no relation to this company).

[tbrode]

I have been down to Costa Rica a number of times, most recently was November 2011. Had no luck finding a good map. The gentleman that I rent bikes from could not even recommend a good source. I was also down in February and rented a car for 2 weeks, we also rented a gps from the auto rental that worked pretty well. Don't know the source of the map, but if you look into auto rentals they may be able to advise you as to what Co. they use.
Terry
Camp Hill Pa.