Rider 550, level of detail of coverage Albania

Greenbeacon

Hello, before purchasing I wanted to check what is the level of map detail in the Balkans
Thanks
Nick

DougLap

Hi @Greenbeacon

Click on the following link then Click on See all Specs and you then get map, traffic an cameras coverage details. Re maps a % is given if not full coverage.

https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/sat-nav/motorcycle-sat-nav/products/rider-550/

Doug

Lochfrass

The Rider has World Maps, so you don´t need to purchase the Albania map.
It should be available in your device.
Look at Menu/Settings/Map/add Map
http://download.tomtom.com/open/manuals/Rider_Wi-Fi/html/en-gb/index.htm#Maps-Prato.htm

Niall

@Greenbeacon

According to this https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/sat-nav/maps-services/shop/travel-map/eastern-europe/#map-coverage-0

Detailed Coverage

Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria 75% Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic

Estonia Greece Hungary Kosovo Latvia Lithuania Macedonia 77% Moldova 52%

Montenegro Poland Romania Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine 65%

To check for more detailed information try this route in MyDrive from Vlorë, 9401, ALB to Saranda, 9701, ALB

ST1300_PanEuropean

HI Greenbeacon:

My experience (18 years using Garmins, new to using TomTom) is that TomTom generally has better cartography for out-of-the-way places like Albania, Tunisia, etc. than Garmin does.

Two years ago, I rode around Albania for several weeks using my Garmin, and it had very good coverage. So from that, I would expect that the TomTom coverage is at least as good if not better.

I spent a few minutes just now looking at some of the towns I am familiar with in Albania on my TomTom Rider 550, and the maps are very complete. So I think you can go ahead and buy the TomTom device without any worries.

You might not get "lane guidance" in some of the smaller towns, but it sure appears to me that all of the roads - primary, secondary, tertiary, and city streets - are there.

Keep in mind that when you are riding in any lesser-developed or out of the way country (e.g. Albania), even though the road may be present on the device's display, the cartographic database might not know exactly what kind of road it is - paved highway, hard surface secondary road, gravel road, cow-path, etc. These characteristics, which are called "road attributes", can be taken for granted in first-world countries, but are not always present in lesser-developed countries. So, if you are relying on your device (Garmin or TomTom or a smartphone with Google maps, it doesn't matter) for navigation guidance on an intercity route, you need to maintain a bit of skepticism about the roads the device chooses to send you on, until you are certain that it is an appropriate road type for your motorcycle.

Clearly, the kind of road that would be acceptable - even enjoyable - to a BMW GS rider with knobbies might be a nightmare for me on my Honda PanEuropean!

In particular, in lesser developed countries, you will find that GPS navigator cartographic databases often don't know if the road is hard-surfaced (paved) or not. Combine that with the fact that in lesser developed countries, some roads are not adequately maintained - and there is no way the GPS can know that - and the result is that you can't rely 100% on long intercity routes the device proposes, you have to do your own due diligence on the suggested route before you head out.

Michael