"Mike Lane" wrote in message
news:0001HW.C3FF65A80032420FB01AD9AF@news.cable.ntlworld.com...
> On Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:52:42 +0000, steve wrote
> (in article
> ):
>
>> We are planning a trip to Greece this April and will be driving. We
>> would like to use a GPS but it appears that GPS systems don't have
>> maps available for anything but Athens. Is this true? If it is why? If
>> not can we rent something while we are in Greece?
>>
>
> Yes it is true, and no you can't rent anything else. Sorry :-)
>
> I've driven to Greece a few times now and always take a GPS to help us
> across Europe. If you have a Garmin with the latest City Navigator mapping
> installed then as you say only Athens and the environs are covered down to
> street level. (Don't knock this though - it's a godsend if you happen to
> want
> to drive through Piraeus!) A few other places are included in this -
> strangely enough Patras is covered which is quite useful if you are
> arriving
> or departing by ferry to Italy.
>
> Other places though you can more or less forget your GPS - the main roads
> are
> covered by the base map but that's all. I wouldn't worry too much though -
> it's not a great problem. Greece has not got much of a network of minor
> roads
> like other countries in Western Europe. There's normally only one main
> road
> from one place to another. Your sat nav will tell you what direction
> you're
> heading and you approximate position. If these are OK then you can be
> fairly
> sure you're on the right road.
>
> As to why the mapping doesn't cover Greece, the reasons are historical and
> complex and I'm not sure you really want to know the full answer. Here
> goes
> though with a rather glib explanation:
>
> Roughly speaking the problem is that up to about 10 years ago Greece has
> been
> in quite considerable political turmoil. Since WW II it has had its own
> civil
> war, an on-going conflict with Turkey, a military dictatorship, all
> followed
> by a few years of fragile and uneasy democracy and final joining of the
> EU.
> This all resulted in a great feeling of paranoia particularly concerning
> the
> perceived hostile intentions of their neighbour Turkey (which incidentally
> was being armed by the Americans during the cold war). This has had an
> unfortunate side effect that any accurate surveying has been done solely
> by
> the military, and all accurate maps have been controlled by them. Most
> Greeks
> are still convinced that they are in imminent danger of an invasion by
> Turkey. (Be careful in Greece if you enquire about this though - it's a
> *very* sensitive issue)
>
> When I first went to Greece in about '98 it was impossible to buy any
> accurate maps at all. There was a rumour at that time that as a tourist
> you
> could obtain maps if you applied in person to some obscure department of
> the
> Ministry of Defence in Athens. I never did try this :-) In recent years
> since
> Greece's membership of the EU things have lightened up considerably and
> decent maps are beginning to appear. It will be a few years though before
> these become fully digitised. You can get more info about mapping (paper
> and
> digital) here: http://www.anavasi.gr/en/
>
> Well sorry for the long answer but you did ask :-)
>
I remember this issue of detailed Greek maps being unavailable back around
1970.... well, in Greece itself at least. As far as I remember you could buy
detailed (perhaps out of date) military(?) maps in London, probably at
Stanfords, but it was not wise to be caught with them in Greece - I think it
could qualify you as a spy.
Anyway I never found it hard to find my way around with the ordinary maps
even in quite remote areas, e.g. along the Albanian border. As you say,
there are not so many minor roads etc.
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