-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Maps of Burma and Thailand
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 17:52:09 +1100
From: [log in to unmask]
I have just returned from Burma and Thailand, touristing and buying maps!
FYI:
BURMA
Not a lot is available. The Lonely Planet guide recommends the Periplus
map, and disparages the Nelles one. However, I prefer Nelles, which
appears to be available in a new edition produced since Lonely Planet's
guide (October 2002). Thus the new Nelles edition features all the new
railroads and bridges (road and rail) along with a list of their
lengths, while the Periplus map has only old rail lines, and these are
almost indistinguishable from roads on the map. Myanmar has done a lot
of rail/bridge building in the last few years. The only advantage of the
Periplus map is the inset of Bagan/Pagan, otherwise both maps have
insets of Rangoon and Mandalay. I would thus recommend the Nelles one to
Libraries and travellers alike.
No official topo maps are available. However the Survey Dept produces a
calendar each year, with large maps on each of its 14 pages, one for
each state/district in the country. This seems to alternate between
English and Myanmar language editions each year. Thus the 2004 calendar
is in English, the 2003 one in Burmese. The maps are current, showing
towns/villages, main roads (sealed vs metalled), rail and wildlife
sanctuaries with basic relief shading.
The calendars are 2000kyat each (650kyat per A$, 900 per US$) at stalls
and bookshops throughout the country, but especially in Rangoon.
I got the 2003 calendar at 1500kyat from a stall, as a remainder.
The title is "Ministry of Forestry, Survey Department, 2004 calendar".
The only other maps available are produced by publisher/GPS/mapper
company Design & Printing Services (DPS),
No. 165/67, Rm (4), 1st Flr, 35th Street, Kyauktada Township, Yangon,
Myanmar
PO Box 945 Yangon,
ph 95-1-700541, 704904, 204020
fx 95-1-245230
email [log in to unmask]
web www.dpsmap.com
They produce 4 tourist maps of Myanmar, Yangon, Bagan and Mandalay.
These are excellent punbblications, and are available free from DPS by
mail, or are often found at anything from free to 1000kyat at hotels etc
around the country.
All feature ads, but are good maps, up to date, easy to read and accurate.
And about the only thing available. And available free on request to the
publisher as an effort to promote tourism in Myanmar. And feature basic
info on highlights of the areas covered. And in English.
The Myanmar title features a map of the country with road distance table
(Myanmar still uses miles and furlongs), and other maps of Yangon,
Mandalay, Bagan, Mrauk-U, Kyaikto, and Lake Inlay/Inle.
The Yangon title has a map of the city, and various insets and
enlargments of downtown, Inya Lake, etc. It highlights factories,
temples, embassies, banks petrol stations, shopping centres,
restaurants, parks, railways, roads, monasteries, pagodas, restricted
parking zones, schools, churches, etc.
Mandalay map is similar, with map of neartby hill resort of Maymyo
(Pyin-oo-Lwin). Much better than map in Lonely Planet guidebook, and
covers out to city fringes, unlike insets on Nelles/Periplus.
Bagan map covers Kyaukpadang-Pakokku-Pagan-Singu area, with inset of
main Bagan temple World Heritage site. DPS were contracted to do a
GPS/GIS of all the temple sites in Bagan (over 2000) by the UN, to
determine the extent of the World Heritage boundary, so all roads/tracks
are comeplte & accurate and temples and ruins too, complete and
numbered. This temple GIS data set is available from DPS for US$500.
They expect to add more attributes to the GIS data on temple donors etc
in the near future.
DPS also produce a wall map of Myanmar (political, showing the 14
states/divisions), and wall maps of Yangon in various sizes, besides a
large-format township atlas of Yangon (ie suburb maps) which costs
6000kyat, but features lots of ads.
The highlight of DPS publications (and better IMHO than the township
atlas) is their 3rd edition street directory of Yangon (2001: cut off
for info was Nov 2000).
Title"The map of Yangon, street directory, 3rd edition", published by
Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), prepared by Design Printing
Services Co Ltd.
Cost is 3000kyats, or about US$3.
Paperback, A4, 320 pages, colour, good paper, and bilingual.
features: full street index, indexes to govt offices, embassies, banks,
hotels, factories etc (inc People's Toilet Industry, Tharapu Vest
Factory, Myanmar Umbrella Brtanch Factory, Duck Feather Processing
Factory etc). Also indexes advertisers, and main companies etc besides
public services (police, fire, post offices, hospitals museums, markets,
etc). 180 maps at several scales from 5k to 40k depending on being inner
or outer suburbs. Covers entire Yangon metro area. Streets, suburbs and
buildings named in English and Burmese. Usually packaged with a small
wallmap of Yangon metro area too, with directory index grid overprint.
This small wallmap is also bilingual and incredibly useful when dealing
with taxi drivers!
Available in bookshops around Yangon, or from the publishers, who prefer
bank transfers in US$, but can possibly take travellers cheques and
credit cards.
THAILAND
No decent Bangkok street directory seems to exist yet. A host of local
maps of Bangkok but none really suitable for tourists, while tourist
maps (Lonely Planet, Nelles etc) concentrate on central area and have
little detail for outer areas (a pain when your friend lives in a warren
of sois in a far outer suburb)!
Thai survey dept sells over the counter in central Bangkok (for address
see Lonely Planet guide) all but 5 of the 52 250k JOG topo sheets in
bilingual editions. Editions range from 1980s to 1999. 70Baht each (30B
per A$, 40 per US$).
5 sheets unavailable due to boundary disputes with Laos and Myanmar.
These 5 are: Amphoe Maechan NF47-15, Changwat Mae-Hong-Son NE 47-2,
Changwat Chiang Mai (NE 47-6, Ye ND 47-2 along Burma border, and
Saravane ND 48-3 on Laos border.
These maps are also available in decent bookshops in Bangkok and
Chiangmai (ie DK Books, Asia Books branches) folded and bagged.
Survey Dept also sells many 50k topo sheets, but none covering border
areas. From their index it seems about half are available. Series
L7017S. Again, local sheets are available in the larger Bangkok and
Chinagmai bookshops. 70B each.
Survey Dept sells for 90B a 50k sheet of metro Bangkok, in Thai only,
but good detail.
Also sells a 20 sheet 20k series covering metro Bankgkok, again in Thai
only. But not as good as one could hope.
Finally, in the same building complex as the Survey Dept is an aerial
photo saleroom. I picked up an aerial photo (b/w, 15k, dated 2000) for
140B, available within 30mins of walking in. Colour versions exist, but
are not sold (not sure whether this is a security thing, or they just
don't have the facility to sell them). Much aerial photo coverage of the
country, esp of towns, appears available, so info for specific cities
should be possible to buy in person. Payment made in cash on site.
As seems common in Asia, I had to pay an extra 2B because they had run
out of the order form I had to fill in, and had to xerox one for me!
Brendan Whyte
--
Dr Brendan Whyte,
School of Anthropology, Geography and Environmental Studies,
University of Melbourne, Vic 3010, AUSTRALIA
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