Customer Reviews

Streetwise Shanghai Map - Laminated City Center Street Map of Shanghai, China

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was looking for an updated map of Shanghai and this was the most updated one I could find on Amazon. I was happy to see that Streetwise had a map of Shanghai as my past experiences with Streetwise maps were positive. My old map was great, but since things in China change so quickly, maps become outdated quickly (2005-2006 Periplus Travel Map).

This map folds nicely and is laminated, which gives it some water-proofing. It has a section with just the subway lines, as well as an enlarged view of a Pudong and Central Shanghai. The general map covers almost all of The Inner Ring but not much past that, and some parts of the Inner Ring are cut off. Subway lines, Parks, Universities, Major Sights to See, Large hotels, etc. are highlighted.

I was disappointed that the map was only in English. My old map had English, Pinyin and Chinese characters, which was really helpful. The English names on this map aren't necessarily Pinyin so when it says "Tibet Road" it's the English version of the street, not the Pinyin "Xizang Lu". In other instances, when there is no English name for the street, the Pinyin is provided. My biggest disappointment is that when it did list street names in Pinyin, they are often misspelled. This is particularly aggravating as it is the inverse of Chinglish and equally inexcusable (proofreading anyone?). I know this is probably an understandable mistake, but there were a surprising number of misspellings (more so than in other more detailed maps I've had). So even with the Pinyin, it's hard to ask someone for directions or find the street. The Streetwise Shanghai logo also takes up a portion of the map that is annoying - but maybe that's more bc I personally feel the space could better used to show more of the areas surrounding the Inner Ring Road (past Gubei Road to the West and Zhongshan Road to the North) than a large logo.

If Periplus Travel Maps came out with an updated version, I would buy that map bc although it isn't nicely laminated, hardy or compact as this one - there are less misspellings and street names are in English, Pinyin and Chinese characters. Also more of the smaller streets are shown.

I would still recommend this map to people as it's the most updated map that I could find online. And I figure people probably aren't as anal as I am about maps. Personally, I still end up carrying both this map and my old Periplus map.

Streetwise maps are terrific travel aids. My husband and I have used several now for other cities and each time marvel at how we ever travelled without them. This map makes self-guided tours ( and even guided ones) much easier and faciliates use of public transportation, especially the subway because you can tell from the maps where the subway station is located above ground. We used our map regularly to use the very convenient and efficient Shanghai subway system to get around. Given the many traffic jams in Shanghai, subways often work better than taxis. In the summer, the subways are very well air conditioned, which is also a major benefit.
The only weakness we noted for our Shanghai map was that it was slightly outdated. This city is growing and changing at a stunning rate and so even a 2009 map is outdated for 2010!

We purchased several Shanghai maps from amazon. This is the one that we actually used. In fact we purchased 6 of them for friends who were traveling with us. They are accurate and helped us get around town. This was especially useful for us since we were not in the tourist centered areas. However if your looking for the sights to see, this map will not disappoint either. It's only flaw is that the lamination is perfect, which led to most of our maps getting wet in the frequent summer rain. Also, it is mostly an english map, which is great for us but not as useful when you need directions from a Chinese person who doesn't read english! We purchased maps that had both languages but they were of poorer quality and not accurate.

A very nice map to stick in your pocket as you wander around Shanghai. If you pair this with a cheap compass (to orient yourself to north-south-east-west) you can get around the city pretty easily.

You need to have a map and this was a good one. It was raining everyday, so this map was a good choice for us.

The map is compact and includes all the tourist destinations, train and rail stops, as well as a subway map. All of the streets on the map are labelled in English. However, it does not have the Chinese characters or the pinyin pronunciation of certain tourist sites. This is inconvenient because if you wanted to take a cab to Old City or City Temple God, you wouldn't be able to communicate that to the cab driver as they would only understand the Chinese pronunciation, which is Chen Huang Miao. Additionally, if you showed the map to the cab driver, they would not know how to read it since it's completely in English. If you are just walking around and taking the train, this map is an excellent substitute for google maps. All the street signs and subway stops in Shanghai are in both Chinese and English, so walking around the streets using an English map is fine. The map is also laminated, making it durable even with excessive use. Overall pretty good, but I would try to get a map in both English and Chinese just to be safe.