Bali residents and visitors alike are fortunate to have available locally an excellent and ever-growing selection of atlases, folded maps and wall maps of Bali and Indonesia. Produced by various publishers, most are high quality, feature color printing, and indicate major tourist sights and services and topographic features in realistic relief.
Although there are a number of first-class publishers of maps – Nelles, Globetrotter, ITMB, Geocenter, Insight - Singapore-based Periplus Travel Maps offers the largest selection, are the easiest to find in Bali, and use a fully digitized map database synchronized with the latest satellite imagery which allows their maps to be frequently updated.
Their maps cover all the main islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi, as well as larger scale maps of individual regions and provinces such as “Vicinity of Bandung.” Though not always absolutely accurate, they are user-friendly and the most up-to-date available, making them valuable resources for the serious traveler.
Indonesian government tourist offices dispense national and regional information booklets and maps free of charge, but they are uneven in quality and you can’t always rely on their accuracy. The Indonesia Tourist Map, published by the Directorate General of Tourism, is a handy, full-color booklet of maps (Java, Bali, Sumatra and Sulawesi) and facts that should last about as long as your average trip off the island.
Regional tourist offices often provide helpful town plans of all of Indonesia’s main cities and even towns. Many airline offices, travel agencies, bookshops, star hotels, and even camat offices either display big wall maps or hand out locally produced maps of towns, cities, provinces or localities. Some of these are charmingly hand-painted and drawn and could be some of the best area maps available. Hotels frequently publish their own “neighborhood” maps so guests won’t get lost and will be able, for example, to find their way to the nearest mall or, in the case of smaller hotels, to the owner’s sister’s restaurant.
Periplus Map Products
(ISBNs provided for easy ordering)
Paperback street atlases have excellent clarity, user-friendly indexes, large scale finder maps, city-wide coverage and detailed plans for central city areas using the very latest survey information and field research. Trimsize: 7.5” X 10.5”
Bali Street Atlas, 2008 Edition, ISBN
9780794604210. Major arteries shown in yellow and
orange. Important buildings identified by name and
accurately located. Rp249,000.
Indonesia Travel Atlas, Revised 2nd Edition, ISBN 0-7946-0105-7, 96 pages. Contains 89 full color island and regional maps from scales 1:500,000 to 1:14,000,000 and area maps from scales 1:50,000 to 1:250,000, as well as detailed city and resort insets from scales 1:10,000 to 1:25,000.
Jakarta Street Atlas. Extensive index of streets, routes and important features with easy-to-read grid references with up-to-date info on latest hotels, roads, tourist attractions and more. Detailed and reliable map insets of cities and neighborhoods. Comprehensively covered in three scales: 1: 20,000, 1: 15,000 and 1: 10,000. Rp270,000.
Bandung Street Atlas, 2004/2005 Edition. The city’s first street directory. ISBN 0794604113. Rp249,000.
Another beautifully produced collection of maps (also published in digital form) is the famous Jakarta/Jabotabek Falk Street Directory by Gunther W. Holtorf. The 7th edition costs Rp214,500 and covers Central Jakarta in 85 maps and Greater Jakarta in 20 maps.
If you have the wall space, Periplus will soon be bringing out new editions of their full color wall maps of Indonesia (1:5,000,000, 2005, ISBN 0794601510), Bali (1:135,000, 2nd Edition, 2007, ISBN 0794604285), Bandung city (1:12,000, ISBN 0794603084), and the Bandung area (1:50,000, ISBN 0794603076), and Surabaya (2006, ISBN 0794603033) featuring comprehensive coverage of tourist facilities and public amenities, and an easy-to-use legend that allows for quick reference. Measuring 43 inches by 31 inches, they are available for around Rp210,000.
In addition, Periplus produces easy-to-carry maps for Rp111,000 with a folding system for viewing in either convenient single-sheet spreads or single-panels. Each of these pocket regional travel maps measures 10.1 x 6.1 x 0.2 inches. The major city plans in margin inserts are usually in a scale of 1:60 000 while central city areas are 1:15 000.
Indonesia, 3rd Edition, 2008, ISBN 9625930426
Java & Bali, 2nd Edition, 2008, ISBN 0794605311
Jakarta, 4th Edition, 2004, ISBN 0-794603092
Bandung, 3rd Edition, ISBN 978-0794602253.
Yogyakarta, 3rd Edition, ISBN 0945971427
Semarang, 1st Edition, ISBN 9780794603632
Surabaya, 3rd Edition, ISBN 978-0794602260
Semarang, 1st Edition, ISBN 0794603637
Bali, 6th Edition, 2008, ISBN 0945971494
Sulawesi, 2001, ISBN 962593734X
Sumatra, 2001 Edition, ISBN 9625937358
Lombok & Sumbawa, 2001, ISBN 9625936394
Where to buy
Periplus maps are in all major English-language bookstores. These include Periplus bookshops in Bali Galleria, the Matahari in Kuta, Made’s Warung in Seminyak, as well as in the domestic and international departure terminals of Bali’s airport; the national bookstore chains Gramedia in Duta Plaza and in Bali Galleria and Gunung Agung in LIBI Plaza; Ary’s and Ganesha book shops of Ubud.
Online Maps
The fabulous Google Maps is a free, multilingual web mapping service application that powers many map-based services. The site offers street maps, a route planner and an urban business locator for the more populated areas of Indonesia. For “mash-ups” of resorts, villas and hotels, as well as geo-tags of hundreds of other places of interest on Bali, check out: http://balihotelmap.com/. For Jakarta maps, take a look at http://www.lokasijakarta.com/.
Another excellent source of all kinds of online maps to Indonesia is the map directory feature of embassyworld.com, which include Atlapedia political and physical high definition maps, Expedia maps, graphic maps, Lonely Planet maps, extensive Indonesia city plans, and amazing MapQuest maps which you can continually zoom in on and re-center. Useful Indonesia map links can also be found at: http://www.hir-net.com/link/map/indonesia-e.html.
The exhaustive Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection from the University of Texas Libraries (www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/indonesia.html) comprise political and relief country-wide maps, topo and city maps, pilotage and navigational charts, historical maps, thematic maps (economic activity, surfing, ethno-linguistic, population, vegetation, etc.), island and regional maps (including Aceh before the tsunami), East Timor maps, and maps from many other websites.
