Joined: Jul 21, 2004 Posts: 2624 Location: Chelmsford, UK
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:21 pm Post subject: Helping Motorists Focus At Government 1st Ever SatNav Summit
Norman Baker, Local Transport Minister, is preparing to host the UK’s first ever Sat-Nav Summit this March to help motorists with their journeys.
The main area up for discussion is in regards to the problems faced by drivers of high-sided or large vehicles, such as lorries. These motorists can sometimes fall foul of Sat-Nav directions which are out of date, leading them to encounter difficulties on the road.
This issue has already been partly addressed with earlier reports revealing that local authorities were being given the power to reclassify A and B roads in their local area, hoping to resolve Sat Nav issues.
Baker labelled the current problems experienced be motorists as the "scourge of local communities" and explained that the summit is "timely" as the new regulations concerning the ability of local authorities to reclassify roads will be introduced in April.
In response to news of the summit, motoring body IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) claimed that they "welcomed" the summit, but emphasised their belief that "high quality and consistent signposting will always be the best way to ensure that drivers get the information they require."
The advice is, therefore, for drivers to use Sat-Nav systems as guides when driving rather than following them blindly. A combination of improved Sat-Nav maps, reclassified roads and effective signposting could help to ensure drivers get the best possible experience whilst out on the roads, reducing the number of errors made during journeys.
Joined: Apr 04, 2006 Posts: 4829 Location: East Sussex, UK
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 3:33 pm Post subject: Re: Helping Motorists Focus At Government 1st Ever SatNav Su
News Team wrote:
These motorists can sometimes fall foul of Sat-Nav directions which are out of date,
But it's not neccessarily the maps which are out of date (even though most are), it's more to do with the routing algorythm and perhaps the user chosing 'shortest route' wich will take you down narrow lanes. As has been pointed out dozens of times elsewhere, it's also truck drivers not having a truck devicve, but most of all, people not using their common sense. How on earth will the government impart the common sense to people????
for my Sins I have an oldish Navman N20 which suits my use, it seldom lets me down, Scotish Highlands, Welsh hinterlands, Cornish cart track roads and has radio blockage reporting built in. But Navman no longer update the maps, so you can be steaming up the A1 and the ruondabouts have disappeared, but still on the map
will be intersting when the know nothing MP's get involved
Joined: 03/05/2003 14:45:49 Posts: 3967 Location: leyland lancs ENGLAND
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:20 pm Post subject:
Hgv maps and devices are priced at a premium with many Satnavs priced out of the reach of many drivers for some reason many software house beleive that employers are buying these devices when the main buyers for the devices are drivers themselves. U till maps updates comedown to more realistic prices the. The problem will persist. Also many companies that are buying devices in the current climate are opting for standard satnav over veihcle specific devices
The goverment wants faster map updates with the rate that councils change and impliment one way systems and weight limits I very much doubt that teleatlasband navteq will be able to keep up _________________ currently using copilot truck COME ON O2 UK GET SOME 2ND GEN WINDOWS PHONES ON YOUR PRODUCT LIST
Joined: Aug 31, 2005 Posts: 11977 Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:51 pm Post subject:
personally i'd say that a map update at £30 is pretty good value!
the big players also do lifetime updates usually at around £60-£100 that gives you 4 updates a year for the life of your satnav.
even if you only keep a satnav for 3 years that's only £20-£30 per year for keeping maps up to date. when you consider that you pay £20-£30 per week for fuel it's not that bad really, is it?
MaFt _________________ 404 Error - Signature not found
Joined: Feb 07, 2006 Posts: 554 Location: Medway Towns, Kent
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:04 am Post subject:
MaFt wrote:
personally i'd say that a map update at £30 is pretty good value!
the big players also do lifetime updates usually at around £60-£100 that gives you 4 updates a year for the life of your satnav.
even if you only keep a satnav for 3 years that's only £20-£30 per year for keeping maps up to date. when you consider that you pay £20-£30 per week for fuel it's not that bad really, is it?
MaFt
MaFt
I think Alix was talking about HGV maps which are not covered by the same update system - you have to buy a complete map every time at full price.
Joined: Mar 26, 2004 Posts: 542 Location: East Midlands
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 9:02 am Post subject:
MaFt wrote:
personally i'd say that a map update at £30 is pretty good value!
You might, I don't - and won't until I know what changes/additions have been made in each update.
MaFt wrote:
the big players also do lifetime updates usually at around £60-£100 that gives you 4 updates a year for the life of your satnav.
TomTom (one of the biggest players I believe) doesn't. If it did, I might be persuaded to update the maps on my 940. As things stand, with my usage, I can't justify the expense. In pre-satnav days (which includes years when I drove many more miles around Europe than I do now) I only bought a new road atlas every 3-4 years and managed well enough.
MaFt wrote:
even if you only keep a satnav for 3 years that's only £20-£30 per year for keeping maps up to date. when you consider that you pay £20-£30 per week for fuel it's not that bad really, is it?
I may pay £20-£30 a week on fuel but not all my journeys require the use of satnav. I would guess that's true of many car drivers.
As James May said on the radio, it's not your satnav that made you drive through a boutique window, it's your stupidity.
As long as drivers blindy follow their satnav's instructions, lorries will continue to get stuck in Somerset alleys and coaches will end up in fields. What's needed is commonsense on the part of users, nothing more. Cheaper and more frequent map updates won't solve anything until drivers decide to think for themselves.
Joined: May 12, 2006 Posts: 555 Location: Stockport, Cheshire
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:50 pm Post subject:
And even if they do produce cheaper and more frequent updates, what proportion of drivers will actually apply them? I suspect a majority of sat navs are never updated.
Joined: Mar 26, 2004 Posts: 542 Location: East Midlands
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 4:56 pm Post subject:
bmuskett wrote:
And even if they do produce cheaper and more frequent updates, what proportion of drivers will actually apply them? I suspect a majority of sat navs are never updated.
Joined: Mar 02, 2006 Posts: 32 Location: Liverpool, UK
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:56 pm Post subject:
MaFt wrote:
the big players also do lifetime updates usually at around £60-£100 that gives you 4 updates a year for the life of your satnav.
MaFt
I have a Truck Garmin with the map updates 4 times a year and if I have a problem I send Navteq the map update.
As a Artic Truck diriver a out of date sat nav is more in date than most A to Z's and cheaper then buying maps for every town in th UK
We got lost on the road before Sat Nav came along. But now it hits the Headlines so that they can blame the Sat Nav _________________ GARMIN NUVI 465T (Truck) CN EUROPE NT 2013.30
Citeron C8 in car Navteq 2011/12
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 12254 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:27 pm Post subject:
I have always thought it was the quality of the maps at fault here. In the UK there are quite a lot of road classes, down to at least D, plus unclassified. But the satnav suppliers/mappers are not using them - hence drivers being sent down "60mph" country lanes! _________________ Dennis
No TT MapShare (voluntarily), HD Traffic (involuntarily)
TT Support 08451610009 - A) issue, B) challenge, C) problem, D) cockup
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 12254 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:41 pm Post subject:
spook51 wrote:
I always thought UK roads are classified: motorways, A roads and B roads. All others are unclassified as far as the motorist is concerned.
The highway authority has classes Motorway, Trunk dualled and not dualled, A dualled and not dualled, B and down to at least D. If you care to do so, visit your local highway place and get them to show you their local maps which have such letters and then move to just numbers (five digits if my memory serves me right) for the unclassified roads - it's such classification which would allow map providers to differentiate between reasonable and unreasonable roads, a heyday for their algorithms. I remember reading here somewhere, somebody's post that at least TomTom are now using fewer classifications than at some time in the past.
Anybody with a TomTom will already be somewhat tired at being told to keep right for an awful lot of laybyes and to turn right/left at minor bends, farm tracks and some private entrances, where the major route is clearly indicated by double broken white lines across the minor road. In north Devon last year I was instructed to turn right to avoid entering a green lane over a style!! _________________ Dennis
No TT MapShare (voluntarily), HD Traffic (involuntarily)
TT Support 08451610009 - A) issue, B) challenge, C) problem, D) cockup
Joined: Mar 26, 2004 Posts: 542 Location: East Midlands
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:34 am Post subject:
DennisN wrote:
spook51 wrote:
I always thought UK roads are classified: motorways, A roads and B roads. All others are unclassified as far as the motorist is concerned.
The highway authority has classes Motorway, Trunk dualled and not dualled, A dualled and not dualled, B and down to at least D.!!
I don't think all of those terms are used on maps for motorists Dennis but are administrative designations sometimes referring to funding allocation, to locate features (e.g bridges) and maintenance responsibility rather than being classifications relating to useage.
However, some C roads may be by-passed (but perfectly usable) former A roads and some U roads may be well-used urban through routes - neither appear as 'classified' in any motorists' road atlas.
In any case, there's no consistency in such designations from local authority to local authority so they shouldn't be regarded as 'gospel' for routing purposes.
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