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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:27 am Post subject: How useful is Mapshare anyway?
Having gone to all the trouble of making numerous attempts to download Mapshre corrections recently I subsequently found reason to question the validity of the data last night.
I mean just how accurate/useful are these changes?
I was in Birmingham City Centre last night - somewhere I visit very infrequently and had parked up on Bridge Street, just off Broad Steet - a major thoroughfare around which the NIA, Conference Centre, Symphony Hall etc etc are located (for anyone who doesn't know the area).
My TT latest v8 maps, M.share updated only 2 days ago - told me to turn right onto Broad Street -this was a complete no-no since the lanes are actually separated by a central divider of sorts.
I checked on Google maps this morning and using the satellite picture you can clearly see the 'Left Turn only' arrows.
My point is this; if the maps are incorrect on a major thoroughfare in one of the UK's major cities and no mapshares have been applied then how useful is this facility? I cannot be the first person who noticed this! It's not as if the road layout has been changed recently or that this is a lane in a small village!
Joined: Jun 20, 2005 Posts: 1096 Location: Solihull, UK
Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:36 am Post subject:
It's always difficult to know whether you were the first to report an issue or not (and as we know, this applies to PGPSW cameras, as well as to Mapshare!), and I'm afraid you can't just make an assumption either way.
What may not know about is all those changes that have been made via MapShare, that you didn't notice because they are now correct! All I can say is keep reporting things, and hopefully the situation will improve as more people do the same.
Knowing Birmingham, I agree with your Broad Street/Bridge Street issue, and have just added it to my MapShare for future reporting. I trust that you have done the same so that subsequent users can benefit from your experience.
Joined: Oct 17, 2005 Posts: 390 Location: Washington DC
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:43 am Post subject:
Daggers wrote:
It's always difficult to know whether you were the first to report an issue or not (and as we know, this applies to PGPSW cameras, as well as to Mapshare!), and I'm afraid you can't just make an assumption either way.
What may not know about is all those changes that have been made via MapShare, that you didn't notice because they are now correct! All I can say is keep reporting things, and hopefully the situation will improve as more people do the same.
Knowing Birmingham, I agree with your Broad Street/Bridge Street issue, and have just added it to my MapShare for future reporting. I trust that you have done the same so that subsequent users can benefit from your experience.
Yeah, I agree - this last round of map updates were the first few to start implementing MapShare corrections. Did you yourself submit a MapShare correction for the mistake? What level do you have your TomTom accepting MapShare corrections? If you're sure people should have corrected this issue, it should show up if you correct it yourself and have your MapShare acceptance set to the right level.
I always submit corrections otherwise the service would be totally useless (if it isn't already ) and I accept everything except for changes submitted by a few.
I'm just amazed that a junction right in a major city centre could still be wrong after all this time..............................
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14907 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:47 am Post subject:
perussell wrote:
I always submit corrections otherwise the service would be totally useless (if it isn't already ) and I accept everything except for changes submitted by a few.
I'm just amazed that a junction right in a major city centre could still be wrong after all this time..............................
Your question is "How useful is Mapshare anyway?". The answer depends on who wants Mapshare.
TomTom have at least TWO good reasons to want it
1. What a wonderful marketing feature to be able to say that 10 million users are able to submit map corrections and 10 million users are able to download map corrections, so maps can be the most up to date. Great.
2. Great way for TomTom to learn about places where the map might be inaccurate. One change submission = might. A host of submissions = probably.
Absolute win-win situation for TomTom.
We users have to gauge our reasons for wanting it.
1. Do we believe that 10 million users are submitting corrections? How many users do you know and of those, how many do you know are submitting corrections? Do we believe that 10 million users are updating the map in central Birmingham? Or is it the odd one user there and the remaining 9,999,999 users are scattered in ones and twos throughout the world?
2. Do we believe that the map corrections we receive are accurate? Do we believe that they are verified before TT put them out?
Well, your discovery for Birmingham indicates that at best, not a lot of people are sending in corrections - surely there's more than one user in Birmingham? I have a number of places where you'd expect submissions - no right turns onto major routes in London (which once cost me an unnecessary congestion charge, £8, because the only permissible manoeuvre was straight ahead at the junction, right into the congestion zone, instead of right turn to come home), no right turn from Wood Lane onto A40 in London. I can't really submit accurate corrections from 120 miles away when I get home and the mapshare corrections button is not too handy in the middle of a wicked panic about false directions in London traffic.
Accuracy is suspect - witness the closing of the A40 into London, the wrong directions or whatever at M40 junction 15.
The conclusions drawn by users will be two options.
1. They are worth doing and in time will become a valuable feature.
2. They are completely untrustworthy, so don't download them.
I confess I belong to the second group. I upload my corrections, but I never, ever, download any. _________________ Dennis
Joined: Feb 27, 2006 Posts: 14907 Location: Keynsham
Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:51 pm Post subject:
DennisN wrote:
Accuracy is suspect - witness the closing of the A40 into London, the wrong directions or whatever at M40 junction 15.
Just for information, I came through M40 Jctn 15 today and it is still wrong - navigating south on A46 to turn West on M40, it takes you EAST on M40, to Jctn 14, turn around and rejoin westbound to go back under the roundabout at Jctn 15. I'm using App 8.010 and map 810 on two devices, GO720 and GO920T. Laughably, my HTC running TT Navigator 6 and map 675 gets it right!! _________________ Dennis
Joined: Aug 18, 2008 Posts: 82 Location: North Wales UK
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 3:52 pm Post subject:
I have been watching threads concerning mapshare with interest on this forum... and had removed any corrections off my device a few weeks ago following comments made by a couple of respected, senior members...
Then this week read a post that mentioned that the poster considered that a ver. 720 map with mapshare may actually be more up to date than a version 8.10 map...
So last evening I relented, set the slider to High so as to only download the Tom Tom verified corrections, then downloaded both mapshare corrections and a GPS fix that was available...
My position indicated by the cursor was then approx 50yds. out of position, and the compass was very much awry.
By restoring my Windows backup and selectively installing and testing with mapshare and GPS fix installed seperately, I discovered these anomilies to be caused by the mapshare download, not as I expected by the GPS fix.
So once more, downloaded mapshare corrections are off the menu on my device.
Alan. _________________ Tom Tom Go 520 - Map UK ROI 720.1803 Navcore_8.204.9718.go40 - ( Loquendo TTS7 ) / RDS-TMC /Tyre... purchased the Go mainly for the itinerary feature
Joined: Oct 08, 2007 Posts: 2544 Location: Toronto CANADA
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject:
While it may appear it was a mapshare dl causing the 'drift', I (and others) think it's due to a faulty gpsfix file. After all, there is no mapshare change that will move an entire road.
Also, North American users are reporting 'drift' the last day or so. _________________ David
Joined: Oct 17, 2005 Posts: 390 Location: Washington DC
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:14 pm Post subject:
AlandEi wrote:
So last evening I relented, set the slider to High so as to only download the Tom Tom verified corrections, then downloaded both mapshare corrections and a GPS fix that was available...
My position indicated by the cursor was then approx 50yds. out of position, and the compass was very much awry.
By restoring my Windows backup and selectively installing and testing with mapshare and GPS fix installed seperately, I discovered these anomilies to be caused by the mapshare download, not as I expected by the GPS fix.
So once more, downloaded mapshare corrections are off the menu on my device.
The MapShare corrections that have passed the highest level of scrutiny have been submitted by numerous TomTom users AND verified by TomTom.
There obviously is a possibility of error, as there is with any user-generated content, but not to the degree that you're describing.
Like dhn said, it's not likely MapShare is causing the problem.
Joined: Feb 16, 2008 Posts: 695 Location: Florida, USA
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 9:45 pm Post subject:
Well, at least it looks like some of the million-plus mapshare corrections are finally making it into the TeleAtlas map, albeit a very small percentage. MultiNet 2008.10 uses 50,000 changes having to do with street names and traffic flow directions in Europe and North America combined. But at least it's a start. _________________ Garmin 1695 / 255 / 760 w/MSN - Droid w/Google nav + Navigon - Navigon 8100T - Dakota10 - GPSMap76C - GeoMate Jr.
Joined: Dec 27, 2006 Posts: 998 Location: South Lincs, UK.
Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:58 pm Post subject:
Do you get a different number of corrections displayed as available if you change away from "strict"?
I cannot try it myself as I'm not at home at the moment. _________________ Paul
Joined: Dec 27, 2006 Posts: 998 Location: South Lincs, UK.
Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:52 pm Post subject:
As far as I can tell the map status indicator decides how long it is since your map was updated, multiplies this by a fairly random, frequently changing, number and displays the result as the number of corrections available.
It does not seem to take into account the trust settings and if you download mapshare corrections you do not receive the number of corrections said to be available.
It's estimate of the number of weeks since you updated is questionable as it can say that your map is 20 weeks out of date when the map has only been available for 4 weeks.
So if you take two random numbers and perform any calculation you like using those numbers you can predict the number of mapshare update that will be downloaded just as accurately as the mapshare indicator.
It does, however, seem to display the number of corrections in use more accurately. At least this number always seems to increase when you download corrections. _________________ Paul
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) and I accept everything except for changes submitted by a few.
)
