Searching for locations differently?

jzerocsk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 02, 2007 Posts: 33

This weekend I was travelling from Philadelphia to Boston. If you leave TomTom to his own devices, he'll send you straight through New York City which may seem like a fast route on paper, but is never so in practice. Savvy travellers bypass NYC by taking the Tappan Zee Bridge. I've done this once before and remembered the basic route, but I was hoping to use TomTom (ONE, btw) to jog my fuzzy memory and perhaps remind after I've driven 80 miles in a straight line that the exit is coming up.

But I found that, not knowing the cities that the bridge connects, there seemed to be no way to actually search for the bridge. Is there some other way to search, perhaps by state or general area? I tried to find it on the map, but it was too cumbersome on the small screen. On the way home, having noted the cities connected by the bridge, I dropped a favorite right in the middle and that got me through just fine.

Lesson learned - plan long trip on the PC in advance, but if there's a way to search that I haven't found, I would love to know if anyone has any tips.

Thanks!

lbendlin · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:59 pm Post subject:

There isn't really anything that you could do different. Street bridges tend not to be points of interest. Except for truck drivers - so maybe a trucker site has bridges with weight restrictions, height restrictions etc.

You can also request this POI category in our database...
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jzerocsk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 02, 2007 Posts: 33

Thanks, Lutz. Glad to know I wasn't missing something obvious. I may look for a POI set somewhere, but I'm not sure how useful it will be.

Border_Collie · Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 1:25 am Post subject:

Not sure if this will work for you but when I set a route from England to France and I notice the route goes through Paris, I go to Find Alternative - Avoid part of route and look down the list for Paris and tap on it. This calculates a new route and misses that wonderful Paris' périphérique.

You may be able to do similar with NYC.
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jzerocsk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 02, 2007 Posts: 33

lbendlin · Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:45 am Post subject:

46jimbo · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 24, 2005 Posts: 185

I'm just sitting here using the Advanced Planning option, and it's as easy as pie finding the Tappan Zee Bridge on the map. I just zoom in real close to be sure that I can distinguish the east from the westbound lanes across bridge, make sure that I set my cursor on the eastbound lane and tell TomTom to Travel Via.

I'm not sure why you say that it's a hassle to find the point on the map, unless you are trying to do it while the unit is stuck to your windshield. Hold the unit in your hands and it's a breeze.

jzerocsk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 02, 2007 Posts: 33

46jimbo · Regular Visitor Joined: Apr 24, 2005 Posts: 185

Yes, you are right about the difficulty of finding bridges. I only know where the TZB is because I've taken it many times. But nowhere on the TomTom map is the name of the bridge given. If I didn't know it's location, I wouldn't have a clue how to find it.

All of the bridges in the NYC area have no names given. They are just part of the highway and carry the highway's number.

However, the Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo to Canada is named. It is listed in the 'Streets' section for Buffalo and Fort Erie on the Canadian side. Same with the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls.

jzerocsk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 02, 2007 Posts: 33

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