New Maps - More acurate than the old ones?

[Aquanick]

Not sure if anyone will know the answer just yet but.....

I have been using the GO for about a year now, and have used the device all over England.
I have found many map inacuracies all over the place, roads not on the map, new rounderbouts etc.
I understand that this is because roads are constantly changing with new roads being built and such like, but I have on a number of occasions come across roads which have been constructed over 10 years ago and they are still not in the GO's map data.

But are these new maps worth buying?
Are they any better than the old ones?
The main advantage I can see with the new maps is full postcode search, but if the acuracy is still cack then is it worth it?

I have downloaded the V5 software and on the whole I am impressed with the array of new features. Many of which I believe have appeared because the customers have asked for, so at least they seem to listen to wot the people want.
But I still think the unit is lacking the ability to be able to alter average speeds to give more acurate arival times for destinations........unless this is wot the "Limited Speed" route calcualation option is meant to be for....does anybody know if this just alters maximum speed so a more acutate arival time is given for slower vehicles, or does it also alter the route which it actually takes you?

Nick

[lbendlin]

Ahh, it's that time of the year again. Let's get the crystal ball out - what? all milky? Hold on a sec!

Last time they recompiled the maps they were constraining themselves to storage card sizes (256 MB for Germany, 128 for the UK. This has led to some quite substantial omissions in newer maps where old detail has been dropped to make room for newer areas.

In short, we don't know until we have the maps. Let's hope this time around they will not go by these stupid size limitations.
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[mike007]

I WAS IN MY local city center today using tom tom go V5 with the current maps 8) one thing happened it tried to get me go down a road which is meant exclusivley for BUSES ONLY its like the bus depot where all the buses start and finish their journey.this road has been buses only for years!
ALSO Liverpool city centre is almost bieng completly redeveloped,roads changed new shopping centres,roundabouts,changes in direction of traffic etc..all for the capital of culture in 2008 (if you have been in Liverpool recently you will have seen every junction with traffic cones on them) when i buy the NEW MAPS they will almost instantly become full of errors as this building work gets completed! How often would the maps be updated after this next update and would there be more cost to update?

[lbendlin]

If the current process continues then you will see "updated" maps every year and you will always have to pay for them.

The TomTom Plus service promises smaller downloadable maps (again you need to pay for them) so this could be used to release updated maps of Liverpool once they stopped digging.
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[MikeB]

But...

Just because they have stopped digging doesnt mean that they will get into the Mapping database anytime soon.

Assuming that as soon as the alterations are complete and the data goes straight into the database (which it wont) then there is a lag of at least 6 months before it will be available for release by TomTom this of course may not co-incide with an annual update so you may get the "correct" maps a year later.

Now to put this into context down south in Essex it took over a year after a major by-pass road was completed before it was on the Teleatlas database. It then missed the GO map release in June last year, so has only just become available, and the road was opened in Feb 2002!
_________________
Mike Barrett

[DavidW]

TeleAtlas are, unless I'm mistaken, only releasing new map data twice a year. They had a period releasing four times a year, but I'm pretty sure they've gone back to twice a year. TomTom Navigator 3 was based on December 2003 TeleAtlas data.

It's very unlikely TomTom have changed maps after most of the beta testing has taken place and almost immediately before the release of the first version 5 products, so this almost certainly means that the new maps for the version 5 products are using TeleAtlas release 2004.2, rather than the 2005.1 release. 2005.1 only became available earlier this month - see this TeleAtlas press release.

Like all things, maps need testing. There will always be a delay between map data becoming available and it being shipped.


The lesson from this is that if TomTom stay on their current release schedules, for a map error to be fixed in version 6 it probably needs reporting to TeleAtlas and TeleAtlas acting on it within the next four and a half to five months. As Mike says, it can take years for errors in roads other than motorways (which the mapping companies are fairly pro-active about) to get into digital mapping products.

It's certainly no good reporting an error in a road when the next version of a product is announced, and expecting the mapping to be fixed in that next version. This problem is not just TomTom's.


Meanwhile, you can always expect map updates to be chargeable - the mapping companies have to make their money somehow.



David

[Aquanick]

ummm......yea

Thanks for the inforomation.....still no nearer to deciding whether to buy the latest upgrade.
If I understand correctly, the latest release will be pretty much the same as the last set which I have already.
The only thing I will gain from the update is postcode searches.

But thanks anyways...

Nick

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