US map quality versus UK

[elyl]

After spending the last 2 weeks travelling extensively around the east coast of the US using TomTom, I have come to the conclusion that the quality of the map data for the US is far superior to the quality of the data for the UK.

Of course, my experience is purely anecdotal, and it is difficult, if not impossible to accurately rank the quality of the entire map, but TTN5 managed to get me from house number to house number over 5000 miles in the US.
The UK data on the other hand, as has been pointed out numerous times is sorely lacking. I'm not going to go into a discussion about that, just my personal comparison between the maps for both countries.


A few things that surprised me with the US maps after using the UK ones for so long...
- The US maps seem to navigate from house number to house number. I'll clarify that - the UK maps you can navigate, supposedly from postcode/house number to postcode/house number, but we know this is not always the case, as TT5 sometimes just 'guesses' where the actual house is within the postcode, often many yards from where it should be. The US maps, in my experience, put the 'finishing line' right outside the correct house, and not simply near it.

- The US maps were detailed enough to find a friend's house in the arse-end-of-nowhere. Amish country in Pensylvania, single-track roads (how many of those are there in the US?!) no streetlights, the US maps had them listed. It surprised my friend that I found his house, even though he knew I had a GPS.

- The POIs for the US are far more extensive than the UK. The sheer number of them shows the amount of effort put into collecting them. I think every restaurant in New York was listed, and it was able to find me the nearest pharmacy and pizza place in Amish land. The UK POIs seem to be a bit hit and miss as to what chains of restaurants and stores are listed, which is not good enough.

- The US maps seem more up-to-date. Recently built roads (about a year old) are listed, the only time my arrow appeared to be in the middle of a field was driving to the new Ikea in Atlanta, which is on a new built road which is less than a year old afaik. I only had a couple of occasions when TT tried to route me the wrong way down a one-way street (NY), and it appeared that the streets had probably previously been two-way. Compare this to a few roads in my local area in the UK as an example. One road has been two-way for at least 20 years (surely long before TeleAtlas started digital mapping?) but is listed as one-way and labelled as 'Argo Terrace', which it has never been called, and there is no street anywhere nearby with that name.

- Oh, and the US maps are a lot cheaper than the European ones. Sure, perhaps the EU area is a lot bigger, and sure, the $ is weak at the moment, but I think the price difference is a LOT more to do with the whole 'how the price looks' mentality that we are used to in the UK... i.e. what costs $29.99 in the US is sold in the UK at £29.99... the price 'looks' the same, but the 'value' is almost double.



There are downsides though:
- The map setup for the European maps is quite good - country maps, and plus versions with major roads included. The US version is different, you have single state maps, and a seperate 'major roads' map. You can also install maps with groups of states on it. The problem occurs if you are driving from one state to another, and they are not on the same 'map group'. I installed a map with PA, VA and NJ on it. I later realised I would need a NY map, so I installed the single NY map. Now, in NY, I try to route to NJ, but they're not on the same map, so I use the Major Roads map... but I'm in NY, nowhere near a major road, and my destination is nowhere near a major road... I've got to work out what major road I have to join, switch back to NY map, navigate to major road, switch to MajorRoads map, navigate to nearby destination road, switch to NJ map and navigate to final destination. So awkward.

- There is no easy way to copy favourites between maps, meaning I had to set the favourites on each map set. I later found out it would have been easier to do them all as POIs and copy the POI file, but I don't see why there can't be common favourites for TT, which show on any map you use which contains that range. Not so much a gripe with the US version, as it applies to the European one too, but it was just more noticable on the US version.

- On freeways, often told to 'Keep Left' or 'Keep Right' when there is no obvious reason to keep left (it's basically telling me don't take the exit)... then, when the freeway does split, TT sometimes doesn't prompt me to take the left or right branch (I have to look at the screen). Again, this applies to the EU version too, but it just goes to show that there doesn't appear to be any kind of 'standard' of when it should tell you to keep left or right.

- Road names - The road name at the bottom of the screen, I always assumed, was the name of the road I was on, but in the US version it was sometimes the name of road that I was to take next. I couldn't see any pattern to when it was the name of the road I was driving on, or the name of the road I was to turn on to.


Again, I'll state this is just anecdotal experience, but on the whole I am far happier with the US maps on TomTom than the UK ones - it got to the point where I trust where the US TomTom tells me to go, but with the UK version it's as if I'm second guessing it all the time. Anyone else with experience with both versions of the software?

[cartman]

I used the USA maps in Florida for two weeks in March & found them invaluable. I would generally agree with elyl's comments re the difference between the US & UK maps except that myUSA ones weren't the newest & consequently , we had some interesting experiences when navigating the new roads in Orlando. For example , my kids thought it hilarious when we ran alongside a freeway & the voice kept insisting we turn right - straight off a flyover, as TTN thought we were still on the I4 ! The keep left/right instruction could be a pain tho', as sometimes it caused needless lane changes - but UK maps do that too.
DJM

[lupos0_1]

Just out of interest, where did you guys get your US maps fom? I've tried to find some for tomtom nav 5 but to no avail???
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[elyl]

Expansys USA has the US maps. Try and get it shipped to a US address to avoid any VAT or import duty, and it's much cheaper than buying the USA maps via a UK retailer.

[tomo1340]

[lbendlin]

Map quality varies by state. Here in Texas it is so-so, very inferior to the NavTeq based maps.

TomTom does NOT know house numbers. You probably just got lucky. TomTom only knows start and end house numbers of street "maneuvres" (pieces of streets) and fails miserably in urban areas.

TomTom also doesn't know the side of the street for a given house number - again something very important in urban areas.

POIs ? Don't get me started. Over here in Texas 80% of the POIs are just plain wrong, the rest is out of date or misplaced... Oh - I did start to rant after all... Apologies.
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Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[elyl]

It's interesting to see the variance in map quality between states and between countries - I think it just goes to show that TeleAtlas have no kind of standard method for mapping a place. I wonder who they employ during the actual mapping process - do they have trained, professional, permanent employees, or do they (as I suspect) employ students on temporary contracts who do a half-assed job?

[lbendlin]

It's a multi step process, and multiple things can go wrong.

1) the surveying - driving the van around and video filming everything. Well, if you don't know the area, how do you make sure you catch all the new developments, road changes and road sign changes?

2) the data mapping - done in India - looking at video footage and trying to decipher street signs and other shady styff

3) the map compilation - hundreds of parameters that - if left out - can lead to unexpected results (like Corpus Christi - the whole bay is gone and looks like an industrial area)

TeleAtlas claim to work towards ISO 9000 but this can mean many things. It certainly doesn't mean maps that are close to reality.
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[elyl]

I wonder if map quality will improve with the advent of the various satellite mapping systems like Google Earth. It would make things a lot easier if the map data could be checked from an overhead view, which in most cases would show up many of the wacky map errors. Of course, this would rely on up-to-date satellite pictures too.

[cartman]

@ lupos0_1
I got my set from www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk , but I don't think they're listed anymore

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