It does work in exactly the way I have described, which is exactly the way it is described on the tomtom FAQ (except theirs has added marketing-speak).
Exactly, they purposely mush up the explanation to make it look like it does more than it actually does, which is why they will eventually be sued.
The page is divided into two main sections, the first talks about 'Corrections'. These are the only things that can be changed on a map. The items talked about in the second section are not referred to as corrections. These are the things that you are reporting to TomTom (and in turn their map data provider).
Then why are they including it in the answer for a very clear question, "What sort of map corrections can I make with Map Share??" And this is their own FAQ -- not something on this or some other 3rd party site. Like I said, at best this is just misleading. Frankly, I feel its a blatant misrepresentation of what Map Share is offering as a feature.
The final paragraph explains that 'corrections' can be shared among other TT users, and that you can receive corrections from TomTom. It says nothing about you receiving the type of items that were 'reported'. You will only get those when, and if, they are incorporated in a future map (that you will have to upgrade to).
Yet this is their answer in their own FAQ for the question, "What sort of map corrections can I make with Map Share??" They also advertise Map Share as allowing you to always have the most updated maps. Changing a street name or a temporarily blocked road is not what I would call "the most updated maps". The word "map" implies ROADS, and if you can't receive the latest changes to the ROADS via Map Share, then you're not really getting the latest maps, are you?
No other manufacturer offers anything even close to this type of feature.
Except DeLorme, which allows you to make your own map changes directly on the map, which makes Map Share relatively worthless. Want to share the changes you made in DeLorme with your friends? Just post the data file on their website, so anyone can download it. Done.
And none of the mapshare features have ever been available in any software version prior to v7. It has never before been possible to change any element of your map. That is that value of mapshare. Personally, I am more than happy with it.
Look, Map Share is a good idea, but it's poorly implemented and completely misrepresented via marketing hype on what it actually provides the customer. I think TomTom has purposely been vague on this. That may be because they are planning more extensive immediate map updates in the future via Map Share or because they realize that it's a relatively worthless feature if it doesn't actually update the maps, so they're keeping most of thier customers dazed and confused about what it actually provides them.
Think about it -- how many times does the name of a road change? Rarely, if ever...worthless feature. How many times does a road become permanently blocked or unblocked enough to make it a worth submission for worldwide distribution in Map Share? Rarely, if ever...worthless feature to all but a few customers. How many times does a road permanently change traffic direction enough to justify submission for worldwide distribution in Map Share? Virtually never. One-way roads in larger cities may change on a daily basis to help with heavy traffic hours, but very rarely do they permanently change...worthless feature. POI updates? Those have been available from the very first version of the TomTom software. You've been able to add your own custom POIs, remove TomTom POIs, etc. So that's nothing new and is therefore yet another worthless feature of Map Share (worthless because it's already available without Map Share and always has been).
Face it, in it's current form, Map Share is nothing but a bunch of marketing hype, and 99% of all TomTom customers (forget about potential shopping or non-customers) cannot tell you what true functionality Map Share provides. Most believe it works the way I thought, because that's the way TomTom's misleading explanations in their own FAQ describe it. And that's the way the TomTom commercials and print ads describe it. So, congrats -- you're the 1% (probably actually a smaller number) that knows exactly what Map Share is. The weird part is that you're happy with it, because the most valuable part of it in its current form (POI updates) you've had access to all along. The rest is fluff that will rarely be used by more than 0.1% of TomTom customers. Basically, all Map Share is to most TomTom users is an integrated POI editor. Whoopee. Having an integrated POI editor isn't worth the $75 map upgrade that Map Share required for me, when I've been able to edit or add POIs for free all along.
Defend it all you want, but TomTom better clarify what (little) it actually does soon, or mark my words, they are going to get sued.
