Absolutely worst routing!

[tireddriver]

Hi, I've had four TT's and have always thought they were the best; but I've lost faith. A couple of days ago we drove from SE Connecticut to Florida's east coast. Just before the trip I updated TT to the latest maps. While still in NJ, the traffic thing told me there was an alternate route whereby I could save 15 minutes. Well that alternate route took me to Hershey, PA! At least 150 miles out of my way. What a horrendous error. The "normal" route along I95 is much more direct and faster. A 15 minute delay is NOT worth an 150 mile detour! But that's not all folks. A few other errors along the way really soured me on my TT. First, I booked a motel room along the way. TT took me off the highway at the wrong exit; in a backwoods, lightly inhabited area and cost me another 15 minute delay. The motel was right off the highway, but at a different exit. Next, I wanted to stop at a Burger King. The TT took me to an exit with a McD but no BK in sight! Finally, I wanted to stop at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. TT warned me the restaurant was on an unpaved road! Fortunately I didn't believe that info and, indeed, the restaurant was right off the highway and on a decidedly paved road. So there you go. At least four, count them, four! errors in a two day drive. What a mess and a waste of time. I'm off to the GPS that starts with "G" (don't want TT's censors to detect a competitor's name). I have no experience with G's devices but they just can't be that bad. Can they? Bye TT

 

[dhn]

Sorry about the experience. You don't say what model you have and whether it has IQ routing and whether you have a model with Traffic.

By the way, it's quite ok to refer to Garmin GPS units here; I do!

 

[tireddriver]

Sorry about the experience. You don't say what model you have and whether it has IQ routing and whether you have a model with Traffic.

By the way, it's quite ok to refer to Garmin GPS units here; I do!

Hi, The TT model is XXL 540TM. It has lifetime traffic and maps and, I think IQ Routes though I'm not sure of the terminology TT uses for their various features.

 

[dhn]

Yep it does.........can you tell me what application is installed on the unit? (tap the satellite bars and the next screen show the application).

Almost sounds as if either the application is faulty in misinterpreting map data or the updated map itself is faulty.

 

[tireddriver]

Yep it does.........can you tell me what application is installed on the unit? (tap the satellite bars and the next screen show the application).

Almost sounds as if either the application is faulty in misinterpreting map data or the updated map itself is faulty.

Hi, The version is 9.061. Is that what you needed? That's what I get when I tap the satellite signal strength bars in the lower left (correction: lower right). Thanks for your assistance!

 

[dhn]

Yep. That's the correct one.

You can try this ....... (in case the map update was corrupted when installed).

Make an Explorer, not Home, backup of your unit's contents. If not sure how, see HERE

Then, delete (using Explorer) the folder called USA_Canada_Mexico from your unit.

Then connect to Home and go to Add Voices/Maps and arrow right to Items on my computer-->Maps and check the listed map to install. And install it once more.

Don't disconnect your unit till ther install shows as completed and then use the Device Disconnect icon.

See if routing makes more sense now.

 

[tireddriver]

Thanks, I'll give it a try. But since the route in question was occasioned by a traffic alert; it won't be possible to verify that troublesome route again. I'll just have to check new routes as I use the device; and I'll probably never know if anything was actually fixed.

 

[Strutob]

Don't go the Garmin route (excuse the pun) their routing is awful - mine tries to take me off the motorways (highways)at every opportunity.

It even tries to take me off the motorway at one junction, go through a bunch of side roads with traffic lights etc and then put me back on the motorway at the next junction ! Utter madness.

BOB

 

[tireddriver]

Make an Explorer, not Home, backup of your unit's contents. If not sure how, see HERE

Then, delete (using Explorer) the folder called USA_Canada_Mexico from your unit.

Then connect to Home and go to Add Voices/Maps and arrow right to Items on my computer-->Maps and check the listed map to install. And install it once more.

Hi dhn, Guess what. Followed your directions up to the point of deleting my US/Canada/Mexico map folder from the TT.

Then went to "home"; selected "Add Maps" (I don't have an Add Voices/Maps option). Now TT wants $80 to sell me the map.

Since I have lifetime maps, that's a bit excessive.

 

[dhn]

I gave you bad information.

Connect your unit to Home and go to Add Traffic/voices, etc., Items on my computer, click on maps. See if your map is there (should be) and select it to install.

 

[canderson]

@dhn
I'm wondering if he has some spurious MapShare data that is causing some of this. Once he's got his map back to rights again, it might be worth guiding him through the deletion of that information to see if the routing changes.

@tireddriver
Don't worry about the map. Even were none found on your computer, with lifetime maps, you'd be offered one again. However, dhn is correct in that your PC should have at least one map still waiting to be re-installed. Be sure to grab the most recent if more than one is found.

 

[- et -]

Censors

I'm off to the GPS that starts with "G" (don't want TT's censors to detect a competitor's name).

FYI, this forum is not run by TomTom - it is independent of the company, and the moderators here are volunteers from several different countries. To the best of my knowledge, none of them work for TomTom.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that there is no need to worry about censorship by TomTom here.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

PS
I have been using the same model as you since last spring, and have never experienced a problem like yours. I am not knowledgeable enough to offer an expert opinion on the cause of your problem, but I can say that it is not normal with that GPS.

 

[tireddriver]

OK, I've got my maps back.

Thanks for the support!

As I said b4, I'll never know if that would/will change the routing because it was a result of a purported traffic delay.

One thing though that I didn't describe adequately in my first post is that TT didn't JUST take me off the highway at the wrong exit for the motel, but it appeared to think the motel was actually at that wrong exit. When I passed the supposed location of the motel it didn't tell me to turn around; it just stopped giving directions??? Very weird.

Could this have been bad map share data or some POI that I imported? I don't know. I don't think I ever imported POI's for Hampton Inns. But I did do so for Best Westerns and maybe some others.

Do you think I should clear my imported POI data? Or would that have been done when I deleted the USA map folder from the TT?

If you think I should, how do I do that?

Thanks for your help!

P.S. How do you get line brakes in your posts? I've had to manually insert (br /) (br /) codes. A bit of a PITA.

 

[dhn]

If you look at the contents of the specific map folder using Explorer, you may see a variety of files ending with an extension of .ov2. These would be custom poi files you've added to the map.

If you see one named something like Best_Western.ov2, you can simply copy that file (and associated .bmp file) to the computer and then delete the files from the map folder. Same process for any other ov2 files you see there.

Or, you can simply go to Manage POIS-->Show on Map and uncheck any categories that you don't want to see on the map.

 

[canderson]

In the User Control Panel, under Edit Options, at the very very bottom of that page, what is your setting for Message Editor Interface, and what browser are you using? I find that the user of the 'Enter' key creates line breaks just fine here, and multiple uses will create larger separations as needed.

As for your note that "...but it appeared to think the motel was actually at that wrong exit...". That does indicate an error in POI data. Whether that data comes from the POI data that accompanies the TomTom map or a POI category you have added remains to be seen. Especially on frontage roads, I've found that POI files whose original source data is geolocation of addresses (not immediate coordinates) can be a bit goofy at times. Mapping services often don't get the address ranges right in those kinds of areas.

 

[tireddriver]

In the User Control Panel, under Edit Options, at the very very bottom of that page, what is your setting for Message Editor Interface, and what browser are you using? I find that the user of the 'Enter' key creates line breaks just fine here, and multiple uses will create larger separations as needed.

Thanks for the feedback.

My settings say "Enhanced... full WYSIWYG" and yet line breaks still don't work. Odd.

As for your note that "...but it appeared to think the motel was actually at that wrong exit...". That does indicate an error in POI data. Whether that data comes from the POI data that accompanies the TomTom map or a POI category you have added remains to be seen. Especially on frontage roads, I've found that POI files whose original source data is geolocation of addresses (not immediate coordinates) can be a bit goofy at times. Mapping services often don't get the address ranges right in those kinds of areas.

Well that kinda sucks. I expect my GPS to get me to the place I select. I know it sometimes doesn't take what I might consider the "best route" but I do count on it to get me where I'm going. And, up to now it always has.

BTW. I checked the copy of the TT files I made b4 removing the map data from the device. I did not have a specific POI download for Hampton Inns. So the map error, whatever it is, would seem to be in TT's own data.

 

[Andy_P]

There could be something odd about your keyboard or character encoding....

What I'm seeing in your post is:

My settings say & quot ;Enhanced... full WYSIWYG & quot ;

and
it sometimes doesn't take what I might consider the & quot ;best route& quot ; but I do count on it

And the same thing happens in your quote from Canderson.
His original text looks fine to me, but by the time it has been through your PC, in the quote it now says:

As for your note that & quot ;...but it appeared to think the motel was actually at that wrong exit...& quot ;.

(I've put some extra spaces between the & and the quot and the ; to stop it turning back to anything else when you look at it).


and

...it sometimes doesn't take what I might consider the & quot; best route & quot; but I do count on it

 

[canderson]

What I'm seeing in your post is:

My settings say & quot ;Enhanced... full WYSIWYG & quot ;

I am seeing the same thing. I suspect that his browser is a Mac or Unix based one. I see this same thing often when looking at articles and blogs written with such systems that have been posted on the web. Rather than just working with the normal ASCII representations, they try to use a sort of half-baked HTML instead.

To the OP - suggest you look at what your browser is, and how it can be configured NOT to use the HTML representation of characters when it isn't necessary. My guess is that it is also trying to use a form of 'br' already that is not compatible with this vBulletin board software, and therefore does not appear in your posts as you would like.

I'd be curious if you'd identify the browser you are using, and what OS it's sitting on.

 

[tireddriver]

There could be something odd about your keyboard or character encoding....

I agree, it does seem that something is wrong. But I participate in other forms where this issue doesn't occur. So I doubt it's my keyboard encoding or anything else at my end. https://www.tomtomforums.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Notice that I tried to place a smiley above and it didn't take.

My guess is it's something to do with this forum and my settings for the forum.

 

[tireddriver]

I am seeing the same thing. I suspect that his browser is a Mac or Unix based one. I see this same thing often when looking at articles and blogs written with such systems that have been posted on the web. Rather than just working with the normal ASCII representations, they try to use a sort of half-baked HTML instead.

To the OP - suggest you look at what your browser is, and how it can be configured NOT to use the HTML representation of characters when it isn't necessary. My guess is that it is also trying to use a form of 'br' already that is not compatible with this vBulletin board software, and therefore does not appear in your posts as you would like.

I'd be curious if you'd identify the browser you are using, and what OS it's sitting on.

Hi,

I'm using Firefox on Win 7, Ultimate. Nothing funny here AFAICS.

I'll try it with IE.