are my Maps up to date?

[Wee_Jock]

Hi everyone,

I have a problem with a " USED " TOMTOM I purchased yesterday. It does not recognize the city in which I live. " Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Canada. This makes life a little bit more difficult if I can't find where I live ( lost on the highway, my beers getting warm & pizza's getting cold. Kinda like the lady beside me so to speak, in the same order I quote her endearing words" another useless toy you just had to have eh!" ) I had to resort to the old backup system. Yeah you know, The don't ask for directions male syndrome! How the hell did we travel to and from work or anywhere else before GPS systems came into existence.

All kidding aside, I came on-line today to the TOMTOM WEBSITE and discovered that I could use the BETA test version for maps. I thought this would be a great way to check my unit and discover what I had for a model, ( tomtom one 4n00.005 clear as mud now ) Anyone else with this problem....... I digress, to my amazement I entered the start point of Kirkfield , Ontario and discovered that their MAP system was just as out of date and inaccurate as the one in my TOMTOM. It still showed the old Provincial highway naming system that went out of use ( I believe more than 5 years ago.) Does anyone else have a suggestion as to how I determine what unit I actually have and how old or current my maps are? I have supplied answers to their FEEDBACK requests with this issue, maybe they will know how old my maps are by looking at the one's they are using. They might even ask for an update from mine.

 

[dhn]

Connect your unit to the computer and use Explorer to see the contents of the unit. There is a text file in the root of the unit called ttgo.bif (or some other file ending in .bif). Open it and the second line will show what model you have.

Also, tap the satellite bars. The next screen shows the application version installed on the unit. Tap the version number and the next screen shows the map version installed and the build number.

Report back with that information.

Having said the above, I do have the latest North America map (825) and there is no 'Kawartha Lakes' on mine. Is that a post office location? Is KL a suburb of Peterborough, perhaps?

If you provide a street in KL, not the house number, I can see if it comes up under another location.

 

[gatorguy]

Tun left on 35 off 42 and there is Kawartha Lakes.

It's on Navteq maps on both my Garmin and Navigon. Kawartha Lakes, Kawartha Park or North Kawartha are all valid choices.

We had exactly this same thing come up at another forum, only this time it was a town that wasn't really a town, instead an unicorporated section of another. And it was one that you could find on a TEleAtlas map but not Navteq. It's not unsual. I often recommend to those that just have to be able to find every little town or street, buy 2 different pnd's. One with a recent TA map and one with the latest Navteq. You'll still find that occasional place that doesn't appear in the database of either one, but it will be fairly rare.

 

[dhn]

Yeah, TT has K Park and K Heights, just no Kawartha Lake.

 

[Wee_Jock]

Updated info Online

Well, I managed to borrow a USB adapter from a neighbour that allowed me to hook my TOMTOM to my PC and I have done all the updates. It makes absolutely no difference to my location. it shows my address as Bolsover. Now this is a small community, not a city but thats the way it is listed.

Kawartha lakes encompasses a very large area to the West of Peterborough and to the East of Orillia. Both are cities and the city of Orillia is smaller in Area than the City of Kawartha lakes. I am not sure but I think I shall investigate a thought I just had a little further, and point it out for others here who may be interested in possible problems related to this.

A few years ago there was an amalgamation of the communities due to Downloading from the Province. They merged all of the small villages and everything changed from Victoria County to the Newly RENAMED " City Of kawartha lakes" The Highways also changed around the same time period, so it might be possible that this is all tied in together. Now as I say, this all took place a number of years ago, but it should have been addressed before now. I might complain and say this is a bit of a headache but it would also be a very DANGEROUS situation if this was to cause a delay to EMERGENCY SERVICES I wonder if this has already been encountered by any of the Emergency services who use GPS systems without anyone taking the time to look and realizing exactly why?

I guess no one travels into this area with GPS due to this problem , all the cottagers must be long time travellers , or they simply must give up and go home before they fall into the vast emptiness of the void.

Thanks to everyone for the replies, nice to see I am not alone.

 

[gatorguy]

If you take my advice and buy a cheap Garmin (to go along with your TomTom), you can find your town.

 

[Wee_Jock]

If you take my advice and buy a cheap Garmin (to go along with your TomTom), you can find your town.

I won't tell you what I paid for this TOMTOM.....Ah heck sure I will....$30 Canadian.

Don't tell me the Garmin is cheaper, my daughter went nuts when I told her what I had paid. She threw a fit and went on and on about what she paid for hers. How come I always get the deals NO IT'S NOT HOT

I know how to get where I am, the point was others would have trouble finding me....... top ten most wanted list and all that. I have this problem tinkering with things and when I find a fault it usually sends me off the edge. This is just one of those things I have found, I really should stop looking for problems. I should be more reasonable ,after all for $30.00 how can I complain? You see, that's the problem with me, it doesn't matter about the cost 30 or 3,000 it's the fact that something is wrong that gets me. I think l will call TOMTOM toll-free telephone # tomorrow and see what they say. There are others out there who might be experiencing similar problems due to the merge that took place ( if that is indeed the reason for this )

Should I discover the reason is what I have pointed out, I'm sure they will want to have a talk to their techie people about this hole in the system. Can you imagine the bad publicity it could cause them if the competition or people who have one discovered it has gone on as long as it has without anyone paying attention to it. Who knows, if I am wrong then what the heck maybe it will get fixed , or at least get the attention of someone who cares enough to look closer at the problem.

 

[dhn]

It's an indication of maps not up to date in that area, I'm afraid. It wasn't until about two years ago that TomTom maps caught up to the fact that streets formerly in, say North York, were now located in Toronto (due to amalgamation).

You can make a map correction on TomTom's site or on TeleAtlas (Tt's map provider) site directly.

But, yeah, make the call (866-486-6866). TomTom sticks it to Canadians too much with not up to date map information (no Advanced Lane guidance for ANY roads in Canada in the latest maps, for example).

 

[Wee_Jock]

Hey DHN,

thanks for the info. I have just sent quite number of submissions off to teleatlas as you suggested regarding this whole area now known as City of kawartha lakes. It really is a massive mess,Ii don't see that there is any truth to the demo of "what happens to my submission now". Everyone else has this correct, even Google etc as outlined in their demo. makes me wonder why TOMTOM has it wrong even with the updated maps. Should I be paranoid and figure it's a cash grab? Buy more maps.......

 

[dhn]

Not sure that'll help. As you read various threads, you'll come to understand that, for many areas of North America, Navteq maps rule (Garmin products) but there are also areas where TeleAtlas (TT) comes out on top.

 

[Wee_Jock]

I wonder what the legal system would say about it. The purchase is for a GPS system which should be accurate, not a maybe it will maybe it won't service. I'll talk to a friend of mine and see what he thinks of this. I doubt they would have a leg to stand on when the information is there. It's like buying a map of ontario, would you accept a blank section that had nothing on it if the company claimed that it was the most up to date version when in fact it was 3-5 years out of date and they just had not got around to correcting it. Even Microsoft has to be pro-active in correcting bugs when reported.

 

[tarmacburner2]

One thing you could do is use your TomTom outside your house to determine the location. If you look at the GPS Status screen is tells you the long and lat coordinates. Then save that location as a Favourite. Then you can use it when you need to find your way home. You can always give anyone who needs your location the long and lat coordinates which they can enter in and save with a suitable name "Wee Jock in the Middle of Nowhere"

Cheers,

tarmacburner2