Computer voice recites wrong street names

[21rouge]

As for how quickly the bug will get fixed, it depends on how they are internally organized and how bugs are prioritized. Not to put too fine a point on it, but compared to other product lines, the ONE series has relatively low margins for TomTom. If they prioritize based on per-unit profitability, it's not going to be a high priority fix. ...but the ONE probably has a larger customer base as a result, so a fix would affect more of their customers, possibly making it a higher priority.

As I have posted it affects my just acquired XL 330S. Of course one reason for making this purchase is because of its ability to say street names ie the robust text to speech feature. After obtaining the latest fw and maps it is now not able to do as advertised. This problem will become more widespread as more and more users upgrade their maps.

 

[Gilbert]

I was rather curious about the tts capability of the TT and visited the Loquendo web site to learn more about the technical side of it. They seemed to indicate that road names have a spelling field and an additional field for pronounciation with phonetic characters. I don't know where on the map the data is or if every road name has that field reviewed for correctness but it does make sense when one considers that any voice is supposed to pronounce foreign names adequately.

Few English speaking people realise that English has one of the most complex spelling/pronounciation language. Miami is pronounced ?My-a-me? but why not ?my-a-my? or ?me-a-me? or ?me-a-my?? How is the spelled name Brougham pronounced? Leicester? Queensborough? I could go on but suffice to make my point clear. In North America, geographical names are mostly from three distinct origins: English, Spanish, French and Amerindian to complicate matters. TT compresses the maps to fit on internal memory and probably cuts somewhere to meet all the goals the maps functions. It would be ideal if we could modify those pronounciation fields but we have no way to do that at the moment.

 

[dassub]

However in this case, it seems to be a simple case of database column allocation. Say for example, Main St is in column 100 for the earlier map versions, but for the new map version, Main St is in column 103. The software is still referencing the old column, or vice versa. This would explain why the street names being pronounced are completely different, but start with the same letter most of the time.

Either way, I really hope they are working on a fix. This is simpy unacceptable for a new purchase.

 

[hobo]

Correct. It's more than just simple mispronounciation, like Chicago, IL = Chickory ill. It's also names being completely made-up sounding, like State route 725 = State highway 101A or Maple Street = East Rottenham Way –– Yet, the Interstates are correctly pronounced, the major highways seem OK. It's the street that are messed up. And some highways get 2 names, the correct one and an incorrect one.

 

[21rouge]

I called in again this morning and gave them the ref # for this problem (I first called in to them re the tts problem after the map update to 720 sometime on Monday). I asked to speak with a level 2 rep after referencing the ref #. The same guy came back after about 10 minutes and claimed that there is now a fix. Basically I was to uninstall the US Canada maps (720) delete the contents of one of the folders (as I recall it contained "ephemeris") and then re dload and install 720 again. I am in the process of doing this as we speak.

[update: after all that still the problem exists; what a waste of time ]

 

[dassub]

Yeah I really doubt that there is a "fix" out there that involves us doing particular steps with our device. This is something that's going to require an entirely new download/install of an update, whether it be a new firmware application or new map file specific to our device.

 

[dhn]

Yeah I really doubt that there is a "fix" out there that involves us doing particular steps with our device. This is something that's going to require an entirely new download/install of an update, whether it be a new firmware application or new map file specific to our device.

See post 9 of this thread. Possible solution? http://tomtomforums.com/showthread.php?t=10278

 

[Gilbert]

Correct. It's more than just simple mispronounciation, like Chicago, IL = Chickory ill. It's also names being completely made-up sounding, like State route 725 = State highway 101A or Maple Street = East Rottenham Way ?? Yet, the Interstates are correctly pronounced, the major highways seem OK. It's the street that are messed up. And some highways get 2 names, the correct one and an incorrect one.

Now I appreciate the problem but have not yet experienced it locally. The pronounciation fields are off in some instances and probably caused by a bug in the software they use. For having worked with database sw, I can say it can be a tough one to pinpoint and correct. Particularly so when the number of error instances is low. In some cases finding the error can take months if ever. In my case, about 30 years ago, I was responsible for an inventory system involving thousands of bins and every 3 to 4 months, there was one bin found in error and caused the system to abort. There was a daily bin tracking report that was printed and was about a foot thick. Every couple of weeks those reports were thrown away since it took so much space and no one bothered to go thru them anyway...

 

[Buddharay]

i will also try to reach out to tomtom, and see if we can get a fix for this problem. i really like the 330S, so hopefully this can get wrapped up soon. i will keep you posted on what i hear.

 

[dassub]

Yeah I think we should all keep each other posted on this issue. It would be nice to have new maps working with reeeeeal speech.

 

[dassub]

See post 9 of this thread. Possible solution? http://tomtomforums.com/showthread.php?t=10278

Wow.. SUCCESS!

The filename is actually called cphonmlh.dat and is located in the USA_and_Canada folder.

DELETE THIS FILE (back it up if you feel necessary).

This should be stickied, as a solution that actually solved the problem!

 

[hobo]

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
You rule!!!! It worked!! Thanks.

 

[hobo]

I just want to say again... You Rule!!

 

[hobo]

You solved it... you rule too!! Thanks!

 

[hobo]

See post 9 of this thread. Possible solution? http://tomtomforums.com/showthread.php?t=10278

Sorry needed to quote you... Thanks!!!

 

[henry865]

Thank You!!!

THANKS!!! The deleting of cphonmlh.dat worked perfectly for me!!!!

TomTom never got back to me but I don't care since my 130S works now properly.

Thanks again!!!!

 

[21rouge]

Wow.. SUCCESS!

The filename is actually called cphonmlh.dat and is located in the USA_and_Canada folder.

DELETE THIS FILE

It did fix the tts problem for me.

But I wonder...cphonmlh.dat was/is a large file. Would its deletion affect the completeness of the new maps?

 

[dhn]

It did fix the tts problem for me.

But I wonder...cphonmlh.dat was/is a large file. Would its deletion affect the completeness of the new maps?

I have no clue. If you ask the unit to plan a route to Montreal but it sends you to Winnipeg BUT it pronounces the street names properly along the way, do you win or lose?

Seriously, I have no idea of the impact of the removal of the file. I guess it'll be up to you members to report back here if, indeed, you seem to be finding bizarre side effects. Good luck.

 

[henry865]

I updated my trouble ticket about the TTS not working and the temp fix that was found, deleting or renaming "cphonmlh.dat". I also asked them to find out what kind of effect this would have. This is the reply I received:

Dear Henry,

Thank you for contacting TomTom Support in regard to the issue of LMG and mispronounced street names.

As to the version of the map which will be supplied with the Latest Map Guarantee, you will receive the version of the map which is the latest at the time the problem is corrected.

Also thank you for the temporary fix you provided. TomTom will evaluate the fix to see if it is a viable fix for this problem.

So hopefully now that they know what kind of temporary fix has been found maybe they can now find a permanent solution, hopefully.

 

[hobo]

I have no clue. If you ask the unit to plan a route to Montreal but it sends you to Winnipeg BUT it pronounces the street names properly along the way, do you win or lose?

Seriously, I have no idea of the impact of the removal of the file. I guess it'll be up to you members to report back here if, indeed, you seem to be finding bizarre side effects. Good luck.

I've used my 130s pretty extensively since deleting the "cphonmlh.dat" file last week - no problems encountered! Fingers crossed. I only wish I hadn't updated to system 8 – I liked the older system better, expecially the compass. I didn't back it up when I had the chance.