Details of new map releases

[Astronautilus]

Is there anywhere I can look to get a summary of what's in each map release?

I live in a part of France where TomTom mapping isn't as good as Garmin's, and don't want to pay for new maps for my Go 720 if there are no improvements in my part of the world.

Thanks...

 

[dhn]

Unfortunately not.

If you go to routes.tomtom.com, the map used there is normally one release older than the current (885). If your map is much older than 880, it might help somewhat.

 

[Andy_P]

If you want to check whether a specific new development has been added just ask here.

Several of us have the latest European maps and can check for you if you tell us what we should be looking for.

One personal request though... if you do, it really helps if you can give Latitude/Longitude coordinates rather than "it's on the north bound turn off of the ring road of Anytown" - much quicker to find when you don't know the area.

On just about every TomTom, you can set the "Browse map" or "View map"screen to show the coordinates by selecting them in Options/Advanced at the bottom of that page.

 

[Astronautilus]

Thanks dhn and Andy_P... routes.tomtom.com seems like a good first place to look, and if I have any specific requests, I'll post them here.

On a related note (and sorry if this is common knowledge), sometimes (and especially in my part of France) my GO 720 is convinced that I'm driving across fields, sometimes paralleling the road I'm actually on.

I can understand that these are just mapping errors, but what's going on when it shows the road I'm on in white but refuses to recognise it for navigation?

 

[dhn]

Again, either a mapping error (likely) or someone has put in faulty mapshare data that blocks that road you want to travel on.

As Andy offered, he has an 885 map at his disposal so, for example, if you give him a starting and ending destination in France, he can do a route demo and let you know if it seems ok in 885.

By the way, 890 is due within 2 or 3 weeks so, if you've waited this long, wait a bit longer and get the 890 map.

 

[Andy_P]

....my GO 720 is convinced that I'm driving across fields, sometimes paralleling the road I'm actually on.

That can be down to one of two things... either the lines drawn on the map are not quite in the right place (You often see something similar on Google maps if you look at the satellite view with the roads superimposed)

or.... the GPS positioning on the TomTom is not REALLY as good as you think.

All "automotive" satnavs are actually quite vague about where you are and so they cheat and "snap" you onto the nearest road.
This works well up to a point, but eventually it gives up and decides you must be driving over a field after all.
You'll tend to see this a LOT more if you don't have a route set, because the other sneaky thing they do is snap you especially strongly to the road it EXPECTS you to be on (after all, you'd never disobey it and go a different way, would you? )
I often see that if it wants me to come off a major road down to a roundabout, but I stay on the flyover on top of it. Because I'm on a parallel road, it assumes I'm on the one it wanted me to take, for quite a long time.

Finally, there have been times in the past when everyone noticed the "parallel road" problem happening more than usual for a week or so.
We never got to the bottom of it, but it seemed like the internal sums were wrong for a while!

 

[Astronautilus]

... or someone has put in faulty mapshare data that blocks that road you want to travel on..

I think this is right on the money! I was in Malaga (Spain) earlier this year, and whenever I hit the A7 bypass, the GO720 would throw it's arms up in the air! It would draw the road in white, spend several minutes trying to recalculate the route, and finally it would turn off navigation.

I looked on routes.tomtom.com yesterday and everything looks OK, but when I check the (2D) map on my GO, this stretch of road has an alternating white border, which I take to mean that someone has 'blocked' it in mapshare. I spent about 30 mins unblocking it (because it was blocked in several sections, and then in both directions) and it looks ok now.

Is there a quick way to do this whilst I'm driving so that navigation can continue, or do I have to pull over and go through the unblocking process?

Isn't it amazing how technology solves one set of problems, but introduces a whole load more?

 

[dhn]

Well, under mapshare on the unit, I think you can choose to remove all mapshare corrections.

 

[Andy_P]

... but I would hope that sort of thing isn't THAT common.

You can also set your MapShare "trust" level more strictly, so that only corrections from TomTom and other "respected" sources get through (you can do it on the device or in Home).

Having said that...to my knowledge, I've only been affected by a spurious blocked road once...... and that was when TomTom THEMSELVES did it.

They blocked the main A40 arterial route into London permanently, after they had been told by the BBC that the road was being closed for a few hours overnight for re-surfacing work!

 

[Alex.F]

Map share for 2535M LIVE

Apologies if I'm posting in a wrong thread.
Is map share for 2535M LIVE available? Coming?
THX

 

[dhn]

In our lifetime?

Supposedly coming 'soon', Alex.

 

[Alex.F]

That's better than never. THX

 

[Andy_P]

As of today...
You can use MapShare to make corrections to your own map
The unit will UPLOAD them back to TomTom (but whether they do anything with them when they get there is not known!)
Downloads of other people's corrections still doesn't work, but is "coming", as dhn says.

So it's more like "Mapshare"....

 

[Alex.F]

Hope springs eternal.
Thanks