Just Got a TomTom ONE XL - Lots of Questions

[Cyberrico]

Hello all.

I recently purchased a TomTom ONE XL and I am hoping that you folks can get me pointed in the right direction in terms of making the most of my new device as I am new to the whole navigation world.

I browsed these forums as much as I could to get as many answers as I could, so I apologize in advance for asking questions that may have been asked many times but aren't so easy to find in a search.

1) My TomTom doesn't know how to get to my home or office. From home to work it has me getting off the freeway 3 exits early and driving through about 4 miles of extra residential and industrial areas. Coming home it has me making a right off the freeway instead of a left which has me going an extra mile in the wrong direction. In the short time that I have used it I have also been directed to make a left turn where a left is impossible. Even after I go what I know to be the shortest and most efficient route, it still has me going off into odd directions. It also thinks that my office is about 200 yards from where it is. I live and work in Silicon Valley BTW.

a) Will my device learn on its own from realizing that I keep ignoring its advice or do I have to manually make these course corrections?

b) I just did an update and registered for the Mapshare (?) service. Will this add a lot of map data that I may have been missing and get more accurate routes?

2. 3rd party software. Is anything worth installing? I saw Tripmaster here in the forums but I don't even know what it does. The site is in French. I don't know that I need 3rd party software but if there is something out there that will make my TomTom as accurate as Google maps, I'd be happy to give it a shot. Perhaps free voices, better graphics (not that there is anything wrong with the TomTom interface), more POIs, etc?

3. Real-time traffic updates. It is my understanding that I have the option to purchase real-time traffic updates. The option was empty when I synched my TomTom to my computer but I'm sure that I can figure it out by calling support, rebooting, whatever. But is it worth it? Is it really real-time? My commute is considered the 5th worst commute in America. Will this traffic update intelligently direct me to a freeway with the least amount of traffic? There are two freeways that I can take to avoid my normal route but they take me significantly out of the way. I wouldn't want to make those adjustments unless there are multiple accidents on my freeway.


I know that I am going to love my TomTom once I get a few kinks worked out. I look forward to supporting this community once I become a more advanced user.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[F22]

Who knows why these things route as they do. And NO, they do NOT learn. If you give it the same parameters (shortest route, fastest route, other route) it will generally compute the same route. Of course, if you ignore it, it will recompute a new route from its current position, sometimes just trying to get you back to "that left or right" until it does finally get beyond its prior choice and finds another choice (better or worse only you can decide).

There are underlying "tags" on roads of some kind and maybe even accidental breaks (errors) in roads that are really contiguous and so it would naturally route around such map errors. These errors are most glaring when you know where you are going and what's the best route.

Some folks have observed that generally while a gps route may not be BEST, it probably will eventually get you to your destination. Unless the destination does not exist in the map.

REAL addresses are not really programmed into the device in general. So a long block will be estimated as to how address numbers might be assigned. So you might miss a dead-on finish.

The more I learn about my 920, the more I find to be disappointed in but it still seems reasonable. I know its POI files leave something to be desired and its limit to how many "matching" poi it shows on a FIND is a bit disappointing, too.

I have not really researched traffic. There are two ways to get data. Through a compatible phone and a "data" connection or a separate antenna dedicated to picking up traffic fm broadcasts that you subscribe to.

I'm sure others can add more info.

 

[Cyberrico]

Doing the update didn't correct my routes to the office and to my house.

I see a good number of people viewing this post. Do some of you have similar questions?

 

[SShadow]

There are many posts throughout the forums that answer all your questions.
But to generalize
The GPS does take some funky routes. For the most part, it doesn't take into account the speed of the road, so it knows no difference between highway and country road (that I can fathom). You may want to go through and make sure that none of the roads that you would normally take on your route are blocked.
GPS cannot replace first hand knowledge of an area... They're just not that smart. They'll get you where you are going, but it may not be the most efficient route.

Right now there is a lot of controversy surrounding MapShare. Many people are not even getting MapShare updates. Please read the MapShare topics on the forum and read the FAQ on the TomTom website for more specific information.

3rd party software - that would be specific to your needs. There is a whole section on 3rd party software - browse it and try out anything that interests you. Just make sure you have a backup of your backup before trying any of these.

Traffic - all depends on where you live, and what sort of coverage is available. I don't have traffic support in my area so, again, my suggestion would be to search for traffic related topics and do a little reading.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

[AldoP]

I have a TomTom XL and this is what I have learned so far. It has some odd preferences like taking right turns. It really doesn't like to go south to get to a point in the north (for example). Overall, it will get you where you want to go but to get there on the best route possible, you may have to ignore it or force it to take routes you know are better than the ones it comes up with. You have to put a bit of effort into using it. For one local trip I make quite often at rush hour, I've found the best thing to do is to force the route through a POI "Via Point". Sometimes, I know the local roads it wants me to take aren't good choices, so I'll do my "navigate to" after I've gotten to the main road I want to take. So, it ain't perfect but it's a lot better than pulling over and trying to figure out where you are on a map. If you know a better way, take it. The TomTom just recalculates.

As far as third party software, I've been using the free "poiedit" and Google Earth to create POI files for places I need to find regularly.