Marking a blocked road

[benley]

Hi there,

I have just purchased a TomTom GO Exclusive and am very happy with its operation so far. However, there is one thing I would like to do - mark a blocked road. There are two reasons for this. 1) Road works in the UK can block a road completely for a long time. 2) For larger vehicles (I have a BMW 540 Touring), some small bridges are impassable because concrete bollards have been installed that restrict the width of a vehicle. If I can mark a blocked road, when I select a route, the TomTom will avoid that road.

Questions:

1) Can I mark a blocked road in the Go Exclusive. If so, how can I do this?

2) If I can't do the above, is there a way to report this to TomTom engineering for product improvement?

So far I have found the chat support line very poor. It uses scripted answers and anything of any complexity cannot be replied to properly. So I am avoiding the chat support.


benley

 

[Willy875]

Hi
You must report the blocked road to Tomtom via https://www.tomtom.com/mapshare/tools/new/mapshare/#loc=0.00000,0.00000,2

 

[benley]

Hi Willy875,

Thank you for the link. Much appreciated. Is it possible to mark a blocked road so that it is seen only by me and not by other users?

 

[Willy875]

After planning your route, click on the 4 options points then on avoid part of the route.

 

[benley]

OK. I live in Eastbourne, UK and I planned a short drive to a town nearby, Hailsham, as a test. The planned route is in the attached photo. The part of the route I want to avoid is a section which is about half-way along the route. However, as you can see I don't see how to select the 4 options points. If I select the cross in the bottom lefthand corner, it get the instruction to either end the route or resume. I can zoom in to the road but how can I see the options?

 

[Lostsoulal2]

If you press re-Centre the Go Exclusive will plan the route and then as @Willy875 said above, you can select the 4 options point icon (bottom right of screen) to make the selection as to what part of the route you wish to avoid.

 

[benley]

HiLostsolal2.

Great, thank you. There are some differences in presentation on the Exclusive that I'm not yet familiar with. I get the options nw. The one problem I do have is that if I mark the blocked route on the map then everyone using a tomTom will see it. In another case, there is a bridge in Cornwall where they have installed concrete bollards that stop wide vehicles from going over the bridge. My car will not get over the bridge without being damaged so I will mark it as blocked. However, people will smaller cars will have no problem. Can I add comments that people can read? For example "bridge is impassable for vehicles wider than 2.0 metres"

 

[canderson]

Unfortunately, it has been a couple of generations since it was possible to make changes that would appear only on the user's own device.

If this will be regularly traveled, you can create and save a personal route with waypoints that bypass the problem area.

 

[benley]

Good point Anderson. Thank you. It's a pity that one can't customise map changes but there it is.

I was wondering if, for a blocked road, I could add a comment that gives the reason for the blockage.

 

[benley]

I meant to add that this is a route that is rarely travelled. So I'm inclined to block the bridge before setting off and unblock it when I've finished the voyage. The bridge is also in an area where waypoints are very difficult to plot.

 

[benley]

This is somewhat frustrating. I have now added a warning (pending) to the TomTom UK map system. The bridge in question is the Respryn Bridge, near Bodmin in Cornwall. It is too narrow for many types of wide vehicle to pass through. If the bridge warning is accepted, I'd like to plan a route that avoids it. Is that still possible? There is no point in driving a great distance without having an alternative route.

 

[Lostsoulal2]

As you have the Go Exclusive you can "vary" the Vehicle Dimensions (I often change dimensions/ weights pretending my car is a Motorhome)

- so if you set the vehicle width to be 2.15 metres it will avoid the 2.0m Respryn Bridge and plan a route that avoids it - if you zoom in it will show the 2.0m Respryn Bridge in Red.

Much easier than attempting to get TomTom to Add a warning or other variation to their UK Map system.

 

[benley]

Hi Lostsoulal2,

I like that! It's certainly worth a try. The things is, when I go to the menu "My Vehicle" and then "Vehicle and Dimensions" then "vehicle type", I have 3 choices, "car", "car with caravan" and "camper". I don't see any way to individually alter vehicle dimensions. How did you change the actual vehicle dimensions?

 

[Lostsoulal2]

You can only change the dimensions for the "car with caravan" and "camper".

Select either "car with caravan" or "camper" under the My Vehicle menu:

The Selected Vehicle & dimensions will be shown:

Place finger over the dimensions that require to be changed i.e L/W/H in metres i.e Width = 2.15

Type in dimensions - the device will insert the decimal point.

Press Done and the device should calculate the route taking into account the new dimensions entered.

 

[benley]

Got it! I was wondering why I couldn't change the dimensions for a car. So I've programmed "my vehicle" as a "camper" with dimensions length, 5m, width, 2.2m and height 1.5m (that's a pretty compact camper). Weight is 1810kg which is 1.81 tonne. I'm assuming that the TomTom uses the metric tonne.

Next thing, I plotted a course between Lanhydrock (a National Trust property) which is almost next to the bridge and Waterlake, a village almost directly opposite on the other side of the bridge. And it all worked. The route was a heck of a way out and around the bridge but far better than being caught at the entry of the bridge, with a number of local drivers behind you squawking - and then having to turn around..

So, to you Lostsoulal2, Willy875 and Canderson, my sincere thanks for the help and advice.

benley