Newbie Questions

[Tbaynton]

I just joined the forum today and have some questions about my VIA 1535.

1. I live in Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada and the LIVE traffic update feature doesn't seem to work in Winnipeg, but on a trip to Minneapolis it started working and correctly reported a freeway accident. LIVE traffic hasn't worked since.
Does it only work in certain areas?

2. Reading other member's posts it seems you can work with the unit on your computer. I can't seem to find my unit in "My Computer" even though it properly connects and links up to "TOMTOM HOME." Am I doing something wrong or is it not possible to work with the VIA on the computer?

3. Does anyone know how big the hard drive is on the VIA ?
I noticed the latest North American map update is around 8400 MB and I'm not sure about downloading it as I don't want to use up all the VIA's hard drive space.
Would I be okay doing this?

4. I read that it is possible to download a car icon that looks like the car you own. Every time I have tried to go to the different car icons on TOMTOM HOME the web page refuses to load.
Anyone know what is wrong?

5. When I did the initial setup for where my home is , it doesn't recognize my address properly. I live at # 245 on my street , but it shows my home as being where # 221 is. I then told it to use " current location " for my home and it shows that correctly , but I would prefer if it showed the proper address.
Is there any way to correct this error?
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[canderson]

I just joined the forum today and have some questions about my VIA 1535.

1. I live in Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada and the LIVE traffic update feature doesn't seem to work in Winnipeg, but on a trip to Minneapolis it started working and correctly reported a freeway accident. LIVE traffic hasn't worked since.
Does it only work in certain areas?

Uh oh. That's not what I would have expected at all. We'll let a couple of your compatriots from north of the border address that one. If I understand what's really happening out there, it should be the other way around.

2. Reading other member's posts it seems you can work with the unit on your computer. I can't seem to find my unit in "My Computer" even though it properly connects and links up to "TOMTOM HOME." Am I doing something wrong or is it not possible to work with the VIA on the computer?

There is NO way that the Via should be showing up with Home. It requires the MyTomTom interface. Home requires that your device be of the previous generation that did show up as an external drive when using My Computer. Long and short - it's no longer configured as an external drive device. It's configured as a little micro server and is accessed via a bridge between your computer's internet capabilities and the USB port.

3. Does anyone know how big the hard drive is on the VIA ?
I noticed the latest North American map update is around 8400 MB and I'm not sure about downloading it as I don't want to use up all the VIA's hard drive space.

No way the NA map should be using up 8.4GB of space. More on the order of 1.7GB. The Via 1535 comes with 2GB internal, with an option to add more with a uSD card.

4. I read that it is possible to download a car icon that looks like the car you own. Every time I have tried to go to the different car icons on TOMTOM HOME the web page refuses to load.
Anyone know what is wrong?

Again, we need to talk about his Home business. Your unit should be using MyTomTom.

Is there any way to correct this error?
Thanks in advance for your help.

Rather than using an address, mark the position while you're in your driveway as such.

 

[dhn]

According to routes.tomtom.com, HD traffic is most certainly active in Winnipeg.

What do you sewe when you click on the Settings-->Live Services icon?

How about Connections?

Try resetting the unit by holding the power button about 10 seconds till you hear the drum sounds.

 

[spider362]

Also reconsider using you actual address as your Home location. If it ever got stolen the thieves and their cohorts would just love to know where you live.

Instead, if you live in a house, use a close-by intersection, or if you live in an apartment/condo, use the entrance to the parking lot.

 

[Tbaynton]

Thank you for your replies.

After reading them I did some checking and found I had given out some wrong information.
The map 875 download showed as 2884 MB , not 8482 like I thought.
Teach me not to speed read next time. :<)
I downloaded the new map last night with no problems.

Also my VIA does have the MY TOMTOM program as well as TOMTOM HOME. IT is using the MYTOMTOM program for downloads , so that should be okay.

Still not having any sucess with the different car icons. Perhaps VIA doesn't support that.

I had assumed the VIA would show up on MY COMPUTER the same way a flash drive would. Since this is not the case , does this mean that I am unable to actually look at the VIA's hard drive and work with the files , check available space , defrag etc. ?
If the hard drive works like the one on an XBOX and sort of maintains itself I'm not too worried, but if not, I'd like to be able to maintain it.

I'll try that hard reset and see if it sorts out LIVE TRAFFIC.

 

[dhn]

The user does not have access to the file system on Via models so it won't show as a removable drive like pre Navcore 10X models do. It will show up under network connections in My Computer.

 

[canderson]

Also my VIA does have the MY TOMTOM program as well as TOMTOM HOME. IT is using the MYTOMTOM program for downloads , so that should be okay.

I'm guessing that you had a previous TomTom unit, or for some reason, downloaded the TomTom Home program. If you no longer have a previous generation unit, you can delete the original TomTom Home program from your PC. (Or perhaps you're being confused by posts here about the previous generation units). Only the MyTomTom application will interface with your Via.

If the hard drive works like the one on an XBOX and sort of maintains itself I'm not too worried, but if not, I'd like to be able to maintain it.

Afraid that with 'current' models, you won't be maintaining anything. You should be able to save a few things like your POI, etc., using MyTomTom, but there's no way to back up the full contents now.

 

[Tbaynton]

Thanks CANDERSON and DHN.
Now I understand what I'm dealing with.
I did download TOMTOM HOME as well as MY TOMTOM. I'll just delete TOMTOM HOME.
Since I can't access the files to maintain it. , I won't worry about it.

 

[spider362]

Since you are not going to be using TomTom Home I would recommend doing the full uninstall found here: How to uninstall TomTom HOME.

 

[canderson]

Thanks CANDERSON.
Now I understand what I'm dealing with.
The TOMTOM HOME auto installed with the CD that came with the unit as well as MY TOMTOM. I'll just delete TOMTOM HOME.
Since I can't maintain it , I won't worry about it.

Wow - that's pretty strange! I wonder if they messed up when building the CD. TomTom Home won't help at all with the newer units. That must be confusing a few users out there.

You will probably want to keep abreast of any updates to MyTomTom and firmware for your unit. Depending upon when your unit and CD were built, there may be some good updates out there that add some additional function to the "Community Content" feature. That's where things like POI, voices and car icons and the like are added to your unit when it is possible to do so. I honestly don't recall when/whether they have enabled custom car icons in the Via series yet. They've been rolling out features for various models and world regions all over the place, and I've lost track of which units have which features available.

 

[Tbaynton]

Thanks spider362.

 

[Tbaynton]

I'm probably adding to the confusion with all my posts.
I thought it had installed from the CD , but then I remembered I had downloaded the stuff. Problem was I was rushing to do everything the night before I left for Minneapolis , because the unit was an impulse buy.
I'm glad I had it on the trip and my wife gets a laugh from the way it mispronounces things.

EG: MinneaPOLIS is MinneaPOLICE.

I'll be glad if they do get custom car icons for the VIA as it would be neat to have my Challenger on screen.

 

[Andy_P]

Custom car icons DO work on the Via.

What you CAN'T do, is download them from TomTom (like you could with "Home")

So you need to download them from elsewhere... there's a whole section on this forum for them (Car Icons) and the UK forum PocketGPSWorld has a fairly large collection too (TomTom Vehicle Cursors).

You then use the "Add community content" feature of MyTomTom to load the cursors onto the Via.

You can also add POIs, navigation voices, warning sounds, start-up and shut-down images and map colour schemes in the same way.