NOT Impressed!!

[Reg Reich]

I am currently in Alaska with my TomTom 920. I must say I am NOT impressed with the mapping & tracking accuracy of the TomTom Mapping. While in NorthWestern Canada, BC & The Yukon, I would find the tracking arrow frequently off map as much as a quarter of a mile. Have had numerous occasions in the past 2 days in Alaska with the same problem. Many rivers, lakes, railway tracks are not even on the map. I NEVER had that kind of problem with my Garmin. The GPS was constantly correcting or resetting itself from Dawson City to Fairbanks. There MUST be some way to get this problem fixed. Anyone able to direct or help me?
Thanks in advance.

Reg

 

[dhn]

I am currently in Alaska with my TomTom 920. I must say I am NOT impressed with the mapping & tracking accuracy of the TomTom Mapping. While in NorthWestern Canada, BC & The Yukon, I would find the tracking arrow frequently off map as much as a quarter of a mile. Have had numerous occasions in the past 2 days in Alaska with the same problem. Many rivers, lakes, railway tracks are not even on the map. I NEVER had that kind of problem with my Garmin. The GPS was constantly correcting or resetting itself from Dawson City to Fairbanks. There MUST be some way to get this problem fixed. Anyone able to direct or help me?
Thanks in advance.

Reg

There are many areas where one mapping company is better than another and the other way around. What map version do you have? Maybe a more recent update is better for that region.

 

[Reg Reich]

I just purchased the GPS last December & it has the latest version on it. Had the same problem today from Anchorage to Ninilchik. Drove almost the whole way beside a RR & it NEVER showed on the map. Also had constant reset problems & off track conditions on a road that has been up here for years. Something is wrong if the maps are that far out or out of date.

Reg

 

[Reg Reich]

What, no suggestions on what I should do about this rather serious problem. I am currently not impressed with my TomTom map coverage. I continue to have the problem on my travels in Alaske & the Yukon. Should have bough a Garmin I guess.

Reg

 

[46jimbo]

I would find the tracking arrow frequently off map as much as a quarter of a mile.

I think you inadvertantly bought the dog-sled model!

I can't determine from your posting if you live up north or are only there on vacation. If you live back in the south, is the mapping as bad? Are you frequently tracking off the real road? I haven't seen many postings from people in Alaska to be able to confirm if there is a true mapping problem up there.

Which map are you using? USA_Canada or North America? The former may have details like railway lines stripped out to keep the map size under 1 GB. The NA map contains more non-road details of this type.

It could be that TeleAtlas just hasn't done a good job up there.

 

[ac328]

Wow, someone else has the same problem as me! I have a 730 and the tracking/mapping accuracy sucked in long stretches of the Trans-Canada Highway in Northwestern Ontario, and parts of Manitoba and Saskatechewan.

Just got back from a 5,000km round trip with the 730 from Alberta to NW Ontario and was preety annoyed by the lack of accuracy. Some stretches of the Trans Canada have been moved and/or twinned (i.e. two to four lane highway), true, but many stretches which were off by a lot have been there for decades.

I have also noticed this on highways near Calgary, such as near Kananaskis Country.

The 730 would get very confused, showing me running parallel to the highway and off by a few hundred metres or more. Stupid.

What's the deal TomTom? Never had this issue with my previous GPS, a Garmin Nuvi.

I would note the maps in urban areas seem to be 100% though...

 

[storm180]

Having the same issues with my tomtom 730 but here locally in idaho. Seems it changes on a daily basis on what roads its going to have me following on. Every morning it shows me on the wrong street, this just started happening to me on July 4th. Not sure if there was a software update that screwed up my gps but its always so much fun having it show me on the other side of the highway on a service road for miles on end.

 

[Reg Reich]

Well still not Impressed. And now they want me to purchase a NEW Mapping system. I don't think so. I guess I need to call & talk to someone at TomTom & discuss this rather rediculas issue.
Thanks for the input guys. I guess I am not the only one with the problem though.

Reg

 

[Smokiewolf]

As far as the tracking problem goes, it could be that you downloaded bad files in the GPS Quickfix update. Do you keep them updated on a regular basis?

 

[rlb81]

I'm new to TomTom but I have a decent understanding of GPS technology. The quick fix files are (from what I gather) a prediction of the satellite locations at a given time. Knowing this before hand allows the unit to start up and triangulate your true position much faster than it normally would. This same information would be received by the gps unit shortly after powering up (~1 min or so) if the prediction was absent (or if the unit did not have the capability to analyze the prediction), so the benefit is no longer applicable after the unit has been running.

Someone please correct me if I'm way off base, thanks.

Update:

Ok I'm not too far off base, but I do have a problem with this writeup. The satellites are sending signals continuously, not once every 30 seconds.

http://www.tomtom.com/support/index.php?Language=4&query=quick+fix&FID=4971

My guess is that either the maps are way off base where you are (maybe roads were captured from low res aerial/satellite imagery since it is a comparatively unpopulated place), or something has been corrupted on your unit, causing your GPS accuracy to go to hell.

 

[a720user]

As far as the tracking problem goes, it could be that you downloaded bad files in the GPS Quickfix update. Do you keep them updated on a regular basis?

A bad GPS Quickfix update caused my device to track parallel to the road a few months ago. Try updating to see if you get an updated Quickfix file.

I tried running without Quickfix for awhile, works fine, but it did seem to get up and running a bit slower.

 

[Xaa]

What, no suggestions on what I should do about this rather serious problem. I am currently not impressed with my TomTom map coverage. I continue to have the problem on my travels in Alaske & the Yukon. Should have bough a Garmin I guess.

Reg

What are you hoping for magic? The community offered the assistance it could. If you are unhappy with the unit and liked another model, the answer seems pretty clear to me. Get rid of the unit and buy a Garmin if that meets your needs.

I love Alaska and lived there previously, but I will say that where you are traveling is not the most travelled area in the world and it's not surprising that it might not be or have been the highest priority of accuracy for the map provider.

If you found a device that worked for you, why did you switch?

 

[cnstarz]

does anyone from tomtom even view these forums?

 

[Old Baldy]

The issue is simply that the mapping is off in Canada. I had the exact same problem with the latest V7.20 Canada and Alaska map for the 920/720/Rider2 that I downloaded to my TT One when we did our Arctic trip last week.

The roads in BC, Yukon and Alaska were way off true position much of the time and the POI database for campgrounds and hotels was almost non-existent.

In fact, once campground in Edmonton, Alberta had us in front of a huge factory at 10:30PM one night, searching the campground, until we realized that it had been overbuilt by the factory and simply no longer existed.

I quickly learned to NOT trust the TT POI database in that whole area in the NW above the 48 states!

BUT.......the TT at least kept RUNNING, while my Garmin mounted on my son's bike died a quiet death and has not recovered since the trip. It's completely dead, after too much damp/rain on the trip. Neither device is close to waterproof, but the TT at least works given the same tough conditions that the garmin faced and failed.

 

[Buddharay]

oh my god, you mean they don't have tomtom mapping trucks in the yukon?! i wonder why??? i went to the north pole and my tomtom didn't have POI's for santa's workshop! eff this, i'm getting a garmin!

 

[Opey]

Also unimpressed

Got my GO910 a month ago. Was 4-500 feet off of map everywhere I went in Cordova AK. The map was accurate-- It was just one street off everywhere I went. Contacted TomTom--they said to upgrade. I upgraded to North America 720. Now I am 1/4 to 1/2 mile off everywhere I go and lots of streets have disappeared from the map, including the one on which I live, which was on the older map. When I sit in my rig in front of my house the map puts me 1/2 mile away in Eyak lake. Am traveling to Anchorage AK this weekend--will see if this trend continues. Have message in to TomTom support--we'll see what they have to say. I also went to teleatlas website and asked for my street back. Have a handheld Garmin that is about 200ft off every I go in town but the street map is very accurate.

 

[Old Baldy]

Just an FYI, hopefully without getting shot for being a traitor....!

I bought a replacement Garmin for my wife last week, arrived yesterday.
C580 Streetpilot, brand new for $189 from Amazon.
Comes with the on-line traffic power cable, free MSN-Direct data access (Movie times, cheapest local gas stations, etc, etc.), one free Map DVD/Download (I updated the 2008 map to the latest 2009 map, Bluetooth with handsfree phone interface so she can leave her cell in her purse, auto phone book transfer to the Garmin, MP3 player and an SD slot, external mic and external speaker jacks if required (think motorcycle use!), etc, etc, etc.

Best device one can get for less than $200 brand new, IMO.

But is sure LOOKS clunky, and not as sexy as my TomTom!

 

[pianoCM]

There is no such traitor 'cuz switching electronic device, m8.
We all look for the best fit for us, the most suitable for our life and that is it, pretty simple. I'm glad you like your ST C580, I think it is a very good unit.
I played with a lot of different types of gps, from pda to aio, from Magellan, Garmin, and finally I landed on the Tomtom 920.

 

[Buddharay]

now that tele atlas is getting information from tomtom mapshare and google maps users, their maps will only get more and more accurate. from what i understand, canadians have completely rehauled areas up there with their mapshare updates. i'm confident that tele atlas will begin to incorporate these changes in future map updates. so download your mapshare corrections!

 

[gerryc]

vehicle running parallel to road

I have had this experience too. In some highways in Alberta, the tomtom 930 will display the 'vehicle' running in parallel to the actual road. At some point, it will merge correctly, but then goes out of the road again.

For this, I have learned to do the ff:
1. Dis-able the 'auto-zoom' function. '
2. Zoom out tha map... until I see my destination on
the entire screen. I can now see the 'vehicle' going
in the right direction.

3. I have also learned to 're-learn' the habit of looking
for land-marks. Sometimes its easier than waiting for
directions from the gps.