Removed contact addresses still shown on map, how to force-update contacts?

[florismk]

Is there a way to force-update the contacts in the TomTom GO app?

I keep all individuals I know as separate contacts in my Google account, even if they share an address. So some locations in TomTom have two or more contacts, because two or more people have that address.

After my father died, I removed their address from his contact details. I expected only my mother to be shown on the map after that. But the address still shows my father's name in TomTom.

More generally, I want address changes to be reflected in the contacts in TomTom GO. When and how often does TomTom sync contacts? How quickly do address changes get processed in the GO app?

 

[Willy875]

Are these phone contacts?
Where is the address of your locations that appears on the GO Expert map?

If it's a phone contact, it means the contact hasn't been deleted from your phone.

If it's a location, go to Settings, then My Places, and delete it.

 

[florismk]

The contact in question is in my Google account, which syncs to my phone. The address has been deleted from the contact in my Google Contacts, and is no longer available on my phone either. Their address is shown in the correct location on the map.

More generally, I am looking for information on how and when and how often TomTom GO syncs my contacts.

 

[Willy875]

TomTom GO synchronizes within a second of deleting the number.
Have you checked your phone contacts to ensure the number isn't duplicated?

Perhaps restarting the phone might help?

 

[florismk]

TomTom GO synchronizes within a second of deleting the number.
Have you checked your phone contacts to ensure the number isn't duplicated?

Perhaps restarting the phone might help?

Thanks Willy. Restarting the phone did not help.

There is no number duplicated, as the question isn't about numbers, but addresses.

The situation is as follows:

In my Google Contacts, I have my father, John Doe, and my mother, Jane Doe. Their email addresses and phone numbers are different. Their address used to be the same, but I've removed the address from John after his passing.

This information is present in my Google Contacts, and also in my Contacts app in my phone. The contacts sync to TomTom GO.

When I call up the map in TomTom GO and zoom in on the address, the profile picture for Jane is shown. When I tap that, the contact card for John pops up, with his name, and without a profile picture (he has no profile picture in my contacts).

Weirder still, when I scroll to John's entry in the Contacts list in TomTom GO, and tap his entry, TomTom presents both a home and a work address. The home address is wrong, off by one number (65 instead of 63). The work address is a residential location I've never heard of, where he has never ever either lived or worked.

So there's some kind of caching going on here, where TomTom GO maybe keeps a geographical location that's no longer current, apparently by coordinates (because off by one house). But why TomTom GO would invent a work address is a mystery to me.

 

[florismk]

The plot thickens, and/or the situation is growing weirder the further I investigate.

When I look up John Doe in the Contacts list in TomTom GO, and tap his entry, TomTom GO shows both a home and a work address for him. The home address is wrong, off by one house (nr 65 instead of 63). The work address is a complete fabrication, a place where he has never either worked or lived in his life, not even close, in a residential street with no businesses.

This weird behavior reminded me of AI hallucination, and for that reason only, I investigated what happens when I turn off online search in TomTom GO.

After I did that, his home address went back to the correct number (63) (but remember he should not have a home address at all any longer, according to his info in Google Contacts). But his work address shifted halfway across the map, to a different, completely fabricated, address, in a rural area.

Turning online search back on moved his home address one house up, and his work address back to the first fabricated location.

I should note that I have never stored his work address at all. He has always worked in the Amsterdam area. The first false work address is 50km to the South, the second work address is 60km to the northeast.

 

[Willy875]

I don't know if this will solve your problem.
Uninstall the application, then reinstall it.

 

[florismk]

Trying to avoid having to do that, @Willy875 . I suspect I'm seeing some strange below-the-hood by-design behavior. It's too weird and consistent to be a glitch.

 

[Willy875]

Have you checked your saved locations in the app?

The other option, which you don't want to do, is to reinstall and then configure the app. This is a quick process.

To avoid losing your saved addresses, you must first log in to your TomTom Maps account.

 

[florismk]

If this is expected under-the-hood behavior by TomTom GO, reinstalling will achieve nothing.

I've found some information on ChatGPT that TomTom GO attempts to construct work addresses fro any information it may find, in Contacts but also from other app and internet source, and does so fairly agressively (but consider the source).

If such a mechanism is indeed in place in the app, reinstalling will be a waste of time, and TomTom should offer an option to turn off the mechanism.

 

[Willy875]

I don't have this problem; I can add or delete contacts without any issues.

If you delete a work email address or any other email address, it should automatically be deleted from the app.

 

[florismk]

Hi @Willy875, thanks again for your response.

You talked about numbers first, and now about email addresses. Are you clear on the fact that this issue is with street addresses?

If you are unfamiliar with the issue, perhaps you're not the ideal person to respond.

As I describe above, the issue has morphed from 'deleted addresses still appear on map' to 'TomTom GO invents addresses not listed in contacts'. Perhaps I should post a new thread for that?

 

[Willy875]

In any case, you have nothing to lose by doing it.

 

[Willy875]

Hi @Willy875, thanks again for your response.

You talked about numbers first, and now about email addresses. Are you clear on the fact that this issue is with street addresses?

If you are unfamiliar with the issue, perhaps you're not the ideal person to respond.

As I describe above, the issue has morphed from 'deleted addresses still appear on map' to 'TomTom GO invents addresses not listed in contacts'. Perhaps I should post a new thread for that?

Sorry, that's a mistake with the translation.

I am indeed talking about address.

 

[Willy875]

If the answers are not satisfactory, contact TomTom support directly.

Contact us

You can find most answers to your questions on our support pages. We have: Support Videos Help articles for sat navs Help articles for apps User manuals and Get-started pages for your new device G...

help.tomtom.com

 

[florismk]

I have contacted TomTom support directly. Their speed and accuracy, however, leave something to be desired, which is why I am here, looking for other users with similar experiences.

 

[florismk]

In any case, you have nothing to lose by doing it.

Time, frustration, and Recent Places history.

 

[florismk]

I think we should go ahead and close this thread. The original issue doesn't exist; I have posted a new thread with the actual issue as I discovered it during this discussion. Can I close it myself?

 

[Willy875]

There is no need to create a new discussion; this discussion allows other users to see what has already been done.

 

[florismk]

There is no need to create a new discussion; this discussion allows other users to see what has already been done.

The original question I posed was not the actual issue, and will throw people off, as most people in forums tend to respond to the original post, and merely glance over the discussion after that.