Weird Behaviour

[Pilaar39]

This past weekend, I used my TT to navigate to a location and while driving it seemed to 'get lost'. Normally, the TT will track my progress by indicating a small arrow on the road where I am driving.

However, on this particular road, Hwy 6 going past the Hamilton airport in Ontario, it seemed to lose track of where we were. The little arrow drifted off the road and into the field. It remained connectd to the road on the map with a dotted line. Every once and a while, the voice told me to turn left, as if to get me back onto the road.

Now, there was nothing on either side of me, other than the airport on one side and open field on the other. Eventually, the arrow got back onto the road.

This happened both going and returning on the same Highway, in roughly the same area.

I am wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience, and what is the cause. Was it maybe interference from the avionics at the airport? Maybe the map coordinates were wrong, and did not match the actual GPS coordinates? I dunno.. any ideas?

 

[boniam]

It looks like the map is wrong and actually showing the road at a different place. Was the road a new construction or was any construction going on? What version of map do you have?

 

[nyer]

Pilaar, there could be a few explanations. Since tall buildings or trees were not present, the other explanation could be intentional or unintentional jamming. Apparently it is very easy to spoof the CA signals used by consumer grade GPS units.

While driving in the Sequoia National Forest and in the Grand Canyon National Park, I would suddenly find the TomTom indicating that I was driving off the road, and my position would jump erratically. This could have been caused by the tall trees blocking the line of sight. Similarly when driving in down town LA, my TomTom sometimes loses position fix or gets confused by signals reflected off tall buildings. However these were not causing your problems.

Perhaps the airport has a military presence?

 

[drledger]

Unfortunately there are more than a few places where the maps do not quite match the highways. Depending on the update you probably have the latest revision so there is little once can do. I have found that these moments of amnesia are short lived and rarely affect my actual arrival and driving. Just be aware when it happens to pay close attention if you are near your destination.

 

[runarg]

I have experienced this several times, specially in Canada. I have logged the trips with Tripmaster, and when returning home I have compared the TT maps with Google Earth. And the result is that the TT maps are off by more than 100m several places!

 

[Pilaar39]

ok, thanks..

Ok, thanks to all that replied.

The maps I have are the latest that I am aware of.. just got the CD that TT was offering free (except for shipping charges) and that is the map set I am using (but can't remember exactly what the version is). I installed the NA map set on my GO-510, but with a 2GB SD card.

I suspect it was just coincidence that the area in question was near the airport (commercial, not military, btw) and that the cause was most probably an incorrect map. Despite being the most recent map set, I found other road errors and omissions.. it was just sort of spooky to see me riding out in left field.. literally!

 

[Gemini061270]

Happened to me too, but I ended up in Water while driving along the reservoir lol.

 

[ChristopherA]

I recently purchased a Tom Tom One. The unit frequently exhibits the problem described in this thread, say, several times an hour. This is in the southern Alberta and northern Montana regions. I don't think it's a problem with inaccurate maps: the display appears to show the road correctly, it just thinks we've "warped" and are driving through fields or lakes off to the side of the road! "Turn left," it advises constantly, the poor confused thing. Then we warp back to the road and all is well.

It would seem that other people do encounter this problem, but rarely. Could this be a problem with my unit? Should I swap it for another new one?

Oh, also, there's another thread about this, but I'll note it here: the ETAs are really wrong in this region. For example, it says it'll take 5.5 hours to get to Edmonton from Calgary, which is at most a 3.5 drive at the posted speed limits.

Thanks, C.

 

[46jimbo]

The wierd behaviour could happen when you are possibly getting poor satelite reception, i.e. mountains, trees, tall buildings blocking things. But if you are out in the open, and if it happens every time you pass this area, then I would say it is a mapping error.