XL 340TM - 3D Building View?

[fk91km]

Hi,

I have a TomTom XL 340TM. I read in many stores that say TomTom XL 340 series has 3D Building View.

Is that true--or not?

I tried navigate to San Francisco's Coit Tower. I started the demo, but when the demo got to the Coit Tower in SF, I did not see any 3D building view. In fact, I did not see any sort of building view at all.
Just in case: 3D display was turned on.

Does this feature exist? Or did I miss something?

Thanks.

 

[dhn]

The 3D building view as such is just a graphic part of the map rather than a location you can navigate to. In some places, mostly cities, while in 3D view, you may see a representation of buildings beside the street you're driving on. It isn't really much at all.

 

[fk91km]

I don't see this 'graphic representation of buildings' in SF.

So, the answer is NO for SF?

I am going to check NY and LA. If I don't find any 3D Building View in these two cities, then I don't think TomTom can even claim to have this feature at all for the US.

This isn't a brand new feature. The 3D building view in Garmin looks really nice. Even Nextar has this feature in some of the models.

I am really shocked by TomTom's *claim*.

If someone else sees this feature for a certain US location, pls post the landmark where you do see it. Thanks.

 

[dhn]

If your gps signal isn't found, then a reset of the unit will show your unit on 42nd street in NYC You'll see 3D buildings there.

 

[fk91km]

Thanks.

You mentioned NY. So, I wonder which other US cities have 3D buildings views.

Here are my findings:

----

SF:

Haas-Lilienthal House (built 1886) in SF.
Cable Car Museum.

No 3D building view for these landmarks.

I don't even find the POI SF Old Mint Building (built 1874). Is this a TeleAtlas map problem, or a TomTom problem?

So looks like it's a NO for SF.

-----

Chicago:

List of Chicago Landmarks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abraham Lincoln Monument: NO 3D building view.
Sears (Willis) Tower: NO 3D building view.

I cannot find the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as POI (1995)!


So looks like it's a NO for Chicago.

-----

Los Angeles:

List of sites of interest in the Los Angeles area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cannot locate these POIs(!)
- Hollywood Walk of Fame
- LA County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


No 3D Building View:
- Walt Disney Concert Hall
- Westin Bonaventure Hotel


So the answer for LA is NO.

------

Conclusion:
3D Building View is only available in part of NY city in the US.


------

Additional questions:

1. How do I add all the missing POIs in SF/LA/Chicago (I haven't checked NY)? These are major US cities.

2. It's hard to believe TomTom has 7 million POIs, but still missing those in these major US cities (many of these are historic/long established landmarks).

Is TomTom going to fix this?

 

[dhn]

Read somewhere that there are between 25 and 30 MILLION commercial points of interest in the USA. NO gps has anywhere near them all.

Users with Tomtom units with LIVE functionality can use Google search to find what they are looking for and then navigate to the poi in question.

Understand this, all the 3d view of buildings is nothing more than eye candy. And with each new map release, TT is struggling to make it fit within the limitations of the unit the map is meant for (they failed with Europe, new maps are offered in Zones for the most part).

So, to include significant mapping info like new roads, something has to get dropped as a result, like proper rendering of road shape, off road stuff like lakes and rivers, and more than likely much of the 3D building data.

 

[fk91km]

So here are my responses:


1. We are talking about POIs in the 4 US major cities. NYC, Chicago, SF, LA. Only *FOUR* cities. And the most well visited POIs. These are the very basic POIs TomTom should provide.

POI such as Hollywood Walk of Fame is one of the most visited POIs by tourists.

How many major tourist attractions (historical/established landmarks) are we talking about for these 4 major US cities?

500? Or say 1000? Not even more. How about 5000?

This is completely *unacceptable*.

Remove the POIs that are non-historical/non-established landmarks. If there is a memory issue to keep them all.

I already can add other additional POIs from TomTom Home right now. No memory issue yet. There are tons available for download.

So the assertion of not enough memory to keep historical/established landmarks for these 4 major US cities is unfounded.


2. TomTom should *NOT* advertise 3D building view if it does not have this feature.

*Remove* this feature from the claim. Otherwise, it is simply *FALSE* advertisement. It is as simple as this.


3. The limitation of the map/POI data size is simply a memory issue. Put more memory in, TomTom, or include an SD card slot. This offloads the burden to the consumer. Easy fix. Why not?!!

What's the cost of adding an SD slot in the TomTom device? All the troubles people are having to update map. It's NOT worth it.

This is TomTom's poor design decision. I am just seeing more trouble for TomTom with this memory issue in the near future.


4. TomTom Live.

The main reason I am not using LIVE service is it's a monthly service for LIVE data. If I am going to pay LIVE data for Google Map, I might as well get an Android cellphone. And if I do get one, I would stop using TomTom device--obvious.

 

[canderson]

Conclusion:
3D Building View is only available in part of NY city in the US.

Must be a malfunction. Even my daughter's house in a subdivision outside of Denver shows up. So does the rest of Denver, for that matter.

I'm looking at the 860 NA_2GB map on my old 720.

I just dropped into the "city center" in Los Angles and the map is covered with buildings.

 

[canderson]

Chicago:

List of Chicago Landmarks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sears (Willis) Tower: NO 3D building view.

I see the dark shading there that indicates that it will show up on the building view. I also found it (although in a peculiar form) when I searched for Sears. Came up with "Sears Tower and sky deck parking). Anyway, it's at S. Franklin and Adams. Hasn't moved.

I cannot find the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as POI (1995)

When I just search for any old POI in Chicago using the word "museum", "Museum of science and industry" shows up just fine. When I search under the "Museum" category, it shows up there, too. There's either something amiss with your POI list, or we've got an operator error or misunderstanding. Be aware that in the 2D view, all you will see is shading. You don't get the 3D view when just viewing the map from above.

 

[fk91km]

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I have USA_Canada_Mexico map v845.2670.

For Chicago, I do find Sears Tower, but not the Museum of Science and Industry with this map version. I did a POI search with the word 'museum' in the list of museums. Strange.

I will try update to newer map version, but I am just puzzled here, as this museum was opened in 1933.


I used the Demo mode to check for 3D Building Views. I cannot see any 3D building view at all in any of these major cities.

Can someone confirm if 3D Building View does show up in *Demo* mode or not?

-Or-

the POI/3D Building View works in Go models only? Anyone has XL model and 3D Building View is working?

Thanks.

 

[canderson]

I did a POI search with the word 'museum' in the list of museums. Strange.

What happens if you do a POI search, using Chicago center as your target, and you search the specific POI category for museums? I found it on about page 3 (said it was 6.4 miles from 'town center').

 

[fk91km]

Hi,

How do I specify a POI category?

So I tried starting from main menu and chose 'Prepare Route'.

It prompted me for 'Depart From'. I chose City Center. Then I selected Chicago, ILL.

For the destination,
I tabbed on 'POI in city'. Then I selected 'Chicago, ILL.'
Then I chose 'Search POI'. It then prompted me to enter 'POI name'.

I didn't see a choice to select a 'POI category' from my TomTom XL 340TM.

Thanks.

 

[fk91km]

K, I finally found the Museum of Science and Technology in Chicago.

I did a search by the word 'science', not museum. It showed up @ 6.5 miles (from the city center?).

If I do a search by the word 'museum', it won't show up. The last item on the search result list is @ 1.5 miles -- perhaps there's a difference somewhere?

Strange, uh? A bug in the search function?

Are the search functions different between Go and XL series? Are the POI data sets identical between the two model series?

 

[canderson]

Hi,

How do I specify a POI category?

...

For the destination,
I tabbed on 'POI in city'. Then I selected 'Chicago, ILL.'
Then I chose 'Search POI'. It then prompted me to enter 'POI name'.

When you reach "POI in city", and enter Chicago, hit the blue right arrow. You should see all of the categories available to you, including "Museum".

 

[fk91km]

Got it.

I saw the list of POI categories, and selected 'Museum'.

I scrolled thru' the list of all the museums that showed up--didn't find Museum of Science and Industry -- that's a bit strange.


It seemed the list of the museums from the POI Category 'Museum' only showed all the museums up to 3.0 miles. Museum of Science and Industry is @ 6.5 miles, and that's why it didn't show up?

Then I did a 'Find' with the word 'Science' under the 'Museum' POI category. It finally showed up.


Perhaps someone would know the reason that initial list in 'Museum' POI category only showed museums up to 3.0 miles?

Thanks.

 

[dhn]

The app is designed to limit the number shown filtering by your selection of 'near me', 'on route' or 'in city'.

But the FIND method lists all in the category filtered by what you typed, regardless of distance.

All distances, regardless of method, are 'as the crow flies', not driving distance.

 

[fk91km]

> The app is designed to limit the number shown filtering by your > selection of 'near me', 'on route' or 'in city'.

So, I selected 'POI in city' for the destination. Then I selected the 'Museum' category. The Museum of Science and Industry didn't show up this way.

I wonder the reason that it didn't show up with the selection of 'in city', i.e., the criteria of the 'limit' -- which ones would be shown, and which ones won't be shown.

I also wonder what the 'miles' refers to next to each museum that showed up.


Also, I wonder the reason it didn't show up when I did a 'Find' using the word 'museum' vs the word 'science'.


Once I understand this better, I'd select the best way in doing a search for a POI -- it'd avoid a lot of unnecessary frustration.

Thanks.

 

[fk91km]

No one has responded whether a route 'Demo' should show the 3D Building View (for the XL series).

Any take?

 

[canderson]

No one has responded whether a route 'Demo' should show the 3D Building View (for the XL series).

Any take?

Can't confirm for your XL - have never used one - but buildings do show up in Demo mode on my 720 and 740.

 

[alfie67]

Must be a malfunction. Even my daughter's house in a subdivision outside of Denver shows up. So does the rest of Denver, for that matter.

I'm looking at the 860 NA_2GB map on my old 720.

I just dropped into the "city center" in Los Angles and the map is covered with buildings.

My XL340 in demo mode from SF to Loma Linda does not show any 3D buildings while in 3D mode. Same is true for Minneapolis.
----------------------
Well, I retract my comments on 3D - kind of. While doing a Demo Route through Minneapolis suburbs, 3D buildings did show enroute as a 'fixed' image for about 10 seconds, before resuming the Demo. I do not know what criteria is used, but it seemed to occur at major intersections. I wonder if these stationary images occur while in normal navication mode?