Nav doesn't find my house

New streets are a challenge for any GPS. I've seen one data collection company handle them by letting volunteers submit data and there be two level of updates, an official one and one that is solely dependent on the volunteer's input. But I don't know how a court would look at the latter for liability. And on portables I've seen quarterly updates. Most in-car updates are annual and many must be purchased. I've probably spent twice as much on updates as I did initially on my portable GPS.

If I recall I was told that the updates for the Entune was free for three years and would be delivered by phone. I've only had my Prius for 2 months and haven't heard of any updates. My wife's had her Avalon (2011) for 14 months and no updates known. Curiously, the older car knows about the bypass opened 3 years ago that I use weekly but the newer Entune tries to route me into a cornfield every time I use the bypass.

BTW, some people put a false address into their GPS lest some crook be able to learn they aren't at home. So plug in somewhere close that the GPS knows about until you get an update is all I can suggest.

 

I have gotten 2 updates for Entune by flash drive in the mail. It "may" have updated some map features but I am not sure. I have read elsewhere on this forum that Toyota will want $160 for a map update. As far as saving your home location, touch the current location while at home and save it as home. Then you can at least tell the system to get you home when you are hopelessly lost somewhere.

 

In your driveway tell it, it's home
Now it know's

Now get a garmin nuvi

 

But, if it's a new street, how does the NAV know how to get there? Which direction does it come from and what are the connecting streets. It's not so simple!

 

If the address isn't in the database the GPS won't find it. Setting a location & leaving a trail will get a line drawn on your map.

I don't worry about the home address stored in the GPS. If the thief is already in the car he can get it from the registration or insurance card.

 

The $160 toyota updates are not for the entune navigation. From what I have read here, the 6.1 entune has no map update yet. The 7" runs the toyota navigation program, and the 6.1" entune runs a different Nav program. Maybe they will give us free updates for that with our $5/month?

You can select the closest intersection with the map viewer, then press the menu bottons to guide to that point, and transfer the destination info from previous destinations to "home". There are worse things in life than not having criminals be able to steal your car and ask it to navigate them to your house. (Saw it on a TV show)

 

It is not all that unusual for addresses to missing from mapping databases. - even ones that have existed for many years. For example, our house was built in 1982 in a city of 50,000 in a 1,000,000+ population metro area and is near the city hall and police station yet I have never found its address in any mapping database ... Mapquest, Google maps or the maps used by Magellan, Garmin and Toyota navigation systems. It's kind of fun to tell people that we are located near the intersection of three streets: 85th Terrace, 85th Terrace and 85th Terrace.

 

True, but for people that are still worried, just set it at a nearby intersection.

 

While many people may have a habit of leaving their registration and insurance card in the glove box, there is no reason you need to do this. You can put these items in your wallet instead of leaving them unattended in the car for anyone who breaks into the car to see.
If you have two drivers, get two copies.

 

That is exactly what regional police suggested last year when a prolific car-prowl->home-burglary ring was hitting entertainment venues. Until that gang was caught a few weeks alter, I kept the registration out of the car.

As insurance against forgetting, I also made a copy of the registration with address covered over, to leave in the car. Presumably the cops can fill that in from my DL or their own computer or voice links. (From my volunteer work in a National Park, with a radio, I often hear dispatchers returning registration details just a few seconds after a LE ranger calls in a plate number.)

My insurance cards have no address.

 

The insurance card still has your name on it. I don't leave anything with any personal information sitting in the car.
The card is the size of a credit card or business card anyway and fits perfectly in a wallet, so why leave it the car anyway?
Some states now allow you to display your insurance info from your smartphone, so you don't need to even carry a paper copy of the card if you have your phone with you.
Assemblyman Mike Gatto Bill to Allow Motorists to Show Proof of Auto Insurance on Their Smartphones Signed into Law - Assemblymember Mike Gatto Representing the 43rd California Assembly District - AD43
The major auto insurance companies have apps that will do this, but you could also just snap a picture of the insurance card and keep in saved on the phone.