Thank you, Toyota GPS.....not....

Log a complaint at Toyota Help w/a specific repro case (starting point and destination, route suggested, where the problem was, etc.) Nobody can do about bad map data/directions w/o receiving a problem report.

I'd imagine there's a disclaimer on the GPS unit itself and/or in the nav manual though...

There are plenty of cases where bad suggested routes/map data has led people astray, possibly into danger. One thread at Death by GPS. | PriusChat. I remember hearing this story via NPR podcast or their app: The GPS: A Fatally Misleading Travel Companion : NPR.

It would be very interesting to see if the bad shortcut is present at Map Insight and NAVTEQ Map Reporter. They're the two major map data providers. Be interesting to know for Google Maps as well.

It also might be interesting to see if the routes provided by HERE - City and Country Maps - Driving Directions - Satellite Views - Routes (owner of Navteq), Google Maps and Bing Maps - Driving Directions, Traffic and Road Conditions are equally bad.

 

Interesting... well, report the bad data where you feel like it. I think Toyota is the first place.

Then I'd say Navteq (owned by Nokia now) and TeleAtlas (owned by TomTom now) should be next, since they're major map data providers to everyone else.

 

i think i read a story a while back about some people who followed their gps down a dirt road and got stuck and died.

 

You talking about James Kim found deceased - CNET News ?

 

that might be it, it's been a while. but good advice says to never follow gps down unmarked roads.

 

Are we really that clueless and dependent on technology as a society now? Do people honestly have that little idea of where they're going that they believe a little device telling them where to go, following it as far as down a dirt road that clearly can't possibly be right? What happened to us? How sad.

I always have a general idea of where I'm going, where I am in relation to major roads, and what my route should be. I just use GPS to dial in when I'm off main roads, looking for a home or new destination. There really is no excuse to not know where you're going, or OMG - being old school and having a map or road atlas in your car.

True story. In the car with an aquaintence. GPS non functioning because it's overcast and we're downtown Chicago with all the high-rise buildings. Even I am not the best downtown sometimes. Look in her glove box, find the paper map in the bottom that someone thankfully had shoved in there. Her response when I pulled out the map? "Oh I don't know how to read those things, I never know which direction is up." I will never get in a car with this chick driving ever again.

 

I can't speak to the OP's case, but in the case of James Kim's death, they were making a road trip in the winter and not taking a route I'd normally take to get between those two states (I-5). Apparently, the wrong road they took had a gate that was open instead of being locked and closed. Google for james kim road closed gate for more details.

(I have personally driven back and forth between the Seattle area and SF Bay Area several times, but was on I-5 for most of it and never in snowy conditions.)

 

Kim was just the highest profile example of something that happens in this region nearly every winter. It has been happening at least since the Donner Party, more than a century before GPS.

Last winter it was a BC couple going to Vegas, but getting stuck just south of the Idaho-Nevada border. She survived in the vehicle, he tried to hike out and still hasn't been found. This winter, a non-GPS case already happened just south of Lake Tahoe. He died while trying to hike out, her concerned brother stole a CalTrans front end loader, drove down the suspect road, and found her just in time.

Others have died on the back roads of Death Valley. Apple's latest 'killer' map app recently sent numerous unwary drivers headed to Mildura Australia out into an impassable and potentially life threatening portion of Murray-Sunset National Park.

The forest roads around my stepdad's ranch have never been accurately shown on published maps, USGS or otherwise, during my life. Two roads were still shown for about 50 years after they became impassable. When one error was 'fixed' earlier this century, the 'new road' took a shortcut down a steep logging skidpath unused since the 1950s.

Driver beware. Don't leave your judgement at home.

 

^^^
We ought to resurrect Death by GPS. | PriusChat.

 

BTW, to the OP, the reason why I mention being so specific in your bug/problem report(s) is that I used to test software for a living and was in the industry for over 13 years.

It's always important for a bug to have clear, accurate repro steps, the result and (when not obvious) the expected result. If we get vague bug reports and no way to repro, it can be useless to us/the folks on the other side. The report might get dismissed quickly. If lucky, someone might bang around and stumble across the steps or what the other person meant but there's only so much time for that vs. all other incoming issues/priorities.