Turn-by-turn in Prime better than Google Maps!

I tend to use Google Maps for road trips only because I tend to plan a road trip from my laptop and then push the map to my phone from google maps on my browser. It is just way simpler to deal with. I can't easily look at a location and then tell my car, follow this set of directions I have already mapped out. Google Maps on my laptop lets me adjust path and the like then save it to my phone. For instance, I was able to map out directions that reduced tolls and didn't add a crazy amount of time (30 minute extra for 10.5 hrs wasn't a bad add to cut $25 in tolls out).

That said, I have used the built in navigation when driving home from locations because it is super simple to pick a destination I already have if I don't much care about the path. As to rest areas, I was able to see rest areas coming up on my google maps as well as on the navigation system without any issue, but I don't think I could ask google when the next one was coming. The one thing I will say is that Google was aware that a rest area was closed, where the navigation system wasn't. The downside of static maps.

 

After I got my prime I compared the navigation with google maps. I was on the 91 freeway in California getting ready to switch to the 55. My prime was telling me to get into the right lane to exit the 91 to the 55. Traffic signs and google maps, however, told me to stay in the left lane to switch to the 55. Anyone following the primes directions would have either missed getting on the 55, or have to cut across a few lanes of busy California traffic at the last possible second. I'll stick with google maps myself...

 

Completely agree that the issues concerning positioning that lee jay refers to are nothing to do with Google Maps app, they are issues with GPS reception in his area or on his phone at the time of testing. I have no such issues with Google Maps on my phone. It works perfectly. LG G4 Android.

The car Satnav is better than I expected, and I esp like having the directions shown on the upper screen.

The big negatives for me, besides the one that Lee Jay mentions concerning ease of setting destination, with the car Satnav are the fact that the map data is always out of date, and the painful process of updating map data.

I went through the updating process a few weeks ago. I needed as 16gb USB stick, not supplied with the car. It took one to two hours to download the map data because the Toyota server was very slow. It then took another 2 hours or thereabouts in the car to update the car using the USB stick. All that time the car had to be fully powered up. In fact Toyota says, presumably assuming you don't have the plugin, that you must have the engine running for the whole time!

Having done all that, I have map 2017 v1, the latest. The previous update was November 2016. 2017 v1 is already out of date, and for long journeys we need to run Google Maps alongside the car nav as a cross reference so that the car does not send us down roads that are now closed or miss out new roundabouts etc.

Toyota themselves on their uk maps update website, say that on average 15% of the road network changes every year. Sounds hard to believe but that's what they say. And with updates only every 6 months, the car will be WELL out of date by the time of the next update- which will itself be out of date within days of being made available.

I certainly already have had significant problems on long journeys with my latest map data being out of date. Not many, but when they happen they can be a real problem.

Google maps data is live, so long as I have a data connection, so the maps are as up to date as Google knows- and for stored maps the updating process is simple easy and quick.

Google is also aware and up to date with temporary road changes due to road works. This can make a huge difference in heavy traffic, if the car Satnav sends you down a closed road and you have to try to turn round and queue all over again in a traffic jam at the same busy junction, especially if other drivers are making the same mistake this can cause its own local traffic problem.

That is the reason why the offline car satnav will never compete with a connected Satnav. What is more crucial than correct and up to date mapping? Nothing, in my book.

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I've had this happen and found I can avoid it by using the Google offline maps feature. I download the maps for the region I'm traveling to so all the maps and POI's are on my phone and it only has to download the tiny live traffic updates. For those that don't have unlimited plans, download the maps via WiFi at home and you'll save a ton of data on the road. Just refresh the map cache every 30 days, or delete them when the trip is over.

Good to know the Prime mapping worked well.

 

Following a friend's recommendation, I tried Waze earlier this year. It started its instal, and shortly thereafter started asking me if it could "share" with all my contacts etc. etc. so, needless to say I immediately stopped the install at told it to go boil its head!!! Bloody piece of crap garbage!!

 

Chill!!

Waze is all about merging social media with Sat Nav. That is its USP. That's how it gets lots of good map updates, good routes and other benefits. It's a community. People share map stuff with it.

If you don't want to join you don't have to. That doesn't make it garbage IMHO.

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Who said that Waze shares your contacts?

AFAIK It just asks permission to have access to them, for your use on your own device. In fact it is most probably just so that users can select a contact as an address to navigate to.

HaS anyone got evidence of Waze sending contacts to strangers without permission? Have you checked the Waze privacy policy?

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Since when did reading comprehension become a requirement for PriusChat?

 

I agree that Google don't always seem very responsive to map corrections. They can be frustratingly difficult to communicate with. I have a Google maps issue right at home which is still unresolved after FOUR years of reporting to Google.

Nevertheless, in my experience, which is in the UK, although Google maps certainly aren't perfect, they are vastly more up to date and reliable than Here Maps that the car uses.

And as I said, data connected phone technology allows for map updates far more frequently quickly and easily than the always offline maps on the car.



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How about some respect here?

It is a figure of speech meaning that I doubt that the claim to that effect is true.

Can I suggest we hold back from mocking each other on this site. It's not fun to be mocked, surprisingly.





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