Navigation

I've encountered the same problem.

It also tried to correct me by suggesting another area code - thus sending me to another state! No wonder I'm putting so many miles on my new Prius!

Some other curiositys -

It puts my house address about a 1/2 mile up the street. But I've also noticed that Mapquest does the same thing. This leads me to conclude that much of the data is shared amongst the various companies that provide mapping services.

Also, some new subdivisions which were created a couple of years ago show up and yet some which have been around forever are non-existent.

 

What are you trying to locate by telephone number; a business or a personal stored destination in memory?

 

[font=Comic Sans MS:a59c910f4d]It's hit or miss, but only for business POIs. Sometimes it can locate a company and sometimes not.

If the POI is in the DVD database, the phone number acts like an index, but read backwards: 1212 then 555 then 800 for 800-555-1212. That's why it sometimes wants to give you a destination in a different area code.

Denso, in Japan, who makes the Nav system, buys the data from other sources, of course. The quality of the data is fairly good, but there are lots of errors and no way to correct them, which is frustrating. My house is shown on a road that extends to the north. In fact the road is interrupted by about a half mile of woods and fields before you get to the north section, and it's at least a five mile trip to get there.

Like the Nav manual says, it's only a guide and you must rely on your own judgement.[/font:a59c910f4d]

 

I believe that they get the data from Navteq. Navteq supplies the data for yahoo maps, google maps, mapquest, and others. They also supply the data for most of the teir1/OEM Nav system suppliers. In talking with one of their employees the other day, they actually have teams of people that drive the country and hand tune the database to correctness (start off from existing map data and satellite data), maybe they haven't been to your street yet. I also remember Navteq having a page to enter corrections.

 

That's true for version 4.2, not the earlier ones. Currently I still have ver 3.2.

 

[font=Comic Sans MS:66a65f7419] Thanks, hancho, for the information. I looked an you can submit map corrections at http://update.navteq.com/

Thanks again.[/font:66a65f7419]

 

Here's another navigation curiosity. . .

During our trip to Iowa, Dora changed her usually dark blue route line to a light blue route line as we entered a zone which she supposedly didn't know (yet, all the road data was clearly and accurately there.)

Her line, however, was correct to the destination, but she refused to give us turn by turn directions.

She also did warn us about not being able to direct us properly before hand.

Another thing. . .

She was EXTREMELY sluggish at times, almost like she wanted to lock up (kinda like my windows environment!) Not many POI's displayed so it's hard to reason why she'd be that way (maybe it has something to do with going across 3 mapping zones?)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant\";p=\"90950)</div>

Interesting, I went there and looked at the "Order Updates" area. When it asked for the car manufacturer, Toyota wasn't there.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(aaf709\";p=\"104047)</div>

You can only order map updates directly from NAVTEQ for systems that use NAVTEQ's data format. Map discs for systems (like the Denso system) whose manufacturers compile NAVTEQ data into other formats are only available from the manufacturer.

 

Why you can't "complete" certain phone numbers in

The reason that you can't "complete" certain phone numbers in the Navigation screen (when searching for a destination using phone number) is that the computer is checking each character of your entry as you input it. It will stop you if it reaches a point where the computer knows that there is no number. This saves time.

For instance, lets assume that the number 123-555-1212 is listed in the database, and there are no other listings for any other 123-555-XXXX numbers. As you input characters, the computer will check, so that if you try to input: 123-555-1300, the computer will stop you as soon as it gets to the 123-555-1 spot.

The logic for the entire NAV system is based on this, it only allows you to add another character in a town or street name if that choice is available in the entire database.