Preferred Speeds in TomTom

[psionman]

I assume that choice of route (quickest) will depend upon the choice of speeds for the various road types.

Can you see which type has been allocated to an individual section of road?

Has anyone got setting that consistantly gives a good choice of route? I've only been using TomTom around home, and the 'best' route is not always chosen!

[DavidW]

I find the defaults usually give pretty sensible routing. The problem is that, particularly in your home area, you know where delays are likely to be, whereas your navigation program doesn't! Sometimes asking for an alternative route produces something more sensible, as does putting an avoid area temporarily over an area you know is particularly prone to congestion.

The correlation between the preferences screen and speeds for each type of road are a little tricky, as the descriptions don't quite match up to what we're used to in the UK. However, if, in the map screen, you select Tools -> Legend, it shows you what each type of road looks like at the current zoom level. Road types that aren't on the screen often show with the description greyed out. Compare that to roads around you that you're familiar with, and it'll give you a better idea of what is classed as what.



David

[psionman]

Thanks Dave

Got it back - only took about 6 hours!

[MrT]

The speed issue has always been there since the first routing programs.

A feature of the very early versions of AutoRoute (pre Microsoft takeover) was that you could mark roads as urban or congested and you could set the percentage by which you reduced your speed for a road being urban or congested.

It is a shame that the modern programs do not have this feature, they assume that you can orbit the M25 at 70mph at all times or go past Birmingham on the M6 at the same speeds.

I would even like to see the speed limits for each road added to the database. Dual carriageways may have speed limits from 30 to 70mph whilst most routing program assume they all have the same.

[bigfatjohn]

I have played around with the speed settings and find the defaults to be about right for everyday use and usually leave it on that setting.

The exception is when I am on holiday and idly cruising the roads of France on my bike, and for that I set the motorway speed at 20 or 25mph. This stops TomTom sending me on motorways unless it really is the best way to go and lets me enjoy the sights and sounds of that country properly.

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