Navigator 2 Places not in database

bigdaddyinUK · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 11, 2004 Posts: 6

Seem to remember not being able to locate Pulborough (West Sussex) which is a pretty big place.
TTN2 also gets rather confused @ the new Trafalgar Square and streets off same

SteveF48 · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 3:56 pm Post subject: Bracknell, Berkshire

Let's face it the whole thing is unusable for UK navigation.
It's impossible to find any town, as the database only contains 'Administrative Districts'.
If you do manage to select the right area, the street you require may be in a different district.

I had to go to Bracknell for an interview. The address being London Road, Binfield, Bracknell, RG42 4EU. TT2 doesn't show any London Road in RG42.
I was reduced to using my usual workaround. Find the place using Multimap, Mapquest, Viamichelin...
Zoom in to the appropriate area in TT2, then mark the place as a favorite.

Very inelegant and a pain, when TT2 locks up at the least provocation.

DavidW · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:51 pm Post subject:

London Road - it looks as if you may have been the 'victim' of a postcode change. The road you're looking for is in the database in Binfield, as London Road RG40.

Unfortunately the Royal Mail do change postcodes from time to time - though there's the possibility that this is a simple error in the database as well.

Sometimes the postal address and the administrative area for an address don't entirely marry up - particularly as the Post Office Preferred format usually uses a "postal town" now in most addresses rather than counties or anything recognisable as an administrative area.

For example, my address is:

<number> <street name>
Flitwick
Bedford
MK45 1<two more letters>

"Bedfordshire" doesn't appear anywhere in this address. Administratively speaking, this is Mid Bedfordshire. Bedford, meanwhile, is in Bedford Borough (it used to be North Bedfordshire, but North Bedfordshire District Council renamed themselves Bedford Borough Council some years ago) - the next district council area north of here.

Overall, the administrative area problem isn't so much TomTom's as the TeleAtlas data they're using, though, of course, TomTom did choose to use TeleAtlas data. Users of the new Navman SmartST v2 software are complaining of similar issues to those of us using TomTom (Navman have switched to TeleAtlas data from NavTech in their latest release, so Navman users are finding these issues for the first time - NavTech data tends to handle addresses much better).

NavTech geodata isn't perfect either - it seems harder to write a routing engine that behaves sensibly using NavTech data, as especially earlier releases of Navman SmartST v1 software showed (it could be that these issues weren't down to the geodata, but my impression is that the geodata did have something to do with it).

I'm only a user - but I do dispute your assertion that "the whole thing is unusable for UK navigation". It's not perfect - I readily admit that. However, I find it a great tool - and one of the reasons I participate in the forums as I do is to try to help others get the best from TomTom Navigator, which is often best done by trying to help others understand its quirks.

Most of the time I can find precisely where I'm going using just TomTom Navigator 2. Further, the map data itself is pretty good - even if you have problems finding your destination on the map, once you've set your destination, you usually get there without any routing problems. There are, of course, some errors in the map data and it is out of date in some places, but it's not bad.

If the built in address finding capabilities aren't good enough for you, investigate the various postcode routing options there are mentioned in the forums.

Your particular issue here is not down to the use of administrative areas - it looks like either an error in the database, or Royal Mail have changed the postcode since the database was produced. Administrative areas only usually catch you out when you're looking for somewhere in the suburbs of a large town that has a unitary council or is at the edge of an administrative area. There was a good example somewhere in the forums to do with the suburbs of Norwich. In that case, you had to use the name of the suburb (one of the "Thorpe St" places, I believe) or "Broadland" and not "Norwich". The address wanted was in the Broadland District Council area, not in the Norwich City Council area.

So far as "TT2 locks up at the least provocation", upgrade to version 2.24. If you're already using version 2.24, please post the markings on your SD card, assuming you're using SD memory for your maps (the program and, often more importantly still, the voice files should be in main memory - the access speed of memory cards can be too slow).

If you're using version 2.24, have the program and voice files in main memory and the maps on SD card, I wouldn't be surprised if your SD card turns out to be Sandisk. So long as you're not using a troublesome memory card, it's very unusual for TomTom Navigator 2 2.24 to be unstable on either Pocket PC 2002 or Pocket PC 2003.

David

jonh · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 22, 2004 Posts: 9

I can only see one yacht basin POI for the whole of the South East UK from Lymington around to the Wash.

This stinks of cynical checkbox marketing so that TomTom can claim "yes we do marinas".

tom9851 · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:22 am Post subject:

SteveF48,

Don't know if you have tried to use Dynamite's postcode software yet but I can really recommend it. I just typed in the postcode you mentioned in your post - RG42 4EU - and it gave me full navigation instructions to "B3408 London Road Binfield", which I assume is correct, within a matter of seconds. Maybe I'm easily impressed but I really don't think you can ask for more - it does what it says on the tin!! Read all the comments on the thread about it and you will find many many people congratulating him. This really does make TTN2 a powerful navigation tool now.

Tom

Andyfretwell · Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:18 pm Post subject:

St. Ives in Cornmall is missing

Westfield East Sussex (where I live) has moved to West Lothian!!!
Andy

tom9851 · Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 4:12 pm Post subject:

Hi Andy,

TTN2 uses "Penwith" for St. Ives, St. Just, Penzance etc. I gather Penwith is the unitary name for the whole area.

For your own home town you are right - TTN2 certainly has the idea that Westfield is West Lothian but will still navigate you correctly..

Tap in a Westfield postcode i.e. TN354QE (The New Inn, Main Road, Westfield) and TTN2 will navigate you to "A28 Main Road (Westfield) which is correct, but then sticks West Lothian on the end!! 8O

Never a dull moment with TTN2!!

Cheers

Tom

shammy · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 10, 2003 Posts: 19

If I hadn't been totally concentrating, dear Tom would have sent me down a one-way street the wrong way - namely Brayford Wharf in Lincoln. And *he* keeps trying to insist that most of Ashfield District Council (north of Nottingham, south of Sheffield so about as far inland as it's possible to be in England) is Sussex coast.

And they say women can't read maps. Hmmph

Shammy Wink

hegedusa · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 27, 2004 Posts: 55

These locations are on the map, but the name doesn't appear on the database (they used to):

Billericay (Essex)
Chelmsford (Essex)

Also the way it seems to handle roads is not very clear. I can look for a road in Brentwood and it finds it in Billericay, over 5 miles away. It does however now let me look by postal district e.g. CM12 0 which it couldn't do before.

z288171 · Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2004 10:00 am Post subject:

Kingston upon thames in surrey is classed as city of london

rjms · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 02, 2004 Posts: 1

is listed as Stanstead Mountfinchet

Russell

icsys · Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:26 am Post subject:

As most of these inaccuracies are with the geo-data it may be better to send details to TeleAtlas rather than TomTom, or Navman for that matter.

perhaps if TeleAtlas get enough feedback they will sort out these problems in time for the next updates?? (well theres always hope!)

http://www.teleatlas.com/template_feedback.jsp?ctype=support_feedback_pda&contentpage=EnterPDARequest.jsp

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