Mapsource doesn't use Driving Speed values on UK minor roads

ChrisL · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 22, 2005 Posts: 14

I have had issues before with Mapsource and its Driving Speeds but I now discover that the settings are inoperative on many minor roads in the UK.

I have contacted Garmin whose representative emailed this confirmation of the error:-

"I have tested your routes on map source on my pc and can confirm like your self that the overall time of the route would not change based on the speed travelling. I believe this is happening because of the types of roads you are creating the routes on, in the preferences in routes the only roads that can be changed are Major Highways, Interstate Highways, other highways, collector roads, and residential streets the roads you have given are minor roads which do not fit into any of these categories. Therefore are unaffected by any changes made in the route preferences in map source. "

Now using V9NT maps these roads do get adjusted and are treated as Major Highways by the speed setting which is generally a bit optimistic but better than no control at all.
V2010NT maps appear to use about 2-25mph for these roads and Mapsource does not override the value making Driving Speeds a useless dialog if not downright misleading/not fit for purpose!.

I have made a Mapsource file (2010NT) with three roads calculated by either default settings or 300mph settings and the the Scottish one does change result due to the speed changes whereas the English ones do not (I emailed this to them as indicated in the reply above)

I find this change to be disgraceful as it makes the point of having a route calculation useless if you have no way of setting it to match you driving style/vehicle and very close to breaching the relevant Acts with regard to the advertising they make and the reality you get for £500!!.

Anybody else had words with them over this

Chris
Garmin 2610/2820/BMW Nav3/Zumo 660 now

Allan_whoops · Frequent Visitor Joined: Feb 18, 2006 Posts: 369

The reality is that the route that mapsource picks and the one your device picks will be different anyway even if you download the route to the device as I found out in France this year so times etc will vary anyway.

PhilHornby · Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 1:02 pm Post subject:

ChrisL · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 22, 2005 Posts: 14

It is not a function of how a route is chosen as I am using strecthes of road with No junctions thus only one route is possible regardless of whether you use Mapsource or any unit.

The problem remains in that the changes made in the last 2 years or so have crippled Mapsource as a way of planning routes to a limited time schedule. If you are fortunate enough to have an early set of maps (V9 or before) you can calculate accurate durations for your vehicle/driving style then load the later map version into unit and ignore the ETA as its wildly wrong!.

ChrisL · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 22, 2005 Posts: 14

Garmin have been on again as follows:-

"I have looked in to this when using the V9 mapping the ETA does change when you change the speed you are driving at..

Our system categories roads bases on speed limits and other information on our data base if for some reason we do not have all of this information it will not be classified. Where this is fine on our older mapping it is an error on our system that we will have to look in to. I will report this to Navteq who can look in to changing this information in the next mapping update.

I would like to point out that changing the driving speed on a route in map source and then sending it to a unit will not make any difference once viewed on the device. This is purely a change that can only be viewed in map source and will not impact the ETA on the device."

To me that says that Mapsource is not as it once was due to changes in mapping by Navteq and then the units ignore Mapsource's ETA etc when you load the route.

My question is what is the point of Mapsource now!!

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