Hmmm?

legitmik · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 05, 2008 Posts: 2

Hello all. Just joined this forum and am glad it's here.

To business.

I live in Northern Ireland and recently bought a Garmin StreetPilot 510T. Got the model with the UK & Ireland maps and the traffic update.

Took it out for it's first jaunt to Dublin and Cork at the weekend and was pretty underwhelmed by the accuracy of the maps.
In fairness, there is a lot of building and roadworks near Dublin at the mo, but the unit completely failed to recognise any of them and was taking trying to take me into fields and left turns into walls.
A lot of the completed bypasses have been open for over a year and they weren't on the system.

I've tried updating the unit via the Garmin Website, but it tells me that I have the most up to date maps and software, even tho the map date is 2006. Surely some mistake?

This is the info on my Garmin Homepage Account

MapSource® Product
City Navigator Europe NT v 9 - Region 7 (UK/Ire)

Region
City Navigator Europe NT v9 - Region 7 (UK/Ire), Sept 06

I would have thought it was a bit more up to date than that...

As for the traffic report stuff, it didn't seem to work at all no matter how much my technically savvy passenger tried. Do I need to unlock some feature? It gave me a 10 digit number, (Traffic Number?), but no clue as to where to go online to enter this.

I know you have probably heard all these questions before, and I tried searching the forum before posting, but I would seriously appreciate some help and/or advice.

Few pints of Guinness in it for you next time yer in the Emerald Isle...;)

Mik

Andy_P · Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:00 pm Post subject:

This is the first big disappointment for most new satnav users.

It's natural to think that because the maps are "electronic" they will somehow be right up to date.
In fact, due to the fact the mapping companies have to survey the area and compile the new master maps and THEN the manufacturers have to buy them and then convert and compress them into a format their units can use, the maps will actually be more out of date than a paper map.
18 months to 2 years is the usual quoted delay between a new road being built and it appearing on a satnav map. Often it is faster, but often it can be even slower!

Tele Atlas and Navteq are the two companies who supply just about ALL the satnav brands. It is often said that Navteq are slightly faster to update, but they are probably about the same in overall accuracy (but that is a subject that has been endlessly argued over!)

Paddywack · Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:41 pm Post subject:

Hi Mik
We are all waiting for the 2008 upgrade disks to be released and hopefully some of the "newer" bypasses (like the one at Clonmel) will be featured. I suspect that it will be another few years before the new intersections on the M50 make it onto the Garmin mapping. On a positive note you may be due a free upgrade depending on when you registered your unit.

To my knowledge there is no traffic in Ireland irrespective of which side of the border you are travelling. We just don't have a road infrastucture that offers viable alternative routes.

legitmik · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 05, 2008 Posts: 2

Ta lads.

I just assumed the maps would be constantly updated. And you know what they say about assume...

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