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- Nuvi-255W-gives-strange-directions
- 02-28-2010
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On 2/28/2010 2:35 PM, Peter H. Coffin wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:27:29 -0800 (PST), Jim Matthews wrote:
>> I have been using my Nuvi 255W around town for 2 months now and have
>> been trying to get it to give me the "best" directions to places, to
>> which I already know the best routes.
>> However, in more than half the cases, I get strange routes that are
>> not the best way either time or distance. In some cases, it just seems
>> to ignore a known highway (been there for 20 years).
>> been trying to get it to give me the "best" directions to places, to
>> which I already know the best routes.
>> However, in more than half the cases, I get strange routes that are
>> not the best way either time or distance. In some cases, it just seems
>> to ignore a known highway (been there for 20 years).
> GPSs will often ignore highways that would only be taken for short
> distances. And, short trips in general are the very worst for GPSs to do
> the routing as they have only a general idea of what road conditions
> are. You'll know instinctively which roads are two lanes with people
> backing out of angle parking into them, and which are are four lanes and
> synchro-controlled lights. To the GPS, one grey-class road is as good as
> another, and it'll avoid turns (especially left ones) when it can. Long
> routes, on the other hand, are where it excels, because it WILL know
> about the back roads in places you've never traveled.
> distances. And, short trips in general are the very worst for GPSs to do
> the routing as they have only a general idea of what road conditions
> are. You'll know instinctively which roads are two lanes with people
> backing out of angle parking into them, and which are are four lanes and
> synchro-controlled lights. To the GPS, one grey-class road is as good as
> another, and it'll avoid turns (especially left ones) when it can. Long
> routes, on the other hand, are where it excels, because it WILL know
> about the back roads in places you've never traveled.
LOL! Over the years I've given up on trying to figure out "the Bitch on
the Hump" and how or why she determines which is the best route for me.
If I'm in uncharted territory (for me) I will defer to her intellect.
If I AM familiar with the territory, I will ignore obvious mistakes on
her part and do what I think is best.
A classic example was a local situation that I was very familiar with
that would crop up occasionally in a long route planned to take me from
my office to a place in the near north suburbs of Chicago. For some
reason - known only to her and the trolls working at Garmin or Navteq -
rather than have me drive straight through on a US Highway via viaduct
that kept me from having to worry about cross traffic on a state route
that intersected it, she would have me climb up the ramp to the cross
street, stop for a stop sign, and then proceed across four lanes of
traffic and down the opposite ramp right back onto the US highway that
I'd just left.
About the ONLY thing I can think of to explain it is a) the plotters at
Navteq never took into consideration the stop sign for cross traffic and
b) the US highway makes a long, gradual curve that is bisected by the
state highway. Viewed from overhead, I suppose the ramp route would
appear to be THE very shortest distance between two points.
On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:08:27 -0600, Dddudley wrote:
> About the ONLY thing I can think of to explain it is a) the plotters at
> Navteq never took into consideration the stop sign for cross traffic and
> b) the US highway makes a long, gradual curve that is bisected by the
> state highway. Viewed from overhead, I suppose the ramp route would
> appear to be THE very shortest distance between two points.
> Navteq never took into consideration the stop sign for cross traffic and
> b) the US highway makes a long, gradual curve that is bisected by the
> state highway. Viewed from overhead, I suppose the ramp route would
> appear to be THE very shortest distance between two points.
Both cases are probably true.
Which is why we treat these things as advisory rather than the Word of
God.
--
Crowds want to beat, journalists deserve to be beaten. Where lies
the problem?
-- Lars Syrstad
On 2/28/2010 4:53 PM, Peter H. Coffin wrote:
>> state highway. Viewed from overhead, I suppose the ramp route would
>> appear to be THE very shortest distance between two points.
>> appear to be THE very shortest distance between two points.
> Both cases are probably true.
> Which is why we treat these things as advisory rather than the Word of
> God.
> Which is why we treat these things as advisory rather than the Word of
> God.
Well, most of us do anyway. I can think of a recent example of somebody
getting buried (figurative and perhaps almost literally) in a snowbound
pass somewhere and then, of course, there's that almost classic episode
of "The Office" with everyone's favorite idiot, Michael driving into the
water because he believed the GPS unit was smarter than he (Obviously it
was in that case<g>)
Jim Matthews wrote:
> I have been using my Nuvi 255W around town for 2 months now and have
> been trying to get it to give me the "best" directions to places, to
> which I already know the best routes.
> been trying to get it to give me the "best" directions to places, to
> which I already know the best routes.
Is the Garmin smarter than you are?
>
> However, in more than half the cases, I get strange routes that are
> not the best way either time or distance. In some cases, it just seems
> to ignore a known highway (been there for 20 years).
> However, in more than half the cases, I get strange routes that are
> not the best way either time or distance. In some cases, it just seems
> to ignore a known highway (been there for 20 years).
Does it ever show that highway as a route? Say if you were to drive
onto that highway with a destination programmed?
>
> I have tried modifying the settings every way I can find and I still
> don;t get good results
>
> I am a newbie (obviously) to GPS in general, and wonder if there is
> something wrong with my particular unit
>
> I would like to depend on it to find places I have not been before -
> but can't do that the way it is
> I have tried modifying the settings every way I can find and I still
> don;t get good results
>
> I am a newbie (obviously) to GPS in general, and wonder if there is
> something wrong with my particular unit
>
> I would like to depend on it to find places I have not been before -
> but can't do that the way it is
Well, it WILL get you there most of the time, but it does rely on you
having some observational powers as to whether the road designated seems
appropriate for your vehicle and weather conditions.
>
> Can anyone help me diagnose my problems ?
> Can anyone help me diagnose my problems ?
Presuming a couple hundred dollars of GPS is as smart as you are?
I have found the times both of my auto-routing units have given me the
strangest routes is when I pick shortest route, it will take me on every
back road it can find. This isn't bad in Wisconsin but I could see in a
state that has a lot of secondary roads in the mountains a person could
run into some serious problems if they followed the GPS blindly.
Another problem is the mapping company's maps. One good example in my
area, going down I-39 south of Rockford,IL the gps tells me there is a
rest area coming up. I have been traveling this road for twenty years
and there has never been a rest area there, in fact there isn't even an
exit there.
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