Review Garmin MapSource City NavigatorV8

I just purchased the Mapsource City Navigator Norh America V8 DVD and did
some comparisons of content of the new map data.
I was quite disappointed when I compared the new V8 Canada data to
Metroguide Canada V4 data. The V8 has a bit more information in some of the
cities but the data is still about two years old. The MGCanadaV4 has
consideraby MORE roadway information than than the new CNNAV8.

The last time I checked Mexico was apart of North America, Garmin must not
know this because the the old MS World V2 data also has MORE Mexico road
information than the new CNNAV8. The CNNAV8 does not even have some of the
Mexico toll roads on them which are about 8 years old.

So if you are going to buy CNNAV8 to try and get better Canada or Mexico
maps don't waste you money.

Garmin really needs to provide a little more value in these upgrades.

Are there any third party suppliers of these map sets out ther who can
supply some real upgrades.

Harold Muller

Harold Muller wrote:

You do have to go online and study the MapSource Map Viewers to see what
the level of detail is with any Garmin product to avoid disappointments.

I went from MetroGuide NA V5 to City Navigator NA V8 and that was a very
worthwhile upgrade as far as newer roads and streets and stuff, at
least as far as U.S. mapping goes. It was also much better in Canada in
comparison to MG 4.02 and MG 5. But the info on street and road names
in CN NA V8 looks to be very scant for Canada once you get outside of
the cities.

For the U.S. it looks like it takes two to four years for changes to
roads and new roads to be reflected in the NavTeq data that Garmin uses.
And, of course, there are some changes that might not ever show up. I
guess we can all help with that a little by using this site:

http://mapreporter.navteq.com/dur-web-external/


LOL! And thanks for feedback on the quality of the Canadian mapping.
As a resident of Maine, I noticed that the amount of detail up in Canada
looked pretty sparse on CN V8. It just reinforces the need for all of
us to have as many MapSource products as possible on our PCs. That way
we can look at each and every product's map details for a specific
location and see which one has the info we want.

I've bought a couple of the older Garmin products used/cheap just to see
what was on them. They are not locked and can be installed under
MapSource and compared and used on my 76Cx. Garmin was using Tele-Atlas
data up through MetroGuide NA 4.02 and that had much more data on
railroads, park service and fire roads, and geographical details like
mountains, lakes, and rivers than is found in the MetroGuide versions
using NavTeq data (V5 and later) and in City Navigator.

I'd have to say that in some areas the newer stuff with Navteq data
looks like a empty wasteland in comparison to the older Tele-Atlas based
stuff. The Navteq stuff will have newer and better road data and POIs
of course.


Not as commercial products, at least not as far as I know. Garmin
mapping does lend itself to people making their own maps or embellishing
the Garmin maps but that is a pretty technical process and not producing
maps with widespread coverage or interest.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA (jackerbes at adelphia dot net)
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine dot com)

I recently went from CS5 to CN8 and I too was dissapointed. The Phila. US
Army depot has been a major shopping complex for at least 2 years! Home
Depot; Staples; BJ's Wholesale etc.
Major shopping, restaurant poi's.

If you think that is bad, Streets & Trips 2007 is a disaster compared to
2006. Some campgrounds in Northern California are 14 miles off and not even
along the road but off on some distant mountain top. Firestations are also
5 miles off.

Seems when they change map suppliers things always get worse.

B~

I recently figured out that I am eligible for a free upgrade to V8 so
went ahead & did it. I never thought it would have such adverse
effects. However 1 thing in it's favour I can say is that the routing
from DC to New york has improved. Instead of taking the harbour tunnel
in Baltimore it takes the other tunnel which in turn is a faster route
all together. I recently was surprised when it did that.... So I guess
upgrading every year if it's paid is not worth the trouble...
vineeth
B. Peg wrote: