Tomtom map share, is it any good

I am thinking about getting a TomTom because of the map share facility which
will hopefully keep the TomTom a bit more up to date than its competitors
without having to buy updated maps.

But reading a few reviews others have commented that the TomToms maps have
been out of date compared with other manufactures so the mapshare facility
seems to be a waste of time. Anyone care to comment on this customer update
facility.

I have used the mapshare facility, it is difficult to know what updates have
been recieved unless you know what you are looking for.

A workmate and I both have TomToms, so we were able to do some comparisions.

We had both updated one way streets in different parts of Leicester and had
not then connected to our PCs for a while. We were able to see those
corrections on our own TomToms.

We then both updated on the same evening and were able to verify the oneways
had been shared via mapshare.

The downside is reports of missing roads, cannot turn right/left onto are not
immediate. Neither are speed limit reports, and I have not seen any evidence
of these being acted upon. The A5460, link road off M1 J21 does not have a
30mph limit (its 50mph) as TomTom tells me every time I use it.

In reality I think that mapshare relys on using navigation in places you are
familiar with, so that you can sensibly ptu in corrections later. Plus I wonder
what proportion of SatNavs are ever connected to a PC.

Phil
--
There are 10 types of people in the world, those that
understand binary and those that don't.

So is it any substitute for an official updated map?

Where I live there is massive road building taking place on many major roads
which are adding roundabouts, juntions, etc. This work is meant to be
finished later on in the year. So with map share, if nothing else, can I
easily creat my own corrections by just driving the new route and tapping a
few buttons?

Hello Phil, no, Mapshare is not up to that kind of correction, only
simple corrections such as one-way streets or blocked roads. Mapping
a road properly is more complicated than you might think so they
can't, or rather won't, accept corrections made by posting GPS tracks
of new roads. Missing information includes number of lanes, how wide
is the road, is it one way or two way, speed limits, full details of
junctions and all that kind of thing.

It would be nice if there was a two-tiered approach,
e.g. professionally mapped roads that can be complemented by
user-mapped additions that you can elect to use, or even the ability
to define your own roads and add them, hopefully the limited mapshare
might be a step towards that. Next year maybe ;-)

--
Blast off and strike the evil Bydo empire!
http://youtube.com/user/tarcus69
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarcus/

It would be nice if they were a bit more honest about the (lack of) value
they place on their customers' feedback.
--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."