Catching Satnav Errors On Google Street View 312
Barence writes "Most of the satnav companies allow users to report errors with their maps, but do they ever get fixed? PC Pro's Paul Ockenden uses Google StreetView to highlight glaring and dangerous flaws in Tele Atlas maps — which are used by TomTom and Google Maps itself — but the company has failed to respond to numerous reports of map errors posted over the course of several years. 'About half a mile from where I live, a Tele Atlas-based satnav will instruct you to turn off at a junction where there's only an on-ramp,' Ockenden reports. 'I've witnessed some confused and dangerous driving at this junction as people try to find the non-existent exit, so I wouldn't be surprised if major mapping errors like this are a danger to road safety.'"
Give up on these jokers (Score:5, Informative)
And make your own maps with open street map [openstreetmap.org]
Re:User maps... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Give up on these jokers (Score:1, Informative)
Actually, it is. My city (Brisbane) has awesome detail now, and it's trivial to fix or add something. Most of it was the work of a few dedicated mappers.
Of course, if your area is not covered by OSM and you can't be bothered to try and improve it... then you've nobody to blame but yourself.
Re:Is it really so difficult... (Score:5, Informative)
Long distance travel is pretty easy; there is ample signage and you rarely have to make more than a few direction decisions along the way. It's dense urban routefinding that's the problem - you can potentially have to remember an incredible serpentine route with a turn every twenty seconds, all sorts of special-case turn restrictions, and no signs pointing the way to the specific place you're headed to.
Re:Data Posioning.... (Score:4, Informative)
Just look for the loop cut into the road. As you say typically two or three car lengths back but you don't have to guess. Its a sawcut filled with polymer filler. Implementations I have seen will assume a queue exists if that loop is triggered for three seconds so stopping for a count of five should be enough.
Re:Give up on these jokers (Score:3, Informative)
This really can't be stressed enough. For my area (Philadelphia) Open Street Map seems rather flawless for roads, and is way better than the other maps for things like bike trails, rails, streams, etc. If you enjoy hiking/biking and google maps doesn't cut it, give open street map a try.
Waze - you can fix maps yourself (Score:5, Informative)
That's why I like and use Waze for my smartphone. Free client available for many GPS-enabled smartphones, free up-to-the-minute traffic, automatically reroutes you to avoid that traffic, routes you the quickest way at any given time. You can log into the web server and fix any map problems yourself if you like, or simply flag problems and an 'area manager' will get to it when they can if you're in an area that already has area managers. You can even create maps from scratch if you don't have a basemap available in your area, which is exactly what many people have done in many countries all over the world. In some cases you have to hang in there until critical mass is reached, but in many places that time has already come and gone and Waze is working wonderfully. Definitely worth checking out. I don't drive anywhere without it, literally, as you never know when it'll save you some time. And sometimes a LOT of time.
Re:Ah, Android Navigation (Score:3, Informative)
Indeed.
I've submitted a few updates and fixes to Google Maps, and they're generally pretty responsive about fixing things.
Re:User maps... it's called Waze (Score:3, Informative)
Waze lets you do just that, and much more. People all over the world have been busy mapping their countries where no basemaps exist. People all over the world have been correcting and updating existing basemaps, too. Plus it monitors traffic in real-time, updating routes for those that are affected by the traffic at that time. And much more. I don't drive anywhere without Waze active on my iPhone. It's also available for many other smartphones that have GPS receivers in them. And it's free. Anyone can help make the maps better, simply by driving with it on, or by actively editing the map on the web server.
Re:Give up on these jokers (Score:4, Informative)
Yea, cause OSM is better than ... well no other data source actually.
Take a look at somewhere like Jerusalem in google, or worse, bing. Then look at Gaza and Islamabad. Now compare to OSM.
Perhaps google is better in your tiny corner of the world, but OSM gives me a more usable view on a global scale.
Re:Give up on these jokers (Score:3, Informative)
OSM is accurate where I live because I plotted it: the roads, the parks, the car-parks, the pathways, school, etc; although another chap did most of my city.
Sam
Re:Cloth was better than paper (Score:3, Informative)
That's because, at least in the US, Tyvek and other such materials superseded cloth decades ago. Quickly googling up "weatherproof ordnance survey maps" shows the same to be true in the UK, and there appears to be a number of suppliers and checking the Ordinance Survey site shows them to be available directly.
Re:Data Posioning.... (Score:2, Informative)
No, he's not...well not necessarily.
As you approach the light you stop short if no-one is behind you. If cars approach from behind (most modern cars these days have rear-view mirrors) you proceed up to the normal stop line, as the cars behind you will now trigger the sensors). Not difficult, and not dangerous and not jamming up traffic - well except for the traffic going the other way that has to wait for another 5 seconds for the advanced green.
Re:Data Posioning.... (Score:3, Informative)
I think it's pretty safe to assume from the OP's description that his dad only does this when there is little or no traffic around, and certainly not when there's a lineup of people trying to turn left behind him. Notice the OP said "his own private advance left", not "an advanced left for him and the huge line of cars backed up behind him".