I was looking at the sat views and wondered if the people at Garmin,
TomTom, Magellan and the others use the info to set up their street guides

The pictures of my town are over 5 years old on Google maps and the
whole centre of town has been changed.

   I wondered about this for a while because big lorries and ambulances try to
go up my road but have to turn round or reverse out, it was changed about
three years ago to pedestrians only and is now a dead end.

It could be bad if ambulances need to get somewhere to save a life and the satnav sends them the wrong way

Do you think there is a connection?

Do they rely on bad info or do they get their own surveys?

What do you think wise people? :-)

Well satellite navigation companies (those listed by you) normally use TeleAtlas or NavTeq mapping. If I'm not mistake, Google uses BOTH of those among others for Google Earth and Google Maps, so there is quite possibly a link, on the other hand, Google may not update with those maps as often as the Sat-Nav makers because they aggregate them all , but even when Garmin, TomTom etc. update you have to pay for the new maps, which deters customers (well, it deters me anyway!:D)

Thanks for the info James, I would think emergency services and transport companies would need good info for effective responses & delivery.

One person estimates the info is 7 years old and the same on one sat nav company's web-page.

I would hope for better service even if they just made sure road info was accurate.

I also filed a fault report with TeleAtlas, to be sure ;-)

No problem, hey, If you get a response please tell me at xuanjamesgmail.com , because, knowing TeleAtlas this forum will be locked by then ;-)

ok, this is interesting, today i read this in the sun

"A Czech lorry driver was stranded for three nights in south-west England after his satellite navigation system directed him down a narrow country lane, British newspapers reported Friday"

full article – http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gXSst6JUsYvwmKoLA-84e2EmHAcg

this is only one of many incedents in this neck of the woods, its happened loads, these sat nav suppliers need to update

and another

A LORRY wedged in a narrow country lane after its driver followed directions from his sat-nav was freed after a seven-hour operation.

Residents came to the driver’s aid and eventually helped turn the vehicle round.

But within hours, a car towing a boat made the same mistake and also became stuck.

coming update

Thanks for that Ben

I found this too, so it looks like I'll have to sell my shares fast :-(

POLICE are to investigate claims that technology is to blame for sending lorries the wrong way in Weymouth.

Responding to concerns raised at community meetings about large vehicles getting stuck in narrow streets, officers are to check out ways to persuade delivery drivers to ignore their sat-navs.

Concerns were raised in Bridport earlier this year that HGVs on their way to a trading estate were getting stuck in a dead end street and causing damage backing out because drivers were relying too much on their sat-navs.

Full article – http://www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.1790862.0.police_probing_satnav_errors.php

This is all very interesting, but i think the real problem lies with the military and the government, this maybe due to terrorism and not wanting them to get hold of high quality images to plan attacks with – google not updating

as for sat-nav alot of users do not upgrade there units with the latest maps because they have to pay for a subscription to download updates

Good point Mark

I remember in the paper maps there were areas left blank for security reasons but somehow I don't think the public highways would be much of a target.

Governments and large companies can get whatever info they want for a price, even the detemined individual can pull info off other sources.

Goldfinger is mostly a fiction, but nasty people do exist and money is a motivator for so many idiots to let info fall into the wrong hands.

If I were providing a navigation tool the most important thing is not to send my customers to the wrong place or put them in danger.

The trust of the user is the only thing that makes satnav systems work, once it is gone they go back to A-Z paper road atlas or asking the locals for directions (most truck drivers I met do both).

I forgot to mention Corporate Responsibility and Duty of Care as these are important and can have big legal come-backs if someone or something is damaged by the giving of false or inaccurate information.

In the US law it's defined by the line, "By act or omission"

Full article – http://www.lectlaw.com/def/f071.htm

Ok this is my solution;

The users should pay a small monthly subcription fee not a one off large update fee.

The providers should provide live updates to the vehicals units whenever they connect to the sat system like auto-updates for anti-virus programs (you only have to send the things that changed so it should be small files).

That's it folks I hope you found this useful and if you see any satnav guys tell them it's the only way to go. :-)

I think you should be able to pay extra when you buy for lifetime free updates, like that new thing for music, where 90 is added to the DAp price for lifetime free songs.

Yes I think that would be a good solution too.
But will the satnav providers like it?

Everyone must make a living from the work they do.
I suppose it's down to them to sort it out.

Well, with new satellite system laucing in the future (GALILEO, russia has a similar project) people will continue to buy new systems to work with these systems

Cool

We will all wait for improvements

Then it will just maybe like MSoft and we all need bigger faster machines to make it work ?!! LOL :-)

:D

Oh dear, bye bye Merc.......

Full Article -

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23389219-details/%C3%82%C2%A396,000%20Merc%20written%20off%20as%20satnav%20leads%20woman%20astray/article.do

Quote comment from Andrew's article:

"You say 'Sometimes it is good to question modern technology'.
Well somertimes it is good to question the driver and assess whether they should have a driving license.

- D.J.Harle, UK"

Very true. :D

I agree totally.

There are some people with no sense that just should not be driving.

If you think it's too narrow you do not go that way.

If there is a big sign saying "Dead End" or "Unsuitable for large vehicals" you just got to go a different way.

The training course for lorry drivers teaches you to know the footprint and turning circle of your lorry, so why ignore your judgement and have faith in a stupid box of electronics?

We all know how computers have been a can of worms from the start and none of them run perfectly 100% of the time so why think just because the box is different that the junk inside is any better?

Just for good measure;

Full Article – http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=41621&in_page_id=34