2009 - 6 Million updated POI's

Too much of a good thing.

Owners of other brands have commented on this "problem" for a while now. It seems that in their zeal to win the POI race, "they" have been using business directories, un-edited. In those directories, a lot of times the address listed is the owner's HOME !!

I would prefer quality over quantity but it sounds like the pox is spreading. Seems like the crossover point is about 4M items. Below that and it seems to be (relatively) accurate; above that and it seems to have a lot of chaf.

Yeah, I have a few of those POI's in my neighborhood too: CPA, mechanic, etc.

I guess if you know those issues exist, it isn't so bad.

I prefer quality over quantity as well. Afterall, what good is quantity if it isn't quality?

I agree, I would prefer to have quality over quantity to. A group of us went to San Diego on Motorcycles in March and since I was the only one that had a GPS I was appointed the picker of where to eat. After 3 attempts to going to places listed in the Garmin POI's and they didn't exist or no longer in business and after feeling like and idiot. I told them to find there own places to eat themselves. Hope Garmin and other makers take note of what we would rather have.

I think as long as Garmin et al are making their pre-loaded POI's a major selling point in their marketing, the least they could do is try and make them reasonably accurate. Krispy Kreme closed all their stores in CA 2 yr ago and yet they are all still in the 2009 update. I can understand missing the closing etc... of locally based businesses but no excuse when national Brands are closing locations en masse. I was recently looking for a place closer to my new home to refill a propane tank and Garmin gave me a few locations. Using my past experience with out of date POI's I called ahead seems the branch office on my Garmin had closed 7 yrs ago!!! One last gripe; they need some sort of Star system to rate lodging and food places, unless you stick to national chains, you never know if the place on your GPS is the Bates Motel until you get there.

I have started to take the time to call before going to a place to make sure they're still in business and at the location listed in the file. Maybe thats why so many units have blue tooth built in. They know there turning out useless junk POIs. I am becoming more dependent on my downloaded files as I find the ones that suit me the best. Seems like people take more pride in there own files they make than GPS listed files.

The Biggest problem I see is they don't take out the OLD they just add the New...In our town there is a Restaurant that has changed names 3 times in 5 years...it is in there with all the names..Same address. You would think they would see that the same address would not be used for 3 restaurants.

Hi Harpo66
If you eat too much you could die also.Lol

I had that happen recently in NH I was appointed leader of a whole soccer caravan traveling from RI, because i had the GPS. I drove a mile into a neighborhood looking for an IHOP and it was nowhere to be found, that's a big DUH!
Now I have 30 starving people looking at me like I could be breakfast, it was not pretty.

Why don't the GPS companies set a place on there web sites for us to report ghost POI's like we can on map errors. I'm not as interested at getting more POI's as I am of getting rid of the dead end ones.

Hmmmmmm.......... I had thought that they got rid of the old and outdated POI info. One of the main reasons I upgraded from City Select v7 to City Navigator 2008 - and now 2009 - was due to encountering out of date POI info when traveling last year. I was pretty annoyed to find the hotel, restaurant, shopping, etc. info wrong. I guess I was naive to think they'd weed out the old and incorrect info.

That is why I only use Poi's at POI Factory. I rarely trust Garmin's Poi's.

When you purchase a new map, like the 2009 version, it is like purchasing 2006-2007 data. You are always 2-3 years behind reality even though the 2009 version is released in 2008.

NAVTEQ has to receive income from someone to pay for their updates:
1) Royalties from Garmin and other OEM's, probably a minor portion of total income. It seems that the OEM's are knowingly purchasing and reselling outdated data. The maps are probably far superior to the POI data and not near as subject to change.

2) Businesses that pay to have their most recent data appear in the Map releases.

3) Users that pay significant fees for annual subscriptions.

My son's house is within 5 miles of Garmin Olathe and built in 2003. He purchased in 2005 and his address is still is not in the 2009 map.

Similar experience with Radio Shack, Zaxby's, and Wendy's that are the closest to us and have existed for about 3 years and still not in the 2009 map. I purchased a 2009 update within 2 days of purchasing my c330 when I found out that its map was two versions out of date when I received about two weeks ago - questionable whether it was worth the money.

So, I suspect POI's included in the maps are just a teaser. Purchasing a GPS is like most things, the initial cost is low with the hopes of ongoing revenue.

Of course, the alternative is POI-Factory where you pay with time instead of $$$. This is a very helpful site for those of us trying to figure out what we bought when like always, our expectations are greater than reality.

I would hope that the day will come when major businesses provide free downloads of their POI data. This would be a nice add-on to their store locators.

...and realize that the U.S. is a BIG country. I saw an interesting episode on Discovery Channel the other night about GPS updating, and how one company sends out vans with GPS calibration, and a slew of cameras taking pictures of what roads look like, street signs, etc. something like 3 times/second and they process all that info into new maps and POI's. Each van team clocks I think 50K miles/year.

There is a new GPS system out that I've heard about, Dash Express. Interesting video on the web, which includes constant updating of their files thru internet access. It also supposedly has a more advanced way of getting minute to minute traffic reports on local roads, traffic jams, etc. Needless to say, internet access on the fly will cost your more $$.

www.dash.net

So, my 2 cents is how much perfection do you need, and how much do you want to pay to get it?

GC

I thought that most ( Wi-Fi, wireless access point )
were free. So for the ability to use use it it is 240. That is a lot of $$$.