Does Nuvi know something I don't?

 

Here's my specific question which may lead to a more general discussion. Driving from downtown Los Angeles towards Irvine going southeast on I-5. Nuvi 660 wants to take me off I-5 to I-605 South and onto CA91 East and back on to I-5. Shortest and fastest route is to stay on I-5...UNLESS Nuvi knows that there's construction on I-5, which there is but which doesn't always cause delays, especially on a Sunday.

So the general question is, does the system know about construction slowdowns and does it factor this into routings? If so, how can you tell that this is being included?

Thanks all...

if you have traffic

if you have traffic reciever, and avoid traffic checked.

smart nuvi

My experience with the nuvi is that it sets a route based on your choice of "fastest route or best route". check to see where yuo have it set. Unless you are suscribed to one of the live traffic services, the nuvi will follow the directions you have set up.

gusb

--
augie billitier I2,c330,660

How are your preferences set?

It sounds like you may have your routing preference set to shortest, not fastest. For Garmin, shortest is distance, not time. I experimented with the shortest a bit and found that the NUVI routing sent me off and back on major roads to save just a few 10ths of a mile.

--
Larry ... Garmin Nuvi 650

smart nuvi

sorry, your choice is fastest or shortest route.
gusb

--
augie billitier I2,c330,660

Nav Systems Cant find certain routes

The way my wife drives to my in-laws house is about 5 miles and 15 minutes.

Neither my Garmin Nuvi 360 nor my Wife's Toyota Nav System can find my wife's route. All of them have shortest and fastest routes that are longer and slower than the route my wife takes.

Neither is capable of learning our route, even though we take it 2-3 times/week.

THe NAV systems have their routes on the most major roads (All state numbered roads) while my wife's route is mostly major roads, but not as major as the Nav routes (e./g. 4 lane roads, but not state routes).

This is just an example, but often the Nav systems provide good routes, but not the best.

Any thoughts on when I should trust the nav systems and when I should go with my gut or other known routes?

Thanks

A few things

eh20814 wrote:

The way my wife drives to my in-laws house is about 5 miles and 15 minutes.

Neither my Garmin Nuvi 360 nor my Wife's Toyota Nav System can find my wife's route. All of them have shortest and fastest routes that are longer and slower than the route my wife takes.

Neither is capable of learning our route, even though we take it 2-3 times/week.

THe NAV systems have their routes on the most major roads (All state numbered roads) while my wife's route is mostly major roads, but not as major as the Nav routes (e./g. 4 lane roads, but not state routes).

This is just an example, but often the Nav systems provide good routes, but not the best.

Any thoughts on when I should trust the nav systems and when I should go with my gut or other known routes?

Thanks

Check your avoidance setting. You may have something selected that makes the unit choose the route it does.

The second item is never trust the unit if you KNOW where you are going. It will, however, find its way to your destination if you don't know where you are going. You will just have to trust it is the best way until you find a better one.

--
Glenn - Southern MD; SP C330 / Nuvi 750 / Nuvi 265WT

ALWAYS folllow your gut, gps

ALWAYS folllow your gut, gps is good when u dont know how to go, it WILL get u there, NEVER the BEST way...

Does it lack A.I. or is it related to HAL 9000?

eh20814 wrote:

The way my wife drives to my in-laws house is about 5 miles and 15 minutes.

Neither my Garmin Nuvi 360 nor my Wife's Toyota Nav System can find my wife's route. All of them have shortest and fastest routes that are longer and slower than the route my wife takes.

Neither is capable of learning our route, even though we take it 2-3 times/week.

THe NAV systems have their routes on the most major roads (All state numbered roads) while my wife's route is mostly major roads, but not as major as the Nav routes (e./g. 4 lane roads, but not state routes).

This is just an example, but often the Nav systems provide good routes, but not the best.

Any thoughts on when I should trust the nav systems and when I should go with my gut or other known routes?

Thanks

Dear EH,

I frequently ignore "Daniel" (the voice on my GARMIN) as I know some routes better. I have not been buying the idea that Daniel is an Artificial Intelligence that is learning from me. If I did think he was being bloody minded about his decisions, I might have to conclude that he is related to HAL (HAL 9000).

david

P.S. I had my old computer's voices made from HAL's wav-files. It is fun to have the psychotic machine say "Good evening, Dave" when I tuned it on and make remarks about it only being "attributable to human error" when I hit the wrong key.

--
nüvi 1490T, V1, Sanyo PRO-700a, maps, sunglasses, hot co-pilot, the open road

I'd love to know how it

I'd love to know how it calculates routes too. There's one spot near me, that if I start the route at my house, it has me take two highways to get there. But if I start the route a mile north, it has me take the *same* two highways, just getting off in the middle and taking surface streets to connect the two. It's weird - I have to hit stop and re-enter the destination (once I've moved past the "bad spot" and it gives me the route I want.

HAL reacted badly when unplugged.

mem10123 wrote:

I'd love to know how it calculates routes too. There's one spot near me, that if I start the route at my house, it has me take two highways to get there. But if I start the route a mile north, it has me take the *same* two highways, just getting off in the middle and taking surface streets to connect the two. It's weird - I have to hit stop and re-enter the destination (once I've moved past the "bad spot" and it gives me the route I want.

Dear Mem,

I hope that your machine is not related to HAL. Unplugging him led him to retaliation.

Kidding aside, I find that if I ignore Daniel, he becomes tired of "recalculating" to his plan and eventually accepts mine.

david

--
nüvi 1490T, V1, Sanyo PRO-700a, maps, sunglasses, hot co-pilot, the open road

If I know a better route, I

If I know a better route, I use it, but then why am I using a GPS if I already know my way around the area?

Here in my part of the Denver area, there are 2 roads that parallel each other about 2 miles apart. Both have 4 or 6 lanes depending on where you are, both have similar posted speed limits, but one was revamped a few years ago to limit the stoplights and other traffic slowdowns, while the other is typical suburban/city street,averaging a stoplight every couple of blocks. The GPS sees both the same and will route me on which ever one is the most direct for my destination. In such cases, when I actually have to GPS with me, I'll ignore it and take the better route.

The value of the GPS is in getting you to where you want to go when you DON'T know the area. It may not always be the way a local would take, but it WILL usually get you there.

--
Rick - Nüvi 260 - eTrex Summit HC

Local Habits

As I have posted on other threads I think sometimes we mistake "local knowledge" for local habits. It never hurts to give the GPS the benefit of the doubt at least once, and try out the route it gives. You never know it might be better

Very well put!

Mourton, I have to agree with your thoughts here. I have found a few non-obvious short cuts that will now become my local habit. In general though, most of my local routes are based on knowledge (time of day, traffic, etc.) and I will stay with those. But you can learn new tricks.

--
Larry ... Garmin Nuvi 650