POIs not showing accurate distances

 

Hi,

My Magellan 5310 shows a particular distance of the POIs from the current location but when I ask it to route to that destination, it gives me a distance always 2-5 miles more than initially said. I tried all the options like shortest distance, fastest time, avoid freeways, always take freeways, but still no luck. Any ideas if it can be fixed?

Straight line distance?

Is it possible that the distances to the POIs are measured as a straight line but when you select the route option, the GPSr follows the road? Thought I read this somewhere on this site...

You Can't Get There From Here

Bstpm wrote:

Is it possible that the distances to the POIs are measured as a straight line but when you select the route option, the GPSr follows the road? Thought I read this somewhere on this site...

Exactly! When you do the initial "search" for a location (restaurant, address, etc.) you get the straight line distance. But when the unit calculates the actual route, the distance can vary significantly. This can be a pain in areas dissected by a river or a valley - the destination may be readily visible, but the route could be quite different depending on bridges, etc.

Crossing the Potomac

DanielT wrote:
Bstpm wrote:

Is it possible that the distances to the POIs are measured as a straight line but when you select the route option, the GPSr follows the road? Thought I read this somewhere on this site...

Exactly! When you do the initial "search" for a location (restaurant, address, etc.) you get the straight line distance. But when the unit calculates the actual route, the distance can vary significantly. This can be a pain in areas dissected by a river or a valley - the destination may be readily visible, but the route could be quite different depending on bridges, etc.

I have this experience where I live (Germantown, MD). If I did a search for the nearset POI from my house, often locations in Loudoun County, Virginia (e.g., Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg) show up near the top of the list. The problem is that there are no bridge crossings over the Potomac River between I-495 and US 15, so the actual driving mileage to such locations is nearly double. There is a ferry that runs between western Montgomery County and Leesburg, but it costs $4 one-way ($6 roundtrip), plus, as with most ferries, there is usually at least a 10-minute wait.

Yep...

dconsolla wrote:
DanielT wrote:
Bstpm wrote:

Is it possible that the distances to the POIs are measured as a straight line but when you select the route option, the GPSr follows the road? Thought I read this somewhere on this site...

Exactly! When you do the initial "search" for a location (restaurant, address, etc.) you get the straight line distance. But when the unit calculates the actual route, the distance can vary significantly. This can be a pain in areas dissected by a river or a valley - the destination may be readily visible, but the route could be quite different depending on bridges, etc.

I have this experience where I live (Germantown, MD). If I did a search for the nearset POI from my house, often locations in Loudoun County, Virginia (e.g., Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg) show up near the top of the list. The problem is that there are no bridge crossings over the Potomac River between I-495 and US 15, so the actual driving mileage to such locations is nearly double. There is a ferry that runs between western Montgomery County and Leesburg, but it costs $4 one-way ($6 roundtrip), plus, as with most ferries, there is usually at least a 10-minute wait.

We had exactly the same problem last week when we were visiting friends in Spokane due to the river and valleys throughout the area. We always display the map after selecting the POI just to do a quick verification beore heading down the road.

Line of Sight versus Route Distance!

Imagine the difference if you wanted to go from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other!

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Maps -> Wife -> Garmin 12XL -> StreetPilot 2610 -> Nuvi 660 (blown speaker) -> Nuvi 3790LMT