when did googlemaps start using teleatlas?

I noticed it a month or so ago.

I guess I could just go try it...but has anyone used Google maps since the switch..and is it still able to download to the Garmins ?

They completed the transition about mid September.

I have noticed that Google Maps have recently been filling in the gaps of missing streets etc... that remain missing on Navteq. One has to wonder if Nokia played a role and if they might be moving towards making Navteq a propriety investment as they dive further into GPS apps for their phones.

edit: After I posted the above went to Yahoo Maps which uses Navteq and put in a known address that has been there at least 3 yrs and it still does not showup, yet it does on Google. Maybe Garmin should rexamine their committment to Navteq.

I do not know if it is the same for all areas but our subdivision and the one next to us have been completed for over 5 years and neither of them show up on the Navteq maps on Yahoo or on the 2009 maps in my Garmin 760 but both areas show up on the Google TeleAtlas maps.

I see the same thing here in central Wisconsin. Highway construction completed about a year ago shows on Google TeleAtlas but not on Navteq.

If I check a fairly new road (completed 2008), my Garmin 2009 map has it, MapQuest has it, MapSource has it, Yahoo has it, Google (TeleAtlas) does not.

You could go crazy comparing them all. None of them will ever be 100% accurate.

I didn't know that Google Maps had changed vendors, but the one address I just checked now appears correct (after seven years of being incorrect).
The Gander Mtn. store where I bought my Garmin GPSr is at 9620 Diamond Centre Dr. Mentor, Ohio 44060. Up until Garmin changed map suppliers, that GM was shown about 1/2 mile west of where it really is. Interesting enough, a side street that runs off of Diamond Centre is still incorrect in Google Maps.
GM's location remains incorrect in Yahoo Maps but correct in Mapquest, although a large condo development at the end of Diamond Centre doesn't show up in the satellite view of either Mapquest or Yahoo. It does in Google. Go figure.

Your only half right,TomTom Teleatlas is true because TomTom now owns TeleAtalas, Navteq Garmin is not a true statement. Garmin does not own any maps or map services. Navteq is a standalone mapping company and also traffic.com service.

Google finished the conversion to Teleatlas in the beginning of October.

Garmin has 5 years left on its 6 year deal it signed with Navteq, then they have a 4 year option. I would guess that Garmin will have to make their own maps by that time.

Now that Navteq is owned by Nokia and Teleatlas by TomTom, it seems like it would be in Garmin's interest to develop their own mapping.

Wikipedia says Navteq has 3,800 employees. Does someone know how many Garmin has? Does Garmin have the financial resources to do this?

The serious financial situation that TomTom is now in after the TeleAtlas purchase for twice what it was worth may eventually allow Garmin to end up with TeleAtlas for pennies on the dollar. TomTom just had to redo the loan to keep from defaulting on it.

Navteq came up with a deal for Garmin to convince them to retract their bid on TeleAtlas but by then TomTom had bid and ended up paying far more than it was worth.

Quote from Business Week Associated Press article dated October 28, 2008:

"The Tele Atlas acquisition left the company with 1.32 billion euros ($1.65 billion) in debt at the end of the quarter.

Despite the debt load, TomTom revealed it has renegotiated its bank loan, although at a slightly higher interest rate. It must repay 10 percent of the loan at the end of this year and next year.

That eased market fears over TomTom's finances, as analysts and investors had worried declining earnings would put it in danger of defaulting on the loan.

That news sent shares 5 percent higher to 6.04 euros ($7.54) in Amsterdam, although they are still down 88 percent for the year.

"The company feels 'comfortable' with the revised covenants," said Petercam Securities analyst Eric de Graaf, who rates the shares a "reduce."

"The bad news is that they were comfortable with the old covenants at the time as well," he said."

I have never been able to download anything from Google Maps to my Zumo 550. I work for Google and contacted the people who do the maps, asking for help. They never got back to me with anything useful. Does someone out in POI-Land know how to download route info from Google Maps to a Zumo 550? I assume that the maps themselves cannot be downloaded, but it should be possible to download routes I create on Google Maps -- which I generally prefer to Garmin's Mapsource software.

The only thing I can send to my Nuvi from Google Maps is addresses.

Looking at help for Google Maps I can't find anything about sending routes to a Garmin device.

If anyone knows any way, please let us know.

However an alternative may be Mapquest. Mapquest does let you drag and drop routes and then send them to your Garmin. It works on my nuvi, it should probably work on your Zumo. I find Mapquest just about as easy to use as Google Maps.

Why can't they just work together to make a better map. If one company worked in one area and the other in another area and shared Data...it would be a much better place for all of us. Bu then again that maybe like getting Dems and Republicans to work together.

Because no one company would have a competitive advantage over any other in the cooperating group and they would loose revenue. You're right that it is like trying to get the Dem's and Doe's (Republicans) working together: they don't want to share credit because then they can't count on the votes that come from doing something good -- or so they fear. In both cases, probably an unfounded fear.