Accuracy of maps

you can go to Garmin and report them, and also Navteq and report them there also, expect a long wait unless they have been reported by someone else, and chances are they have.

http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/errorForm.jsp

http://mapreporter.navteq.com/dur-web-external/secured/submi...

But this actually leads to a much better question, one that I should have considered before my recent purchase. I've heard that some GPS devices do allow a user to add a custom road so that if a new road is completed in his area he can add it to the device and the GPS will start using it for calculating routes. I got my Garmin on sale (as I expect many many peope did) and it would be rather foolish to ever upgrade the maps, the new maps would actually cost more than the GPS unit did!!! Better to buy a new unit with a fresh battery and new maps (and have a spare GPS available if needed or for more abusive service like hiking) than to update the maps at Garmin's prices and still have an out of warranty GPS with an aging battery that wasn't even designed to be user replaceable. So my question is, just what brands and models do allow for a user to add a road to a map? With a fair amount of construction in this area, this would seem to be an important feature that might extend the useful life of a GPS for several years. Not a fantastic help if you live a nomadic life, but for for those of us who are relatively homebound it could be much more important than the concept of waiting for expensive map upgrades and hoping the new one will have the data that the old one should have.

I think lets you add maps. Ill stick with Garmin as it has alot of other benefits.

Don't know of any so my guess is: None.

Think about what kind of process might be required to add a street/road and the associated address ranges......by hand, as it were.

If the segment is absolutely straight and not too long, I guess it would be possible. Otherwise, certainly not something I would want to tackle.

As far as I know, TomTom units (all new models, I think) are the only ones to offer this technology. Check out:

http://www.clubtomtom.com/general/get-to-know-tomtom-mapshar...

Krieger

I heard of some GPS allowing this a few years ago. Wish I could remember which. The approach was pretty straightforward, you drove on the new road, then told the GPS to integrate it into the maps. Not quite sure how, maybe you had to identify the end points, but with computerized assistance it should't be too complex. Computer should even be able to know where the end point that it did not think were a road are, where to tie them to the existing road, and just ask for a road name. Yea, this wouldn't get you all the street addresses (although I find the Garmin is sometimes quite far off for street addresses even for the streets it does know), but that's not nearly as important as being able to add a new road that you might drive daily and want the GPS to be aware of.

The sad thing here is that the GPS companies charge so much for their "new" maps, which still might be two or three years behind, that they are really driving the user to buy a new unit with a fresh battery and a fresh warranty. And this doesn't do much to encourage brand loyality if there is another unit that will let the user work around the problem.

xtremx: Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into them the next time I make a purchase. I'm curious though, what Garmin features do you find so valuable that Tom Tom lacks that you would be willing to give up the ability to add a new road to the map in order to get?

SORRY FOR THE DUPLICATE POST

You are pretty much out of luck assuming you have 2009 map on your Nuvi. I came across the same issue within 2 days of my purchase of 255W with 2009 map which didn't show a street thats been there for 6 years. When I called Garmin Tech Support, I was told to report that using their map error form which I did and wait for the new map to come out next year since Garmin updates their map once a year. TomTom has MapShare feature that will help you correct small map errors as far as I know but they use Tele Atlas Maps. Navigon also has feature called FreshMaps similar to TomTom.
Navigon uses NavTaq maps and you can update maps upto 12 times over next three years for a fee according to their website.
http://navigonusa.com/freshmapsaccessory/
Garmin better hurry up and get something like this going... remember Your GPS is as accurate as the map that is loaded on it.
For the record, I have not used TomTom or Navigon to tell you how good those features work.
I am sure people have and I would love to hear about their experiences.
Thanks.
DL

The digital map is at least 2 years older that your map year in the GPS maybe more. The new road in my sub-division was at least that old and there was nothing in 2009 map.

Jeff

When I find a road not on my GPS ... I use a black Sharpie pen to draw it on the touch screen.

You have to be quick ... because sometimes the touch screen misinterprets the Sharpie as a stylus and tries to re-orient the map before I can draw the new road on the screen.

The above text is not mine.

Sorry quoted wrong post. Meant to quote Frovingslosh.

This statement is actually not accurate. What Navigon offers is basically quarterly map updates for a service fee, which are been verified by Navigon. Unlike TomToms, it does not allow you to make your own, on-the-fly corrections.

TomTom's system lets you choose to view your own map corrections, those verified by Tomtom, or those submitted by many users, by a few, a combination of these, etc. And they are available as soon as you synch with Tomtom home. Best of all, for free.

Krieger.

Thanks for the correction. By watching the Demo, it looked like you can create your own routes and upload on Navigon Site. I also posted the 12 updates you can do over next 3 years for a fee.
Again THANKS for correcting.

da_libran