Where are the street names?

 

Hello,
I purchased a garmin 255w a few weeks ago and noticed that while driving in normal mode (no route) that some of the street names would not show on the map. I found this to be very annoying especially at night. My wife borrowed her fathers tom tom 330 and it shows every street name while driving, even East and West names, unlike the Garmin which only show one or the other. Is there a way to fix this? I've tried to increase the detail to max and it still doesn't improve. I've also noticed the Tom Tom's POI list is vastly superior to the Garmin's in my hometown. It pick up just about every restaurant and gas station while the Garmin missed several. The Garmin didn't even pick up the state police post that's been there for 20 years, but the Tom Tom did. Just my 2 cents worth.

Street names

If you are in driving mode without routing street names are shown on the top of the map screen. It shows name of incoming street. To show them on map as well you have to change zoom on map screen. Zoom can be changed with small + and - markings on left and right side of map screen. Because unit sometimes can change zoom by itself you need to adjust it so it can show even small streets. And changing detail level doesn't affect street names. It is only about number of POIs to be shown on map.

No longer available

Units ending in 5 and the 1000 series do not display the name of the upcoming street at the top of the unit.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet

I don't mean at the top of

I don't mean at the top of the unit, on the map itself in 3d mode. As you pass a road it should give you the name of the road.

Did you read this answer?

maximus216 wrote:

I don't mean at the top of the unit, on the map itself in 3d mode. As you pass a road it should give you the name of the road.

Quote:

If you are in driving mode without routing street names are shown on the top of the map screen. It shows name of incoming street. To show them on map as well you have to change zoom on map screen. Zoom can be changed with small + and - markings on left and right side of map screen. Because unit sometimes can change zoom by itself you need to adjust it so it can show even small streets. And changing detail level doesn't affect street names. It is only about number of POIs to be shown on map.

Emphasis added.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet

just answer the guy!

no garmin does not do as good as job as others showing street names as they should, and no feature to show more as the tomtom does. and no the zoom does not do the trick.

I emailed Garmin tech

I emailed Garmin tech support about this short comings, there reply was this was reduced because of customer complain, the screen was too cluttered. Which didnt make sense.

Utter nonsense

mrbombastic wrote:

I emailed Garmin tech support about this short comings, there reply was this was reduced because of customer complain, the screen was too cluttered. Which didnt make sense.

That replay is utter nonsense. How many people do you think would actually call/email and complain that the map screen was too detailed and cluttered? I would think it would be the other way around, just as you have contacted them with there being too little map detail. I have never, ever heard of one single complaint here and in various other forums that the detail was too high...always the opposite. And this is why Garmin includes a map detail option. If you don't want the detail, you turn it down. If want the detail, it's now severely limited compared to past nuvis like the 7x0 series. There is now no more "most" detail setting...Garmin removed it.

This is just Garmin's canned excuse. All nuvis have a woefully underpowered processor that cannot keep up with the smooth framerate and cartoonish display (excessive anti-aliasing) that Garmin feels is so essential. To keep the framerate up, map detail needs to be reduced.

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nuvi 760, nuvi 765T, nuvi 855, nuvi 3790LMT, nuvi 3490LMT - SoCal area

so sell the Garmin and by a Tomtom

Sounds like from your post you already know you prefer how the Tomtom displays street names so sell the Garmin and by a Tomtom.

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Garmin Drive Smart 55 - Samsung Note 10 Smartphone with Google Maps & HERE Apps

Street Names

DorkusNimrod wrote:

... If want the detail, it's now severely limited compared to past nuvis like the 7x0 series. There is now no more "most" detail setting...Garmin removed it...

My 855 has a "most" setting and will display all street names at the higher magnification settings. I have no complaints about what shows, or does not show. On mine garmin seems to have got it OK.
Guess we all have our likes and dislikes.

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nuvi 855. Life is not fair. I don't care who told you it is.

nuh uh . . .

The commonly batted about excuse is that Garmin removed the street names from the banner box because they lost some sort of patent dispute - if they did, then it is the world's best kept secret because no one seems to be able to find any registration of any proposed litigation that makes sense in terms of the timing of the change.

And the one mentioned above is pure crap because as pointed out Garmin already had the detail issue covered with five (now reduced to 3) levels of map detail.

Further; The processors in the newer units run faster than the older ones; And with almost all of the same features (for example), the Zumo 550 displays the streets and the 660 does not. The 760 does and the 765 does not - and the 765 has a faster processor.

Features only present on the xx5 and 1XXX series like Lane Assist and Junction View don't present constant processing loads and are only active when navigating - and since the cross street displays are only active when NOT navigating, this means that THAT isn't a valid excuse either.

More likely is that Garmin really does have some processor loading issues, but that would be because they probably abandoned a highly efficient programming language and went to some crappy and inefficient high level language environment that allows them to more easily crank out features at the expense of code efficiency.

And I can only presume that it is simpler to change one text line in a fixed position of the screen than it is to maintain a list of names that move around as a the vehicle manoeuvers.

In any case, even with the unit zoomed to the max, the map display still misses some streets on the new style displays.

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Currently have: SP3, GPSMAP 276c, Nuvi 760T, Nuvi 3790LMT, Zumo 660T

Incorrect

a_user wrote:

Units ending in 5 and the 1000 series do not display the name of the upcoming street at the top of the unit.

This is an oft-repeated claim that's just not true--at least not in my experience. I "test drove" both a 1300T and a 1390, and BOTH of those units displayed the upcoming street at the top of the unit........

NP

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In times of profound change, the learners will inherit the earth while the "learned" find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists...

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ORnonprophet wrote:

This is an oft-repeated claim that's just not true--at least not in my experience. I "test drove" both a 1300T and a 1390, and BOTH of those units displayed the upcoming street at the top of the unit........

NP

I saw your previous post that said this - I mentioned it to one of my friends who happens to own a company that is a major Garmin distributor and he says that this simply cannot be. I plan to buy a 1300 series navigator and test it myself to see . . . . I'm the type of person that needs to see things for himself.

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Currently have: SP3, GPSMAP 276c, Nuvi 760T, Nuvi 3790LMT, Zumo 660T

Good! Keep us posted....

bramfrank wrote:
ORnonprophet wrote:

This is an oft-repeated claim that's just not true--at least not in my experience. I "test drove" both a 1300T and a 1390, and BOTH of those units displayed the upcoming street at the top of the unit........

NP

I saw your previous post that said this - I mentioned it to one of my friends who happens to own a company that is a major Garmin distributor and he says that this simply cannot be. I plan to buy a 1300 series navigator and test it myself to see . . . . I'm the type of person that needs to see things for himself.

Lol good! That way I'll know I'm not a few digits short of a waypoint.....lol!

If it was just one unit I'd think maybe it was an anomaly, but not with two units.....

Surely there must be some Nuvi 1300 or 1390 users here who can back me up on this?? lol!

Seriously the cross street feature was very obvious to me as at the time I was upgrading from a Nuvi 365 that does NOT show the cross streets--only the street that you're on. It confused me at first, because I'm used to my Nuvi 360 that only displays the street you're on......it's a really nice feature, and I'd love to have it on my 765T......wish there was some clear explanation as to why it's not on the 765T and/or why it can't be added.....

NP

--
In times of profound change, the learners will inherit the earth while the "learned" find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists...

tomtom might show more but

We all dislike the fact that Garmin has removed more and more detail from their maps but I rather own a Garmin than a TomTom anyday. The Tomtom might show all the streets but your can't read them because of the jagged fonts and the maps are low tech. When I owned a Tomtom I couldn't see my screen in daylight. I could go one and on about the the 2 units but I rather not bash someone else's likes and dislikes.
Garmin and tomtom should learn from Navigon since they had the best maps and screens of any unit.

Don't think 660 has anything to do with it...

I think it has something to do with amount of Zoom you use.... If I zoom in, Cross streets appear in map, not on top... If I'm not going to a location.. just using the map, they are on top, not on map...
I'm using a nuvi 660, whose firmware finalized before the email about the lawsuit and removal of cross streets was posted...

I see cross streets at times on my 660.. Depending on the Zoom, Deptending if I'm going to a destination or not...

At present, only thing I'm disappointed about is the USB V1 speed.... Wish it would have USB V2 for map upgrade speed....

bramfrank wrote:

The commonly batted about excuse is that Garmin removed the street names from the banner box because they lost some sort of patent dispute - if they did, then it is the world's best kept secret because no one seems to be able to find any registration of any proposed litigation that makes sense in terms of the timing of the change.

And the one mentioned above is pure crap because as pointed out Garmin already had the detail issue covered with five (now reduced to 3) levels of map detail.

Further; The processors in the newer units run faster than the older ones; And with almost all of the same features (for example), the Zumo 550 displays the streets and the 660 does not. The 760 does and the 765 does not - and the 765 has a faster processor.

Features only present on the xx5 and 1XXX series like Lane Assist and Junction View don't present constant processing loads and are only active when navigating - and since the cross street displays are only active when NOT navigating, this means that THAT isn't a valid excuse either.

More likely is that Garmin really does have some processor loading issues, but that would be because they probably abandoned a highly efficient programming language and went to some crappy and inefficient high level language environment that allows them to more easily crank out features at the expense of code efficiency.

And I can only presume that it is simpler to change one text line in a fixed position of the screen than it is to maintain a list of names that move around as a the vehicle manoeuvers.

In any case, even with the unit zoomed to the max, the map display still misses some streets on the new style displays.

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A 2689LMT in both our cars that we love... and a Nuvi 660 with Lifetime Maps that we have had literally forever.... And a 2011 Ford Escape with Nav System that is totally ignored!

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Jan;

We're not referring to the street names that show up on the map itself when you zoom in close enough (and even then, as you've mentioned there are certain streets that will NEVER show a name no matter how tightly zoomed the unit is - yet they show in Mapsource with the same mapping).

We are referring to names appearing in what is called the 'banner Box' - that rectangle of screen real-estate that is it the top of the display. Ritgh now it provides the name of the upcming turn or via (while navigating) or the name of the road you are driving on when not - it will also provide the name of the next exit on a limited access highway.

If you have never used a navigator (which is essential ANY Garmin Navigator in the Nuvi serves numbered under 1000 and with a '0' as the third digit in the model or previous), you'll truly appreciate what they've screwed with.

But you say you have a nuvi 660 - and the 660 does put the upcming cross street name in the banner box.

As to how long it takes for updates . . . since I don't update my units very often, I don't consider it a serious issue.

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Currently have: SP3, GPSMAP 276c, Nuvi 760T, Nuvi 3790LMT, Zumo 660T

mee too

ORnonprophet wrote:

Lol good! That way I'll know I'm not a few digits short of a waypoint.....lol!

If it was just one unit I'd think maybe it was an anomaly, but not with two units.....

Surely there must be some Nuvi 1300 or 1390 users here who can back me up on this?? lol!

...

NP

Me too! I have been reading about the detail issues regarding the 765T and the 1390T and would like to learn more about the 1390T experience from people in the community that use it.

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JRoz -- DriveSmart 55 & Traffic