Has anyone had any luck using Navteq's "Map Reporter"?

 

Yesterday morning, I took my wife to the emergency room at Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City, CA (broken wrist and thumb). My Garmin took me from south of town up US 101 and had me turn left on Burtschell St. After 1 block, I reached 41.76728,-124.19516, where I was to continue straight ahead (Check it in Google Earth or Maps). As there was no way to continue straight or turn right, I turned left. After recalculating, my Nuvi had me turn right on Douglas. In two blocks, I reached 41.77090,-124.19628. Facing "Dead End" signs ahead and to my right, I took another left and was again directed to make a right at the next corner (Harrold St.) After another anxious block, I reached Washington Blvd and eventually the hospital.

I would really like to be able to report map errors to Navteq, and "Map Reporter" sounds like it might be the tool. Understandably, you need to register in order to make "map reports". I entered my name, made up a user name and password and put in a guaranteed unique email address. The Navteq site told me that I had made an error, as there was already someone using that user name or email address! Now the email address is one that I just created on my web site... there is no one except my wife and myself who have email addresses in that domain. After increasingly complex user names, I tried "bob486279513", but was told that someone was using that already!

OK, I surrender. Navteq doesn't want me to register. Has anyone had any luck getting through to these guys?

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Garmin Drivesmart 61, Nuvi 52, Nuvi 1390

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Any reports I've ever submitted got replied to after two or more years with a snotty "The change you submitted was included in a previous update..."

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

no joy so far for me

I don't recall problems in registering, but in one or two dozen submissions I have never yet had one progress to the stage where they say they are considering or working on it, let alone acting on it.

I've cancelled a couple which were fixed in subsequent map releases, but I don't think those fixes were in response to my submissions--the timing was wrong, and the status did not indicate they had acted on mine.

On a more positive note, plenty of people posting here have reported success--it may depend a bit on the nature of your reports.

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personal GPS user since 1992

I have a Navteq map reporter

I have a Navteq map reporter account and they do reply but it takes months. From my impression, they are so far behind in gathering and verifying the data, that it takes forever to reply. An automated email even says something to that effect. Furthermore, in order to keep their maps more accurate (according to them) they must verify the location POI change before they approve it. I don't know if that means someone drives out there to take a look or what but evidently that process takes ages. It is worth it to update it but just be prepared to wait. It certainly doesn't happen in a hurry. Then, vendors who receive Navteq data must process those changes and sometimes they approve them and sometimes they don't. I have a Honda navigation system and it certainly isn't as up to date as my Nuvi even when I update it to the current year's update.

If Navteq were smart, they would make this process a lot easier by creating an iPhone app and allow someone to take a picture, enter the address, and verify its location by the GPS coordinates in the phone. What more do you need? It would work. Instead, you must navigate through their clunky web interface which doesn't work so well. You have to click on POIs just right to select them and sometimes multiple times. If they were quicker and made it easier just like Google Maps changes, I think we would all be better served.

It's a shame...

It's a shame that it takes so long to get them to respond and "verify".

In this case, Google street view has driven those streets and if you ask Google Earth (or, I assume, Google Maps) to find a route, it won't take you up those streets.

If you go to those corners in Google Earth and drop into street view, you can see the first street end at "Bondo Bob" and read the "dead end" signs on the next one.

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Garmin Drivesmart 61, Nuvi 52, Nuvi 1390

I like your motor-home

I like your motor-home Bob.Sedona. It looks good

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Today is a gift, that's why they call it the present...

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Today is a gift, that's why they call it the present...

Navteq map reports

Bob.Sedona wrote:

I would really like to be able to report map errors to Navteq, and "Map Reporter" sounds like it might be the tool. Understandably, you need to register in order to make "map reports". I entered my name, made up a user name and password and put in a guaranteed unique email address. The Navteq site told me that I had made an error, as there was already someone using that user name or email address! Now the email address is one that I just created on my web site... there is no one except my wife and myself who have email addresses in that domain. After increasingly complex user names, I tried "bob486279513", but was told that someone was using that already!

OK, I surrender. Navteq doesn't want me to register. Has anyone had any luck getting through to these guys?

The Map Reporter site will sometimes go through a phase where it won't accept new registrants or map reports for some unknown reason. These phases typically last a few weeks. I know this because I am a Navteq Community Collaborator (an invite-only program for veteran reporters) and use the map report portal often. So the only advice I would have for you on this issue is to try again in a few weeks.

As far as the speediness of the process of fixing user submitted map reports goes, it simply just depends on the report. An addition or change to an interstate or major state road is normally "resolved" in a few months and incorporated into their map database a few months after that. More trivial things like POI additions and changes and speed limits changes can take about 6 months or more to be "resolved" and even longer than that to be incorporated into their map database. Another factor that I think plays into how fast your report is resolved is the area your report is in. If you're adding a point of interest in a popular suburb outside of a major city, it is going to be resolved a lot more quickly than a similar report submitted in some rural area in between towns. For the verification process, I am quite sure that Navteq uses some sort of field crew to verify road changes, especially in populated areas. I know this because one of the resolutions to my map reports specifically stated that some sort of field verification was done. Whether the verification was done by a navteq field crew employee or someone else that they may have sub-contracted to do the work, I don't know. They might not verify POI changes by field verification as often as they do for road changes though, because that would be a bit absurd for them to drive all the way out to a city just to see if a few POI's are there. Maybe if you report a cluster of POIs in one concentrated area they might send someone out to verify it. Most of the time, they probably rely on local phone books to see if a POI someone reported is there or not, which is why it is important to put the phone number of the POI you are changing or adding. The map reports we submit do help though. I know a lot of things I have reported would have taken a much longer time to be noticed had I not sent a report. Another thing about map reporting that I've recently noticed is it turns out that the map on the map reporter site is not actually the most up to date representation of navteq's changes. Believe it or not, Map Quest actually has a more up to date map than the map reporter site, so before you report a change, see if it's on Map Quest yet or not.

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Garmin Nuvi 3490lmt, 765t with Lifetime maps and Clear Channel traffic