Garmin maps always try to send me where there are no thru streets!

Non-through streets must be a low priority as ones that I have submitted error reports on are still shown as connecting on the last map update. Mine were in Midvale UT, but that shows that it is a widespread problem.

I don't know what else to do, as it seems we are powerless and at their mercy.

Is this regarding your nuvi 3790LMT?

If so, I think this model does not have Custom Avoidances (see p50 of owners manual but I can't find a direct answer there since they don't offer the list of what items can be avoided):

http://static.garmincdn.com/pumac/nuvi_3700_OM_EN.pdf

If on the other hand, your nuvi does offer Custom Avoidances (like the 8x5 series, 24xx series and probably some others), you can set up specific street segments or rectangles of maps to be avoided--at least until a future map update reflects reality in your area.

Please be sure to report all these to Navteq. That is where the map data originates.

Yeah I don't think I have custom avoidance.

I'll report these to Navteq as well. Garmin hasn't done anything about it.

....is the place to report these changes. There are slow someimes to update the changes, but they will eventually get around to it. I reported a route number change a couple of years ago. It took them 18 months to make the correction, but it was changed eventually.

When I first saw this topic I assumed it was old dead end roads that you were being routed down. Back when the 2011 map update came out, Navteq altered the mapping for my area and marked a dead end road, which had been a dead end for its entire existence, as a through street going through a tiny forest. That caused all kinds of interesting routing to and from my home. I reported it to both Garmin and Navteq and it took one year, until the 2012 map update, to get it fixed. In that case it was simply a matter of pointing out to them that it used to be correct.

Thank you for noting about the reporting to Navteq. I sent the updates that I had sent to Garmin, to them also. Now to see how soon they are processed.

I frequently see similar comments on the TomTom forums about the maps they get from TeleAtlas - a change almost never happens quickly. I can sympathize with the GPS and map people to some extent, as they need to independently confirm the information to filter out malicious false inputs from "pranksters" and others, but it does sometimes make it frustrating for the users like us to see such a long delay.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

Confirm? I tell Navteq to look at the satellite view on Google Maps. It can't get any simpler than that!
The road was closed over 3 years ago.
Tick Tick Tick. (Turning blue.)

With no desire to be adversarial, that suggestion is not a silver bullet.

Many years ago I happened to be at a meeting of my local city council at which a citizen was urging that a business license for a game arcade be denied because of the danger to children from a "high-speed divided highway" next to it. As evidence, he introduced an aerial photo of the area that "proved" his case. I happened to live about 300 yards from the location and recognized it.

When the Mayor asked if anyone saw any reason why the license should not be denied, given the threat to children who would probably be the majority of the customers, I walked down to the microphone. I testified that the "high-speed divided highway" consisted of the service lanes *behind* the business on one side, and the entrance to a large apartment complex on the other side - and that the divider for this "highway" was a six-foot high cement-block fence.

The aerial photo *looked* exactly like the description of the "high-speed divided highway", but the reality was *completely* different.

BTW, I agree completely that 3 years is much longer time than seems justifiable for a correction to be accepted and implemented. They should have been able to verify your input and make the correction a *long* time ago, IMO.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

You're complaining about a street that was available but has been closed and the update didn't make it into the database. But very near where I live, Garmin wants to route me through someone's yard. They show a street where there is none and never has been one. And sadly it connects two housing developments that have no connection, and you have to backtrack to main roads and go a couple of miles extra to get where Garmin wants to route you. I've heard of deliberate map errors made to protect the copyrighted map data (by proving that the map was stolen, errors and all), but these should not be connecting streets that mislead honest customers.

Maybe on the computer using Mapsource, you can make a custom route?

I have not done it, but I think it can be done.

Of course, you'd have to plan trips ahead of time when you are at your computer, plus you need to know which streets are closed.

Of course, some future Map update will probably know which streets are closed.