Did anyone encounter "incorrect" directions from their GPS?

My StreetPilot has always been relatively reliable. I mean sure, some times it takes me a different route than I intend to go, but it seems like it has "good intentions".

My Nuvi has never been incorrect, but it routinely takes me through surface streets when the freeway route is much faster.

If you knew you had to go North, why on Gods green earth would you go South?
A GPSr is a device that has no mind, unlike yourself that has reasoning abilities, you had plans to head North to Niagara Falls but instead went 50 miles South. Dunno if you can really blame this on your GPSr.

I have been stuck on forest service roads due to directions that take to to what could only have been a quad off road trail and never was a road.
Or roads that have `Dead End` signs and the GPS says drive straight through.
David

Hey there,

yep, for the same reason, had the avoid tolls ON, since I live around Toronto and every mappers seems to want me to take the 407 (the only toll road we've got around here, conspiracy or do they just pay for that privilege?)

Anyway, totally forgot that it was ON when I went through NY, it was taking me in all sorts of weird ways, stopped, like you did, and took a good look at the settings, found it and turned it OFF, it recalculated and my trip went from 14 hours to 9.

I kick myself every time I go into the states and don't turn it off

I've made it a habit to verify any new route with Google maps and/or Mapquest. I've never had totally incorrect directions from my nuvi but I have had directions that were not the optimal route.

Except I usually plot my longer routes first so I have a better idea of the roads and can make somewhat informed decisions about ignoring the GPS. Some "routes" the GPS plots are not faster, but are a tenth of a mile shorter even though fastest is specified.

As others have commented, don't rely soley on the GPS - ever.

Settings can really get you going in the wrong direction though. If the Avoid Tolls is set, then, avoid major roads is set, and quickest, shortest, etc. are all set in one of many combinations, it can really send you on a detour. The problem with this is that it's just a computer and has no human logic, so it just gives an output based on what it was given.

The unfortunate side to this is it can send one on a merry goose chase, sometimes without realizing it.

So, it's usually a good idea to do some pre-planning before setting out on the trip to get a mental idea of which direction you'll be going and some of the major milestones or roads, as it were.

I had an experience not long after getting my Garmin StreetPilot c550 (when it still had that fresh new WOW factor) that had me turning left.....into a field. There wasn't a road anywhere near where it said to make a left turn, it was driving me all over back roads to a destination that was just off one of the main roads in the area. Previewing the rest of the turn-by-turn directions still had me making turn after turn after turn that were all unnecessary. In the end, I broke down and did the "old-fashioned" way. I whipped out my cell phone with the Google Maps application on it and looked at where I was vs. where I was going and planned my own route.

I have my nuvi 760 set for the fastest way and no avoidances. It trys to take me off the interstate on to farm to market roads. When I pass the exit and it recalculates the time goes down so it wasn't the quickest way. I don't know why? If I make the same trip again it does the same thing but exits at different places.???

If the GPS is on when I'm travelling regular routes, it always pipes in with taking a different way. Wouldn't it be great if it "learned" and modified it's directions based on past performance? Yeah - a lot of ramifications there, but it would be a good feature to enable if wanted. "I'm sorry sir, you didn't come this way yesterday. Are you sure you want to proceed?"

My dad bought a GPS and started using it around town and would get upset when he would say, "Alfred is taking me the wrong way, I would never go that way!". He calls his GPS Alfred, batman spinoff i guess, and was using it to take the route that the locals use.

The GPS software and hardware is not necessarily aware of new roads and highways. It may assume that the road up in the ski resort is open even though there is 8 foot of snow. The road which was supposed to be open is a logging road, etc.

And yes there is the phenomena that has been previously described of taking you the scenic route for no apparent reason. It is overall a GREAT tool to get you where you need to go. And if you don't have a clue as to how to get somewhere or where you are relative to the final destination. Then just follow the prompts.

Otherwise having a map or using your well known local route might be a better option. I know that I am NOT giving up my GPS though! - lol

I often find that I tend to go some place one way but return a pretty different way. It may simply be to avoid a long wait for a left hand turn at a traffic light, or because of time of day traffic issues, or for any other of a number of simple reasons. The GPS simply isn't going to come up with the same route that I do in these cases, at least not unless I add via points or other factors. But in reality I don't need the GPS to give me directions across town anyway, and only use features like "go home" when local to play with it or try out alternate voices or other features.

Of course, even in travel the GPS may suggest a route that I would rather not take. That's where using a via point or other routing option comes in handy.

The bigger problem is if you get sent someplace completely wrong. And the advice for this is pretty simple and straight forward. Don't trust street addresses to be in the exact place. Don't take bridges or roads that you can't see just because the GPS tells you to. Put no more trust in a POI than you would a phone book entry. Whenever possible look at the route that the GPS is suggesting and see if it makes sense to you, and always place your judgement over it's, but assume that it does know where it is unles you have a good reason to believe otherwise.

Hobby - I had the exact same problem at the exact same route on my Garmin C340. I was ready to smash that unit!

Traveling across country with my GPS recently I knew which roads I wanted, the main use was routing through and around some of the larger cities. Having the system to route along I-40 through Memphis or I-70 through Denver was a lot easier than trying to watch traffic and take the chance on missing a turn or an exit to keep or (in some cases) get back on route.

I was driving several times, on very familiar routes and my new Magellan roadmate 1212, gave the "shortest" distance incorrectly; not using side roads or newly constructed overpasses. But, on unfamiliar roads I have relied on it and gotten where I needed to go. So I guess "the jury is still out", for me.

Hello Hobby,

I thought i was the only one who experienced this problem. Infact going from canada to buffalo was just fine. But on the way back to canada from burlington coat factory on saturday night I just got lost or took more than 4 hours to reach toronto. I experienced the same problems you just mentioned. Next time i am going to carry a map and my laptop. Lessons learnt. I thought maybe it was raining so heavily that night, the sattelite just got messed up just like you lose signal while watching tv through a 18" dish. Just my 2 cents.
Cheers

Mine didnt

I am using the Streetpilot c530 and just installed the 2010.20 maps (previously using 2009 maps. I was surprised to see a different routing today to my home. Normally I stay straight on the road I was on, but this time it suggested I go out of my way by making a right hand turn and then making a loop. In the past, I would explain this by checking the time calculated for the route and understanding that the GPSr thought the direction it was giving me was faster. However, that was not the case. The route given showed an arrival time 4 minutes later than the route that I was shown when I continued straight and it recalculated. Settings are for faster route, avoidances set for Uturns, traffic, and unpaved roads.
I didn't think that the maps would affect a different route which the GPSr thought was longer.

So far my 250w has been very good but it continues to route me around the 407 which for me is faster and much more relaxing than 401 east,toll road avoidance is off.

Twice now I get directions to go past an intersection, make three right turns & end up in the same place as though I had just made a left turn. Once in Montana, my Garmin had me go onto an Interstate, get off at the next exit, come back to the exit at which I got on, & turn right. All this to get to a Wal•Mart I could see from where I got on the interstate. I later checked & saw no reason for the 8 mile detour.
Danged computers!

bill in PA 08 I D

If the new map shows a road has been enlarged from 2 lanes to 4 lanes and the speed limit increased from 35 to 55 it might assume that road was faster, for example. And if they don't have a road extension joined correctly with the old road, it may have you go around the "gap". I had this with one of the streets in my town and they eventually fixed it.

Hi hobby,

If you remember the "From" and "To" (Buffalo airport to Canadian Sheraton hotel) addresses/coordinates that you used on the trip I could simulate the route on my Nuvi 265WT to see if the two Garmin units give same directions. I guess a complete list of upcoming turn/road instructions will help.

I located under "Food" a bakery I wanted to go to. I clicked on it and hit "Go". The Garmin took me to the address of the owner of the bakery in a cute neighborhood. Wasn't really the Garmin's fault, but I didn't get any pastry that day.

My destination was Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario from Detroit, MI area.

My in-dash pioneer tried to take me across the Ambassador Bridge, into Toronto, Ontario, then up the 400 & 69 to Sudbury. Over Rte 17 to the Sault!!!
647 miles instead of right up I-75 for 349 miles.
Needless to say I declined to follow those directions!

Most recent one, it directed into a difficult mountain pass instead of a popular freeway route most people take to go around the mountain, even with the fastest route option.

The first incorrect direction was when the Nuvi 360 told me to continue straight down a road that had come to an end (Turn right or left.) You could get back on the road about 2 miles down, but that's not the issue. The issue is that if I keep going the way it told me, I'd end up in a major spill way for a river (30 feet wide by 30 feet deep).

The second time it told me to turn left on Manning road from North Talbot then immediately turn right back on to North Talbot. Well.. wasn't I shocked when it told me this (Of course I'm not going to follow the directions. I knew where I was going, I was testing the device). I was shocked because that section of North Talbot was carved up and turned back in to farm land in the 70's.

Around here, that setting will take you on godforsaken national forest "roads" that are little more than firebreaks, most poorly maintained, and often secured by locked gate. Interesting places for sure, but probably not what you had in mind when you wanted to go from Town A to Town B.

As others have suggested, be sure to look at the entire route first, then zoom into questionable areas BEFORE you start driving.

Only because Garbage in is Garbage out, and the company programmers make mistakes. If they didn't you wouldn't get firmware updates. So anyone that says their GPS is flawless, I say dream on.

This exact problem has been documented on other forums both from Toronto to Buffalo and viceversa. It has been found to be a situation where AVOID TOLL ROADS is turned on on the Nuvi. There is no way to take a direct route across the border between Buffalo and Ontario Canada without going over a toll bridge, so the Nuvi finds an alternative route which is in fact hundreds of miles out of your way.

Worst directions I had was going down 220 in Virginia. For some reason my Magellan kept thinking I was about 1/2 mile to the east of 220. 220 is surrounded by forest and mountains so that wasn't possible. It kept telling me to take a right on various roads. After turning the unit off then back on, it finally figured out where I was. No idea if it was poor reception or just a Windows CE bug.

Regardless of which roads might have changed in the maps, the GPSr calculated that it's time to destination was longer (via the route it chose) than it calculated going the route I went. In other words, from roughly the same position the GPSr, set to fastest route, chose an indirect route and said the arrival time was X. When I continued straight, the arrival time was adjusted several minutes shorter. The only difference in position was that I was slightly closer to the intersection.

We have had lots of threads discussing the highly complicated routing decisions that are made. Things like the propensity to prefer right turns over left turns and things like that. Mine is always set to Fastest and it's obvious that it prefers larger streets than smaller streets, even though a smaller street might actually be faster. You can't really tell that from a map. You have to drive both routes to actually see that.

Like you, I have observed the same thing, where MY route ended up being shorter or a little faster. I guess it means that my brain has more capacity than the 2GB that the Nuvi has.

I'm sure that when we select Fastest or Shortest there are still internal choices going on that are viewed as higher priority than just Fastest or Shortest. All I was trying to say was that what might appear to be an insignificant change to the map data could trigger Garmin to make a different decision. Whether that decision is right or wrong is a whole 'nuther discussion.

YES! I was trying to get to a Thousand Trails camp near Riverside, CA. The coordinates that I downloaded were 19 miles off. At one point it wanted me to "turn right and arrive at your destination" which would have put me over the very steep edge of a canyon.

We were traveling across Texas to Austin and thought we'd check out Luckenbach to see what the song was all about. Before leaving Luckenbach we asked our nuvi350 for a route back to Austin. We set the GPS options to 'Bus' (to depict a motorhome), 'Fastest' route, and 'Avoid Unpaved roads'. It directed us north of '1376' onto 'Jenschke Kunz Road' to 'Barrett Road' onto '290'. The wife says "You sure you want to go this way"? She noted the Official Texas State Map didn't even show this road; but I reminded her "the map was free and the GPS cost good money; therefore, the GPS is right. Besides, we're in the car ... not the motorhome, so let's give it a try".

'Jenschke Kunz Road' started out as a one-lane paved (sort of!) road. Then about 2 miles south of '290' the pavement stops and a rough LARGE-rock road starts. This can't be; after all, I set the GPS to 'Avoid Unpaved roads'!! Are we on the right road? We zoomed in the nuvi and sure enough, we're following the directed track. Mama again says "You sure you want to go this way"? I said "Why not, the GPS must be right". We went another short distance and came to a gate with a 'No Trespassing, Private Property' sign. Oops, what do we do now? Again I heard "You sure you want to go this way"? I said "Why not, the GPS should be right".

Soon the road turns to semi-mud, but we keep going. About a mile South of '290' the semi-mud ends and now things really get serious ..... the road ahead is nothing but a water-covered pasture trail! And Mama again says "You sure you want to go this way." I had to concede "Well, maybe the GPS isn't right after all!"

Needless to say, our little Geo Metro isn't a Mud-Runner; so we turned tail and backtracked to 1376. Had we been in the motorhome, we really would have been in deep doo-doo!!

The moral of the story?? "Don't always believe the GPS; sometimes the wife just might be right"!!

(We have reported this error, along with the map's incorrect location of Luckenbach, to 'navteq'.)

If you had that problem, the POI location is bad. If you look up the location using Google Earth, or ITouchMap (my favorite) you will see the coordinates are right where the GPS told you to go. A result of bad geocoding.

Recently I was heading to a store and the GPSr got me on the right street. It was about a mile up ahead and on the left. But before I even got close to the store, ot told me to make a left, then a right, then head further than the store, make a right and another right, basically circling around the store till it was on my right side. I was wondering why it didn't just keep me on the correct street and then make a left into the store parking lot but its route was good too. I think it may have had to do with speed limits on the streets. I had "quickest route" option so it took me up to a street where the speed limit was higher. That's my best guess.

This is of course the correct action to take on a road with a median or center divider, but I too have had it do this backtrack routing on streets that did not restrict left turns. It seems like it is on multi-lane streets, so I assume it is trying to avoid left turns across multiple lanes of oncoming traffic.

Baltimore, my 370 gave me a round-about way also, but got me to my destination about 3 minutes later, through downtown Baltimore at midnight, WOW...never do that again! I had more backseat drivers than you can count, thank the Lord for automatic door locks. As far as Garmin goes, still luv'em, with or without their faults, beats the hell out of Thomas Bros. maps!!!

mine took me on a couple of loops before getting me to my destination. Weird.

One thing I have noticed is that my 765T does not seem to like going away from my destination even if it is faster and fastest route is selected. To get on the nearest freeway heading South I normally take a route that is slightly away from my destination but closer and faster. The Garmin routes me to the next entrance even though there are more lights and always more traffic. She gets the idea pretty quickly though and recalculates.

On a cross country trip last year we had a similar experience. Traveling from central New Jersey to Washington our 780 routed us on I-95 through the middle of the city. Even though it appears longer I decided to take I-695 around the city. For most of the 30 mile trip from one end of I-695 to the other the Nuvi told me to leave the highway at EVERY EXIT so it could get me to I-95. Man that gets annoying after about 3 exits, to the point that I finally just turned the unit off. It's the only time I've ever come across a situation where the Nuvi didn't finally just recalculate to keep me on the route I'd decided to take.

my 200 telling me to exit and then get back on the freeway once in awhile, nope.

If you have Shortest Route selected this may happen by design as a the curvature of a roadway may make the access road technically shorter between two points. And there are times that it will do something odd for no apparent reason at all.

I didn't make the connection at the time, but when I first got my 765T, I was experimenting with Fastest versus Shortest, and encountered that access road "glitch", but after reading this, it makes a little more sense

Had all that happen and more. A lot of times I'll set mine to shortest distance and just go where it tells me even when I know it's not the best way. Of course that is when I have the time to do it.

Additionally, There is an area near where I use to live that tries to take you in circles. I've used different GPS's with the same thing. The area is in Warren Michigan around 8 mile and I-75. One time I'll follow it just to see what happens, but not unless I'm packing heat the area has gone way down hill.....

The constant "take the local lanes" is a fault of the routing routines in the Garmin. On a major freeway I use the unit will always tell me to use the local lanes if I will be exiting to the right - even long past the end of them. If my route takes the left fork, then it tells me to stay in the express lanes. So it doesn't matter if you have fastest or shortest, it's where you make your next turn.

The only times I have had any incorrect directions were due to the GPS map having roads that were not really there. (State parks for some reason seem to be the worst.)

The most interesting time was when I was in a rural area about an hour from my home. I could see where the road used to be and the street sign was there (and matched the name on my GPS) but the road was overgrown with weeds about 5 feet tall.

My 660 has been very reliable and I've not encountered any incorrect directions from it. Sometimes it has incorrectly stated on which side of the street a destination was at but that's a Navteq error.

I admit i didnt follow the directions on the GPS, turned off the route on this one, cause i KNEW it was way off...

I happened to notice the directions my GPS gave me from the Best BUy POI file, for a local Best Buy, were way off...so i just turned off the route and went to the best buy. Later I checked to see what it would to with an actual reading I got in the parking lot in front of the store.

Here's a google map of the store. The address is on South Coast Drive, but actually the store is much closer to the Bear St entrance to the plaza, whuch is the entrance I normally use.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=...

If you zoom in on the map, you'' see google has a shoping back icon near the actual entrance to the store.

I was on south coast drive, coming up to the light at Bear & South Coast drive. Easiest way to the store was to make a right on Bear, and go in the Bear st entrance to the plaza. GPS told me to take a left. Looked at the GPS - it was going to have me then Take a right on sunflower. DOnt remember after that what it displayed, i assume it was going to send me a long way around to Bristol, Then Baker, then Bear again...

If you look at this map, you';' see Baker St to the south...I was going east on baker, aproaching Bear, when i tried my actual reading of the store location. It wanted me to go take a left on Bristol, instead of hte obviously much shorter left on Bear. Actually im going to try this again later but Im thinking it might keep sending me in Circles around South Coast Plaza. I'll let you guys know what it does..