We have a TomTom Via 1525M. (Yes, I know, but we’re luddites. I have a smart phone but no data plan; she uses a flip phone; so we still use a TomTom device for GPS). It’s generally reliable in getting us to a specified destination, although every once in a while it doesn’t recognize the existence of an address that we’ve input.
Well, this evening I entered 16 consecutive addresses, all in the nearby village of Franklin Square NY 11010 (we’re circulating a petition for signatures) and it didn’t recognize a SINGLE ONE of them. Google Maps understands those addresses. Bing Maps understands those addresses. I don’t just mean the specific numbered houses either: the GPS doesn’t recognize a single one of these street names as existing in Franklin Square!
Martha Pl
Jackson Ave
Monroe St
Rosegold St
Propp Ave
James St
Dogwood Ave
Paschal Ave
New Hyde Pk Rd
2nd Ave
Center Dr
Caroline Ave
Windermere Rd
Farnum Blvd
Bernice Rd
Forte Blvd
Do you suppose one of the TomTom software developers have a bad experience with somebody from Franklin Square or something?
(and yes, in case anyone asks, my maps have been updated quite recently; not that that should matter, all those streets didn’t suddenly spring up in the last couple months)
Ugh! That’s absolutely ridiculous that TomTom doesn’t recognize so many of those roads! My husband grew up in that area and we were married in a church on New Hyde Pk Rd, one of the main streets. We live 5 miles away and still visit people around there, and I recognize some other names like Dogwood Ave, another major road.
I’m away from home for a couple of weeks; when I get back I’ll pull out my TomTom, which we still keep as a backup, and see what it can or can’t do.
When I took my 2016 Mazda in this year to have roof racks put on it, I looked at the few newer models on the lot, which haven’t changed much in six years. I asked a sales guy if Mazda had improved the unusable GPS in their cars and he said that Mazda ditched TomTom because of complaints and it being extremely user-unfriendly. He also told me that unfortunately it’s impossible to replace the existing GPS to a different make for some reason. The few times I’ve tried to use it have ended in complete failure. So now it’s either the phone or the iPad for us. I’m assuming that nowadays there must be a voice-command GPS for cars?
I haven’t tried it much, but Apple CarPlay integration puts the iPhone’s apps on the center screen and gives voice access to the apps, including (I would suspect) Maps.
I have tried even less with Google’s Android Auto, but I suspect it would work the same. So AFAIK, the current answer is “use your smartphone in a marginally safer more integrated manner”. Not a built-in navigation system.
I rented a vehicle back in 2016 or thereabouts which had a GPS that recognized voice instructions. I don’t know what I did to invoke it and after I shut the car off to fill up with gas, could not get “accept voice instructions” to turn back on, but for that one trip it did. So yeah, that’s something that’s been around for awhile. I think that one may have been a Garmin.
Interesting. I thought it needed a data signal in order to communicate its own location. Does the version of Google Maps that runs on smartphones contain a GPS subapplication?
It determines its location using the same GPS signal your Tom Tom uses (which is not the same as data). The only thing it needs data for is to download maps, but it has an option to download them ahead of time, so it will work even if you have no cellular signal where you’re navigating.
OK, I’m home from out of town and powered up my old TomTom, a trusted companion on many trips until I got a smartphone 7 years ago. I’ve kept it as backup since there are places I travel that have very poor cell phone reception.
It was good to see it power up quickly, and it pulled up a long list of streets in Franklin Square. I didn’t check every single one of the streets on your list, more like a random sampling of around 8 of them, and it knew them all.
I noticed that before putting in the street names, I was asked to put in the town name, and there are a couple of small towns, Franklin and Franklin Depot, both in Delaware County in the Catskills. Is it possible that your TomTom was searching for Franklin Square streets in one of those towns?
I did a search for Franklin Square using the ZIP, and the streets I’d searched for earlier still appeared. So your update may have disappeared into the black hole.