Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 544 Location: Bloomington, Il
So What Have Your Experiences With Mapshare Been So Far? Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:14 pm
I am curious as to what various peoples' experiences have been with Mapshare so far? Have you updated a lot of local POIs? What about your downloads? Which if any filtering limitations did you put on your downloads? Any problems or incorrect info found? My understanding is that we can't really add POIs to existing categories like "restaurants" but have to create our own categories. I was thinking about calling new restaurants simply "New Restaurants". I wonder if it would help if we tried to be somewhat consistent with our category names.
Does anyone know what the process is to become a TomTom "trusted user" whose additions will automatically be approved and sent out as TomTom verified?
Is there any way you can tell if a POI you found in the TomTom is one that you downloaded and whether it was user submitted?
I haven't updated any local POIs. For me that is a catch-22, I know where my local POIs are so I'm less likely to see that something is wrong. I'm more likely to see something wrong in an unfamiliar area.
For experimentation, I've allowed the 720 to download changes of all types. I haven't seen any issues, but the amount of corrections being downloaded is small as well.
With MapShare, you can add mission POIs to the specific, existing categories.
As for the "allow corrections from trusted sources", I haven't seen anything definitive about that, however many people are speculating that it won't be something regular users will be allowed into, rather "trusted sources" might just be Tele Atlas.
Once a few more people start participating (or anyone who has the 720 now) we can do some tests back and forth to see how fast changes submitted by one user are available to other users. I have some specific tests people could immediately try if they are interested.
Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 544 Location: Bloomington, Il
Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:00 pm
Tim wrote:
I haven't updated any local POIs. For me that is a catch-22, I know where my local POIs are so I'm less likely to see that something is wrong. I'm more likely to see something wrong in an unfamiliar area.
I wish you would. I wish everyone would update their own local POIs that are new and which might be relevant (just like we share information). This way if I happen to come into your area, I'll have all of the latest info from my download and likewise if you or anyone comes into my area, you'll have all of the latest info about my area. In other words, I don't expect to benefit much from the POIs that I enter but I expect to benefit much more from the POIs that all of you other nice users out there contribute. I believe I have heard this concept referred to as "benevolent self-interest."
I understand the concept, which is why I have made several reports of road changes, intersection changes, road closures, etc in my area. (Also why I contribute to Open Source software project.s) They don't benefit me so much but will benefit other people.
But POIs are more difficult to spot things that are incorrect. If I turn on all POI icons from all POI categories I won't be able to see the road while driving.
Joined: 12 Jul 2007 Posts: 544 Location: Bloomington, Il
Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:27 am
Tim wrote:
But POIs are more difficult to spot things that are incorrect. If I turn on all POI icons from all POI categories I won't be able to see the road while driving.
Perhaps this is where some clarification is in order. Until I get my TT 720 my only point of reference is the built-in GPS in my Prius. There is a screen in which I select the POIs that will display by category while I drive. So when I travel, usually the only POIs I have turned on for display are restaurants and gas stations.
So doesn't the TT 720 allow you to upload and download all POIs but only display the ones that you are interested in at the moment while driving?
And it won't be hard at all to spot things that are incorrect about POIs in my area because I pass them all the time. If one shows up that shouldn't be there, I merely report it as gone (I hope). If a POI is located a block off, I should be able to change it's position and report it.
Human nature dictates that we are more likely to report a new restaurant that we like. (Some of these can be pretty hard to find.) Now by having reported it as a new POI, everyone who passes through will be able to find it AND it will have a better chance of survival than if it didn't get reported until the next general POI update.
Besides when you are showing off your GPS to friends and coworkers do you want them to be able to see all of those restaurants both old and new in your area or have them think you were stupid enough to buy something with outdated information? Remember, the guy in the next cube bought a cheap one at half the price and you may have to prove why yours is twice as good.
Benevolent self-interest can benefit in many ways.
Isn't there a limit as to how many new POIs one can download -- or would want to download -- since the disk drive size is not unlimited? I guess you might want corrections and new POIs in a certain subcategory (if that is possible on the 720 -- there is no subcategory on my ONE, e.g. Italian restaurants), but downloading all MapShare items may quickly fill up the disk drive?
I too have wondered how TomTom will handle that if MapShare becomes extremely successful and all of a sudden there are millions of POIs to download.
You can select which categories you want to receive POI updates for, and what level of verification of POIs you want to trust. So without subcategories you could restrict the size of the downloads with that type of filtering.
Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 2 Location: South Louisiana
Updating maps Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:16 pm
I am seriously considering the GO 720 for my fiance. My one question about the Map Share system is if a street needs to be added, like a new street for example, can you trace that street somehow and add it to you maps then download it to TomTom? I am just curious if those needed streets are immediately available to the person who adds them until they are permenantly added to the software. Thanks.
No, you can report that a street needs to be added at a particular location, but currently MapShare doesn't allow you to actually add a routable street to your device.
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