Garmin Map Error

[nufdum]

I have a waypoint in Eastern IA. that shows wrong on the map on my Ledgend. The point is at N 41 57.705 W091 34.704 On the Garmin map it shows on the north side of the Cedar River, but the point is on the south side. Has anyone else noticed any map problems like this?

[+scavok]

Kind of depends on how far off it is, I think.

 

I was recently in an area with some caches along a river that had significantly swollen and then receded into a different path and threw the "which side of the river" completely off.

 

I also had a friend tell me he went on a paddling trip and tracked it on the GPS only to see that he had apparently paddled the whole thing about 40 feet outside of the river.

Edited June 9, 2006 by scavok

[kerecsen]

I have a waypoint in Eastern IA. that shows wrong on the map on my Ledgend.

 

The way I deal with these situations is to check the point on virtualearth or maps.google.com. If it's correct according to the satellite imagery (which may or may not be correctly calibrated) but not the map data, and it's grossly off (ie: the source of the error can't possibly be a GPS reception issue) I file a bug report with either NavTeq or Garmin.

 

The surface waters indicated on the NavTeq (Garmin) map come from very old 1:100k topo maps. There are plenty of errors, including large missing lakes and rivers that have changed course in the last decade.

[ciprol]

Original poster wasn't clear on which Garmin map you are talking about.

 

Base maps are always very crude but that kind of issue shouldn't happen on City Navigator maps, or it needs to be reported.

[+rjb43nh]

Errors on all maps are not uncommon. Starting with the maps of centuries ago that said: "beyond this point lay dragons and beasties" there have always been some errors caused by lack of knowledge. Also, modern maps are generally composed of different overlays that don't always register properly causing certain features to be off while others are correct.

 

There may be errors caused by city planners or information gatherers not keeping up to date on roads like the over 100 year old street I live on that has a section missing on both Magellan and Garmin maps but not on Delorme. There are also some intentional errors to help companies determine if competitors have copied their maps by adding an occasional nonexistent POI like Garmin's "Gonic Institute of Technology" in a back yard of the small town I live in.

[Neo_Geo]

CLICK HERE to report map errors to Garmin.

[andylphoto]

There are also some intentional errors to help companies determine if competitors have copied their maps by adding an occasional nonexistent POI like Garmin's "Gonic Institute of Technology" in a back yard of the small town I live in.

 

Now that's very interesting. I didn't realize that, but it makes some sense. Like intentionally mis-spelling your name while subscribing to something to track mailing list sales.

 

An error on basemaps as mentioned is common--they are very crude. I don't have the city select or topo yet, but on the basemap, most highways run parallel to where the GPS tracks.