Mapsource Complaint!

[chibbert]

I recently purchased Mapsource Metroguide. I uploaded the Las Vegas area into my Legend for a recent vacation trip there. My fiance wanted to go to the Manhattan Bagel Co. So, using my legend, I would search for areas of interest then food, then all types then I would bring up the bagel companies (several). I tried going to two different ones, and one fatburger and when I got to the destination, the restaurants weren't there. I am sure I was using the gps right because say for instance it would tell me the bagel place was at 1207 Sunset Blvd. and it would take me there and I actually arrived at where 1207 would be but to no avail. I am sure it's not Garmin's fault that some of the data they have is inaccurate, but I just wanted to vent to some people who could sympathize with me.

It's frustrating when you are on a schedule and you go to find something and it doesn't exist.

 

CH

 

Where in the #$!@ am I?

[+Grouchy & Pebs]

Hibby,

 

I have MapSend with my Magellan plus Street Atlas USA 2003 and they are just as bad. They do not have anything correct in my neighbor so I know not to rely on them when in strange areas.

 

Not much help but at least you know you are not alone.

 

Grouchy & Pebs

 

"If all is not lost, where is it?"

[peter]

In general my experience with the MetroGuide business listings has been very good. My daughter just started college, so last year we took several long driving trips around the country looking at various campusses. We relied entirely on the MG restaurant listings for finding places to eat along the way and were always led directly to the right place. [We also found that the college POIs were all at the location of the admissions&information offices - a nice touch instead of just picking some random spot on campus.]

 

OTOH, I know that in my local neighborhood there are quite a few restaurants shown a mile or more from their actual locations - in those specific cases the addresses shown are correct and searching on the GPS for the address does lead to the right place but the POI is marked somewhere else.

Of course one problem with all of these programs is that they become dated with time. The current version of MG came out in mid-2001 and the data is obviously older than that. There's frequently pretty fast turnover of restaurant locations - especially in an area like Las Vegas, so some locations will no longer be valid.

 

BTW, the source of the MetroGuide data is TeleAtlas, so corrections could be sent either to Garmin or directly to them.

 

[This message was edited by peter on October 31, 2002 at 12:42 PM.]

[Cache Canucks]

I had a similar experience while visiting Tacoma this past summer. Being a Canadian, I used the trip as an excuse to purchase Garmin's U.S. MetroGuide for my Vista and, prior to my trip, loaded the appropriate WA state maps. When navigating my way to a particular museum in downtown Tacoma, the address/directions provided by MetroGuide were out of date (the museum had moved to a new facility ...something that I didn't discover until after the fact). Since I was hoofin' it that day, the error cost me an additional hour or so of wear on my shoes ...and an hour less spent at the museum. I did come away from it all with a lesson well learned however ...always confirm an address before heading out (even if it means just checking with a copy of the local Yellow Pages) and *never* rely on MetroGuide data alone.

 

Despite all this, a handheld GPS is still a terrific tool for urban exploration ...just be aware of the limitations of its mapping software and compensate with independent verification accordingly (bringing a 'real' paper map along on any trip is always a good idea).

[+Alan2]

Living in a very urban area, it appears that many restaurants, etc are ot in the POI database. I assume Garmin did this deliberately due to the memory requirements if they had every possible store.

 

Where the database is most helpful is on the road in smaller locales, where the quantitiy of POI's that you would probably want to visit are manageable and it is here that Metroguide shines.

 

Alan

[+worldtraveler]

I've used Metroguide in several locales around the U.S. and have been very pleased overall. When I'm looking for restaurants, it's usually something like an Outback or Olive Garden. With greater investment in real estate, establishments such as these are probably less prone to relocation than your typical bagel shop, so that may account for our different experiences.

 

Worldtraveler

[ejmct]

My parents have lived in the same house for more than 30 years and when I went to visit them I was very surprised to see that Metroguide didn't recognize their street. Now this isn't a major highway or anything, but it is a key residential "feeder" road which, to my parents dismay, now gets a fair amount of traffic. As I said, my parents have lived there 30+ years and it was a street for some period of time before that. Surprisingly, I have noticed that sometimes it *will* find newer, less travelled roads. Go figure.

 

I am not surprised that Metroguide struggles to keep up with businesses because lets face, they chang freqently. What is your favorite neighborhood bar today could be a WaffleHouse in six months and then a porno theater 2 years after that and then torn down completly to make a parking lot a year later.

 

Businesses change but streets don't, so I am a bit disapponted that it doesn't find some pretty noteworthy streets, especially in light of the price of the software.

 

In my experience, whatever software Hertz uses in their Neverlost system is much better than Metroguide.

[+ZachMJ2345]

City Select has been nothing but perfect for me so far. It has put me right on whenever I search for restaurants or whatever. Although, I did notice one shop that I know closed a couple years back is still in there. So I guess logic would dictate that it happens even more in places where there are more businesses to keep track of. Regardless, it's better than being stuck somewhere with no idea at all of what is around you. I am still amazed by my GPS V and all that it can do... in fact, I'm going to go and play with it right now.

[+tmcgowan]

I just wish you could "cut" and "Past" maps from the software to PowerPoint or Word documents.

[+Centaur]

quote:

---

Originally posted by tmcgowan:

I just wish you could "cut" and "Past" maps from the software to PowerPoint or Word documents.

---

 

Have you tried the PRINTSCREEN key? It copies the top window to the clipboard. (Or is usually does anyway....)