City Select North America V6 - Disappointing

[+geobernd]

I just had my 10th episode (true - ok - maybe the 9th) where I am unable to find a specific address or intersection in City Select. I have no trouble finding the same in Mapquest (in every instance).

Downstate New York Data (Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam Counties specifically) seems to be so bad. Municipal borders are wrong - road entrance ramps are on City Select that where relocated 10 years ago etc....

None of these problems exist when I use mapquest - but it really is such a disappointment if I have to use another product to figure out the approximate location so I can then create a waypoint in City Select that I can navigate to. It doesn't matter if I use mapsource or the GPS itself - the data is just crappy....

 

I just had to vent... Curious if others have found similar problems....

[+Team DEMP]

Never really had an issue with it. What's an example of some place you coudn't find? Is it an address, a POI?

 

I had a couple of map issues with v5 that I sent it to Garmin and they were addressed in v6. If you have issues, you should submit them at http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/errorForm.html so they get corrected.

[+GOT GPS?]

Some areas are very good, and others are pretty bad. The software is pretty limited because of the quality of work put out by humans and lack of humans to do the work needed. There are many things that creep in when making maps, like wrong datums when converting from paper maps to digital mapping on the computer. Only one that can create perfect mapping, and its no human. People will knowingly add data to a mapping project that is messed up, in order to complete the project.

 

Errors errors errors errrosre eeerorsr

[+FawverFamily]

What are the differences from Metro Guide North America V5 to V6? Is it worth the upgrade price? What do some of you think?

 

Dennis

[+YuccaPatrol]

I have been very pleased with Cityselect V.6 and it is a definite improvement over the Navigator 4.0 that I had previously with my Streetpilot. The Navigator software was sometimes irritating because I would look up 18th street and it would not be there.

 

Over time, I realized that the brilliant folks that put the maps together did not bother to make all 18th streets the same. An 18th street could be listed in the database as 18th, 18 th, 18-th, etc.

 

So far, CitySelect V6 has been better at this than my old version of Navigator. . . .

[+geobernd]

Most of my problems have to do with spellings - like the last poster mentioned.

E.g. Is it Route 9 or Rt 9 or R 9, or Hwy 9 (all of those exist in V6 and the same road actually has all of those 4 names depending on which town you look in). So if I type 'Route 9' and a town that doesn't have it like that: not found.

 

Same goes for the 'E' 'W' 'N' 'S' pre or postfixes - they get me frequently too...

 

Or town boundaries, e.g. a Street is in Harrion NY but CS knows it as White Plains NY only....

 

It seems that mapquest etc. compensates for those data flaws by having more intelligent software to cope with 'fuzzy' matches between user entry and the database...

 

I still like CS very much - I love the autorouting and wouldn't want to miss it - once I managed to find the address I need to go to

Edited September 1, 2004 by geobernd

[Robin's End]

I guess I have such low expectations that I'm generally OK with CS6. But I nearly sobbed when my Vista listed a point of interest a couple blocks from my house - a fabulous Gerrman butcher & deli that closed up shop almost ten years ago. Argh, I had nearly recovered from that tragic loss so many years ago, only to be mocked by a handheld tormentor.

[+we3dements]

I have had so many problems with CS6 that I am going to call Garmin and have a talk with them about it. There are major road ways here that have been here for over 6 years that are off by 950 feet+ (like 950 feet to the left). When I have to route down that road the unit re-calculates so many times because it thinks i'm not in the right place it locks up or just shuts off. There are housing areas that ALL the street names are wrong or missing but the area has been around for over 12 years. I can understand the address number being off a bit when on the street but to have streets not where they belong or missing when they are "old" is uncalled for.

 

I am sick of spending money for maps and upgrades just have the information in them be worse than the version before it.

 

Now understand I look for and go to 25+ addresses a night so I was able to find out quickly how bad the map information for my area is.

[+YuccaPatrol]

I was pleased last night to see that my parent's neighborhood which was built about 4 years ago is now correctly shown on the maps.

 

Unfortunately, mapping software will never be perfect, but it is frustrating that it will show a business that has closed many years ago. I have noticed that sometimes I will look for a gas station on the interstate. The software will point me to an exit that it thinks has a single gas station. When I get there, there are 6 gas stations and 5 fast food joints that are not listed.

[+jollybgood]

I still swear by Metroguide 4 (which is routable). It may be 3 years old but I still prefer it over City Select. I like the fact it has fewer POI's and more water/rr track detail and so forth.

 

And at 30 bucks on ebay it's a good buy.

 

Of course I use it primarily to geocache and find addresses. Not to find the nearest restaurant, etc. I don't really care if the POI database isn't complete or up to date.

Edited September 1, 2004 by jollybgood

[+jj3]

I agree... City Select seems to have the stuff I need incorrect and the stuff I don't need correct...

 

My street and subdvision have been around for about 9 years now...still my street is not listed on the software...it shows my house (waypointed) out in the middle of nowhere.

 

My in-laws street is about 20-25 years old and all the street numbers are incorrect.

 

The sad thing is those are the only 2 addresses I've tried and neither of them are correct...

Edited September 2, 2004 by jj3

[+jollybgood]

It's been a year or so since I stumbled across the website (and I've since lost the link) but I remember seeing a site that showed you how to use your track logs to update your Mapsource maps (i.e. open them up, make changes and save them again). In other words adding missing streets.

 

Of course the data may be outdated but maybe someone knows the site I'm talking about.

 

As I recall the changes/added streets aren't routable.

[+Eric K]

So far my City Select seems fine.

 

The biggest change I've noticed from Metroguide is on my way to work there is an exit on the Ohio Turnpike that has only been opened for probably less than a few years.

 

On Metroguide that exit wasn't there but it is there with City Select.

[+OzarksJim]

When I was using City Select v5, the streets in my subdivision, which is 8 years old, were not provided. The building where I work, which is 7 years old, was not provided as a POI.

 

I now have City Select v6 and both the streets in my subdivision, as well as where I work are now provided.

 

However, my house is about 100 feet away from the correct coords. It's as if the streets in my subdivision have been shifted south 100 feet.

[+StormCrow42]

However, my house is about 100 feet away from the correct coords. It's as if the streets in my subdivision have been shifted south 100 feet.

Are the streets off from where a track is generated when you drive on them, or is your house address just a tad off? CS can't possibly contain every individual address on every street, it just has data on roughly how streets are numbered and interpolates the individual addresses you search for from that.