"Mike Lane" kirjoitti
viestissä:0001HW.C1B8853300285BE6F04075B0@news.cable.ntlworld.com...
> On Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:04:32 +0000, bob fusillo wrote
>
> I drove through France and Italy earlier this year using a Garmin to
> navigate and I don't think it faltered once even in the smallest
> villages. Very occasionally it would get something like a one-way
> street wrong, but this happened I think only on one occasion. When I
> got to Greece the coverage was not so good with street level data only
> in Athens and a few other places, but I don't think Tomtom is much
> better there.
>
TomTom seems to use Navteq dbase just like Garmin in its newer terminals
like One for Europe. Tradítionally TomTom has used TeleAtlas dbases. Both
are quite decent to use. However, I believe you have a bit idealistic view
on the correctness of these dbases. It has not been rare in Finland and
abroad that intructions have been whether far from optimal or downright
wrong. There are errors in dbase and place to place they are outdated.
Time to time drivers are instructed to take a road in which motor vehicles
must not drive - at least not in suggested direction. Sometimes roads are
blocked so that it is impossible to follow the instructions. Sometimes name
of an object on the map is spelled incorrectly. Road networks also grow all
the time and maps are easily based on information one year old. This results
confused minds in that new gigantic multi story interchange.
I cruised in Europe last summer using the Garmin GPSMAP 76CS for navigation.
It has it's limitations (it isn't a special purpose device for road
navigation for instance) and yet I was very impresssed about it. It made
navigation apart from a couple of minor incidents really easy and smooth. It
isn't possible with traditional hard copy maps to get from one point to
another that easy.
Since then I have bought a TomTom One for Europe Unit. It is possibly too
compact a gadget for some tastes but I like it. The reception of the signal
flow is immensely improved from devices introduced a couple of years ago. No
external antenna is needed in the car (actually one can typically get
connected in a house). It processes data and redraw images fast enough to
keep things very punctual. If the terminal says that the next turning point
is 20 meters away then it is twenty meters away. Naturally this terminal has
a mass storage device too. One SD flash card holds data for almost all of
Western Europe (excluding Greece for instance). So, the system is truly
indipendent from computers when on the road.
It is a common knowledge that when driver selects the "shortest" path, the
device typically suggests routes which are about paths for hikers in
wilderness and accessible only for cross country vehicles.
One big difference between the two companies is naturally that TomTom is
focused on road mapping while Garmin also offers solutions to navigation
when off road, at sea or in the air.
|