TomTom let us know that today their map improvement technology Map Share has implemented five million corrections to their navigational maps. This milestone is the result of the efforts of currently more than five million Map Share users.
Updates
With the Map Share system, which became available in June 2007, users of TomTom SatNavs can make corrections to the mapping material on the devices. Currently this means the (un)blocking of streets, the changing of the driving direction, the changing of street names and the adding and editing of speed and turn limitations. The corrections made are immediately active on the owners device, but then they can also be shared with others via TomTom's desktop application HOME.
"From the beginning, we envisioned Map Share as a tool to help drivers contend with the frustration of unexpected road changes, and to be used between map updates," said Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director of TomTom. "To put this "five million milestone" into perspective, a one-hour trip made anywhere in Europe or North America will be influenced by twenty to thirty Map Share corrections.
Five million
The number of Map Share users is growing fast according to TomTom; from half a million users at the beginning of this year, to more than five million users now. Their combined efforts has resulted in the hundreds of thousands street names being added, and more than one million roads getting (un) blocked, added or removed from TomTom's maps. US, German and UK users make the most improvements.
From A to Better
Apart from these Map Share milestones, other TomTom products were also put into the spotlight today: the company received the 'From A to Better' award 2008 from Dutch minister Camiel Eurlings for their HD Traffic and IQ Routes products. The prize is a reward for the best idea for improving the free traffic flow on the Dutch roads.
"We are honoured to have received this award. It's an important recognition of our work, and a confirmation that TomTom's current and historical traffic information is of great value for the Dutch road users", said Lucien Groenhuijzen, Managing Director of TomTom Dynamic Content & Publishing.
Other news:
Posted on: December 19, 2008 - 21:21 hour
By:
robinb
Since they have ignored every major mapping problem I have sent them.
map errors
2 way street, not 1 way.
roads dont exist
roads exist
dont turn down that street
why have you taken me twice the distance to get from a to b by going via c ??
sorry tt maps & navigation is dreadful
in fact i know i have a "surprise" garmin unit waiting for me in a week.
anyone want a TT 1 XL with latest inaccurate maps on ?
Posted on: December 20, 2008 - 22:42 hour
By:
Andy_P
Good luck with your Garmin.
At least you won't have ANY Mapshare updates or free major software revisions to worry about!
Posted on: December 21, 2008 - 15:31 hour
By:
daadoodoo
"Their combined efforts has resulted in the hundreds of thousands street names being added (...)"And yet neither of the fixes I submitted were added. Some, as important as non-existing motorways (motorways that are meant to be constructed in 1 year or more from now). Some of those were only fixed after all TV channels showed how buggy they were for tourists this same year.
So, do I trust this service? Answer is: NO.
I own two different PNDs from tomtom. I added the fixes in one of them. I synced the other one (with non-reviewed fixes accepted) and my second PND maps are still buggy.
Tomtom is better at selling than coding. Thankfully there's ongoing projects like
http://www.openstreetmap.org , which seems to be less buggy. Hopefully some PND will use it in a near future
Posted on: January 4, 2009 - 17:43 hour
By:
Dan
I have a question... what happens to mapshare fixes when a new map comes out? I mean in theory a whole lot of the updates could be covered by the fixed and thus make actual updates unnecessary, if users are very good about submitting updates.
Posted on: January 5, 2009 - 13:39 hour
By:
Andy_P
It's a nice idea in theory, but I'm afraid the practice is rather different...
Firstly, the MapShare fixes can only alter small details of EXISTING roads, you can't add roads, move them about or delete them using MapShare (only make a written report about it). So new map versions are still essential.
Secondly, so far, TeleAtlas and TomTom have NOT been using our MapShare corrections to produce new maps AT ALL! I think the next release or the one after thet will be the first to begin using some of our supplied data.
Thirdly, as MapShare is set up at the moment, the corrections are not even copied from one map into the correction downloads for the next, so if you have made a correction on your map, and then buy a new one, if the correction has not been made by different means, you have to make the correction all over again.
MapShare is very young technology, I think in years to come it will work just as you suggest, but we are a long way from it right now.
Posted on: May 19, 2009 - 01:00 hour
By:
Thomas K
The Map Share changes are being added in the map we see released from this summer and forward.
The wya they are used is that TA checks them and then integrate them into the map for future releases.
Posted on: May 19, 2009 - 01:07 hour
By:
Andy_P
Actually, some road name changes from MapShare were incorporated into the v825 and later maps as a test of the system
Forum
16-05
December 19, 2008 - 15:47 h
