VTHokieTL

I've noticed this bug a few times now.

I'm in Arlington, VA. I'm heading somewhere that should have me go on I-66 West. I'm close (and heading right at) to the I-66 West onramp. But the navigation tells me to turn around, take I-66 East about 5 or 6 miles into Washington DC, then turn around and take I-66 West right back passing my starting location and continuing west to my destination.

I've never fallen for it myself because I know this area better than to follow those directions, but twice I've had people from out of town borrow my car and follow those crazy directions.

Anyone else get weird directions like this? What's the best way to report them?

snapfisher

I've never seen that, but I live in DC just west of Rock Creek park and if I want to go to Silver Spring, the navi tells me to drive up to the beltway and back down, a route which is easily 5 times as long as just driving through the park.

I also noticed that it screws up on the Dulles toll road -- it can't correctly determine if you are on the toll road or the airport access road.

Maybe it's just a poor DC coverage thing.

1995hoo

I've never seen the problems you guys describe, but I've noticed something similar to snapfisher's when you drive on Shirley Highway--it can't tell whether you're in the express lanes or the local lanes for the most part, and it will not route you into the express lanes. If you ignore it and drive there anyway, it will get confused when you pass the US-1 exit near Woodbridge going south because the express lanes pull away from the local lanes; it will then say that your route cannot be completed and you have to go back into the menu once you're over the Occoquan River.

I think this bug may be a function of the express lanes being reversible--perhaps the Navi was programmed not to send you there as a precaution? As for it not knowing the difference elsewhere, I suspect that it's just because the two sets of lanes are so close together, which is probably the same as what snapfisher found on the Dulles Toll Road.

Brewmaster

It may also not recognize Rock Creek park road as a public road or it isn't digitized. While traveling in New England it (the Navi) attempted to route me back to a major highway which would have been about 40 miles out of the way because it didn't have the road that I was on as a confirmed, digitized road.

Greg-ster

Go to update.navteq.com to report roadway innaccuracies....

That is an odd problem, probably caused by the map data

DMZ

Posted this before.

I pull up in front of my home, hit [Go Home], and that enchanting chick's voice responds with:
"Make U-Turn, Destination Is On The Left"

NFLblitze1

your right about the lanes being so close together, that happens to me too, the breakdown coverage of the navi is only so many square feet, it can't be so accurate, and the lanes being so close together is the reason this happens. but if it happens to me, then it just redirects me.

gt1

LOL!!!

snapfisher

It's really annoying when you are on the express lane and it thinks you are on the local, as it tells you to get off at the local exit, but you can't and by the time you realize it you passed the local/express crossover. I had to drive all the way ionto DC once because of that -- nowhere to turn around.

The not navigating through the park is not because it does not recognize the road. It's on the display and if you take the park road, when you drive about 3/4 through the park, it finally stops telling you to turn around.

JimF_NJ

The first time I noticed the Navi being really wrong, I was at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan, and wanted to go to a friend's house on 37th st./ Madison. The navi told me to go all the way down to the battery and up the FDR. Navi is useless in Manhattan.

soloman37

I have the same problem when I'm heading to any place off 95 South from the Dunn Loring/Merrifield section in Northern Virginia. The Navi insists on routing me via the Beltway and the mixmaster intersection with 95. I prefer taking 66W to Fairfax County Parkway, to 123, etc. That dummmmass Navi insists on the original route, and I can't get it to consider an alternative. Even after I get on the Parkway, it wants me to make a u-turn and go twice as far as I should. I've tried checking "easy" route as well as direct. I have to cancel the route and re-try with a "previous destination." Eventually, I get the correct route, but it's a real pain. I've had route problem heading elsewhere, too. I enjoy the system much of the time, but it's not worth $2K!

snapfisher

To just add a little more.....

I switched jobs and now commute through downtown DC every day. Specifically through Rock Creek Park. In DC the roads in the park are switched during morning and afternoon rush hour so that both sides of all roads go in the same direction.

This completely screws up the nav. It just cannot seem to cope that I'm driving the "wrong way" on the road. If I set it to not allow unverified roads, it will correct itself when I finally leave the park, but allowing unverified on, it never seems to correct itself, even after I've gone back on to main roads. I assume that rebooting (i.e. turining the car off and on) would fix the problem, but tuning unverified off also gets it back on track.

Very frustrating and completely repeatable every day.

NFLblitze1

no navigation is perfect....

onalake

I live in NJ but spent a week in VA sightseeing. When I was in DC, I had a heck of a time getting out of DC and trying to go west towards Reston. I looped around twice before ignoring it and getting on the road I wanted. A friend suggested to me that since I was right near the Pentagon that maybe the GPS system for commercial use is off more than usual there. Maybe he watch too much x-files but something that made you think if there was something to it.

Xpditor

I spent a week in DC one night!

1995hoo

If you were trying to take VA-110 past the Pentagon, I'm not surprised. They rerouted the road after 9-11 to move it to the east because they decided it was too close to the building. If the Navi routes you up 110, it will become confused when it thinks you're going offroad.