Who writes the maps and information for Tom-Tom sat nav UK?

Question

I have a Tom-Tom sat nav set out on Monday "shortest" route to a theme Park in the West Midlands from our home.

Ok for most of the route the suddenly sat nav directs us down this country lane (private road) single file track only room for one car wide 20mph road, got half way down this road gate across road spoke to two ladies cutting edge by gate they explained may people come down here sat nav blunder.

Had to open gate carried on back to main route.

OK i have a car was able to over come problem what if i had a large artic lorry would have been stuck.

Who writes and checks these route map for sat nav's

Answer 1

the way the roads are mapped is by a special van fitted out with dozens of cameras & scanners. They then drive this van around the country mapping the roads. It seems like this van was able to get down this same lane, and marked it as a public road, which will be why it's including it on your route.

You should contact TomTom and advise them of the error so they can fix it in future versions.

Answer 2

Your problem is because you chose 'shortest route'.

All Sat Navs, like PCs are inanimate objects that only do what their electronics tell them to do. You can make these do what you want them to do with a little practice.  You have to be aware and think at times before you drive down narrow lanes.

Did you really think it was normal to go down a narrow country lane to reach what must be a popular destination when there was presumably no other traffic doing the same?  The same applies to these lorry drivers who casually follow the instructions to the letter and wonder why they get stuck.

Even using a sat nav, I plan the route first then look it up on the road map to see if it's reasonably accurate.

Answer 3

I've done about 40,000 miles courtesy of my Tom Tom in the last 12 months and although I rate it about 98% good you will  get the odd "wrong turn" The basic satnav maps comes from Ordnance Survey who are usually pretty accurate and up to date The cockups are down to the route planning software which is not always 100% accurate in distinguishing between driveable and undriveable Tom Tom for one ask its users to report this kind of thing and I think they correct these oddities as and when they are aware .

Answer 4

Don't know.I have a Tom Tom Australian version and had no problems with it so far.What version of Tom Tom have you got?Apparently it is important to upgrade your software every now and then.