Garmin City Nav Sensis V Navteq

[Tiny]

The latest City Navigator Au & NZ 2013.20 is now using map data supplied by NAVTEQ in place of the Whereis/Sensis data used in previous maps.


I have done a little testing of the Navteq map & made the following observations;

* Plus1 - For my area the map is more accurate in regard to rural road location & naming.

* Plus1 - The speed limit is no longer displayed when driving on our local rural roads & some Major town roads, its actually a plus 1 as the previous Sensis maps had most of the speed limits on [B] & [C] roads incorrect anyway.

* Minus 1 - The rural road display threshold on some [B] & most [C] roads is around 700m Zoom according to MS.
This causes the rural [B] or [C] road you are driving on to disappear when the auto zoom on my NUVI 1490T zooms out at 90 km/h & the road is not visible until you reduce speed below 70 km/h.
The roads I was on to day have a 100 km/h limit.
So the roads blink on as you slow down for a corner then off again as you accelerate down the straights.
This does not happen with the old Sensis Map - the rural road display threshold is around 1.5 km to 5 km Zoom according to MS for the older mapset 2013.10 & previous.

* Minus 1 - the search feature no longer includes my property address number, the road is present but not the number.
It took until 2010 for my address number & the Road to appear in the find function on the Sensis maps, now the address has gone again, so I'll have to give directions to people & services (couriers etc.) if they are using the latest Garmin maps.

Any one else got any observations positive or negative

[Toby737]

With the nuvi 3590 I have, I've noticed on the Sensis maps, POI icons for banks, petrol stations, food outlets appearing as real icons of the business, like McDonalds, 7-Eleven, CommBank, BankWest, Westpac, BP, Caltex, etc....

With the Navteq ones, they only show as the standard Fuel, $, Knife/Fork icons.

Also, Terrace is abbreviated as 'Trc' on the Navteq maps, hence the Australian TTS voices pronounce it as 'T R C', not Terrace. This also stuffs up voice commands for my nuvi 3590, I have to say 'T R C' as well, otherwise it will throw back some other weird street name.

I've noticed some suburban streets (inner west of Sydney), where Sensis displayed the street's speed limit on the GPS, but the Navteq ones do not.

I wish Garmin stuck to using Sensis maps for us Aussies.

[Tiny]

Thanks Toby, I reckon if I had a 3590, I'd go back to the sensis map 2013.10 & load the Map & ASR files, until they get it right on the Navteq maps.

We should also go here & file a map error report for the problems encountered.
Not sure if that will change anything in the near future though.
This looks more promising
I guess they can only fix things if they know about it.
_______________________________________________

According to the following info the Whereis/Sensis maps should still be available to those units with Lifetime updates??
So the Sensis maps are out there somewhere, if the info is correct
Don't know where. I can't find a CN AU NZ 2013.20 update for Garmin with Whereis/Sensis data, they all have NAVTEQ.

Would be good to here from someone with lifetime updates, if they are getting sensis or navteq on their previously Sensis based NUVI?

_______________________________________________

"Map provider change

All new Garmin portable-navigation units arriving in stores from February 2012 will come equipped with and New Zealand. One of the reasons cited by Garmin for the change from Sensis' Whereis maps to Navteq is that in many parts of the world, Garmin already uses Navteq maps in its navigation devices.
Owners of a current device who have a paid-up subscription to Garmin's need not worry — those devices will still continue to receive the latest Whereis maps whenever the GPS unit is hooked up to a computer."
Source:

[Tiny]

..snip

Also, Terrace is abbreviated as 'Trc' on the Navteq maps, hence the Australian TTS voices pronounce it as 'T R C', not Terrace. This also stuffs up voice commands for my nuvi 3590, I have to say 'T R C' as well, otherwise it will throw back some other weird street name.
snip.......

Hey Toby, I was thinking that if you have to pronounce Terrace as T R C, then what does it handle for road & street, can you use the actual words or do you use the abbreviation of "R D" & 'S T'
Then there's
Crescent = Cr
Court = Ct
Place = Pl
Lane = Ln
Etc.
That would drive me nuts.

[Toby737]

what does it handle for road & street, can you use the actual words or do you use the abbreviation of "R D" & 'S T'
Then there's
Crescent = Cr
Court = Ct
Place = Pl
Lane = Ln
Etc.

Yes you can say the Street & Road as is, but haven't come across the others so not sure whether the TTS would pronounce them correctly or incorrectly.

I found another quirk where on the Motorways, Navteq abbreviate the motorways as Mtway, so it pronounces them as 'Em Tor Way'.

Anyways, I've sent a bug issue to Garmin to fix up the Australian TTS for the Navteq quirky street/motorway abbreviations.

[SS Dave]

I am going back to 2013.10 as most of the roads in A.C.T are off to the right on the screen and some streets it looks like i am in a paddock. I have heard navteq was better in rural and sensis better in the city. i have all so noticed noticed since i have updated to 2013.20 that the traffic receiver icon is not all ways there.

Just in case it makes difference i use a nuvi 250

SS Dave

[Tiny]

Thanks SS Dave, sounds like the ACT is a bit of a fail for the Navteq map.
I had the same problem with the 2010.xx Sensis maps in my area, Central North (middle of nowhere)Tasmania, which was corrected in the 2011.xx Sensis maps.
It's a real pain when your navigating a rout & the GPS thinks your off the road & tries to recalculate all the time.
So far the Navteq is more accurate in my area.

AFAIK, the traffic receiver is a separate program from the map & so shouldn't be affected.
If the Icon goes off, it just means it has lost reception.
I don't see the icon here in Tas, however when I go to Sydney its there all the time & very helpful, it rerouted me around some heavy traffic delays & got me to the Airport on time on one of trips.

[peteramjet]

In the years past I've certainly found Sensis data to be more accurate, and after what I've read here recently I haven't yet updated the Garmin GPS to the latest NAVTEQ maps. However I had time this morning to load them into BaseCamp and compared the 2013.1 Sensis maps to the 2013.2 NAVTEQ, and was suprised with the results.

I checked a whole bunch of streets and areas around Sydney, Central Coast and the Central West (Bathurst/Mudgee/Oberon and surrounding regional areas - ie small lanes in the back of nowhere) where I knew there had been discrepancies in the past and found no substansial difference between the two, including areas that are relatively new or have only recently (ie 12 months) been updated in the Sensis data. Sensis data is probably better for building info, but I did find was that the NAVTEQ had more details/correct roads for 4WD tracks etc - something I use CN maps for, even though I've also got dedicated 4WD maps as well.

Routing tests using Mobile PC also showed no (or little) substantial difference between the two maps. Don't know if the results would be the same in a GPS unit though.

It may be the case, for me at least, that the change to NAVTEQ is not as bad as I first thought. Time will tell I guess...

[Jards88]

Both companies use the same basic mapping data (PSMA), so theoretically there should not be much difference between them. It is basically down to how they implement that data. The difference in the way abbreviations are handled means that different TTS rules will be required for the Navteq maps. Something that Garmin have obviously overlooked in the conversion.

Cheers, Ian

[Tiny]

Both companies use the same basic mapping data (PSMA), so theoretically there should not be much difference between them. It is basically down to how they implement that data. The difference in the way abbreviations are handled means that different TTS rules will be required for the Navteq maps. Something that Garmin have obviously overlooked in the conversion.

Cheers, Ian

Sorry Ian, you are incorrect on that.
PSMA is a government owned Mapping authority.
Sensis/whereis is owned by Telstra.

"Google Maps switched from using PSMA Australia (formerly Public Sector Mapping Authority) data to a Sensis database because it wanted more detailed data, according to Sensis."

So why would they swap suppliers if the data was the same

Source:

[Rodnic]

Has anyone heard any more on the Sensis/Whereis lifetime map updates I sent Garmin a query so will see if they reply.

Going by the online Navteq map, it certainly leaves a lot to be desired. I live in the Glenvale, Toowoomba area and there are dozens of mistakes. There are a lot of road reserves that have not been built on but are on the map and roads that have are not on the map. To top it off my road is misnamed and the correct name has been given to an unmade road running off my road. My place is on the outskirts of Toowoomba so not in Suburbia or the sticks.
I have submitted 8 corrections so far to Navteq Map Reporter, the last one being a general one advising them to use Whereis to update their maps. It will be interesting to see if they comment.
Sorry about the ramble but these companies give me the irits.

[Tiny]

You can always go back to the Sensis map until the next update comes out.



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[Tiny]

Thanks to pietu you can now have the latest Sensis map as well.

[mapmeister]

if you look at navigon (also garmin) the navtech data is spot on so it must be the way they use the same content in different apps. Well done garmin for using navtech the features are much better

[mapmeister]

same map that navigon use (also a garmin product) so it is the way they read the info in the map not the map itself

[peteramjet]

...It may be the case, for me at least, that the change to NAVTEQ is not as bad as I first thought. Time will tell I guess...

Well it's been 12 months since the switch, and while I don't like digging up old threads I've come to the opinion that for on-road mapping Sensis maps were superior to the new NAVTEQ variety.

I've found during the last 12 months that new roads/routes have appeared far quicker through Sensis that NAVTAQ, even though Sensis have only put out 2 updates and NAVTEQ have 4.

Take the M2 Motorway in Sydney - the main motorway through from the city to the north west. The road has been undergoing upgrades for the last 2 odd years, with all the new off-ramps opening late last year. These off-ramps are mapped in the 2013.4 Sensis map, but are still not available in the 2014.2 NAVTEQ maps. This is a major road - and Sensis mapped it correctly 3 updates ago! if they can't even map this road then what chance do the smaller roads have (and I've found a couple of those that are incorrect well)? I've decided to switch away from even the latest NAVTEQ data (2014.2), and I've switched back to the 2013.4 version of Sensis.

So to Garmin - bring back Sensis data you boffins!

[SS Dave]

Hi all

I am going to spark up the Sensis/Navteq debate again as i had a customer come in saying that the suburb named GRACE in the ACT is not listed in her nuvi nav that has the latest map on it.

I know Grace is still been built but is over 12 months old.

I think this is strange as i have used my nuvi to get to a street in Grace the difference is my nav has Sensis hers has Navteq.

I tried switching to Navteq maps only on my nav and got the same no Grace.

If i have Sensis and Navteq on my unit and tick Navteq an untick Sensis it will still find Grace.


SS Dave

[Tiny]

Hi SS Dave,
you had me stumped for a bit, couldn't find "Grace" on either Sensis or Navteq maps in MapSourse, Google Maps or Whereis.

So I did a Google, still nothing, then looked down the bottom of Google in related searches & saw Crace ACT.

Now that I have the correct spelling, using the find feature in MS for both maps I can locate "Crace" ACT.

The Sensis map has more detail of unnamed streets (guess there in the new development area) & the Navteq map has just the named streets, which is only about 50% of the detail that Sensis has.

Its interesting the find feature locates Crace ACT in MS but not on your GPS for Navteq, maybe spelling mistake
Try putting in 5 Chance St Crace ACT.

Going back thru the Sensis maps I found all the same detail from CN 2013.20 right back to CN 2012.10. Thats where it ends, CN 2011.30 (don't have 2011.40) has no streets or suburb of Crace in that area.

[Tiny]

Hi SS Dave,

just out of curiosity I loaded CN 2013.20 Navteq only on my Nuvi today, Searched ACT for Crace & it came up no problems, added 5 Chance st to search, got that too.
Postcode 2913, have I got the right place
Edit: just checked the postcode for Crace ACT & it should be 2911, so Navteq scores -1 for that.

Suspect as above your searching for Grace ACT which doesn't exist.

[SS Dave]

Hi Tiny

Ok i can not spell

I have a nuvi 2495lm here at the moment with cn aus and nz 2012.40 navteq all.

If i enter 5 Chance St it finds the street but the surbub is Nicholls ACT 2913

The same Nuvi 2495 with a card with sensis 2013.10 mapping i get 6 chance street Crace ACT 2911

If i set sensis and navteq at the same time i get 5 chance st Nicholls ACT 2911

Go figure.


SS Dave