I cannot wait for the C7's so that we do not get any more NAV threads in the C6 General Discussion...
Larry

 

Don't bet on it ....................

 

Here's a simple answer - put in a home address that is close enough to your home that you can find you way home from there.

Didn't we go through this a few months ago or was that someone else where we proved that not a single map in any GPS or on the internet could get the exact location of your house right? There are only 2 map companies that do all the maps. If neither has it right then no nav unit is going to get it right and that isn't the nav's maker's fault.

 

Is there a way to report errors in GPS maps? (Assuming you have current maps loaded into your GPS.)

Cheers,
JB

 

Paul , Paul, Paul. If people see you giving one on one assistance they will all want it and you will be stuck there forever. One reason I love the nav so much is I had experience with Garmins since 1997 and when I took NCM deliver my host really knew the nav system. We spend about an hour going over features and I realized how advanced the factory nav was over my Garmins. The problem is it is too advanced in features and not advanced enough in user interface. You start offering one on one and your days will quickly disappear.

 

It should be interesting hearing the complaints about the C7 and who complains about it.

 

 

I read the manual again last night after all the comments.....nothing new or enlightening there. So, this morning I read the tutorial for the second time. Talon did a very nice job, and obviously put alot of time into it, but most of it I had already figured out. I was impressed with the option of using a phone number to select your destination. I had not picked up on that in any of my previous readings. However, I still found nothing that shows me that the unit is accurate and reliable. If I must scan the route and change the segments that don't make sense (when I know the best route), then I can't trust it to choose the best route when I don't know where I am going....period.

 

Personally I find it hard to communicate exact thoughts and subjects on the internet.
Nothing personal or directed and anyone, just a fact of internet use
The following info is just my thoughts:
After re-reading posts in this thread, I realize I was missing the part about users feeling the unit is Not "Accurate and Reliable".
Was thinking the problem was how hard it is to use

I've never had a problem with the unit not being Accurate.
It's a tool and will only do what a user tells it to do.
I find this with ANY NAV unit.

As for the Factory NAV and changing the route segments.
It's Optional,.. it's not needed to get to a destination.

Any unit will only send you on a route by the type roads and highways etc that you specify you would like to travel:
highways, back roads etc etc.
If you can't specify this info, the Unit decides for you

With the Factory NAV you can animate a route on the screen before even putting the car in drive and speeding off.
You can watch the dot / arrow,.. which is the vehicle.. and it will move along the whole route as if you were actually driving it, while you're still sitting in your driveway
If you like it leave it.
But the Best Route for one person may not be the Best Route for another

Example:
Drove to a mountain resort 100 miles away.
My preferred roads are highways .. put that in and picked the fastest route.. according to the NAV.
I ran the animation and I noticed as it neared the destination, it was staying on the highway and went past the destination by 5 miles and turned back to the destination....
because it was staying on a highway.... as I instructed for my preferred roads.
So I changed that route segment to exit the highway closer to the destination and onto side roads to view the scenery.
Was it necessary? No. Was it faster? No.

It was an available "option" in the NAV's capabilities.
It has nothing to do with Accuracy or Reliability.

Every Nav unit I've ever used will not bring the vehicle to it's destination on the totally most accurate route without tweaking it.
And that's where I find short falls in other units, .. many of them don't even have the capability to tweak it

Any unit will get you where you want to go: Punch in the destination and drive away and Personally, that usually what I do

But doing road trips of hundreds of miles or more, I'm looking at the complete route and not leaving the whole route up to the NAV unit no matter what unit it is.

Here's another note for informational purposes.
In 2004 my NAV unit in my GM vehicles could put me right smack dab in my driveway.
Around 2007, it changed and has Nothing to do with NAV units.
The GPS satellites .. in the sky ..have either been knocked off course or the powers to be have altered their accuracy.
Around 2007, all the Nav units seemed off by 2-4 houses when putting in my home.
So I figured the NAV units were off, but when I went to Google maps satellite view, the Google maps are off also.

Anyway, too each his own,..
just info for thought and take it for what it's worth

 

Great points all around. Maybe someone else can chime in on this, but the government can control GPS making it very accurate or just fairly accurate. Saw a news story on this some time ago.

 

That sounds plausible. Having the satellites emit two signals, one for commercial and one for the military. I think it's also true of the photo satellites. Before 9-11, when I used mapQuest I could zoom in and see really sharp detail. Now, if I try and zoom in, the pics are terrible. I also find that putting in an address in MapQuest, Bing maps and Google maps, they are off by several hundred feet in the pics. I can tell they are not as accurate as they once were.

I think the government has made them less accurate to help keep potential terrorists from using them for possible targeting, etc.

 

Paper maps have NEVER let me down.

 

Plus, if you have to stop in a remote location for a nature call, you can't wipe your butt with a NAV.

 

Well...The laminated examples don't work so well.

 

Point taken. I have experienced this myself with all of the units I've owned. My personal experience has been that this unit seems to be alot more apt to send me on a "wild goose chase" than the other units I've owned...all of which supposedly have older map data than my 2012 Nav unit, as they were all purchased 4 years ago or more and have never been updated to my knowledge. I guess I just need to experiment with this feature and tell the GPS the routes I want to take when I know what I prefer, and hope for the best when I don't.

 

 

A good post.

As for the exact location of your house, the company that supplies the data to GM may have tweeked their system in an attempt to provide greater accuracy, but lost a little in your area. In our factory navs:
2006 C6 with 2012 disc has my driveway correct.
2005 Toyota with 2009 disc show my driveway at the neighbors house.

The satellites are as accurate as possible, because airplanes and other precision systems are using them. Back about 15 year ago, there was an automatic "wander" of about 30 yards in the satellite signals, but it was removed. The current signals are supposed to be accurate within about 10 yards (usually better than that), but the map databases are something else.

 

This is a legit complaint I suspect, but the workaround is easy. You can set anywhere the car is at as a waypoint, then set that waypoint as your home marker.

Problem solved.

I don't like the NAV. I would much rather have a Kenwood. It is slow to respond and not very user friendly. But in all honesty I have never had an issue with the technical GPS function (where I am at) or GPS routing getting me to where I am going. It does have three possible route preferences with many sub options within them, and if those options are not set per your preferences you will get some wonky routes.

But my travels throughout Midwest have never shown an invalid route or wrong position. In that respect my 08 has actually be better than my '08 Garmin.

 

The GPS maps are created by a different company than the GPS maker. That is why you'll occasionally find the same mapping error in more than one car company or brand of GPS (like mis-numbered houses, or streets that connect in the real world but don't in the GPS).

Another reason a GPS won't find a home or street is the map data being used by the GPS is older than the actual street. Your brand new car may have a map in it that's 2 years old. After a few years the old data can become a problem. This is one of the advantages of a smart phone based GPS, they'll automatically update their own maps, usually for free. To update many cars manufacture's GPS data they require you to buy a new DVD based GPS map at a ridiculous high price.

Cheers,
JB

 

When I purchased my 09 the first thing I did was to try out the NAV. It didn't show the newer streets in my neighborhood that were about 5-6 years old. My Garmin, that had last been updated two years prior to my buying the Z06, showed the streets.

Several times, I have plugged in addresses in both the Garmin and the newer factory NAV, and they did not show the same streets, etc. No way they are using the same map base. One time I had them both set for the same destination(135 miles from home) and I was traveling on a two lane state road. I came upon a crossroad and the garmin told me to turn right and the factory NAV told me to turn left. I had my trusty paper atlas, so I knew where I was going, so I went straight and arrived at my destination. If they are both using the same data base, then why did one tell me to turn left and the other to turn right?

Since a lifetime map update for my old Garmin was $90, and I could purchase a new unit with more features and a larger screen for $85 at Best Buy Black Friday sale, I went with the new $85 Garmin as it came with FREE lifetime map updates that I can update four times a year.