GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Crazy route suggested by the latest navigation map data!

TonyRC

New member
Location
UK
I recently downloaded the latest satnav maps from the new Website at:

http://webspecial.volkswagen.de/maps/int/en/index.html

The downloaded maps were entitled “European Countries - Bundle 1” and were dated 2017/12/12. Using 7-Zip, I then unpacked and installed them on a Volkswagen approved SD card (my old Europe 1 (V5) SD card).

Yesterday, I was in a local supermarket car park and I thought that I would try the new maps out to get me home. To my astonishment, I was given the route shown in the first photo below. The exit from the supermarket car park is in the top left hand corner and the suggested route involved turning left at the roundabout near the label B3342, going up to and then turning all the way round the next roundabout, before returning to the roundabout near the label B3342! It is perfectly possible to make a right turn at the roundabout near the label B3342 without the deviation up to the next roundabout.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Does anyone have an explanation? I’m inclined to complain to Volkswagen about this but I thought I would test opinion on this forum first.

As it happened, I had the SD card with the previous satnav maps in the glove compartment of the car. (These were the factory manufactured Europe 1 (V7) maps, dated May 2017, also on a Volkswagen approved SD card. Yes, I have two Volkswagen approved SD cards because I don’t like destroying the map data on one SD card before I know that I have map data on another SD card that works.) So I exchanged the SD cards and then set the route home using my previous satnav maps. The result is shown in the second photo below and is what I would have expected, suggesting a right turn at the roundabout near the label B3342.

This experience doesn’t give me much confidence in the new map data if I am using it in an area that I don’t know.
 

Attachments

  • 20180207_160406c20.jpg
    20180207_160406c20.jpg
    149.1 KB · Views: 442
  • 20180207_161447c20.jpg
    20180207_161447c20.jpg
    130 KB · Views: 401

lucyfek

Ready to race!
Location
IL USA
Car(s)
GTI & GSW
Nothing new. Google also has the tendency to take you for bizarre rides - last summer, I was led east on a local highway (expecting to go west, but G should know better, right), then was directed off into some neighborhood in the woods, did a loop, basically offroading over some dirt driveways only to return onto the same highway, then drive pass the initial entry point - this time going the westwards. At least eventually it gets you to the target (Apple's maps may get you lost, walking in the cold .5 mile to where you'd intended to get to). Trust but verify (if you have time to do so). Also, with the amount of data they aggregate and process, it's surprising how flawed their algorithms can get (e.g. routing everyone returning from last year's sun eclipse onto I55 with lanes blocked due to road constructions, all the while insisting that you were on the fastest route and getting past last possible exit ramps to avoid the worst traffic jam I've ever experienced).
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
Does the same thing to me on certain routes. It's not possible to program for every possible route option. Even if it's out of the way, it probably will still get you there. Don't forget it's not VW doing this, it's a third party vendor. Complain to them.
 

amcneill

New member
I find the VW sat Nav terrible....worst I have tried.on one route it wants to take me off a motorway,go through a roundabout and back onto the motorway.very slow getting updates on changed roads.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
 

Shane_Anigans

Drag Race Newbie
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
Looks like the map software was trolling you by drawing a dick on your screen.
 

TonyRC

New member
Location
UK
My thanks to all those who replied. And I enjoyed the amusing replies!

All I can add is that I am now using my third set of satnav maps for Discover Media MIB2 since I bought my Golf in 2016, and none of the previous two sets of maps exhibited this problem.

I don't know what the consumer law is in the US but, in the UK where I live, it is the retailer (i.e. Volkswagen and its outlets) that is legally responsible for getting product defects fixed, not the third party manufacturer/sub-contractor/etc..
 

Shane_Anigans

Drag Race Newbie
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport DSG
While I have no experience with VW Sat-Nav, I'm wondering why/updated maps would cause this, if this road in particular hasn't changed. Is there a setting in the unit to avoid making right turns? I know that UPS/FedEx drivers routes in the US are set up to avoid left turns wherever possible, because it's more efficient, though that doesn't really apply when there's a traffic circle/roundabout.

In any case, it's not as bad as when I tell Google Maps to avoid toll roads on when I drive home from Toronto, and it comes back with an 8 hour drive time (vs 4) because it considers the Ambassador Bridge to be a toll road, and sends me to a remote dock to wait for a ferry. :D
 

TonyRC

New member
Location
UK
... Is there a setting in the unit to avoid making right turns? ...
No, there isn't. But I don't think that is the problem. Since I discovered this issue with the new maps, I've been testing them a lot, even on routes that I know well, and I have not discovered another occurrence of the issue at a right turn.

Two things to add, however.

The situation depicted in the two original screen shots is actually worse than shown. It is just that I didn't take a photo of the whole route being offered. The first attachment is an annotated map showing the full extent of the ridiculous route being suggested. (The suggested route is in red.)

And, yesterday, I was on my way home on the Esher Bypass after visiting London and the new maps suggested that I come off the bypass on a slip road, go down to the roundabout under the bypass, and then back up a slip road to the bypass again (see second attachment). Absolutely crazy!
 

Attachments

  • VW MIB2 Europe 1 maps V8 - strange route at Hedge End.jpg
    VW MIB2 Europe 1 maps V8 - strange route at Hedge End.jpg
    132.5 KB · Views: 301
  • VW MIB2 Europe 1 maps V8 - strange route on Esher Bypass.jpg
    VW MIB2 Europe 1 maps V8 - strange route on Esher Bypass.jpg
    167.5 KB · Views: 289
Top