Bad satnav worse than no satnav

[Asrampd]

Not for the first time. it sent me miles away from where I wanted to go "Cobbs Englefield" finds only one destination - the wrong one. It would have been better if it had not found any results. I had to use Google to get to the right place (late). MG4 2023 Trophy

 

[Rolfe]

You know how, at school, we were taught to work out an approximate answer before using a calculator? So that when we got what we thought was the answer, we could see it if was plausible or not. We had a ball-park idea of where the answer was, so we could spot the problem if we accidentally keyed the decimal point in the wrong place or something.

Satnavs need to be treated like that. Have an idea where you're going, by looking at a regular map if need be, and check that's roughly where the damn thing is sending you. (Try getting Android Auto to take you to Blyth Bridge in Peeblesshire. No matter what you do it wants to send you to somewhere in the English midlands.)

 

[Asrampd]

It was entirely in the right direction and was 8 miles away as opposed to the right place 6 miles away.

Google gets it right 98% of the time MG satnav 85% of the time (unacceptable). Unfit for purpose.

 

[IanMK]

I recently went on my first long journey in my Trophy but didn't check my route beforehand. Why would I when I have the satnav? It took me through the centre of various towns rather than the available bypasses.

 

[Martinonline]

Just tried 'Blyth Bridge' in free Navmii; listed only one in 'Scottish Borders' as an address but listed many locations as places in Northumberland.

I usually check routes on Navmii and Google Maps before using the car's SatNav. Good job because on this trip the car's SatNav last command wanted me to drive through a No Entry sign to get to my destination as opposed to the route the other 2 required.

 

[Rolfe]

I only have Android Auto and mostly it's very good indeed, but I wouldn't trust it for ten seconds without checking.

The Blyth Bridge thing happened when I first got Android Auto and was using it to drive to various nearby villages for practice. I finally found it in the menu as "Blyth Bridge, Peeblesshire". So I said "Blyth Bridge, Peeblesshire" to the car, these words appeared on the screen, then it tried to take me to England anyway.

 

[siteguru]

I recently went on my first long journey in my Trophy nut didn't check my route beforehand. Why would I when I have the satnav? It took me through the centre of various towns rather than the available bypasses.

Therein lies the cause of many traffic incidents ...e.g. HGVs going down farm tracks etc. People blindly following the satnav rather than engaging their brains and looking at signage.

(I thought I had posted this earlier, but I've found it in my drafts)

 

[Rolfe]

Some time ago there was a problem here with satnavs taking people coming into the east of the village from the south through a fairly deep ford to save a couple of hundred yards of driving on the main road.

(That's at a time when the river was running pretty low.) I'm not aware that anyone actually tried to drive through, but there were some interesting nine-point turns going on.

A friend told me about an incident a few years ago where a driver pitched up at a ferry terminal with no idea he was going to have to catch a ferry. The harbourmaster looked at his satnav route and it turned out that he needed three ferries to get to his destination. The helpful chap phoned ahead to his colleagues at the other ports and asked them to be aware that this driver was on his way and hold the ferry for a few minutes if need be.

I've only had Android Auto since last September and never had a satnav before then. I'm only now ditching my maps. I'm a huge fan, but I always check what it's telling me.

 

[IanMK]

Therein lies the cause of many traffic incidents ...e.g. HGVs going down farm tracks etc. People blindly following the satnav rather than engaging their brains and looking at signage.

(I thought I had posted this earlier, but I've found it in my drafts)

I think you misinterpreted my comment (or maybe I used a poor turn of phrase)
What I meant was that I didn't know which towns it was taking me through, not that I wasn't keeping an eye on the signage.
The nice satnav 'lady' gives instructions such as 'take the turn indicated'...a) I don't know where the indication is supposed to be and b) I eventually came to realise she meant that it's the one you're on top of (so too late to take it!). There's a lot to be said for the old school method of checking the map beforehand and memorising the route. What did we do before route planners?!

 

[Rolfe]

Route planners go back a long way. When I was clearing out I found a little bundle of typewritten route plans produced to order by the AA, which my father had requested as a member. I don't know what they cost, or even if you got a certain number free with a membership. I think they were pre-war. Much the same as what you get nowadays from the AA Routefinder app, but they included one that was just a request for a nice drive lasting a certain amount of time in a specified area.

I used to look at the map, memorise the route, and make sure I had a map in the car just in case. I was still doing that when I took Caliban to Sussex last August. It was the demise of my old phone on that trip (while arguing with an Ionity charger) that in due course got me Android Auto and converted me.

 

[AndyL61]

Just tried 'Blyth Bridge' in free Navmii; listed only one in 'Scottish Borders' as an address but listed many locations as places in Northumberland.

I usually check routes on Navmii and Google Maps before using the car's SatNav. Good job because on this trip the car's SatNav last command wanted me to drive through a No Entry sign to get to my destination as opposed to the route the other 2 required.

Blythe Bridge is in Staffordshire close to where I live .

 

[Martinonline]

Am corrected, I did not fully read the list; Navmii reported Blyth in Northumberland.

 

[Rolfe]

There are several places with similar names. My phone was determined to send me to Staffordshire, hundreds of miles away and with a slightly different spelling, rather than to the village about seven miles away. Even when I deliberately found the correct entry in the system, it flipped it to the English address as soon as I said go for it.

Blyth - Northumberland
Blythe Bridge - Staffordshire
Blyth Bridge - Peeblesshire.

 

[kiwi]

With GPS jamming being common place these days (i.e. security and long distance truck drivers) more of the @Rolfe advice will be needed.

There was a recent YouTube video about the problems GNSS jamming is causing to airlines.

 

[KernowTrophy]

I gave up on the built in sat-nav the first time using it. navigating to a surgery some 20 miles away, knew "roughly" how to get there, only tend to use guidance for the last couple of miles or so, BUT, new toy etc, so used it. It had my car on screen in fields for most of the journey, despite the roads being there for the last 50_ years. Switched to Andoid Auto (Waze), if I ever need to use sat nav again, the internal one is very poor.

 

[Walks with Enzo]

I've used the inbuilt one without any issues, its always showed the traffic delays etc
Sat navs do have odd quirks, when I've driven to the French alps for ski holidays, my TomTom insisted on going through Paris instead of the via Reims as it was a few miles shorter.

 

[Jef]

Waze puts Blyth Bridge as first choice, the one in West Linton.... Now who lives near there?

 

[Rolfe]

Waze is a bit smarter than Android Auto in that case.

 

[siteguru]

Waze is just a satnav app, like Google Maps. Android Auto is merely the mechanism for getting the app screen onto your car screen, it's not a satnav app itself.

 

[Rolfe]

Well, Google Maps then. Whatever the default is.