Why Navigation is so lame?

[Peter123]

I have used the Navigation app several times. Actually, Navigation was the main reason I wanted 2.1 so much.

But as it turned out, it is a kind of disappointment: it definitely will get me to my destination but always in a kind of unusual way. It never does neither the fastest nor the shortest routs; it does some kind of unnecessary detours. I don't know why. I experienced this is my town (where I do know my way around) as well as on longer trip.
Anyone ales with such experience?
Or any suggestion for another app for navigation?
Peter

PS>: I believe the Navigation app uses the Google map database. So I asume the Navigation app is calculating the trip in weird way. Maybe there is some other app that uses the GMap differently?

 

[jdailey1981]

I do know the navigator won't take you any place there is no signal. maybe the place you are going may have a dead spot on the way.

 

[Peter123]

I do know the navigator won't take you any place there is no signal. maybe the place you are going may have a dead spot on the way.

It's not a dead spot issue. Even when I do GMap an a PC and I plot it the route from A-to-B, (in my town) it does plot the same roundabout way. It seems. It plots the same route with the phone's Navigator. I think what it does it tries to stay on highways (streets designated with highway numbers.) This in a city can lead to to big detours.

But in inter-city traffic it also acts wierd. I was coming back from NYC to Ithaca. The most straightforward way is to keep on going on 80, etc. Navigator for hours was trying to detour me to take 17 which is a much longer, lower quality way to get to Ithaca.

Peter

 

[cableguynoe]

I do know the navigator won't take you any place there is no signal. maybe the place you are going may have a dead spot on the way.

. I'm pretty sure this is not acurate.
It would be ridiculous if it took signal into account when calculating a route.

A few years ago I drove across the country and went through hours of dead areas in parts of Texas and Oklahoma, i believe. I was using VZ Navigator at the time.
Are you telling me the navigator would route me around those states?

 

[cableguynoe]

But in inter-city traffic it also acts wierd. I was coming back from NYC to Ithaca. The most straightforward way is to keep on going on 80, etc. Navigator for hours was trying to detour me to take 17 which is a much longer, lower quality way to get to Ithaca.

Peter

I have experienced similar issues. MAny times when i am familiar with the first part of my trip, i will ignore the directions and it will keep rerouting.
For example, In a very long road, i prefer to stay on that road. The NAvigator sends me to the freeway, just to later take an exit back onto that road.

I believe that it takes a few different things into account, which might not give you the most simple route you'd expect.
Some of those things might be speed limit allowed on those other roads that the NAvigator prefers.
I have never found it to take me though longer routes... just not the simpler ones.

 

[jdailey1981]

Google & VZ Navigator are different

 

[cableguynoe]

Google & VZ Navigator are different

I know that. But I'm just saying would Google maps navigator send me around states with huge dead spots?

 

[Peter123]

I have experienced similar issues. MAny times when i am familiar with the first part of my trip, i will ignore the directions and it will keep rerouting.
For example, In a very long road, i prefer to stay on that road. The NAvigator sends me to the freeway, just to later take an exit back onto that road.

I believe that it takes a few different things into account, which might not give you the most simple route you'd expect.
Some of those things might be speed limit allowed on those other roads that the NAvigator prefers.
I have never found it to take me though longer routes... just not the simpler ones.

Exactly!

I did compare Navigator with Tom-tom on the same trip. The difference is that Tom-tom might also trying to directly me some other way, but after I refused to take its direction it recalculates and 99% will come up the other (my preferred) way. On the other hand, Navigator will keep insisting at every exit to take it and turn back, almost in a histerical way. It got me so irritated that it turned it off.

How about this Idea: how about a Navivator that will keep telling jokes betwen directions? I think it would be a great seller.....
Peter

 

[tproctor]

I've used Navigator in both times that I've went to Dallas recently and it worked like a charm. It did want me to get on a tollway, but once I passed it, it rerouted to the way that I wanted to go.

 

[Demache]

For the most part, mine works perfectly fine. Though, it has its quirks, but weird routes aren't exclusive to Google Navigator. Our Garmin nuvi sometimes doesn't pick the best route either (it wanted us to take a left on a intersection that your only allowed to go right or straight). GPS can't always pick the best route, because of weird intersections and such that aren't in its database. Its still much better than an old fashioned map.

And yes, the phone pulls route directions from Google Maps. So whatever your route shows on Google Maps, is going to be the route in Navigator.

 

[doogald]

What I really, really like about the phone navigation (compared with a Garmin Nuvi) is that if you miss a turn, it doesn't skip a beat, tell you it's recalculating, and then tell you the next turn - it just tells you the next turn. I like that.

That said, I like my phone's battery to last all day, so I really don't use this much.

 

[thrawn86]

wow, I wasn't aware that anyone didn't love google navi.

if it gives you a bad route...there is a button that allows you to select 4 or 5 different calculated routes, and that whatever route it picks may change based on weather/traffic statsthere are also several options to prefer/avoid highways, interstates, backroads, etc.

either way its definitely going to get you there most definitely. I believe it does cache a certain amount of your trip into memory once you actually begin navigating, since i've gone through deadzones and while my sat layer goes out, the physical map kept going just fine. I think there are also apps that allow you to cache maps to your sdcard for hiking, etc.

 

[pavirotten]

The one time I used Google Navigation to go from my in-laws back to my house, Google directed me down a one lane road that passes through a heavily backwoods area. The road was also congested by residents of that road half parking on the street. It took me an extra 5 minutes from what is normally a 10 minute trip.

However, my wife and I just used it to go from Wheeling, WV, down to my parent's home, just north of Myrtle Beach, SC. Navigation cut off several hours off a normally very grueling trip. It did take us down two-lane roads that I never knew existed. (On some of these roads both in West Virigina and North Carolina, we both swore we heard Dueling Bangos.) Navigation was awesome on this trip, and I plan on using it again when I go back in the near future.

 

[DEinMA]

Does Google Navigator use real time maps? Several times recently, I have noticed it does not know the road configuration, even for roads that have been around "forever". Could this be a poor GPS signal during calculation causing this? I expect these discrepancies in a system that uses DVD maps, or some other kind of stored media, but an app on my phone should be more updated, correct?

My other beef with this app is probably more an indictment of the Eris in that it lags big time. I have other issues, like the voice being silenced unless my car's head unit is in blue tooth audio mode, but I can't blame that on Verizon, Google or Eris.

 

[Snerch]

I have had similar issues with Navigation. Last week I was coming back from Strasburg, PA to NJ and the return route was different from the start compared to the route it gave me on the way there. I thought it was strange that it told me to make a left turn and then immediately said it was rerouting, as if the phone was arguing with itself...

 

[Peter123]

wow, I wasn't aware that anyone didn't love google navi.

if it gives you a bad route...there is a button that allows you to select 4 or 5 different calculated routes, and that whatever route it picks may change based on weather/traffic statsthere are also several options to prefer/avoid highways, interstates, backroads, etc.

either way its definitely going to get you there most definitely. I believe it does cache a certain amount of your trip into memory once you actually begin navigating, since i've gone through deadzones and while my sat layer goes out, the physical map kept going just fine. I think there are also apps that allow you to cache maps to your sdcard for hiking, etc.

thrawn86,
I did not say I don't like it. It is like the wife: I love her, but sometimes she drives me crazy

You say:
>route...there is a button that allows you to select 4 or 5 different calculated routes, ...

whoa, where is that button????
Peter

 

[Demache]

Does Google Navigator use real time maps? Several times recently, I have noticed it does not know the road configuration, even for roads that have been around "forever". Could this be a poor GPS signal during calculation causing this? I expect these discrepancies in a system that uses DVD maps, or some other kind of stored media, but an app on my phone should be more updated, correct?

My other beef with this app is probably more an indictment of the Eris in that it lags big time. I have other issues, like the voice being silenced unless my car's head unit is in blue tooth audio mode, but I can't blame that on Verizon, Google or Eris.

Technically yes they should be up to date. However, Google can only update them so frequently (because the whole world needs to be updated). So newer streets won't show up, which can be a problem if someone lives in a newer housing development. This isn't really a Google problem exclusively though. If the street isn't in the Google Maps database, it simply will not use it, because it doesn't know it exists.

 

[doogald]

Isn't there a message when you launch Navigator that says that this is a beta product?

Yep, I just launched it. "Google Maps Navigation is in beta. Use Caution."

Also,

"Traffic data is not real-time, and directions may be wrong, dangerous, prohibited, or involve ferries. Walking routes may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths."

You had to accept this the first time that you ran the app. That may explain weird routes and directions.

 

[cableguynoe]

thrawn86,
I did not say I don't like it. It is like the wife: I love her, but sometimes she drives me crazy

LMAO.

You say:
>route...there is a button that allows you to select 4 or 5 different calculated routes, ...

whoa, where is that button????
Peter

Only option I found is to avoid highway and avoid tolls. This can be done when the directions first come up, before clicking navigate, or after the navigation kicks in.

 

[manderle]

Unless I'm blind, what I don't like is that I can't go from google maps to the navigator anymore. Can't find a button or command to do it. I swear it used to be there. What I really want is to use the saved MyMaps from Google Maps and have navigator do the directing.

 

[themarshall17]

the button to see calculated routes is in the bottom left corner where it says the number of minutes to your destination - it will zoom out and show you the currently selected route and (slightly faded out) the other available routes which are listed at the top of the screen in boxes - it shows the distance and time of each of these routes. press one to highlight it and then the blue nav arrow to take that route. i have found this especially useful when traffic data shows my route as red. i'm in the seattle area where there are often alternate routes to take

 

[doogald]

Unless I'm blind, what I don't like is that I can't go from google maps to the navigator anymore. Can't find a button or command to do it.

This will work: Menu->Directions. Type in a destination and get directions by tapping Go. The second option on the top of the directions screen is "Navigate".

 

[Hypo Luxa]

I think it takes traffic conditions into account when routing...

 

[OfTheDamned]

Does Google Navigator use real time maps? Several times recently, I have noticed it does not know the road configuration, even for roads that have been around "forever". Could this be a poor GPS signal during calculation causing this? I expect these discrepancies in a system that uses DVD maps, or some other kind of stored media, but an app on my phone should be more updated, correct?

My other beef with this app is probably more an indictment of the Eris in that it lags big time. I have other issues, like the voice being silenced unless my car's head unit is in blue tooth audio mode, but I can't blame that on Verizon, Google or Eris.

It does use the most current information in Google Maps when it is navigating. If you find a discrepancy you can go into Google Maps on a PC and point out the inaccuracy. Make sure you are logged in and find the problem area, then right click on the road, business or street address and you have the option to submit an error. They don't address these immediately, but they do get to them pretty quick. My street was listed wrong and it was corrected 2 weeks after I reported the problem. There is also an option to report problems from maps on the phone, but I've never tried it.

You say:
>route...there is a button that allows you to select 4 or 5 different calculated routes, ...

whoa, where is that button????
Peter

Only option I found is to avoid highway and avoid tolls. This can be done when the directions first come up, before clicking navigate, or after the navigation kicks in.

When you are in navigation press the menu button and select Route Info. This will bring up an overview of the route with traffic indication. There are a few options from there that will (Left to right) return you to navigation, select options to avoid tolls or highways, select alternate routes or view the written route info. The alternate route view will allow you to change the predetermined route.

Unless I'm blind, what I don't like is that I can't go from google maps to the navigator anymore. Can't find a button or command to do it. I swear it used to be there. What I really want is to use the saved MyMaps from Google Maps and have navigator do the directing.

In Maps, go to Menu > More > Labs and choose Bubble Buttons (a check mark should appear after selected. Once you do this, any destination you select or search for in Maps will have a gray bubble show up above it with the name (I know it does that normally, just wait there is more). On either side of the bubble will be a phone icon and a navigator icon. Press the navigator icon and it will launch navigator and route you. It is the best way to use the two of them together, IMHO.

I think it takes traffic conditions into account when routing...

I wish it did, but I don't think it does. It tries its damnedest to stick me in the middle of rush out traffic daily.




The real reason I think that navigator provides some of the really odd ball directions that they do has to do with advertising. Google is a search engine, first and foremost, and they make their money off of advertising. Products like maps, navigator, voice, etc. are all designed to further their advertising. I could be wrong, but I think they actually try to route you past businesses, especially the ones that pay them for advertising.

 

[Gato]

What I like most about it? It's free.


I have used it many times and the only issue I have had is that my phone freaks out when I'm in Navigator and I get an incoming call. Other than that there is very little for me to complain about for a pretty damn good free app.