Nav Map updates

[FordIVTteam]

Have you actually tried that web site to report a map error ?

 

If not, I encourage you to actually try it yourself.........and then come back here and repeat your recommendation again.

 

I found it to be totally useless. And that doesn't mean that I didn't like it, I could not see how people with our nav systems could even use it to report anything.

 

You must first sign in/create an account. Once you’re logged in, type a location in the search bar (upper left corner). Use the + and – signs to zoom in/out of the map. I don’t believe the map can be edited until you are zoomed in very close. Right click the area that is being edited and click REPORT MAP CHANGES. From there, you can select which type of change you’d like to make.

 

If you need assistance reporting a specific change, let me know. I’ll do my best to help out.

 

Kim

[nv rick]

A question from a 2014 MKZ owner: When did version A5 come out? We purchased our car in July '14 and it came with A4. Should we have gotten A5?

[larrylwill]

I updated google maps because my house was off by by about 2 miles. I just emailed google with the link where I marked the proper location and told them it was wrong and whiten 2 weeks its spot on top of my house. No muss no fuss and I didn't have to join anything.

[Easy Rider]

The POI's are another story, if you look at portables you will find from 1.5 - 12 million POI's for the US. I have not been able to find how many Ford has I would bet its on the lower side by a large margin.

Nothing is ever perfect and all GPS maps have "problems".

I'd rather have quality rather than quantity with POIs.

 

They arrive at those outrageously high numbers by blindly mass importing things like the Dunn and Bradstreet US business directory.

To keep solicitors and junk mail away from their business, some of them list the owners home address or a vacant lot.

That makes for some very frustrating POI searches.

 

Having said that, I'm not sure that the Ford product has quality OR quantity.

In A4, the only listing I could find for Sea World took me to the middle of OIA (airport). That has been fixed in A5.

[Easy Rider]

 

If you need assistance reporting a specific change, let me know. I’ll do my best to help out.

 

OK, fair enough. I may not have given it a fair chance. ;)

 

Some of the things I want to report, however, are things that fit a pattern and are treated wrong in a LOT of places.......I assume all over the country. For instance, at some but not all toll booths it says "keep left" when there really is no routing reason for saying that AND it is bad advice for those who need to actually pay the toll.

 

The other one is on relatively new roads that have been recently expanded to 4 lanes.....with "future" left turn lanes created.

Every one of those left turn lanes are classified as a routing alternative when they are not and the instruction says "keep right on the current road" when NOTHING should be said. Many of the "future" turn lanes go nowhere. Even it they DID, a left turn lane is NOT a routing alternative and the GPS should be silent.

 

In both of these cases, the actual map appears to be correct but how it is interpreted is wrong for some reason.

 

For me to report these errors do ***I*** have to try and find each occurrence and specify each one for a correction ??

I certainly hope not ........and I fear that a phone call to them would not put me in contact with anyone who would even be able to understand the problem, much less start anything in motion to actually fix it.

[hybridbear]

They arrive at those outrageously high numbers by blindly mass importing things like the Dunn and Bradstreet US business directory.

To keep solicitors and junk mail away from their business, some of them list the owners home address or a vacant lot.

That makes for some very frustrating POI searches.

Lol we had this happen once using nav in Canada. We wanted to go to Tim Horton's so we pulled up the list on the nav screen & picked the closest one. It guided us to a house in a residential neighborhood. We wondered why that would show up in the Ford nav database as a Tim Horton's. Thanks for explaining how things like that happen.

[FordIVTteam]

A question from a 2014 MKZ owner: When did version A5 come out? We purchased our car in July '14 and it came with A4. Should we have gotten A5?

 

Hey nv rick,

 

The A5 card was not officially being installed in all new vehicles until October, when it was released at: www.Navigation.com It sounds like your vehicle came equipped with the correct navigation card, but you can certainly check with the dealership that you purchased the vehicle from to make sure. It can't hurt! :)

 

 

OK, fair enough. I may not have given it a fair chance. ;)

 

Some of the things I want to report, however, are things that fit a pattern and are treated wrong in a LOT of places.......I assume all over the country. For instance, at some but not all toll booths it says "keep left" when there really is no routing reason for saying that AND it is bad advice for those who need to actually pay the toll.

 

The other one is on relatively new roads that have been recently expanded to 4 lanes.....with "future" left turn lanes created.

Every one of those left turn lanes are classified as a routing alternative when they are not and the instruction says "keep right on the current road" when NOTHING should be said. Many of the "future" turn lanes go nowhere. Even it they DID, a left turn lane is NOT a routing alternative and the GPS should be silent.

 

In both of these cases, the actual map appears to be correct but how it is interpreted is wrong for some reason.

 

For me to report these errors do ***I*** have to try and find each occurrence and specify each one for a correction ??

I certainly hope not ........and I fear that a phone call to them would not put me in contact with anyone who would even be able to understand the problem, much less start anything in motion to actually fix it.

I completely understand where you're coming from. It is not your duty to go in and find errors within the maps on that website. This website is available for you to report map errors if you do happen to notice them.

 

If something is a reoccurring issue, add that in the description section when you're reporting a change (the website encourages you to add lots of detail). You have the option of reporting changes to a road, place, address, or imagery. From what you're describing, I recommend reporting these as a road change. This is the best website I am able to offer for reporting map changes. If the website doesn't give you the option to report exactly what you want to report, reach out to the HERE support team at: 1-888-628-6277.

 

Kim

[TonyHzNV]

Dear IVT folks: if the A5 card wasn't released until October (14), why is the current map update SD card for sale on Navigation.com version A6 already? That sounds like a pretty short life for version A5 considering each of these updates cost $149.00. I also bought my 2014 FFH SE on July 3, 2014 and it came with an A4 card. That can't be right if A6 is shipping in January (from the website). You do, however get free shipping if ordering before Dec 31. What a deal!

Edited December 23, 2014 by TonyHzNV

[larrylwill]

Well looking at the history I bought mine car in Mar 2014 I beleive and the A4 card was releised around Mar 2013, so my Nav was already a year old, then they released the A5 card in Oct, Now you say the A6 card is out now. I would say that they are just gready and hoping you bought an A5 card and will spring for another one at $150. If they were a decent company then they would give the people that bought the A5 card an A6 card for free. Otherwise, their just ripping us off.

[TonyHzNV]

I agree with the greed part. I have attached a file with a screenshot of the navigation.com web page with the maps listed on it. I arrived at this page after selecting 2014 Fusion for my vehicle and then clicking on "Continue". This screenshot was taken at approx. 9:45 PM on 12/22/14 just so you know. Like some of the others mentioned before, I opted to purchase an A5 card on eBay for $55.00 with free shipping. There aren't any A6 cards on eBay yet. At these prices, I think I'll just stay a step behind and wait until there's an A6 card on eBay. If you click on the name of the map on Navigation.com, you will see this (along with other details about the new map): Order today and your map update will ship in January. Shipping is FREE* on orders placed through December 31, 2014.

 

As others have also mentioned, you can get a standalone GPS with lifetime map updates for about $100 and you get at least 4 map updates a year. Why can't they just be a little more reasonable for the maps for built in systems?

Fusion Map Update Screen.pdf

Edited December 23, 2014 by TonyHzNV

[larrylwill]

As noted GREED, its the American way.

Edited December 23, 2014 by larrylwill

[jeff_h]

Well looking at the history I bought mine car in Mar 2014 I beleive and the A4 card was releised around Mar 2013

 

Maybe that date was for separate purchase? I bought my 2013 FFH in January 2013 and part of the salesman giving me the delivery tour was to take the A4 card from the package and show me where it gets installed in the console, so not sure when the A4 started but my guess and only a guess is that it was the second half of 2012 when the 2013 Fusion/Focus/etc were built?

 

Anyway, I bought one A5 and found that the map data wasn't really updated over the A4, hoping that the A6 will be an improvement.

[Waldo]

So what is the difference between corporate GREED (trying to make a profit) and consumer GREED (trying to get the best deal by buying bootleg, potentially illegal copies on ebay)??

 

What should Ford have done? Obviously the A5 was released a bit late for some unknown reason, so should they have just not released it at all and waited for the A6? Then all those people that bought cars that came with the A5 would have only had an A4 and had older maps. Now the A6 is available, should Ford hold it back so that those who just bought an A5 won't be pissed off?

 

I mean there is one day when a new update card is available. Anybody who bought a card the day before that will feel screwed. How could a company do this any differently?

[larrylwill]

release themin a timley manor and give the first update free like all the stand alones. In the old days before they started offering free updates the first update was free.

Now you cab buy a 7" with free updates for $250. If I can find a place for it, I will get one.

Why should a car gps cost $800 and $150 for map updates that have no release schedule and a stand alond 1" smaller cost $250 and be far suoperior the 7" one with 4 map updates per year. What else can you call it?

[Waldo]

release themin a timley manor and give the first update free like all the stand alones. In the old days before they started offering free updates the first update was free.

Now you cab buy a 7" with free updates for $250. If I can find a place for it, I will get one.

Why should a car gps cost $800 and $150 for map updates that have no release schedule and a stand alond 1" smaller cost $250 and be far suoperior the 7" one with 4 map updates per year. What else can you call it?

 

Business. As I've said before, Ford and Garmin don't operate on the same business model. Ford uses Navigation system sale profits to offset the losses they incur on all the mandated emissions equipment that customers don't want to pay for.

 

If you don't like Ford's business model, vote with your dollars. That's the only way things will change.

[Easy Rider]

So what is the difference between corporate GREED (trying to make a profit) and consumer GREED (trying to get the best deal by buying bootleg, potentially illegal copies on ebay)??

 

I mean there is one day when a new update card is available. Anybody who bought a card the day before that will feel screwed. How could a company do this any differently?

Seriously ??

This really isn't that hard.

 

The Corporation always has the upper hand. There are laws against "price gouging" when a company has a captive market or almost so.

I see this as a clear case of price gouging on the part of Ford or the nav company or both.

 

And as for version updates, simply stop making the current version available for upgrades a couple of months before a new version comes out. Easy. Fair to the customers. Whatever revenue that is lost is "blood money" anyway.

 

Now having said all of that........this problem is not limited to Ford.

It appears that updates to the OEM GPS in current Toyota models is $175.

Even more ridiculous.

[Waldo]

 

I see this as a clear case of price gouging on the part of Ford or the nav company or both.

 

 

How can you state that when you don't know the costs involved to produce and distribute the cards?

[larrylwill]

Since the car has wifi, it should cost the same as the Free map updates my garmen uses. card not needed.

[Waldo]

Since the car has wifi, it should cost the same as the Free map updates my garmen uses. card not needed.

 

The Energi is the only Ford that has wifi, do you really think it makes sense to develop an entirely new system just for the Energi?

 

If you're only seeing a $2 SD card with some data on it as the entire cost, then you're missing the point. Generating the data and formatting it in the way required for Ford's system has a cost.

 

But again, go to business school and learn about cost-based pricing vs demand based pricing. Just because you can make something cheap doesn't mean you have to sell it cheap. Ford's making some good money these days, but still under a 10% margin, which is reasonable and far from what I'd consider "gouging".

[TonyHzNV]

Just FYI, the card I ordered on eBay is an original, sealed package just like the one you would get from Nav.com for $150. It's not an illegal or bootleg copy as Waldo implied. Just sayin'!

[larrylwill]

Well unless they are joking my 2014 Fusion Hybrid has wifi.

[larrylwill]

Just how much cost is applicaple to run some data throgh a program. You do it every day with your PC.

 

Edited December 23, 2014 by larrylwill

[corncobs]

Just FYI, the card I ordered on eBay is an original, sealed package just like the one you would get from Nav.com for $150. It's not an illegal or bootleg copy as Waldo implied. Just sayin'!

Well they make way more expensive stuff in copy and even the original manufacturer has a hard time telling the difference except for the price.

Making the package appear to be original is the easiest part of the whole process.

 

The SD cards are most likely "lower" consumer grade versions where the original cards are industrial grade which makes the 3x more expensive.

Edited December 23, 2014 by corncobs

[corncobs]

Well unless they are joking my 2014 Fusion Hybrid has wifi.

I'm still looking for a practical use for the built in WiFi system. If it could be used to install the updates or download new music to the SD card that would be something.

[GrySql]

I'm still looking for a practical use for the built in WiFi system. If it could be used to install the updates or download new music to the SD card that would be something.

I've had it connected to my home network and a store in a Mall while sitting in the parking lot. Getting a secure connection for downloads to your car might be the issue. Imagine letting a hacker into the data stream to your car, the possibilities are endless.

 

The Sync system uses your cell phone for transmitting VHR's, Ford doesn't trust the wireless too much. (The Energi has it own way of transmitting to Ford and it's not wireless)