Navigation Oddity

[Sagitar]

I have recently done a map update on my PiP. The new map was downloaded from the Toyota Portal onto a USB memory stick and from that into the car. It worked well. The download from the Toyota site was slow (something like 30 minutes) but it is a big file - 7.4 gb from memory, covering the whole of Europe. I think the read/write speed of the USB memory stick may be the critical factor. I used a 16 gb Kingston Data Traveler G4. It updated Grace Note and the device software at the same time.

I have used the map several times since without any problems.

This morning however it went a bit bonkers. I needed to visit two suppliers of window blinds. The first of them is on the side of the main road along which I drive into Bedford and I drove to it without needing any assistance from the satnav. The second was less than two miles from the first, but in the middle of sizeable industrial estate that I have never visited. So I decided to set the satnav and put in the postcode for the required destination.

When the calculation was completed and the route display showed, the system appeared to think that my car was somewhere on the other side of Cambridge and showed a route of more than 50 miles from the "ghost" location to the required destination. It was obviously wrong so I reset it and it did exactly the same again. This time I turned off the car, restarted it and then re-set the satnav. It did the same again.

Now I figured it must be some aspect of the location at which I was parked that was creating false information so I decided to drive on, on the assumption that the navigation would recalculate when we got away from the location that was causing the problem. It did indeed reset once we were in motion, but it failed miserably to take me to the required destination.

Having found the destination using my limited knowledge of the area and having completed my transaction, I set a third destination and now the satnav worked perfectly, as it did when I eventually set it to go home.

I still cannot figure what happened.

I shall have to go back in a few days to pick up the stuff that I ordered and it will be interesting to see what happens . . . . .

[sanzomat]

I had something similar with mine (Prius+ with TnG plus). I've not attempted to update the maps so its still on the one it came with in July 13. I set a destination whilst parked on my driveway, as I'd done many times before. Once the route had calculated the display was showing my current location as a place about 8 miles to the east of my current location. I started driving as I know the way to the M5 and knew I was going north as I assumed it was maybe having trouble finding satellites or such like so thought it would get a better signal once on the move. The current position marker moved as I moved, following the direction I was travelling but showed me driving along a road that I know is about 8 miles east of where I was. Occasionally, when the road I was on wasn't going in the same direction as the one it thought I was on it would show me going across fields etc. until it found another road to jump to. It stayed like this all the way to, and onto the motorway. I tried switching the system off and on again using the audio power button but no change. Eventually I stopped in a services and turned off the whole car. On re-starting the whole car it returned to working normally again and hasn't done this again since. Never got to the bototm of it and as its been fine since I've just put it down to it having a funny spell.

[Sagitar]

Sounds very similar. I have used mine several times since without any problems. I think perhaps I should have driven to a different location before resetting, but I don't really know. If it happens again, that is what I will try.

Software sometimes has a mind of its own . . . . . .

[RunningInPleasePass]

Mine has done something similar, the car was warning me about speed camera's where I knew non existed, turned satnav screen on and it showed me driving about 10 miles from my actual position, even driving across open countryside at some points, when I got to the motorway it seemed to sort itself out and show the correct location.

When it happened I was driving through a very heavy downpour so I wonder if this effected it's ability to find the correct location?

[kithmo]

Sanzomat, it looks like you may have just missed the last update, July 2013, is the speed limit indicator at the top (previous version) of the screen or the bottom (latest update) ?

My NAV was playing up before the update, whenever I parked up perpendicular to my approach to the parking space, the arrow always pointed in the direction I had approached, i.e. didn't turn as I reversed or drove in to the space. I put it down to not finding enough satellites, but after the update it worked fine.

It still sends me down some very tight B roads if I select shortest route and is not up to date on no entry roads and no left/right turn junctions.

[PeteB]

...

When it happened I was driving through a very heavy downpour so I wonder if this effected it's ability to find the correct location?

Atmospheric conditions certainly affect reception of the incredibly weak satellite signals (as can trees, buildings, and layers of different temperature air [just like TV signals]). Very heavy rain makes the atmosphere denser and weakens an already low power signal.

[sanzomat]

Sanzomat, it looks like you may have just missed the last update, July 2013, is the speed limit indicator at the top (previous version) of the screen or the bottom (latest update) ?

My NAV was playing up before the update, whenever I parked up perpendicular to my approach to the parking space, the arrow always pointed in the direction I had approached, i.e. didn't turn as I reversed or drove in to the space. I put it down to not finding enough satellites, but after the update it worked fine.

It still sends me down some very tight B roads if I select shortest route and is not up to date on no entry roads and no left/right turn junctions.

Speed limit is shown on the bottom right of the screen so hopefully this means I'm on the current version. There are some speed limits that changed around five years ago that still show the old limit though!

[Sagitar]

I had to go back to the blind company today, so I tried their address again. Once more the device plotted a route going close to Havering and requiring a trip of about 56 miles to get to the company (which is only about 6 miles from my home).

I did a map update through the Portal a few days ago and now have Software version 2.8.4aH with map ID EUH 20130409.

If anyone who has Touch and Go plus and this map version would like to try the address and see what happens it is:-

4 Sunbeam Rd, Kempston, Bedford, MK42 7BY.

I have tried it numerous times and always get the same result. It would be interesting to get a result from someone elses car to see whether it is a system fault or whether the version that I have loaded is corrupted. I have written to Toyota, but I would be very grateful if anyone else could give it a try.

Apart from this single obvious error, I am concerned that the device may produce other similar errors in circumstances where I am less knowledgeable about the geography of a location and may therefore get into significant difficulty.

[Sagitar]

I'm pleased to say that Toyota staff have already responded with a request for more data.

[PeteB]

Hi Chris

As luck would have it I'm driving from the Norfolk coast to Kempston tomorrow, to an address a couple of miles from Sunbeam Road.

I have the latest map version in my Prius, so I'll program it in when I stop for breakfast.

I'll be home very late tomorrow, so probably won't report back until Saturday.

[Sagitar]

Thanks Pete it could be very helpful.

Toyota staff asked me to enter the destination then take a photograph of the overview screen with the route etc showing.

Here is the image that I took and sent to them.

You can see the arrow head marking the position at which I entered the data and the chequered flag marking the destination that I entered. They are about 6 miles apart. But then the route plotted by the device goes wandering off some 50 miles to the east .

[timberwolf]

What are the warning triangles on the map? If they are markers to avoid certain roads, it looks possible that they have been set for a number of the brown roads to the destination - it would depend how the flagging system worked, but it may be blocking the entire road rather than just a little segment of that road...

[Sagitar]

Thanks for the comments.

The red triangles are TMC (Traffic Management Channel) icons. They show the points where the TMC is reporting traffic holdups etc. They are not acted upon automatically by the navigation system, and in any case the nearest one was about 8 miles away from the route that I required. If one of the warning icons was on the route that I wanted I understand (but I have never done it) that I can call up a route list and instruct the navigation system to plot a detour around the location of the warning.

The "Avoid" options that can be set are for "Motorways", "Toll roads", "Tunnels" and "Ferries/car trains". We don't have any of those between here and Bedford, but in any case none of the options was set.

It's difficult to see how any issue of that kind would cause the system to set up a route that terminated about 50 miles away from the destination that I had set. I am convinced at present that there is a serious software problem.

[timberwolf]

That's a pity it wasn't something simple, but I can't say that I am entirely surprised.

When I first got my Gen 2, I reckoned the routing quality felt like going back to the IBM PC auto-routing programs that you go buy for the PC probably from the early nineties. It was a huge disappointment and a step backward compared to Garmin, Tom Tom or even Google. Unfortunately, it mostly fell on deaf ears in this forum, and a vocal minority, who I might add had never owned a best in class portable GPS device, defended the £2000 poor excuse for a Sat-Nav system selected by Toyota.

Even Apple, under-estimated just how difficult it was to write good mapping software e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19659736

[PeteB]

Hi Chris

Well, I did the experiment, and it worked fine - I tried it from a layby on the A11 west of Attleborough, and also from the swimming pool at Kempston, about 2 miles away.

However, although the portal says I have the latest version of everything, it's all older than yours, so I wonder if the PIP has a different version to the Prius ordinaire?

Your version: 2.8.4aH map ID EUH 20130409

My version: 2.7.4H map ID EUH 20121019

[Sagitar]

Thanks Pete - you did far more than I could have hoped for.

I have just checked the Touch and Go toolbox and the new map download is still showing for me, but it will not let me load it again - telling me politely that it is already installed. The system software update happened while I was doing the map update, so maybe the two are linked in some way. Do you have Touch and Go Plus? I think there is some map maintenance included in the deal that may not be there in Touch and Go.

It now looks as though the fault is in the new map download. I will tell Toyota about the difference that you have found and see what they have to say.

Thanks again for your help.

[PeteB]

You're welcome Chris

Yes, it is T&G Plus - I think Touch & Go doesn't have the SatNav.

Regards, Pete

[PeteB]

For the record, Toolbox says I updated my maps on 2/10/12 & 22/3/13 and that I'm currently up to date.

I seem to get system software updates more frequently but they're not listed in the log.

[kithmo]

My map is version: 2.7.4H map ID EUH 20121019 on the Prius+ with T&G plus and it is showing as the latest update for the Prius+ on the Toyota Portal, so it looks like version: 2.8.4aH might be a spurious one. Is you T&G the Pro version Sagitar ?

[Sagitar]

My map is version: 2.7.4H map ID EUH 20121019 on the Prius+ with T&G plus and it is showing as the latest update for the Prius+ on the Toyota Portal, so it looks like version: 2.8.4aH might be a spurious one. Is you T&G the Pro version Sagitar ?

I have T&G Plus.

T&G Toolbox invited me to download a free update of the European map and I did. As I said above I now have map ID EUH 20130409 which would appear to be some six months later than yours. At the same time as the map was being updated, the Portal also updated the device Software to version 2.8.4aH.

I noticed that this version of the software is also mentioned on the Toyota Blog where a Toyota staffer quotes it as being the latest version, so I doubt it is spurious.

Perhaps the Portal Toolbox shows differing information depending upon the specific vehicle that is registered?

[kithmo]

I think that is the case, specific versions for specific vehicles.

[kithmo]

Scrub that I just checked again (last time was Xmas) and it's now showing your version as the latest available for the Prius+

I'm partway through downloading it onto the USB but I don't know if I dare update it onto the car in view of your problems.

[Razaco]

Can i upgrade software myself of my prius 2011 tspirit,and get cameras ,plz tell me how to do that,and how to update my map

Thanks

[Sagitar]

I had an email from Toyota today saying that there is a software upgrade that will solve my problem, but it needs to be uploaded at my dealer. I will take the car in as soon as I get the nod and I will let you know what happens.

[kithmo]

.............................

I'm partway through downloading it onto the USB but I don't know if I dare update it onto the car in view of your problems.

I bit the bullet and updated the car, no problems so far. What I have noticed is she now tells me the actual speed limit if I drift over it instead of berating me by telling me I'm exceeding it.