Route Calculating City Navigator

[Phillip Coetser]

Coming back to the original point of discussion, I wonder how end users in Europe experience their route calculations with CN maps, would they have the same problems as us?. Maybe our European forum members can enlighten us on this subject. A question, does anybody have T4A maps, if so, how does T4A maps compare to SSA 2013. Is this map set on sd card, compatible with any Garmin unit, and not bound by unit i.d. as Garmin maps? Help will be appreciated.

[Jan Horn]

The problem is no international classification/route naming convention exits. In South Africa we use N for national roads R for major roads and S for secondary roads (mostly unpaved) and we also have unclassified unpaved roads and tracks. The "correct" classification of all roads plays a major roll in how the GPS will calculate the route to your destination taking in consideration the preferences and avoidance you have sett. The major advantage of the "previous" maps were that they were, from the outset, produced locally and adjustments could be made to the data so that GPSr's could read the correct intended classification in order to calculate the best route for your settings.

[fugglefeet]

A question, does anybody have T4A maps, if so, how does T4A maps compare to SSA 2013. Is this map set on sd card, compatible with any Garmin unit, and not bound by unit i.d. as Garmin maps? Help will be appreciated.

Hi Phillip,

The T4A maps is sold on a SD card that fits into the GPSr and doesn't require any form of activation. The T4A maps are primarily for 4x4 adventurers and covers a variety of countries where off-road adventures is the main focus of the mapset. The two mapsets cannot be accurately compared, due to the SSA 2013 being designed for use with On-The-Go Garmins that can also use the T4A maps, and the SSA2013 information is based on and adapted from the data supplied by TomTom. The T4A maps originated as a collection of data for 4x4 adventurers, that eventually became big enough for a commercially viable entity on its own. The SSA 2013 will give better on road coverage and the T4A will give better off-road coverage. I have personally managed to get the T4A working on a Nuvi 200 for my brother-in-law with the then SSA mapsets without any problems. The only problem he had was when he forgot that he had enabled the Unlock Mode on his unit and frantically phoned me to say the GPSr was prompting for an unlock code, thinking it was for the maps that were installed on his unit. He used the GPSr on a off-road holiday and was delighted with the accuracy of the T4A maps.

Darryl

[fugglefeet]

The major advantage of the "previous" maps were that they were, from the outset, produced locally and adjustments could be made to the data so that GPSr's could read the correct intended classification in order to calculate the best route for your settings.

Further to what Jan has said here, this kind of route classification is key critical for correct route calculation. Incorrect route classification can lead to incorrect route calculation, with the ill-fated side-effects of people describing horror tales of 900km journeys that are in essence just around the bend. Always err on the right side and go with your common sense. If your common sense says there is something wrong with the route calculation, follow your common sense and verify it by means of other available information (paper maps, Google Earth or Google Maps).

Darryl

[Phillip Coetser]

Thanks Darryl, for the T4A information.

[Jan Horn]

I have T4A on a SD card loaded on my Nuvi 52. One thing to remember specifically when you have T4A on your GPS in combination with other maps is not to have 2 map sets active at the same time. I once switched to T4A and then when I switched back to CN I somehow managed not to un-tick T4A and if you think CN in some cases can render weird route calculations you should try this as a combination. The License of Maps bought on SD card (Garmap, CN or T4A) have the license to use them coupled to the SD card and is not licensed for a specific GPS. You are free to swop the card around between various units.

[Phillip Coetser]

Thanks for the information Jan, but I was thinking, at the time, to buy the T4A sd card, and use that as an alternative to CN maps, but Darryl stopped me in my tracks , as he explained that T4A is for off road use, mainly. I had SSA 2012.1 mapset on my old Nuvi 205w, but I've given that Gps'r to my son, so I don't know if SSA 2013 final edition is still available on sd card.

[Jan Horn]

It is still available for downloading. I updated a Nuvi1300 less than a week ago. I will see what I can find out about the availability on SD card.

[Phillip Coetser]

Hi Jan, thanks for the reply. I contacted Outdoor Warehouse, yesterday, and they don't stock SSA 2013 sd cards anymore, will however install SSA 2013 mapset on my unit at a cost of R999.00. Will try Navworld and see if they still stock sd cards.

[Jan Horn]

I could not find any mention of the SD card version on their website