Need Help in Correcting Interstate on Map

[Rochester]

I've figured out to do some correction on my TomTom, but there one thing that bothers me that I can't seem to figure out how to fix.

Here is one example of what I can't fix:

the 390 runs North and South, and the 490 cuts through the middle of it running West and East.
now, the TomTom considers the 390 on the North Side of the 490 one highway and the 390 on the South side of the 490 a different highway.

So, when my trip involves staying on the 390 for about 15 miles, it breaks it up to 2 different amounts. First miles given will only be to the 490 exits, then it will show the miles left after I pass the 490. My trip doesn't involve the 490, so the total miles on the 390 should be shown from the beginning.

I hope I'm explaining this enough for some to help me and tell me how to fix this, as I've noticed this sort of issue a few times on different highways.

It bothers me cause I type in the address and I don't know till I get to the other highway if I'm going to be going on the other highway or staying on the same highway I'm on.

 

[canderson]

The portion of 390 you describe north of I-490 isn't a US Interstate highway, and therefore IS a different highway than the portion of 390 south of I-490 which is an interstate highway. That they conveniently kept the same number for both segments is solely a local convenience. North is NY390, south is I-390.

The same is true for 590 on the east side of town.

 

[Rochester]

Well, is there anyway I, or TomTom can fix this,
cause I'm local and it would be a convenience for me while using my TomTom to know when and where I'm getting off the 390 as soon as I get on it, instead of when I get near the 490.
Your answer only gave an explanation why it's that way.
My question was how can I fix something like this??

I don't recall having this issue with my old Garmin, I'll have to get it back out and see what it does.

 

[canderson]

There is nothing you can fix, nor is there anything TomTom should fix.

What you are seeing is the distance to the next change from the road you are on to the road you WILL be on, even if there's really no decision to be made to make that happen.

If the road north of I-490 was called 42 instead of 390, you'd see exactly the same thing - the distance to I-390 where the road number you will travel changes. What is bothering you is that you see "390" and "390" (instead of something like "42" and "390"), and they're not the same thing .. it's NY390 and I-390, and the TomTom map knows that.

You can always select the detailed report of your route (in several forms) during your trip if need be. Click on the lower right corner of the screen.

 

[Rochester]

Even back in the 70's when the 390 ended at Rt104/West Ridge Road, the area of the road north and south of the 490 was called the 390, by the locals, by road signs on that road, by the media, by even the news stations. I've never heart it called anything else, and all the exit number are in chronological order as if its the same road.

I'm sure that Garmin maps consider it the same highway.
TomTom should fix it or somehow allow users to fix it on their own TomTom.
I don't believe any travels using the TomTom care if the road is a 390 Interstate Highway or a 390 Highway.

Matter a fact TomTom was calling part of the 390 as the "Rochester Outer Loop".
Now we do have a road called the inner-loop, but there is Nothing called the "Outer-Loop" in or around Rochester.

Maybe me next GPS will be another Garmin.

 

[canderson]

If the Garmin maps consider NY390 the same as I-390, then they've missed something there. Would you like TomTom to rename NY390 to I-390, or rename I-390 to NY390? Not that either would be correct, of course...

 

[Rochester]

Neither would be correct by who's standards??

I guess if I was an employee of the NYSDOT, I might need to know which part of the 390 is the interstate or not, but if I was an employee of the NYSDOT you'd think I would know that with-out depending on TomTom to tell me.

I can assure you that all in the Rochester area that use TomTom's consider the whole 390 as the 390, the same road, and find it stupid for TomTom to say other wise while giving directions.

Now if TomTom says they are correct by calling our 390 two different roads, one being the locally unheard of "Outer Loop", and everyone in Rochester are wrong, that's fine.

But If I can change the name of any road on my personal TomTom for my own use, you'd think there would be a way for me to make the 390 one road with one name.

 

[canderson]

By any standards. The interstate system is what it is, and when building maps, you don't go calling non-interstate roads interstates, nor do you remove the interstate designation from an interstate. Any driver there will know what part is an interstate if for no other reason than the signage says so!

The roads are as different as 42 is from 99. The shared 390 number, again, is no more than a local convenience - a pretty nifty one, I'll grant you, but that's all it is. Watch closely on the unit that the road and exit signage also changes from the circle style of a state or local highway to an interstate symbol when you cross I-490 to the south. Any time your route takes you from one road to another, you'll see the transition that is bothering you.

Further examples ... more common on the east coast, but also found where adjacent towns have merge together, are points where a continuing road changes from one name to another. Of interest, we have one of those in my local area where the street name changes at the city limits as you move from the road naming of one city to the county which uses the numbering/naming of another city. Is it the same continuous piece of pavement? But the name changes. I don't know what else to tell you. NY390 isn't Interstate 390. Different agency, different (but very similar) naming. Would you have felt the same if the north part were called NY260?

We have some roads here in the Denver area that form a loop as well, but while part of it is federal interstate, part of it was built by Colorado and so does not carry an "I" designation, and they are all 'versions' of I-70 of one number or another. Each piece is a distinct road numbered X70. Each is unique on any map you would pick up, or the internal map of a TomTom.

 

[Rochester]

First of I want to point out that you avoided the main question here over and over.
On my TomTom, I can change the name of the road to ANYTHING I want.
Is there any way on my TomTom that I can make this work the way I want it, so when I get on the 390 it will tell me my next exit regardless if it's at the 490 or after it?

Now you wanna go on and on about one 390 being an interstate and another not being an interstate, even tho they are the same road, whatever dude.
You talk about "By any standards", but it's not by MY standards, and it is MY TomTom and I'd think TomTom wants to keep me happy not the DOT.

If you wanna go on about being correct when building a map, how come some addresses on TomTom say they are in one Town, when the homeowner pays taxes for that property to a different town?? What standard does the TomTom map maker go with now, the MAPS of Town and Counties, or the United States Post Office??

 

[canderson]

You can change the name to anything you want. Your TomTom will STILL see these two roads as two unique roads no matter what you call them -- it will not conjoin them for you into a single road just because you rename one of them -- so calling either of them anything different than what they are with the MapShare correction feature won't change a thing. They will remain distinct roads within the map data no matter what you call them. All that will change is the name that appears on the screen.

(continued, next page)

 

[canderson]

If you wanna go on about being correct when building a map, how come some addresses on TomTom say they are in one Town, when the homeowner pays taxes for that property to a different town?? What standard does the TomTom map maker go with now, the MAPS of Town and Counties, or the United States Post Office??

I didn't ever claim that their maps are 100% correct, only that in this case, they're spot on. It just doesn't suit your preference in this particular case.

If we disregard the issue of taxing authorities for a moment (the mess begins at what NY State calls the "Village" level), we could ask whether TomTom uses the incorporated boundaries of a city or a city name from the post office mailing address for address purposes... which is another question altogether, and produces some interesting answers. Nearly always, it is necessary to enter the correct name of the incorporated city/town.

For example in the Tri-Cities area, you cannot enter Binghamton NY or Johnson City and ask for 800 Oak Hill Avenue. You must ask for Endicott to bring up 800 Oak Hill Avenue (or anywhere on that street, for that matter).

However, if you ask by name for an unincorporated town which by definition has no legal boundaries, you will often be offered streets in any nearby incorporated area as well if it is close enough. There are some interesting rules in play in the software.

 

[Rochester]

"""""You can change the name to anything you want. Your TomTom will STILL see these two roads as two unique roads no matter what you call them -- it will not conjoin them for you into a single road just because you rename one of them -- so calling either of them anything different than what they are with the MapShare correction feature won't change a thing. They will remain distinct roads within the map data no matter what you call them. All that will change is the name that appears on the screen.""""

Hey, you can answer a question!!! Congratulations!!
Thank you so much.
I thought I was going to have to talk to you forever, as no-one else seemed to be jumping in to help.

PS- My original question never said anyone or anything was correct or not correct.
I simply pointed out something that brothers me, and asked if there was anyway to make it the way I want it.
People that are using TomTom's don't really care who owns the public roads, nor are they interested in the DOT or the USPS way of operating. When we get on a straight road, we would like to know when and where we get off or turn off the straight road.

Have a good day sir.

 

[canderson]

Guess I didn't realize that you didn't already know that you can't add roads with MapShare, and you can't force a map's road segments to be combined or separated, no matter what the reason.

 

[dhn]

And such a gracious member ..........

 

[canderson]

I think he missed my original point .. if he could do what he asked, I'd have told him how. Instead, I tried to explain why it wasn't possible.

No GPS of any brand will allow the user to combine the internal map data of two roads to create one, and the point I was trying (and evidently not successfully) to drive home was that although it may have appeared otherwise to him, he's dealing with two distinct roads, one leading to another, even if in a straight line.