NAV System end point

I had an issue the other night with the NAV system...

I had noticed from previous testing that the LEAF NAV system says you're at the destination approximately a block in advance of the address. I've only used the NAV system a few times to demo for others and this happened pretty consistently.

My wife and I were going out to dinner last Friday night to a new place and I decided to use the NAV system to get there. We were on a busy street (3 lanes in each direction), and I wasn't thinking much about the NAV system and this little quirk. So it tells us that we're at the destination, and we're pulling up to this large strip mall (this street has strip mall after strip mall).

I immediately turned into the strip mall when it said we were there because it would be a lot of work to get back if I overshot it. But when I pulled in, I quickly realized that we were "too early" on the addresses. It took us awhile to find the place and it was indeed 3 strip malls further down the street. So in this case case, it told us we were there almost two blocks in advance. That may be fine when you're in a residential area, but it gets confusing when you're in a commercial setting.

I'm used to my portable Garmin being pretty accurate about when you "arrive", but a head's up to others: You need to keep going for a bit after getting the "you're there" message.

Anyone else had this issue or is it just me? I wish it could be fixed...

Thanks, Randy

Most addresses for strip malls are extremely inaccurate since a block of addresses are assigned to a very large property. I imagine this contributed to the destination error.

Is your location error getting worse ? (i.e. as you add miles to the car, is the offset increasing ?) That means the GPS may need to go thru a calibration routine ( I haven't tried any of this yet. ) The error could be accumulating because some built-in systems (not portables like Garmin of course) use a combination of (car's) speed sensor and satellite. This allows the GPS to cover short gaps in updates from the satellites (like going thru a tunnel, etc). But if the speed sensor is off, the location is "shifted", naturally. Most built-in systems are smart enough to "correct" (reset) the error upon the next sync with the satellite(s).

I've only used the GPS all the way through to destination about 4 times, and each time it ended about a block or more from the destination. So I don't think the accuracy changed, it's still about the same...

Randy said:

I had an issue the other night with the NAV system...

I had noticed from previous testing that the LEAF NAV system says you're at the destination approximately a block in advance of the address. I've only used the NAV system a few times to demo for others and this happened pretty consistently.

Click to expand...

Thought I saw in the NAV owners manual (posted somewhere on this forum) that you could tell it how far away to announce you have arrived.

AFAIK pre-announcing is standard practice for Lexus GPSs as well, at least the one in our hybrid. You have to look for your location against the red destination dot to know when you are really there.

Yep, both my BMW and Acura do the same thing. The flag on the map is the actual destination.

DeaneG said:

AFAIK pre-announcing is standard practice for Lexus GPSs as well, at least the one in our hybrid. You have to look for your location against the red destination dot to know when you are really there.

Click to expand...

Randy said:

I've only used the GPS all the way through to destination about 4 times, and each time it ended about a block or more from the destination. So I don't think the accuracy changed, it's still about the same...

Click to expand...

RM,

Never had a problem. Always takes me to the exact destination (+/- 50 ft).

Malcolm

all NAVs i have used preannounce as well.i use NAV to get me in the area then eyes to find what i am looking for. now strip malls are always going to be the worst and i have had the same issues as well with every NAV system at one time or another. most simply do not NAV parking lots most of the time.

now, i have been in a few large outdoor mall things like "Lakewood Towne Center, in Lakewood Wa where the mall is essentially a half dozen strip malls and the NAV also works pretty bad there despite several dozen blocks of interior roadways

I had a similar problem this weekend picking something up from Craig's List in a residential area. The Nav said I was there and I was at the indicated location on the map but I was still a block away from the address. The street and house were at least 30 years old. I will be keeping a closer look at the adresses as I pass them. I don't have to do this with my Garmin or Droid X.

Some others have reported the same error, and some have reported good apparent destination accuracy, but mentioned a "proximity" setting. Check for that.