Satnav (and Apps) -2 wow moments

Vinno · Apr 26, 2017

miro67 said:
So, for the first time I used the in built Ford satnav whilst on a 35 minute drive. Thankfully I new the way and just wanted to see how the satnav worked.

Wow, it is shockingly bad, like I can't believe they could allow its release bad. Its the first thing I have found that is disappointing about the Mustang.

So my 35 minute journey and what makes my Wow comment.

1. Hop in the car, enter the address, and it calculates route and tells my arrival time will be 9:08 -current time is 8:10 -so 58 minutes. The Google maps estimate the night before was 35 minutes, and sure enough I arrive at 8:50.

2. Driving along the M7 and heading for the exit to the M5 the Satnav system tells me at every exit to get off the M7. Why oh why would I leave an expressway (yes I have all the Satnav settings correct).

3. I near my destination and approach one of two roundabouts which are about 500m from my destination. At the first I take the first exit, Satnav says take the fourth exit, this would have had me leaving the roundabout at the road I had just entered from, just heading in the opposite direction. 200m later at the next roundabout (with only 2 exits this time) it tells me to exit the roundabout at the third exit, again that would have me leaving via the road I had just entered from.

So from this one (and only) experience I concluded the Satnav is completely unusable. Ford should be embarrassed.

Second Wow moment. Last night I went and grabbed an IPhone cable and plugged the phone in to see if I could get the Apps to work. Wow that was easy! and Google maps is there just like using my IPhone. So I guess the answer is leave a cable in the car and when I need satnav just plug the phone in and all is well. In a perfect world this would work via Bluetooth but I suppose that will be the next generation.

Its interesting that such well proven software in Satnav has been done so poorly, and the relatively recent introduction of apps works so well.

I did a trip from Sydney down the coast to Victoria stopping at quite a few places and mine was pretty good although it was main tourist areas which may not have changed for many years. Even around Tumut on the way back through country lanes it was good.

I found it will divert you if there is a traffic warning which there was yesterday morning on the M7 so maybe that was why it was telling you to get off? As I really only use the car for cruising I may not have discovered some of the shortcomings you have. It definitely isn't perfect and I am sure some new estate areas show up as blank or off road driving.

miro67 · Apr 27, 2017

12baller12 said:
Are you sure it wasn't the Apple maps icon?

Ok, a confession, I guaranteed earlier it was google maps. I checked tonight and I was 100% wrong! The app symbol looks exactly like google maps on the iPhone but the app clearly isn't google maps, so I assume it's apple maps. And no, it isn't anywhere near as good.

12baller12 · Apr 27, 2017

miro67 said:
Ok, a confession, I guaranteed earlier it was google maps. I checked tonight and I was 100% wrong! The app symbol looks exactly like google maps on the iPhone but the app clearly isn't google maps, so I assume it's apple maps. And no, it isn't anywhere near as good.

Yeah, I was pretty confident because I've been using CarPlay for a while now, but didn't wanna pursue it and sound like a know-it-all! :lol: I agree, the Google Maps app is better, but I suspect that Apple will never allow a direct competitor onto CarPlay.

trumpeteer_au · Apr 28, 2017

Namda said:
I can +1 to the statement that the ford navigation is terrible.

I have heard that the Ford Sync 3 map updates are released in April each year, so anyone having their car serviced from now on should get the updated maps.

Even with the updated maps, the traffic updates will never be up to the standard of Google maps. I have seen Google maps update the traffic on the run as I have gone through a congested area. The Ford maps only seem to update traffic conditions about every hour.

Mines a June 2016 build so the maps are well out of date and useless for any new areas.

Satnav (and Apps) -2 wow moments

Vinno

Well-Known Member

miro67

Well-Known Member

12baller12

Well-Known Member

trumpeteer_au

Well-Known Member