GPS Nüvi Blog

We keep reporting on this but it keeps happening.

There is another story about drivers following their GPS into places they shouldn’t be, this time from Secaucus, New Jersey. There is an industrial area next to a residential area; the two are separated by a dividing fence that is open only on weekdays, and then only a couple hours each day.

The gate is on Fifth Street, which goes through the residential area and turns into Enterprise Ave N at the fence as it enters the industrial section:

Residents have been complaining for over a year, according to Secaucus mayor Dennis Elwell, about trucks trying to reach Enterprise and getting stuck at the dead end. Garmin’s maps, apparently even the 2008 updates, show the route as clear, and as trucks get to the end of Fifth Street, the drivers find they can’t continue through the dead end.

The obstruction is visible on Google Maps:

Some trucks are too big to turn around; the police have to be called to open the gate. Either way, the truck ends up clogging the residential traffic for some time.

Analysis
Is this just growing pains of GPS technology, or is this type of problem going to be here in some magnitude or other for a long time? As drivers come to rely not on prior knowledge or local advice, but on high-tech devices that have an air of reliability, it will be interesting to see if the handiness of GPS units continues to overshadow the aggravation of getting lost (or, for the especially dim driver, being directed into oncoming trains).

Garmin’s response
As for Garmin, they told the Associated Press that their process for changing mistakes on their maps is a long bureaucratic mess. (A complaint must be lodged with the company, starting a lengthy review process.)

Why Garmin is so loathe to change something that is obviously broken is puzzling (after a year, one would hope the problem had been cheerfully corrected on all new map software). Hopefully they will come around soon and put more focus on keeping the maps current and usable.

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