Audi Q5 - Can sat navs get it wrong?

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Sat 15 Feb 2020 11:17
Audi Q5 - Can sat navs get it wrong? - Halmerend
On my way to Manchester Airport this morning. Know my way but used the sat nav for reassurance. Get to M56 from M6 coming north and Junction 6/7 is closed so I head towards Altringham thinking the sat nav will take me north then east.

End up by Old Trafford and sat nav is showing I’m 3 minutes from the airport which is nonsense. How can this happen? Wanted to take me down an obscure side street as the final destination. Ended up driving round City Centre looking for airport signs the old fashioned way to get there. Bit stressful!

Checked the destination entry and it’s correct. Weird.

Edited by RobertT on 15/02/2020 at 11:22

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Sat 15 Feb 2020 11:33
Audi Q5 - Can sat navs get it wrong? - Manatee

There are I suppose 3 main parts to satellite navigation. The GPS location, the map data, and the routing algorithms. If any of them is off then then it won't give the right answer.

It's rare now that I have a problem with sat nav. I use mainly Google maps on a phone. The built in one in my Mazda is OK, although the routing is weak IMO - mainly I think because it only uses RDS traffic information which is much weaker than Google's real time crowd-sourced data. I had a problem with it trying to get from Hook of Holland to Delft a couple of years ago when the GPS location was off - trying to follow directions had me baffled as to why it wanted me to turn on to cycleways. It didn't fix itself until I restarted it.

I have a Garmin, a few years old now, that I was impressed with but no longer use. On at least four occasions it crashed and restarted itself, always in the same area of Gosforth in Newcastle, just as I needed to know where to go next...

Edited by Manatee on 15/02/2020 at 11:34

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Sat 15 Feb 2020 13:12
Audi Q5 - Can sat navs get it wrong? - Halmerend
Yeah I pulled over and used the same recent destination and I was then half and hour away from the airport, not three minutes.
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Sat 15 Feb 2020 13:14
Audi Q5 - Can sat navs get it wrong? - Zippy123

I have had a few expectances recently where all GPS signals are down.

That's car and both mobile phones (or even more if the kids are in the car).

Weather isn't an issue and we were not in built up areas. I think it's people using GPS blockers for lorries etc.

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