It’s good to see a lot of towns and villages putting up signs like “Do Not Follow SatNav”.
A lot of people are still perplexed as to why so many drivers using SatNav’s are directed through some small towns and villages. The answer is quite simple….
SatNav’s are programmed to go the Quickest or Shortest route most of the time, and most drivers use the Quickest or Fastest option. So this means if a driver gets lost, say takes the wrong turn, the SatNav application or product will try to guide the driver the quickest way to the destination entered. That can sometimes mean taking short cuts that most local drivers would not take who know the roads.
So why can’t these roads be marked as blocked on the SatNav? Well quite simply put it, if they were marked as blocked or no through road, then people with SatNav’s wouldn’t then be able to drive down them. Some SatNavs are becoming more intelligent and providing warnings to narrow roads ahead. The problem is that there are two main data providers for SatNav products. They are called NAVTEQ and TELEATLAS. So if they don’t have these features in their data, then all the SatNav products that use their data will equally have the same problem.
So if you know a road or village that always has problems, then for the time being put up a “Do not follow SatNav” sign or try to direct drivers away from this area until better data becomes available. In the long term, try to have your local council or road agency inform the data providers of these problems so they can be restricted in future SatNav products and data updates.
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