LTNs [low traffic neighbourhood] and Tesla Navigation

[hingus2000]

I absolutely don’t want this to be about the merits of LTNs themselves. Rather it is more how the new spate of LTNs is massively highlighting how out of date the Tesla maps currently are in the UK.

I don’t mind LTNs as long as I can navigate around them, but the Tesla simply doesn’t recognise they are there and will perpetually direct you towards them. We keep getting into ludicrous situations within a mile of our own home where we are having to turnaround three or four times as we manually try and plot a route.

Interestingly, I’m not convinced Google Maps on my phone is getting it right either. Is Waze any better? Perhaps it is less of a maps issue and more of a routing (server-side) problem. I would have thought given what a hot topic LTNs are that Google would have been immediately across them and programmed them into the routing logic, but searching ‘Google Maps Low Traffic Neighbourhood’ doesn’t really give any indication as to whether Google Maps has figured out how treat LTNs when providing routing instructions.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

Give us an example road and I can check Waze for you

They're being added by splitting the road where the planters etc are or setting the stretch to Taxi only e.g. Waze Map Editor

 

[Wol747]

FWIW my car's maps are at least 3 years out of date: my house doesn't exist, nor the nearby roads, and I've been here 2 1/2 years!

 

[Neilio]

yeah I've noticed this and been caught out myself at strand on the green in Chiswick. It's a shame, I tend to use the onboard Nav, it saves having phones mounted and theoretically integrates better with the audio. Tesla nav can't be used in west London though. I haven't tried google maps but Waze has not steered me down an LTN yet

 

[NorfolkMustard]

For Strand-on-the-Green waze had it ready to go on the opening day in December 2020. By marking the two entry roads as private, Waze will route you to it if that's your destination, but won't route you through it on your way elsewhere.

Waze Map Editor

Join the community of map editors to update Waze’s live map around your home, work and anywhere you drive.

waze.com

 

[hingus2000]

I downloaded Waze to take a look and it seems to be deliberately avoiding them. I guess that will have to be my solution for the “last mile”.

 

[Cardo]

Tesla navigation is a bit bonkers in central London. When I head into Charing Cross, it always avoids the Mall and tries to take me up round Piccadilly, which is an extra 5 minutes, probably. No idea why, and I always ignore it and take the Mall, anyway.

 

[adsheff]

I think you've found the point in a LTN! Get on a bike and you won't have this problem

 

[Durzel]

As someone who doesn’t understand LTNs, can I ask why you need navigation at all a mile away from your home? Is the London road network that much of a puzzle that people can’t know the roads around where they live?

 

[Cardo]

As someone who doesn’t understand LTNs, can I ask why you need navigation at all a mile away from your home? Is the London road network that much of a puzzle that people can’t know the roads around where they live?

It’s an issue when you’re driving through the area and the navigation tries to take you down a blocked off road!

 

[Pink Duck]

The outdated navigation database is enough for me to start using OsmAnd+ through my phone instead. Though have a feeling Tesla are quietly working on their own mapping database project in the background to replace all the third-party dependence.

 

[hingus2000]

As someone who doesn’t understand LTNs, can I ask why you need navigation at all a mile away from your home? Is the London road network that much of a puzzle that people can’t know the roads around where they live?

Fair question. Happy to explain:

Yesterday I had to drive my (pregnant) wife to a meet up with friends 1.5 miles away, albeit at a pub in an area we are not familiar with. It took 35 minutes. Only partly due to traffic, but massively because of being taken down routes and constantly having to turn around when faced with no entry signs, or being unable to turn off the road we were forced onto due to LTNs on either side.

We generally drive out of London, so short hops are unusual. I guess in one respect, LTNs are to further encourage that.

I know my way around London on a macro level, but even a 1.5 mile run to a local location can be a maze. And even if I knew the roads like the back of my hand, I wouldn’t necessarily know where they’ve recently stuck an LTN restricting access. The first you really hear of it is the no entry signs!

 

[Wol747]

>>

As someone who doesn’t understand LTNs, can I ask why you need navigation at all a mile away from your home? Is the London road network that much of a puzzle that people can’t know the roads around where they live?<<

No-one said that! It just shows how long the database has been out of date.
BTW I live in Australia so my knowledge of London’s roads isn’t up to “the knowledge” anyway!

 

[Neilio]

As someone who doesn’t understand LTNs, can I ask why you need navigation at all a mile away from your home? Is the London road network that much of a puzzle that people can’t know the roads around where they live?

Yeah kind of. There are so many around me that going somewhere slightly different makes a difference. Also if the main roads are bad you can use Waze to find the rat runs. You can't do this with Tesla nav now. Also sometimes familiarity is a problem. The strand on the green one near me isn't blocked off it's just not a through road. I'm so familiar with it I didn't notice the sign saying you could no longer use it as a through route. When Tesla nav took me there I didn't think twice. It was only the journey back. Where the signs are much clearer that I realised my error

 

[ACarneiro]

Though have a feeling Tesla are quietly working on their own mapping database project in the background to replace all the third-party dependence.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong with that?

 

[Mrklaw]

The outdated navigation database is enough for me to start using OsmAnd+ through my phone instead. Though have a feeling Tesla are quietly working on their own mapping database project in the background to replace all the third-party dependence.

Taking Apple arrogance and assumption of superiority lessons again?

Sometimes suppliers have better stuff - see rain sensors and map databases