TOM TOM 730 & Mousesavers App Problem

[OLT2004]

Anyone else having problems loading the mousesavers app into their gps?

Anyone else know of a good app that will get us to the attractions parking lot and not a service entrance or CM only entrance?

Thanks,
Ted

 

[vicki_c]

Ted - if the Tom Tom model you have is one of the ones supported by the Mousesavers POI file, you can contact the developer - he can help you out. I'm pretty sure his contact info is on the Mousesavers page with the GPS file links. We had trouble the first time we installed it to our Garmin a few years ago, and the developer was very nice and walked us through it to get it to work.

I don't know of any other POI type files out there myself.

 

[dmunsil]

Hi, this is Don, the developer of the GPS page. Can you be more specific about the trouble you're having? I've heard rumors that TomTom is updating their POI format, but so far just rumors. The 730 should work fine.

Don

 

[vicki_c]

Hi, this is Don, the developer of the GPS page. Can you be more specific about the trouble you're having? I've heard rumors that TomTom is updating their POI format, but so far just rumors. The 730 should work fine.

Don

Cool! So glad I complimented you!

 

[ccudmore]

FYI.. I'm using the POIs on a TomTom 720 with no problems.

 

[skelooch]

Forget the GPS and follow the signs, the signs won't send you somewhere that you cannot go. There are many roads in WDW that a GPS may think is the best way from point A to point B, but they aren't for public traffic. So it will be best to just turn it off and follow the signs.

 

[dmunsil]

Forget the GPS and follow the signs, the signs won't send you somewhere that you cannot go. There are many roads in WDW that a GPS may think is the best way from point A to point B, but they aren't for public traffic. So it will be best to just turn it off and follow the signs.

Well, while I agree that you can just follow the signs and you'll get places just fine, I do think it's easier to use a GPS (obviously I'm a bit biased ). There aren't any roads in WDW that are cast-only that are "through" roads, to the best of my knowledge - they all are roads to access a backstage area. A GPS should direct you down a cast road only if it thinks the destination is nearest to one of those roads, and the problem is that the POI for some WDW locations built into most GPSes have terrible locations marked, which in some cases are closest to a backstage road.

So at WDW, if you have good POI that are correctly placed on public roads, the GPS should only route you down public roads. In practice, that's what I have found, at least with Garmin and TomTom products. As part of the work I did to put together the GPS file on MouseSavers, I had two GPSes route me between a bunch of far-flung destinations with a lot of roads in between, like the Grand Floridian and the Downtown Disney Hilton, or Epcot and the Fort Wilderness Campground. In every case I was only directed down public roads, though not always the roads that Disney directs you down. And in a couple of cases where I was routing from a Disney location to an off-property location like a grocery store or a drugstore, it routed me down side roads I didn't know were there, which were off the beaten path but save significant time over driving down the main roads. For example, there's a nice shortcut going from Animal Kingdom Lodge to the Walgreens and grocery stores on Irlo Bronson Hwy by going down Sherberth, and that's a public road. If you follow Disney's directions, you'll go all the way out the south gate on World Dr. There's a nice shortcut going from Old Key West, Port Orleans or Saratoga Springs to Ft Wilderness by taking Bonnet Creek to Vista, while the Disney directions will route you onto World Dr and through the MK parking structure. Again, Bonnet Creek and Vista are public roads. There are lots of places in WDW where the Disney directions to DHS will take you to the south entrance when the north one is much closer. The Disney directions are designed for traffic efficiency, not necessarily to get you where you want to go fastest.

So bottom line I think using a GPS can be a fine way to get around the World, especially if you're going from one hotel to another for dinner and things like that.

Don

 

[skelooch]

Well, while I agree that you can just follow the signs and you'll get places just fine, I do think it's easier to use a GPS (obviously I'm a bit biased ). There aren't any roads in WDW that are cast-only that are "through" roads, to the best of my knowledge - they all are roads to access a backstage area. A GPS should direct you down a cast road only if it thinks the destination is nearest to one of those roads, and the problem is that the POI for some WDW locations built into most GPSes have terrible locations marked, which in some cases are closest to a backstage road.

So at WDW, if you have good POI that are correctly placed on public roads, the GPS should only route you down public roads. In practice, that's what I have found, at least with Garmin and TomTom products. As part of the work I did to put together the GPS file on MouseSavers, I had two GPSes route me between a bunch of far-flung destinations with a lot of roads in between, like the Grand Floridian and the Downtown Disney Hilton, or Epcot and the Fort Wilderness Campground. In every case I was only directed down public roads, though not always the roads that Disney directs you down. And in a couple of cases where I was routing from a Disney location to an off-property location like a grocery store or a drugstore, it routed me down side roads I didn't know were there, which were off the beaten path but save significant time over driving down the main roads. For example, there's a nice shortcut going from Animal Kingdom Lodge to the Walgreens and grocery stores on Irlo Bronson Hwy by going down Sherberth, and that's a public road. If you follow Disney's directions, you'll go all the way out the south gate on World Dr. There's a nice shortcut going from Old Key West, Port Orleans or Saratoga Springs to Ft Wilderness by taking Bonnet Creek to Vista, while the Disney directions will route you onto World Dr and through the MK parking structure. Again, Bonnet Creek and Vista are public roads. There are lots of places in WDW where the Disney directions to DHS will take you to the south entrance when the north one is much closer. The Disney directions are designed for traffic efficiency, not necessarily to get you where you want to go fastest.

So bottom line I think using a GPS can be a fine way to get around the World, especially if you're going from one hotel to another for dinner and things like that.

Don

So I assume the POI for say the MK is actually for the MK toll plaza, and the same for all the other parks, and not the MK itself.

If it were the actual MK you could get bad directions from a GPS, for example if you were leaving OKW and going to MK, it might direct you to take Bonnet Creek Pkwy to Vista Blvd which would put you past the toll plaza and no way to get into the MK parking lot.

 

[OLT2004]

Thank you all for responding...

I will get back to all of you with more info later today...

 

[vicki_c]

I can just say that with the GPS without the POI file, we always seemed to be getting directed somewhere odd. With the file added, no problem.

Sadly, we have ditched our stand alone GPS in favor of Navigon on our phones. I can't decide if I should take the time to get the actual coordinates of locations of WDW for our next trip or just play it by ear and see how the Navigon software does. We've been there enough times and there's enough signs that I'm not really concerned about it - but I like my gadgets!

 

[dmunsil]

So I assume the POI for say the MK is actually for the MK toll plaza, and the same for all the other parks, and not the MK itself.

Exactly. The problem with the ones that come with the unit is that the built-in POI for MK is placed in the center of the park on some GPS maps, and the nearest road is a cast-member access road behind the park.

In contrast, the MouseSavers POI is generally right on the entrance plaza or driveway for each hotel, park, etc.

I will say that the POI that come with GPS units are getting better over time. Some of the worst ones I noticed three years ago have been fixed in the latest maps. But they're still not as good overall as the ones in the MouseSavers file.

Don

 

[OLT2004]

I got it Working!

Thanks for your help!

Ted

I am not a computer whiz!

 

[vicki_c]

I got it Working!

Thanks for your help!

Ted

I am not a computer whiz!