"Areas to Avoid" not working on Gen5 v6.1?

I upgraded my Gen5 NAV from v5.1 to v6.1 a few months ago.

Recently I tried to customize a route using "Areas to Avoid" - and setting it as 'Active' - only to find the system completely ignores it and routes me straight through this area even though there were plenty of alternate routes available...?

I have used this feature before upgrading from v5.1, and even activating some of the 'Areas' previously working under v6.1 no longer have any effect...?

Can anyone else confirm or test if their v6.1 acts the same?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cellculturist @ Nov 4 2007, 03:24 AM) [snapback]534566[/snapback]</div>

I've been playing with the feature a bit more since I posted that, and it seems to be a little hit or miss. For some smaller regions, such as avoiding a particular intersection, it works, yet other times it will completely ignore it, even though a perfectly drivable (non-residential) route exists on map.

Case in point, I live in Mississauga, Ontario (near Toronto), I entered a destination for Greenfield Park, Quebec (east of Montreal). I pegged pretty much the entire island of Montreal as an "Area to Avoid". Here's a look at what I am talking about;

Driving across Montreal

The NAV rightfully tells me to take Hwy401 which turns into Hwy20 when you cross into Quebec, then take the 10/15 (aka Champlain Bridge). During rush hour, the whole Hwy20 route gets pretty heavy along with the Champlain bridge, so I pegged most of the island using the largest 13sq km range.

Doing so, SHOULD send me off the 401 at Salaberry-De-Valleyfield and along the south shore of the river, such as the following;

Getting around Montreal island

This route is ONLY approximately 5km longer (you can actually drag & drop the blue route on GoogleMaps. I love that feature!).

I have driven that path a few times, and the DVD has full route guidance all along. It is not so rural as to "not offer turn by turn guidance for this area".

Anyway, does anyone else encounter bizarre situations like this where the "Areas to Avoid" feature just plainly does not work?

If anyone is interested in trying out my situation, I can provide two sets of destination coordinates to plug in and the area to avoid and you can have a look to see if I am crazy...?

This feature seems like it needs some work. <_<

 

Re: "Areas to Avoid" not working on Gen5 v6.1? - figured it out!

Hey all,

FYI, just thought I'd resurrect an old post of mine with the solution I discovered yesterday.

As posted earlier, Toyota apparently changed the behaviour of the "Areas to Avoid" function as of the v6.1 release.

As it turns out with 6.1 or later, defining an AREA to avoid does not apply to freeways, rather, only secondary/local roads. If you draw off an area you want to avoid, the computer will still direct you straight through it along the freeway if that is the preferred route.

Here's the secret - if you want to specify a freeway to avoid, make your area (in fact, a "point") to avoid the smallest possible size - which will be represented by a red X rather than a yellow box - which effectively means avoid this particular stretch of road. Doing so, the computer will never direct you on that part of the highway.

I can sort of understand the thinking that you may want to avoid a neighbourhood, but passing through on the freeway would be OK. However, it would be really nice if functional changes like these were actually documented somewhere. How about a popup when you define an area to avoid, such as "Please note this Area to Avoid does not apply to freeways. To avoid a freeway, define the smallest area possible on that roadway." Better yet, this popup would only appear if there is an applicable roadway in the area you are defining, but whatever...

Toyota, anyone listening?

PS - I recently acquired a v7.1 disc (thanks eBay!) and confirmed it still behaves the same...