In many places around the country, people joining the GPS craze are becoming disappointed by the inability of their units to keep up with new roads being built in their areas.

In stories like this one from this blog a few weeks ago, or this one appearing yesterday in the Statesman in Austin, TX, people are surprised to find that construction crews can complete complex networks of roads faster than GPS companies can (or are willing to) provide updated software to their customers.

Garmin, perhaps unsurprisingly, given its status as leader of the GPS market in America, has been singled out by some. Although 2008 updates are available for all their models, January 2008 is much different than February 2008 in terms of road-building time.

So driving still requires alertness and knowledge of what’s going on around you, at least for now. Obviously, in the future map updates will be instantaneous, and there will be a much smaller disconnect between what the GPS thinks is happening and what roads actually exist.

But even so, all this begs the question: how can building a road be faster than drawing it on a computer screen?

It’s a lack of customer service, not a lack of ability, on the part of GPS companies. The one that figures that out and acts on it soonest can be the one that rises to the top: GPS is about maps, not a box of wires and circuitboards.

Bookmark It