ONE of the biggest sat nav companies in the world has said it will "look at ways to improve" after after admitting its software will not recognise the Queensferry Crossing until November.
Motorists using a TomTom sat nav and wanting to cross the Forth from the east side of Scotland are being sent on lengthy detours, and being diverted across the Kincardine Bridge.
While recognising that the Forth Bridge is currently closed, it fails to recognise the new crossing opened by the Queen on September 4.
It has meant that instead of going on a 19 mile route from Edinburgh to Dunfermline across the new crossing, motorists are being being sent on a 23 mile detour via the Kincardine Bridge. A Tom Tom source said: "We completely understand customers’ frustrations and are looking at ways to improve this in the future.
"We work with governments to ensure we get notifications of upcoming changes in road networks. As we pride ourselves to deliver real-time maps this new bridge has already been captured in our map update for our B2B [business to business] customers.
"However once an updated map is ready, we need to optimize it for our sat navs as well as split it up in 600 different map products that we offer our end consumers.
The Tom Tom route from Edinburgh to Dunfermline will take you across the Kincardine Brige as it does not recognise the Queensferry Crossing
"Currently this still takes approximately three months. Hence this change will be made available for our sat nav users as part of the quarterly map update end of November. "
Asked why Tom Tom is slower than free mobile sat nav apps such as Google Maps and Waze, Tom Tom said: "This goes back to the difference between making maps suitable for sat navs, versus publishing online.
"When a sat nav is updated however, you will not need data connection to be able to navigate. In addition sat navs are easier to operate, and have different features (such as smartphone messages, siri compatibility, hands-free calling) that allow for safe driving.
One motorist said he had updated his sat nav to ensure the crossing was on it, but was "surprised" to see that it was not there and contacted Tom Tom to raise his concern. "Tom Tom is supposed to be the Rolls Royce of sat nav and I was aghast to find that the crossing didn't exist, even though Her Majesty the Queen open the bridge last week. It made no difference to Tom Tom," he said.
The new bridge across the Firth of Forth re-opened to vehicles on Thursday, ahead of the morning rush hour.
It had initially opened to traffic on August 30 but was closed for celebrations between September 1 and 6, with vehicles using the Forth Road Bridge instead.
A 40mph speed limit is in place on the approach roads and over the new crossing.
The Forth Road Bridge remains open to pedestrians and cyclists as work continues to make the final connections to the network.
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