As I did before I visited abroad in the past, I'll ask this time as well:
At the first week of September I'm about to visit Austria.
From your experience as residents or tourists, maps (and poi's) of which provider (HERE / TomTom) will give better and more accurate navigation?
And extra question, what app works better in this countries, iGO or Primo (with the recommended map)?

Thanks for you input.

The last time I was in Austria was in 1999, I think. So no GPS experience for Austria.

I always use my WinCE device with Primo 2.4 and TT/TA maps. As POI I have the HERE + extended (biggest files) loaded. I never had any trouble finding any location or POI. By the way, in the past I used TA Premium and have always found all POI as well.

As a general guideline, also in my experience, the TT/TA maps are best for Western Europe. I tested (only locally) with HERE/Navteq maps (not since some time, so not the latest ones) and did not get lost . But that is the good. The bad
is that I notice - again locally !! - that the maps are not that accurate (missing streets, interrupted streets, non existing streets - however not used for routing somehow - , etc), that the speed limits are wrong or missing, that routing is not correct and makes detours like driving on and take a 360° on a roundabout 1 km ahead then turn left instead of take a right turn in the first place. I don't have that issue (never had) with the TT/TA maps.

Of course I do especially notice these things because I know the situation locally. Where I don't know the route, I can't say when I make a detour.
I should add that "unlucky" or "illogical" routes do happen. I experienced such in Germany, in Portugal, in Spain, in ...
All depends on the correctness of the map. Settings like "fast", "short", "(un)paved roads", ... depend on that map information.

Thanks.
So, this missing streets, interrupted streets, non existing streets, are only with HERE/Navteq maps? With the TT maps this spesific problems not exist? Can it be the combination of Primo 2.4 and this maps?

Anyway, I'm using my WinCE device with iGO 8.3.5, so I'll take your advice for the TT map and the HERE poi's + extended.

I only tested HERE locally and I don't have that issue locally with TT/TA.
My conclusion is that at least locally HERE is no good, TT/TA is better. Main reason why I trust in TT/TA maps. I must say I never used HERE/Navteq in other countries and that I never saw missing streets or interrupted streets in other countries using TT/TA. That HERE maps are no good other than here I won't say at all.
I repeat, I never got lost. And Garmin which is said to have good maps uses the HERE maps, so ...
(TomTom always used and still uses TeleAtlas, which they bought)

What I did experience using TT/TA (in Spain I believe) was that paved roads were marked unpaved (which could be solved by the next update).

I am in Germany on regular base and I never had problems routing, that is so far, road works not included

We will land at Munich and then we pass to Austria, so the way to the border should be OK
Thanks!

About the difference between Navteq (HERE) and TeleAtlas (TomTom) a short but very true story.
Some years ago, 2008 or 2009, I was already a dedicated iGO user on TA maps, my son got a job during holidays in a courier service. So I bought him a cheap but nevertheless newest Garmin Nuvi (Navteq). To my surprise, in the evening he complained that on some locations, he had to search for the addresses himself. Garmin did not find them.
Thus I started up iGO and ... all addresses were found.
To make things worse, I still had a old HP iPaq PDA with TomTom (TeleAtlas) on it. Both the device and the software was years old (2004? 2005?). Newer TomTom was not compatible with CE4, updating was expensive and nobody wanted the device. I got the idea to check TomTom. Anyway, that old TA maps did know the addresses as well.

Again : this the local situation, but yet another reason for me to stick to TT/TA maps.

The German Here maps improved a lot over the last years. To make a long story short: in TT maps streets are missing which were built more than 10 years ago. TT Germany maps are including more unpaved roads, lakes and little streams and are therefore larger than Here maps. I do prefer Here maps in Germany and I had no issues so far when travelling through Austria (2 or 3 times a year).
But why don't you use Primo 2.4 with map changer? And BTW: with Primo you can use TT and Here pois at the same time.

I am sure HERE maps are not 100% complete either. That they improved in Germany, the better.
Which anyways points out there was need for improvement, not ?

In general, in certain areas one map is better than the other, no doubt. As in some areas, none of the maps is better and possibly in some areas both maps s*ck.
Besides, is having more unpaved roads not a sign of completeness?

As said, locally and just a few years back, HERE around here wasn't worth using. If in Germany HERE improved, the better. I never used HERE in Germany since here they (HERE) lack too much information and give me detours. Why only HERE and not TT/TA ?
With TT/TA in Germany, I never got lost, always found the address even in the smallest towns, always found the route, never drove unpaved roads, ...
However, I don't need convincing that HERE maps get me to the destination as well, wherever in Europe. I know that


Same thing can happen with the good old paper maps. Long ago I had a German (paper) map, yet detailed, when I discovered some small villages were simply missing while (seen the scale) it could/should not be the case. Once I had to be in such small place and no clue where to even look for that village I found it asking by telephone (there were no cell phones then)

Just as general information, many already know that Germanay-Austria-Swiss are considered a 3-unity in many ways, also by the mapmakers. Maps for these countries are often offered in one set called DACH or DE-AT-CH. The same for the BENELUX (Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg), Iberia (Spain-Portugal), Scandinavia or Nordics (Garmin) (Sweden-Norway-Finland-Danmark), ...
Just check out our TomTom forum, like here maps-v9xx-f179/935-map-collections-only-t16052.html, or the Garmin forum.
So it's safe to say that the maps in those sets are of equal quality? I think so.

On a German Forum, the question is asked whether the TT maps or the HERE maps are better.
Potc answered this morning:

Tomtom Karten beinhalten (nach meiner Erfahrung) in Deutschland mehr Junction View Daten, Spurdaten u. Verkehrsschilder.
Nutze trotzdem Here Karten - weil die Vorteile haben, die mir wichtiger sind. Will aber hier keine Diskussion starten, welche Karten die besseren sind. Das hängt IMHO vom Land, Region und persönlichen Vorlieben ab.

Translation:

In my experience, in Germany TomTom maps have more Junction view data, lane info and sign posts.
Never the less I use the HERE maps - because they have advantages more important to me. I don't want to start a discussion which maps are better. That depends IMHO on Country, Region and personal liking.

I agree 200%. Let that be known !!
Or why do you think I prefer TT/TA ?? For the same reasons

Not wanting to start a discussion either, however adding to the balance this:
TT have more detail (post#7) more Junction view data, lane info and road shields. I also know TT has more and more exact speed limits. Leaves the (rare?) missing streets in TT. Can be. I can't say that when using TT found one (not completely true - did in the early GPS days, on early TomTom software)
Another fact is : HERE is for sure not faultless either. As I said higher, in the wide surroundings, I found plenty. The same can be the case in potc's wide surroundings but on TT/TA.

HERE has driver alerts, yes, but such feature cannot convince me. Traffic signs (which are driver alerts) are physically placed next to the road. One has to drive carefully and keep the eyes on the road anyway.

But let every one decide for himself.

If the above was not confusing enough, I've uploaded this morning the newest HERE maps for Europe (2014.Q1).
So now, what would be better, TT 2013.12 or HERE 2014.Q1?

Decision: I will use TT on my main device (WINce with iGO8), and for a backup, I'll move the new HERE maps to my Galaxy S4 (Android with Primo). If something goes wrong or information lacking, I'll use the Primo as a backup.
The above is valid as long as there is no new version of TT until the date of travel.

Just for completeness - the reasons why I'm prefering Here Maps:
- less missing streets (from my experience)
- better rooting (again from my experience)
- driver alerts (not really important, but sometimes helpful)
But as mentioned above: I'm using map changer and both Tomtom and Here maps (in Europe)

I'm back from this beautiful country and I'm ready to share my conclusions.

I used the Igo8 as main program (on PNA) with the latest TomTom Austria 2013.12 map.
The map was 99.9% accurate. Why not 100%? Because on the last part of the way (in Werfen) to the ice cave (Eisriesenwelt) it navigated me thru pedestrian walkway. My smartphone, running Primo with HERE Austria 2014.Q1, took me around.

All traffic circles was already on the map. Many of the speed limits was wrong, even on highways (100/130).

The POIPLAZA database for speed camera was not accurate as well. I'm talking about stationary cams, not mobile. Some alerts about cameras, but nothing was at the point of alert. The spped limit at the cams locations was mostly wrong.

Beside that, it was a very enjoyable trip.

I am away from home (when you haven't noticed already) using 405512 primo and TT Maps (as usual) - 2013.12 to be precise.
So far, no problems at all with the program ( done +-600kms) just some minor issues (settings).

However discovered more map faults than ever seen before.
Seems to me 2013.12 (for this country) are the worst TT ever

PS: by "this country" I do not mean Austria. Sorry for hijacking this topic.

PS2: I personally prefer the SCDB speedcams. Not 100% correct either, but much better than POI Plaza and Trapster.

PS3: That very same issue with the pedestrian zone happened to my boss on his Garmin (Navteq/HERE) but in Milan, I think. The police helped him get out of that zone. At cost of course