Tomtom in Malta (issues)

A couple of years ago I reported issues with using my Tomtom in Cyprus. I've just returned from Malta and have experienced similar problems.
Navcore: 7.917 Map Europe IGB West 945.6243
The kit seems to think that Malta drives on the right and gives warning messages to this effect on establishing the route.
The advance information symbols show the direction as counter-clockwise round roundabouts ....although....
the spoken instructions and the live maps are correct showing driving clockwise round roundabouts.

There are some problems finding places largely due to linguistic difficulties eg to get to Sliema, a large conurbation north of the capital Valetta, it's necessary to know that it's stored under its Maltese name of Ta Sliema. Similarly many of the names shown on English language maps need to be prefaced by Il (I think it's a definite article) to allow the Tomtom gazetteer to recognise them.

Despite all the above I would recommend motorists intending to drive in Malta take their satnavs with them as the hard copy maps available locally and the sign posting leave much to be desired.

It is probably worth mentioning that the driving displayed is generally somewhere between aggressive and homicidal and the condition of many of the roads is probably better suited to a moon buggy than an automobile.

Thanks for the feedback!
If the official signs and maps are bacially useless it does not surprise that TT can't get it fully right either.
But always driving on the wrong side of the road makes a GPS system not really useful either.
I wonder how many user reported the issue to TT directly and got an official response to it...

jokskot wrote:1. A couple of years ago I reported issues with using my Tomtom in Cyprus. I've just returned from Malta and have experienced similar problems.
2. The kit seems to think that Malta drives on the right and gives warning messages to this effect on establishing the route.
The advance information symbols show the direction as counter-clockwise round roundabouts.
3. There are some problems finding places largely due to linguistic difficulties eg to get to Sliema, a large conurbation north of the capital Valetta, it's necessary to know that it's stored under its Maltese name of Ta Sliema.

1. 27/04/13 to be exact. You revisited this issue a second time on 07/09/14. Now you are back for a third time with the same issue.
2. Which option do you have set today under "Driving on the left or right?
3. Correct spelling on my map is Valletta & Tas-Sliema. BTW, when I start loading Sliema in A-B Prepare route, it self corrects to Tas-Sliema.

There used to be a popular song on Malta, the lyrics of which included the lines: "In England you drive on the left and in the rest of the world on the right, but in Malta we drive in the shade".

They also used to put black & white 'strobe' tape along the sides of hire cars - rumour was that the local drivers used those as targets as a way of getting insurance companies to cover the cost of repairs to their cars! And finally ... it used to be (and possibly still is) illegal to leave the scene of ANY motor vehicle accident before the police arrive... which was often a day or two after the event.

Oh happy days on Malta

Thanks for all your responses. Tendriver my error on spelling of Valletta. Macca thanks for the levity.
My post was really to alert other Brits to the potential problems, though if the feedback I got from the Cyprus issues was anything to go by, the "malfunction" seems to be confined to certain Navcore/Map/Settings combinations.

jokskot wrote:My post was really to alert other Brits to the potential problems, though if the feedback I got from the Cyprus issues was anything to go by, the "malfunction" seems to be confined to certain Navcore/Map/Settings combinations.

If you are not setting the "Driving on the left or right" preference to "When in countries that drive on the LEFT", then you have a "User Created Malfunction", not a TT malfunction.

If you are not setting the "Driving on the left or right" preference to "When in countries that drive on the LEFT", then you have a "User Created Malfunction", not a TT malfunction.

I disagree with you on this Tendriver.
As a Brit (driving on the left) I have my device set to warn me when driving on the right and it has always done so when driving in European countries which do drive on the right. What I do not expect, and class as a malfunction, is when it warns me drive on the right in countries, such as Cyprus and Malta, which like Britain also drive on the left.

jokskot wrote:I disagree with you on this Tendriver.

You can disagree all you wish, but please understand that these units are designed to work a certain way, with user input for different conditions. If the user doesn't set his/her unit for the correct current conditions, the unit won't/can't give correct guidance.

"You can disagree all you wish, but please understand that these units are designed to work a certain way, with user input for different conditions. If the user doesn't set his/her unit for the correct current conditions, the unit won't/can't give correct guidance."

I am afraid you are wrong on this, Tendriver.

The rules of the road are identical in UK, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus and Malta ie DRIVE ON THE LEFT. The rules of the road in Italy and France, where I have recently been, are drive on the right.
With the same settings on my device and with the Navcore and Map documented in the OP, the device behaves correctly in UK and Ireland ie no warnings on start up, correct advance information about roundabouts; it also behaves correctly in France and Spain ie Warns to drive on the right with correct( counter-clockwise) advance warning for roundabouts. It is only in Cyprus and Malta that erroneous start up "which side of the road" messages and advance warnings of direction on roundabouts are given.

Just out of interest, it is not only Tomtom which is confused by which side of road to drive on in Cyprus and Malta, the UK motoring organisation, the RAC, recommends that head lamp dip deflectors are fitted for Malta though of course they are not required for RHD (drive on the left) cars

I was recently in Malta with my TT map 940. Everything was correct! Buy a new map!

My map is actually more recent than yours!
It's the map/navcore combination that give rise to the problem. I have kept up to date with the maps and the navcore is the latest than can be used on a Windows phone.
Various generations of maps have demonstrated the same issues when tested either in action using the Tomtom route demonstration function.

Extremely rarely do I bother to post here BUT I agree entirely with jokscot that there IS a known problem with Malta mapping and it has NOTHING to do with user settings as suggested by tendriver

If you search around you will find NUMEROUS references to this problem on numerous forums and even on TT's own discussion board!

Thanks for your support/confirmation. I haven't seen any of the reports confirming my experience but I am in a sense glad I'm not alone.
Are you aware of any similar problems being reported for Cyprus? (A pm would be good if you're unwilling to post again!!)

Otherwise I think we can put this thread to bed.

In fairness, I reran the demo routes from May 2013
Test Demos were conducted using NC 9.510 & Greece 905.4754.

Test Demo 1. Lomesos to Pafos. "Warn me on which side of the road to drive:" set to "Never". No warning received. Demo used the left lane & clockwise around the roundabouts.
Test Demo 2. Lomesos to Pafos. "Warn me on which side of the road to drive:" set to "When in countries that drive on the RIGHT". No warning received. Demo used the left lane & clockwise around the roundabouts.
Test Demo 3. Lomesos to Pafos. "Warn me on which side of the road to drive:" set to "When in countries that drive on the LEFT". WARNING "Driving lane warning: Drive on the left-hand side of the road" received. Demo used the left lane & clockwise around the roundabouts.

All 3 demos, again, gave the correct results for their respective settings.
I did a search for Malta & got 233 matches on 16 pages. For Cyprus there are 170 matches on 12 pages. None but your "Tomtom in Malta (issues)" & "Schizophrenic Tomtom in Cyprus" posts referenced any of your issues.

jokskot wrote:Otherwise I think we can put this thread to bed.