Misspellings of brand names, mislocation of buildings on a campus, or just plain incorrect data on GPS systems can be frustrating.
The two main map makers for GPS devices are Tele Atlas (www.teleatlas.com) and Navteq (www.navteq.com). Both offer ways to submit updates to their maps via their Web sites.
Map Feedback for Tele Atlas
http://mapinsight.teleatlas.com/ 
Teleatlas’ Map Insight™ application walks a user through the process of submitting a correction. The company states that “by leveraging user perspectives, our data will become even fresher and more valuable to consumers, developers, and enterprises alike.”
Give Map Feedback for NAVTEQ
http://mapreporter.navteq.com/
NAVTEQ Map Reporter™ provides a method to submit a correction, catogorize it by type and make additional comments. The company states that it makes “every effort to ensure that our map data is as fresh, accurate, and up-to-date as possible by employing full-time staff in more than 130 offices around the world.”
Both systems provide a view of their map that you can zoom in on until you find the point of interest. You can then “thumbtack” the location (a thumbtack icon in Teleatlas, a more obscure target circle icon in NAVTEQ) before submitting the item with your e-mail address. NAVTEQ provides a way for registered users to track the status of their submission.
Making Corrections to Other Map Systems
In addition, Garmin (who uses NAVTEQ data) provides a (complex, hard-to-use) map error feedback form on the Garmin web site. Magellan points users to NAVTEQ’s map feedback. Tom Tom promotes a “real time” map correction feature that you can enable on your device, although the video demo only shows a road construction/detour example. TomTom has turned over millions of correction suggestions from the system to Tele Atlas (Read article on GPSReview.net).
Google Maps provides “edit” option you can use while viewing a map (View video showing how) as well as a way to submit Google Map corrections as part of Google Maps Help section (Note that Google Mobile uses TeleAtlas map data. Web-based Maps uses NavTeq map data). Mapquest provides an “report data errors” option on their contact page, while Yahoo Maps are built upon NAVTEQ data.
If you’ve had success or frustration with using these or other methods of correcting GPS data from a marketing or PR perspective, please use the comment link below to share your experience.
