GPS Blackspot - Ollerton Notts

[IanR]

Has anyone else found that their GPS hangs up at a particular location?

I have an Etrex 30, which has proved to be very reliable. However, it has crashed three times, all at the same location, namely at the roundabout by Ollerton Services in Notts.

Is there something sinister going on there?

[Kim]

Was it routing at the time?

I'd suspect a glitch in the map causing an infinite loop in the calculation and running out of memory.  Used to happen fairly often with OSM maps until a few years ago.

[IanR]

No, it definitely wasn't routing.

I would have had a track displayed on the screen on each occasion.

[tom_e]

I've had mine crash on a specific map and location before, yes.  Change of OSM map or firmware cured it.  I blamed it on being close to the meridian.  Garmin don't seem to produce rock solid firmware. 

[Oaky]

Not a dedicated GPS unit, but my MyTracks and/or Strava recording via the GPS on my phone would routinely crap out at one particular point on the Ringvaart loop near Amsterdam.  I put this down to it being on the perimeter of Schiphol airport and always assumed some variety of electromagnetic interference was responsible.

[Kim]

I've had mine crash on a specific map and location before, yes.  Change of OSM map or firmware cured it.  I blamed it on being close to the meridian.  Garmin don't seem to produce rock solid firmware.

I've never had a problem crossing the meridian with a Garmin, but I don't do it as often as I did in the serial eTrex era.

[Ben T]

I've long suspected the strange "water tower" building near between wellow and eakring to be actually the entry point to a secret underground base of the CIA and illuminati, so it's probably something to do with that.

https://goo.gl/maps/L7foT2AyAqv

[Ben T]

I've had mine crash on a specific map and location before, yes.  Change of OSM map or firmware cured it.  I blamed it on being close to the meridian.  Garmin don't seem to produce rock solid firmware.

I've never had a problem crossing the meridian with a Garmin, but I don't do it as often as I did in the serial eTrex era.

could well be something so stupid as round-tripping of floating point numbers, a latitude of say 0.0001 could be represented as 1e-5 which then fails to parse by a different component.

[IanR]

Ollerton isn't on the meridian, so it isn't that in my case.

I was mainly thinking that it could be caused by electromagnetic interference.

The water tower certainly looks sinister!

[Ningishzidda]

Along the A45, Dunchurch Highway between A4114 Pickford Way and Broad Lane junction.
Investigation found the hardcore for that stretch of road was mixed with building rubble that contained a lot of metal ( bombed buildings ), and there are some fairly hefty power cables laid under the cycle track that is alongside the road.

[thing1]

My Edge 705 would always lose reception for about half a kilometer around the mini roundabout on Grand Drive and Southway in Morden. Navigation not in use, and nothing to do with the map data that i could work out.

[marcusjb]

I was running two garmins the other day (800 and 510). Both turned themselves off at the same point near Hemel Hempstead.

Very odd!

Will have to go and ride the hill again and see if the failure is demonstrably repeatable.

[DaveReading]

Ollerton isn't on the meridian, so it isn't that in my case.

Everywhere is on a meridian.   

[Nutbeem]

I've found two places where my etrex always turns it's self off. The first is just before a left turn heading out of Tichborne (hampshire), the second is heading West along saltern's road between Lee on Solent and Hillhead. It's  alays at the same points and turning the etrex back on resumes normal service.

The Salterns Rd one is interesting as it's a road I ride regularly and it always happens, but only going West,  heading in the opposite direction causes no problems. This makes me think it is mapping or memory card issue. My recorded track for these points is also very chaotic showing me going in random directions.

[Somnolent]

I've found two places where my etrex always turns it's self off. The first is just before a left turn heading out of Tichborne (hampshire), the second is heading West along saltern's road between Lee on Solent and Hillhead. It's  alays at the same points and turning the etrex back on resumes normal service.

Which left tiurn?
I've ridden through Tichborne any number of times (most recently on 4 June) - and also straight up the B3046 between Cheriton and Alresford (most recently 11 June) and never had any Etrex HCx series units (Legend or Vista) turning themselves off.

OTH there is a location in Winchester (former barracks just south of the Great Hall) where I'm convinced there is a signal jammer.
MrsS commutes that way and her Etrex, although it stays on, never ever records a trackpoint within the confines of the military property.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Someone I know has a GPS which always crashes on one particular street. On one occasion three of us were there, all using GPSes of various types and only hers crashed. It's a Garmin but I don't know what model.

[321up]

I used to have regular gps crashes at the same point on Abbey Street, Nottingham near where it crosses the river Leen (recording track on an android phone).  Very curious.

[Psychler]

I had a real problem with my Garmin 705 the other year when I was in Mons.  So did another group of cyclists that I spoke to.

SHAPE headquarters is just up the road at Casteau - I wonder???

[R_nger]

I was running two garmins the other day (800 and 510). Both turned themselves off at the same point near Hemel Hempstead.

Very odd!

Will have to go and ride the hill again and see if the failure is demonstrably repeatable.

I'm a Hemelite, I'd love to know where you're experiencing this issue.

[Pingu]

Kirknewton, Northumberland: three times I've ridden this bit of road, three times the etrex 30 has switched itself off.