A few months ago I used my GPS to find the fastest way to the veterinarian's office from a different part of town than I am normally in. The vet's office is at one end of a street that formerly joined both another street and a set of highway on and off ramps in a weird five-way intersection. Now, to simplify the intersection and traffic flow, my vet's street has been disconnected from the rest of the streets at the intersection. The GPS did not know about this road change and tried to route me to my vet's office through the newly created green space at the end of the street. I knew the streets no longer connected, so I entered my vet's street one block from the intersection and got there just fine.
After arriving safely at the vet's and noticing that the GPS thought the streets still all joined at the intersection, I explored its menus and found a way to make modifications to the maps - TomTom calls the ability to send and receive user-made changes 'Map Share Technology'. I entered the change, and later that week synced the GPS with TomTom's servers.
Today, I needed to pick up some special food at the vet's, and once again used the GPS to get me there from an unusual direction. Surprise! The GPS was now fully aware of the changed intersection and directed me to the vet's the new way. I can't help but think that the change I submitted, perhaps in conjunction with some other people's, caused TomTom to revise their maps. And, if so, it goes to show that the power of technology can be improved by adding to it the power of its users, in a two-way relationship.
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