Cortana not using maps

[switch side method]

Hi guys. I decided to put a date for an appointment for Cortana to remind me about it..... The reminder went off but she didn't tell me to "leave now to miss traffic" and the here maps didn't come up. Any advice on what I did wrong or a step by step guide on how any of you do it would be so ideal. Many thanks in return

 

[Nerdy Woman]

In Cortana's settings, do you have traffic in your interests list? If not, add that. Then tap on traffic to turn on all the trafficky options.

One thing I discovered is that drive time is accurate within 1 minute, even if I take alternate, less congested routes (few and far between in metro Southern California) or hit every red light. And if I set my appointment for 6, with 32 minutes drive time, Cortana reminds me at 5:28 that it's time to drop what I'm doing and hit the road...

Suggestion? Set your appointment for 10-15 minutes ahead of the actual appt time.

 

[switch side method]

Thanks for that . Slightly lost tho. Could you give me a quick step by step guide (obviously I will change my route destination from yours lol) do I add my 6pm appointment in the calendar or on Cortana or both? Sorry to ask so much... For some reason I am struggling with this

 

[Nerdy Woman]

Thanks for that ��. Slightly lost tho. Could you give me a quick step by step guide (obviously I will change my route destination from yours lol) do I add my 6pm appointment in the calendar or on Cortana or both? Sorry to ask so much... For some reason I am struggling with this

No problem, Switch. Add the event to your calendar or tell Cortana to do it for you. Saying something like "Schedule appointment" or "add event to my calendar." You can give her all the details without waiting for her to ask for them.

For the traffic tools... open Cortana, then tap on the "hamburger" icon at the top right corner (the stack of 3 lines). That will take you to Cortana's notebook.

In Cortana's Notebook, tap interests. Traffic should appear in the daily routine section, right at the top. If it's not there, add it by tapping the + button at the bottom of the screen, then choose the daily routine category, and then tap traffic. You'll be returned to the interests screen...

On the Interests screen, tap Traffic. There are 2 on/off switches and 2 checkboxes. Go ahead and switch everything on. Don't forget to tap the save button at the bottom (not that I've ever exited a screen without saving... ;-) )

One downside here... even if you save places in Cortana and provide exact addresses, HERE and the Calendar location stored in the record do not yet interact with Cortana's database, matching "the pub" stored in Cortana's places with 123 Main Street with "the pub" stored in the event location information. In other words, when you create the appointment, you have to include the actual address in the location information. I've even tried saving a favorite location in both Cortana's places and in HERE Drive+. Neither one connects the dots between the place name and the address. I'm sure they're working on that.

 

[switch side method]

Thank you so much. Really sweet of you to take time out to explain it all to me xxx

 

[switch side method]

So how would be the best way to get her to say "time to leave now" as that's the main problem I am getting ?

 

[Nerdy Woman]

So how would be the best way to get her to say "time to leave now" as that's the main problem I am getting ?

Say something like, "add to my calendar Dr's appt on September 13 at 6:45 pm at 123 Main st, east Podunk" (this would actually be a 7 pm appt, but you have to give yourself time to put on your sneakers and grab a bottle of water. It's okay to lie to Cortana and to it's good to remind yourself that you're smarter than she is). She'll read the details back to you for confirmation that she got it right. If it's an address that traffic conditions indicate will take you 15 minutes, she'll remind you at 6:30.

 

[switch side method]

You are a superstar.. Thank you so much. Will test this out. So the trick to make it work is to actually say the whole address?

 

[Nerdy Woman]

Either say the whole address or type the information into calendar. Cortana does check your calendar. If you have the location stored in Contacts, you can open the contact, tap/hold the address and copy for pasting into calendar event.

Having to work so hard to get Cortana to remind you to leave is less than intuitive at this point, isn't it? Remember, she's in beta. I'm sure the folks at Aperture Science are working hard to make it better/easier.

What's kind of cool is that you can add events to Outlook on your computer (way bigger keyboard) and they're synced to your phone...