In reply to:

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So if they can't get it right, how can we expect to get it right with even-less-accurate Tiger data?

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Call it a building process. People have been talking about gps software for the empeg for at least 3 years now, but nobody has found a good data set yet. I for one am glad that has not stopped Jan so far. Here is the steps I would do if I was writing the software...

1. Build enough of a user interface shell to get data from the gps and display on screen. Done.
2. Find a source of existing routes for use on the empeg. Done via MapsOnUs.
3. Find a source of real geographic data to finish UI, this allows for info telling you where you are, showing surrounding streets and addresses, and proper moving maps. Continue to use MapsOnUs for routing info overlaid on top of the geographic data. TIGER is a good free datasource for getting this working. If this is as far as GPSApp ever gets it would still be useful for many things as previously discussed.
4. Get basic routing working with the geographic data. Get the routing algorithms and interfaces working. Find a way to get routing working with the memory and cpu limitations of the empeg (I know it can be done as I have seen Kim's software do it). TIGER data is fine for this as well.
5. Start worrying about data accuracy. Now that we have software that can actually use the data a lot more people may be willing to spend money on commercial data. Alternatively look at conflating the TIGER data (which we are now experts with due to step 3 and 4) with other freely available data. There is a wide variety of USGS data that may be usable. Also by this time TIGER2002 should be out which may be more useful to us.

Anyway, just some thoughts on why tiger is probably the best bet for now.

-Mike