IQ Routes my (Censored!!)

[DennisN]

OK, I know I should have my own IQ too, but it's low. So I keep hoping that one day, west to east routing across London will NOT take me through Piccadilly and Piccadilly Circus, or that they will actually have flowing traffic through them. Many moons ago, it was bad with several lanes merging into two, but recent (ongoing) works have now reduced three to one, PLUS those two down to one round the Circus.

HD Traffic and RDS-TMC traffic seem quite oblivious to it all too.

I wish I had the brains to remember to Choose Alternative, Avoid Piccadilly BEFORE I find myself tearing my hair out outside the Ritz and Waterstones!
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[TomDavison]

The west end of the Bedford by-pass is renowned for intermittent traffic problems. Yesterday, my shiny new 950 said all was well, so I went that way. After passing the last escape road, I ran into the back end of the traffic jam. A few minutes later it appeared on the national radio traffic report!, but by the time I had ploughed my way through (20 min delay), the 950 was still showing no problems.

[DennisN]

That's nothing to do with IQ routing.
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[TomDavison]

Sorry, I had assumed that, since the bypass roadworks has been active for over a year now, IQ routes would have picked up that the morning and evening "rush hour" periods are snail speed crawls, and would have avoided the area. That's what I meant by intermittent, but I didn't make myself clear.

It seemed to me the same as the problem you were describing, with ongoing roadworks having a long term effect on traffic speeds, rather than an HD traffic proble.

[IanS100]

I have a feeling that if standing traffic is the norm for a given place/time this is seen as normal & for whatever reason HD doesn't mark it as a hold up - I have driven through Preston numerous times lately when there's been standing traffic but I've never seen it marked up as a delay by HD Traffic - the IQ timings for the route haven't been that far out though - Are HD Traffic & IQ routes linked in any way or are they totally separate systems?

[Andy_P]

[DennisN]

My point is that IQ routes says my fastest route across London is via Piccadilly and Piccadilly Circus! I don't care how it works it out, I don't care if it considers standing traffic a non delay. Just so long as the non delay still gets me there faster than any other route! Once, and only once, I sailed through that route (last summer school holidays, late morning, no traffic). Every other time I've sat swearing foully at all the **** traffic clogged up all round me on Piccadilly. This last Monday it took me over half an hour to get from the Hyde Park underpass through Piccadilly Circus. 115 miles, 3 1/4 hours. That's an hour longer than any other sensible destination. AND an hour longer than IQ routes tells me it'll take (BS34 8SW to EC2N 1AD starting at 12 noon) via Piccadilly. I swear it'd be quicker down Constitution Hill and The Mall? What makes me laugh is that you can actually have your TomTom ask you if you want to get there at a certain time and it'll tell you when to set off!!
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[TomDavison]

[DennisN]

My understanding is that IQ routes is based on historical information gathered from users - it's that question Home asks about gathering information which won't cost you anything and won't incovenience you. All those who have answered yes are allowing TT to gather information on route transit times.

Over a period of time, that information will show that traffic transits from A to B via C very slowly andf traffic which travels from A to B via D gets there quicker. So it navigates via D in future, presumably until such time as the transit times change.

Good thinking, Batman. But..... has it also seen transit times for the route via E and F? Or, has it actually NOT seen a transit time for D but assumes because it doesn't have any information, that D route is going to be quicker. This latter is believed to be the reason for "IQ" routes sending you off along country lanes which in theory are faster than the congested main road, but haven't actually been checked because nobody ever drives along them except farmers in tractors.

We were originally informed that IQ routes data would be 12 months old, so today's routing is based on (say) January to March 2009 travel records.

I have no idea what TT does with information on closed roads and they have no data on new roads.

But I go back to my original grump. TT claim that IQ routes is good for you, gets you from A to B with the minimum delay, because it has records of the quickest route. So it tells me the quickest route across London is via Piccadilly and Piccadilly Circus. And I don't believe it! In actual practice last Monday, IQ routes told me I'd get there in 2 1/4 hours, but in fact it took me 3 1/4 hours. Hence my topic title "IQ Routes my .

Is there no London wizard out there who has an opinion on that route?
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[Andy_P]

I go between West London (Ealing area) and South West London (Wandsworth area) all the time, and TomTom always has a huge desire to take me via Hammersmith, West Cross and out on the A40.
Staying south of the river and using one of the westerly bridges like Barnes or Kew is far better, but you can't tell a TomTom that.

[IanS100]

My grouse on IQ routes is that it insists on routing me via a much longer route to save 2 or 3 minutes. If I route from Southport to Blackpool TomTom directs me to go via Ormskirk, M58, M6 & the M55 which is 47 miles as opposed to 32 miles for my preferred route through Preston. Even Eco Routes prefers the longer route directing me to do 50% more miles to save 3 minutes, yet I’m sure 32 miles with maybe 25% in heavy traffic has to be more economical than 47 miles with 70% on Motorways, particularly when I'm actually driving for a similar length of time. Whilst I appreciate that the 550 is simply working this out with some wizz mathematical algorithm I wish TomTom would replace ‘Eco Route’ with ‘Sensible Route’ Grrrrrr

[DennisN]

I often do Southampton back to home.

Normal calculation in IQ routes via M3, A34 and M4 = 1:55hrs, 103 miles.

My way via A36 and Salisbury = 2:02hrs, 69.2 miles.

Bearing in mind I don't flog the horses, doing the longer route will never save me 7 minutes anyway and the 30+ miles saving persuades me I'm saving fuel and wear and tear. And that IQ routes is mostly hype.

Let's face it, we don't have any comparison - we never have a personal clone who will do the IQ route whilst we do the sensible route to see who gets there first. We are simply told by TomTom that IQ routes is great.
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[IanS100]

Something else I don't understand is if I route from A to B I get route C but route from B to A I get route D None of the roads are one way & time / day doesn't seem to make any difference it sometimes just prefers different routes when travelling in different directions & I've no idea why - I don't suppose there's any way of reversing route on a x50 series, probably too much to ask

[Anita]

I believe one reason this can happen is because the routing algorithm factors in a longer time for a right turn than for a left turn.
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Anita
TomTom VIA 135 - App 12.075
UK map 1130.12368
Samsung Galaxy S21

[DennisN]

I've read suggestions that this is down to left and right turns and a few inches difference. Drat! Anita is fastest finger first.
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Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

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