TomTom Traffic - Alternative Data Source?

skippyzoid · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 24, 2005 Posts: 7

HI.

I have TomTom Traffic and will be comming to the end of my free trial shortly, I personally havnt found it to be that accurate on my travels, I drove right into a tailback on the M25 that was announced on the radio just after I passed the junction where I should have come off to avoid it.

I wondered if it was possible to configure traffic or use a plugin that would use an alternative traffic database, perhaps the one that route66 uses for example ?

Plugin writers?, is this a project in the making ?

Skip.

lbendlin · Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 4:46 pm Post subject:

yeah, we've looked at the Route 66 data. You could write a web service that downloads their pages every now and then, but then you would have to use eyeballs to understand if the items listed are affecting your journey or not. (The TMC codes are proprietary, and hacking them is not legal.)
The list can also get pretty big and be a burden on your GPRS bill.

As you have noticed traffic information is only as good as the people that report it. It will take a few more months before fully automated traffic flow measurement systems catch on with drivers connecting via ad-hoc networks from car to car etc. 8)
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Lutz

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skippyzoid · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 24, 2005 Posts: 7

Are there GPS receivers that also receive the traffic master data and put this into the data stream ?

I have a traffic master and elected to go the tomtom traffic route in preference to the trafic master subscription, though traffic master at this time does seem to be more reliable but didnt I read somewhere that the data actually comes from the same source ? ie the little blue cameras on the side of the road

Darren · Posted: Tue May 24, 2005 5:44 pm Post subject:

No, there are GPS/TMC receivers that receive the iTIS Traffic Data (the same as TomTom Traffic) albeit over an FM signal rather than GPRS but these will only work with the specific apps designed to use them such as Navigon and Alturion.
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skippyzoid · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 24, 2005 Posts: 7

Thats a shame, mobile phone costs are high enough without having to pay for a subsciption to the traffic info on top, I would have thought many domestic users wont bother to subscribe.

Perhaps TomTom will take the larger view and realise that if they make their service free as others are doing they will gain more long term sales.

Watchout for the hackers, I bet they're already at work trying to get arround the subscription...

jase_31 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 23

lbendlin · Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 1:02 pm Post subject:

I believe TMC is doomed. It's a local phenomenon in some european countries, hampered by licensing issues - not just in the UK - France has the same issues.

mobile internet usage charges will go down, and with that alternative (open source) solutions will become more attractive.

One thing to lookout for is traffic info via satellite radio - that may be a viable alternative.
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Darren · Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 1:53 pm Post subject:

I can't see it personally. The data providers have a huge investment to recoup and I find it hard to envisage any alternative free sources of such data.

Delivery methods may change but it's always going to have to be paid for in some way or another, be that a licence fee encompasses in the product costs or on a subscription basis.

AFAIK, satellite radio has yet to appear on this side of the pond. Being so highly populated I can't see what benefits XM Radio will bring over more traditional sources or indeed the new kid on the block DAB Radio.
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Darren Griffin

jase_31 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 04, 2005 Posts: 23

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