Smartlink Traffic

Kremmen · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:26 am Post subject:

The one flaw with Inrix, as mentioned, is that they rely on user input. There is no way I could drive and use my phone to report an incident. I would not even attempt it unless I was stationary in the jam.

I did try once when I got to the office to report a road closure a few miles away but it told me I was too far away to report it.
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sussamb · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 6:29 am Post subject:

Only partially ... most of their data comes from elsewhere so it's not true to say they 'rely on user input', that's only a small fraction of their data.
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Kremmen · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:33 am Post subject:

OK

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Kremmen · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 12:20 pm Post subject:

Here he goes again ..................

Since getting the new 2599 I decided to give SmartLink another go just to isolate the issue being the 2597 or SmartLink.

Did a return trip to Reading and back from the Harrow area via Heathrow this morning.

On my way back I got caught in the daily commuter jam on the M4 going into London from the M25 to J3. My built in TMC RDS traffic showed the jam but the 2599 via SmartLink showed 'no reported traffic ahead', even when I was doing 2mph in it. The jam was approx 5 to 7 miles so no excuse. I also went down a few local A roads that were also very heavy but again, via SmartLink, nothing doing. All SmartLink seems to want to show these days is roadworks with the text 'no delay' and the occasional bit of yellow in the distance.

Testing time .....

When I got home I got the 2597 out of the box and connected that to Smartlink to compare notes. I set a few donor routes via known traffic hotspots and both units were showing the same traffic info, or lack of more like. Test 1 complete, both Garmins the same display via Smartlink.

Test 2 was to connect the TA cable to the 2599 and switch from Smartlink to digital cable. Within a few minutes the first donor route was showing what I would expect with the local A roads and the M4 with yellow and red sections at the distances I would expect.

I performed quite a few like for like routes with the 2597/Smartlink and 2599/TA Digital in comparison and the digital traffic via Inrix as my traffic provider seems to be working considerably better.

So come on Garmin, what did you do to Smartlink back in May/June to flood the data with 'no delay' roadworks (most of them just cones at the side of the road) and stop sending yellow/red traffic data down the line ? Last May/June it worked perfectly but since firmware 4.4 and Smartlink 1.7 it's broken.

I have since recently upgraded to SmartLink 1.8 but that is just the same. I suspect one or more of the SmartLink data providers is flooding it with roadworks and that seems to be taking precedence over traffic.

After a bit of work this morning I've managed to increase my TA traffic reception from 1 to 4 bars with a cable reroute which is still partially hidden so the jobs a goodun

Smile

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Satnav:
Garmin 2599 LMT-D (Indoor test rig)
DashCam:
Viofo A119 V3
Car Average MPG :

keenrw · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 02, 2007 Posts: 35

Starting to dislike smartlink ,..when trying to look at the map via the app it's saying no traffic but there obviously is cos it's sending the info to the sat nav plus the road works it's displaying is wrong ..I live in Plymouth and there's road works on the A38 ..smartlink is showing it on the wrong side of the A38 ..its also still showing some road works near western mill but they have long since gone ...It can't be trusted.

Rich

Kremmen · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:43 am Post subject:

Not just me and cjyoung then.

The annoying thing is that it used to be so good until about May/June last year.
As you've also found, it's now all 'roadworks with no delay' and no or very little 'real' traffic = you frequently get stuck in a SmartLink unreported jam.

I've now switched to a TA Cable but with my seriously reduced driving now I haven't used it during the peak as I don't need to venture out.

That SmartLink app 'no traffic/incidents' issue was introduced with the latest version 1.8

I have historically contacted Garmin support twice but they are clueless or they are ignoring/told to ignore the issue.
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Satnav:
Garmin 2599 LMT-D (Indoor test rig)
DashCam:
Viofo A119 V3
Car Average MPG :

keenrw · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 02, 2007 Posts: 35

Still not fixed yet ..Still saying the road works are on the wrong side of the A38 etc ..its displaying the other road works a little further down on both sides. ...The western mill road works are no longer there and haven't been so for a few months as I said above ..I'm sticking with digital traffic for now but even that's not picking up some road works near Dobwalls

sussamb · Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 4:22 pm Post subject:

Wish I'd believed mine on Thursday night after a training session with the Sussex SAR team. We'd been above the cliffs near Seaford, and as I headed back at about 11 pm my 2508 said 'A27 is closed, calculating an alternative route'. Can't be I thought as I'd seen no signs getting to Seaford from Worthing but sure enough as I hit the Lewes bypass it was closed for resurfacing, all the way back to the A23 junction so I had to drop back to the coast and follow the road through Brighton, the way my satnav told me to go having recalculated just after leaving Seaford.

Boy was I cross at myself, cost me an extra 30 minutes of travel ... next time 'she' tells me a road is closed and gives me an alternative route I'll believe her Twisted Evil

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Kremmen · Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2014 5:58 am Post subject:

I've done that a few times thinking I know better. Went through Cheltenham centre once after it offered a better route that looked illogical. Soon found out when I got stuck in a long tailback Rolling Eyes

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Satnav:
Garmin 2599 LMT-D (Indoor test rig)
DashCam:
Viofo A119 V3
Car Average MPG :

xtraseller · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:52 am Post subject:

I would agree SmartLink seems excellent at roadworks but very hit and miss on traffic

Put mine back in the glovebox and rely on my TomTom 600 for now - and will try the SmartLink again sometime
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Kremmen · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 12:53 pm Post subject:

That's basically what I've done but I'm using the TA cable which seems to be working like SmartLink used to.
_________________
Satnav:
Garmin 2599 LMT-D (Indoor test rig)
DashCam:
Viofo A119 V3
Car Average MPG :

xtraseller · Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 2:00 pm Post subject:

I agree - the digital cable produces decent traffic and roadworks, the tomtom great traffic, okay roadworks

SmartLink just needs to replicate what they feed through to the digital traffic radio feeds

Or even better - what they send through to THEIR Navigon Smartphone App traffic
_________________
TomTom Go Live 6100, 600
Garmin DriveLux 50, D-Smart 70, NuviCam, 3598, 2699, 2798
Mio Navman 695
Nexus 6p, Apple iPhone 6sPlus and Microsoft Lumia 950xl running TomTom, Garmin, CoPilot, Navigon, Sygic, Here Drive, Google, Waze, MS Maps

Kremmen · Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 5:59 am Post subject:

As I've said before, something happened around May/June where they either changed their SmartLink supplier or added new ones in.

The end result is that, in London anyway, we are getting hundreds of roadworks 'incidents' that are flooding out the traffic reports.

In the vast majority of cases the roadworks are overnight only and when you drive through the incident area there are just cones at the side of the road with no delay which is not what 'traffic' means to me.

I've tested this on 2 different units and they are both the same so it's not the hardware. I've also tested the 2 units side by side SmartLink/TA Cable and the results are considerably different.
_________________
Satnav:
Garmin 2599 LMT-D (Indoor test rig)
DashCam:
Viofo A119 V3
Car Average MPG :

frustin · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 04, 2006 Posts: 6

I came on here to say that since the last update I did a few weeks back my traffic monitoring has become really bad.

Sitting in an accident on the M25 this morning and it didnt register a: heavy traffic and b: that there was an accident at all.

App call Waze is brilliant, if this could be tied in with Garmin it would be magnificent. However I dont want to have to revert from Waze to Garmin when I get to a jam and find Garmin didnt see it coming.

Also the detours that it picks are a bit basic. It doesnt seem to want to choose a rat run at all. I'm pretty sure my old skool Tomtom used to take any conceivable route (sometimes to the extreme of a farm track).

I have a 3598LMT-D.

sussamb · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:23 pm Post subject:

Yet others complain about being rerouted down rat runs. Were you using smartlink for your traffic? That seems to have problems at the moment. Today I was warned about slow moving traffic due to an accident which quickly turned into a road closed, which it was when I got there. That was using the supplied cable not smart link.
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