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PaulB2005 Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jan 04, 2006 Posts: 9323 Location: Durham, UK
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:36 pm Post subject: TomTom HD Traffic Website - Real Time With x40 units? |
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Does the TomTom HD Traffic Live website reflect, in real time, the reports you get on the x40 units?
I only ask because BBC news has been reporting between Junctions 7 and 8 of the M5 as closed due to an accident which occurred at 0815 here but TT HD Traffic website still reports nothing at 1230 but does report a closure between Junction 2 and 4A.
Is the real up to date reports just for x40 owners and is the website feed a delayed / reduced / restricted version? |
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MrT Frequent Visitor
Joined: Nov 14, 2003 Posts: 2143 Location: Surrounded by A1, M1 & M25
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:02 pm Post subject: |
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No TomTom seems to have missed this incident on the maps and the x40 HD traffic, although as I am not near that part of the country that could be why I cannot see it on the x40.
The J2 incident shows on the maps as red and but as a grey incident (labelled accident under further details) with no time delay on the x40. _________________ Drivelux |
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Petekk Regular Visitor
Joined: Mar 06, 2004 Posts: 137
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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My x40 is showing the same data as the website. I have just emailed tomtom support over this.
The M5 closure is reported on radio, TV, Highways Agency website, Keepmoving.co.uk (which is ITis data), and Trafficmaster. Yet HD Traffic shows no sign of any problem, which has existed over 4 hours.
The problem shown on HD Traffic (between J2 and J4), happened a week or so before Christmas, but was never cleared from Tomtom. Having travelling the route several times (with my x40), there is no problem here, so why havent TT detected this (surely there must be thousands of voda sims that have travelled through this junction.
Certainly around Birmingham, coverage of roads is not great, and when there is info, it is not always accurate. |
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PaulB2005 Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jan 04, 2006 Posts: 9323 Location: Durham, UK
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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Ah boo.
Just when I've convinced myself to buy a 540 i get a reminder that it'll be no better than the Garmin I've already got....
Cheers for the confirmations... |
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PaulB2005 Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jan 04, 2006 Posts: 9323 Location: Durham, UK
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:04 am Post subject: |
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Did it ever appear on the HD Traffic Live?
Have emailed TomTom for comment. |
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matthewj Frequent Visitor
Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:34 am Post subject: |
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I must say I'm most disappointed in this. I checked the status of this at about 2pm, and still nothing was there. I could see the tanker off the motorway, and the one to take the fuel away, on the CCTV pictures. Big queues. But nothing on the TomTom HD. This is disgraceful, and I should hope that they extend the 3 month trial to start from when the service works, not from when they started selling them. |
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matthewj Frequent Visitor
Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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The HD website is really useful. It shows how bad the reports are at the moment!
Hmm, okay, just got a little better - it was showing "North England 30 reports" but is now showing 5 as it is. But the number of miles is wrong.
Quote: | 5 reports
Total length: 225m
Total delay: 32min
Reports in North England Delay Length
M62 J38 A63 INTERCHANGE → J24 HUDDERSFIELD
queuing traffic between J32 CASTLEFORD and J28 MORLEY 20min 12m
M62 J29 M1 INTERCHANGE → J24 HUDDERSFIELD
slow traffic between J28 MORLEY and J26 BRADFORD 3min 5m
A642 M1 JUNCTION 47 GARFORTH → A629 at TANDEM
closed between M62 JUNCTION 32 and A61 at WAKEFIELD 6m
A642 A629 at TANDEM → M1 JUNCTION 47 GARFORTH
closed between A61 at WAKEFIELD and M62 JUNCTION 32 6m
A650 M1 INTERCHANGE J41 → BIERLEY
stationary traffic between GILDERSOME and BIERLEY 9min 1m
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That's not 225 miles of traffic! |
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MrT Frequent Visitor
Joined: Nov 14, 2003 Posts: 2143 Location: Surrounded by A1, M1 & M25
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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As the failure rate is probably less than 1% I see little chance of any refunds or extensions to a free trial from TomTom. There is no statement at all of levels of service on the traffic information from them.
From what I can see it is the input of (or the interpretation of) the data from the Highways Agency to TomTom HD database which is the issue.
The information from Vodaphone or traffic sensors in the road is incapable of detecting whether a road is closed or just has no traffic on it, this must be input manually. TomTom certainly use this information correctly on their GPRS Traffic service so I cannot see why they cannot use the same information correctly on their HD Traffic service. _________________ Drivelux |
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matthewj Frequent Visitor
Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 1:35 pm Post subject: |
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The M5 closure had a long queue of traffic trying to leave the motorway (I saw it on the CCTV) so at the very least that should have been reported. I can only see that that region of the HD system has a failure somehow, and that it is not able to update the live database. Being a programmer, I suspect that some out of bounds condition is occurring in a search that stops the query for new data working. But it should be detecting this and automatically causing an error message.
The hope for HD traffic is that you'd be able to rely on it. Turns out it is even worse than the GPRS data feed. I just hope that they can get it sorted, and then will offer a trial of the working version. |
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perussell Frequent Visitor
Joined: May 12, 2006 Posts: 292
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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I am becoming increasingly disappointed with HD traffic. I used the Live services for a 600 mile round trip over Xmas and (luckily) experienced completely clear roads although I was advised of at least 4 (relatively small) hold ups - one of them as I was actually on that stretch of road doing a comfortable 70 mph.
The abovementioned accident before Xmas on the M5 between J2 and 4 southbound of the M5 was clearly shown on the HD traffic site (and for days beyond long after it cleared) but it never showed on the 540 Live that my wife was using in the area on the day concerned.
I am also beginning to see increasing evidence that if a road is closed and there is no traffic on it then there are no slow moving/stationary SIMS and hence the road isn't actually showing as being closed unless somebody at TT HQ or wherever manually intervenes and puts a closure notice on the server.
It was also interesting to note elsehwere in these threads the other day that TT were tacitly acknowledging that their HD coverage of the UK would not be near full strength until March even though they started selling the LIVE units back in November.
Then again, anybody who has followed these threads for some time shouldn't really be surprised! |
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matthewj Frequent Visitor
Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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FWIW I've been monitoring a traffic queue on the HD website and the www.keepmoving.co.uk camera site for an hour or two now. I'd say it was pretty accurate for this simple test. Well, as accurate as one can tell from a CCTV camera. But it restores a lot of my faith in the core information being good, and live.
I still suspect that there is a data problem with the M5 that they need to "unblock" to restore accuracy there. |
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matthewj Frequent Visitor
Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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Either there are no cars on the roads, or the HD web site isn't working. No reports in London, Birmingham, West country, Manchester, ... |
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matthewj Frequent Visitor
Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:01 pm Post subject: |
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I asked TomTom about the M5 closure:
Quote: | Hi, The M5 was closed yesterday for many hours (near my Mum's house). The TomTom HD had no information about it at all, despite miles of queues and lots of chaos. It had a report of an incident that was weeks old.
Can I be assured that the 3 month trial will be reset to start when HD is actually working properly? I'm astonished that this is possible and it isn't the only such incident. When will HD traffic be working as promised please? |
And they say it was working properly:
Quote: | Of course there will always be some software complications is because of the accurate and at the moment live service. This is a very accurate and reliable service. TomTom HD Traffic uses a revolutionary new source of traffic information: the traffic flow of up to 16.7 million anonymous mobile phone users on the road. From this anonymous data, TomTom knows exactly where, in which direction and at what speed all these mobile phone users are travelling throughout the road network. This real-time data is combined with other existing quality traffic information sources, resulting in the most complete and reliable traffic information. The service is working properly. |
They want how much for this?
FWIW, I watched J10 of the M25 this morning, as it was reported closed by Traffic England. Big queues on the CCTV. Nothing on TT HD, but then there was very little on it anyway via the web site. |
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Petekk Regular Visitor
Joined: Mar 06, 2004 Posts: 137
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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I have reported a number of problems with traffic. Tomtom have replied to me,
Quote: | I am sorry that you are experiencing problems with your Traffic services. Unfortunately, alot of our customers are experiencing problems with this service. |
Have a look at the thread HD Traffic Coverage Map - full strength' by March 2009. Apparently TT have replied acknowledging "challenges with our Plus Services Server" which is causing the stuck incidents problems.
I suggest that any problems, stuck incidents, missing incidents etc are reported to TT. If they are inundated with support questions, they will have to acknowledge problems with the service and take action. The system is capable, it is just not quite working properly yet (i.e very often GPRS has more data than HDT) |
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matthewj Frequent Visitor
Joined: Apr 03, 2006 Posts: 751
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Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 11:30 am Post subject: |
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Thanks - I've been watching the other thread too, and saw their response to you. The response they gave me arrived a few minutes before I posted it here, so I guess they don't have a common line at the moment - one rep saying all is well, others saying it is a known problem.
The HD traffic web for greater London is showing nothing at the moment, but there is a holdup on the A3 due to a lane closure. The Traffic England site has these things, but they stay there for ages beyond their expiry. This was the problem with GPRS traffic of course - you couldn't trust it would still be there. At least with HD at the moment you'll not know anything so it will expire quickly. |
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