Navigator V4 New Functionallity

SpeedCam · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 9:14 pm Post subject: Navigator V4 New Functionallity

This is our opportunity to help TomTom shape the next version of Navigator V4. So what functionallity do we think they will include, what must they include, and the nice to have's...

For starters...

Included ....
The new render engine.
Standard map updates.
Voice activation.

May Include.
Improved traffic avoidance, I'm hoping that they have seen sense and decided to release a TCM system.
Avoid toll roads.
New user interface.
POI Warning system

Nice to have
Accurate & upto date map data

sland · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 19, 2004 Posts: 144

Essential:

Up to date map info
Ability to define streets as one way to overcome shortcomings and errors in present mapping (if I had a pound for every time TT had tried to take me down a one way street the wrong way?)
Ability to define roads as "slow" at certain hours
Ability to have POIs displayed without causing GPS to repeatedly drop out

Everything else nice to have (interface and render is fine if they had accurate info
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Rgds,

Mike

omaruk · Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 11:16 pm Post subject:

The M6 Toll Road !!!!!!

Smooth map scrolling
Proper postcodes
Display of altitude (usefull for alpine passes or road cycling)
Storage of journey statistics e.g average speed, max speed, no of miles, actual time - all Downloadable to PC
Storage of all journeys so that cumlative mileage can be displayed, again downloadable (easy way to work out expenses)
More than 23 waypoints in the itenary

a4ace · Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 10:36 am Post subject:

ability to load two or more maps at the same time and plan across maps.
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tungstentim · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 28, 2004 Posts: 14

A nice feature would be the ability to assign the inbox key so that we can record map inaccuracies, rather than writing it down on paper and then sending that all too familiar e-mail informing TomTom that the map is wrong.

Please note I don’t mean this as a sarcastic suggestion.

Tim

carl_w · Lifetime Member Joined: Mar 13, 2004 Posts: 242

Better "avoid" handling in two respects:

1) In the "alternate routes" part, it usually only lists the first couple of major roads on the route. I'd prefer the GO-style avoidance of roads anywhere on the route

2) In the "road ahead blocked" part, I've never managed to get it to plot an alternate route that involves a U-turn. I think it should be able to plot an alternate that involves an immediate U-turn as first preference on single-carriageway roads, and an alternate that involves coming off at the next exit on dual-carriageway roads. At the moment, on dual carriageways it assumes that "blocked" means "totally stationary" which isn't usually the case.

Zeena · Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:07 am Post subject:

Different levels of the voice guidance...!

Street name in 3D navigation (i guess this is already planned as in the GO, mobile, 2004 ver)
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Gunnar Nystul, Forum Admin, TomTom Forum Norway and Nystul Navigasjon

JamesM · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 14, 2004 Posts: 18

A set of road types that made sense!

Also automatic different speed capability for dual carrageways vs single carrageway (on the same road)

A capabilty to recognise towns/built up areas (e.g major road speed =45 out of town, 25 in town on the same road)

Zeena · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 11:03 am Post subject:

Here in the beautiful Norway we have a lot of tunnels and bridges...

There is too short time for TT to "hold" the speed when loosing signal.
This should be longer, or could be set manually by the user.
Or, there should be a function so TT knew it was in a tunnel...

Some people could also need a "avoid tunnels" or "avoid tunnels/ bridges lower than x". (great function for truckers)

I think this function would be an easy match for the programmers @ TomTom, if the data of tunnels come with the TeleAtlas data.
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Gunnar Nystul, Forum Admin, TomTom Forum Norway and Nystul Navigasjon

Yeoman · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:08 pm Post subject:

1) The ability to avoid specific roads entirely, or types of road (e.g avoid M4 or avoid Motorways, at the planning stage

2) The ability to edit or add to inbuilt POI categories

3) To be able avoid any of the roads on the original route rather than just the next few

4) The use of road names in voice instructions e.g. "turn left into High Street" - as Pocket Co-Pilot does.

DavidW · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:07 pm Post subject:

I suspect, though I write this without any inside knowledge, that the software will be what's currently supplied in the HP Navigation Pack and the new Navigator 2004 product in the United States with Traffic support and whatever features and changes happen by the time that the product is ready to supersede Navigator 3.

TomTom stated at CeBIT that they were going to move all platforms over to the NavCore "common platform" code. The only current product that isn't NavCore is Navigator 3 on the Pocket PC.

I think we can take the current feature set of Go and later maps as all but certain. What I'm interested is some of the features that Navigator 2004 users are reporting as missing reappearing by the time Navigator 3 is superseded. In particular, I'm talking about support for add-on programs via the SDK, also some of the "Alternative Route" options found in Navigator 3 that aren't in NavCore, also reportedly Navigator 2004 lacks some of the configurability of Navigator 3.

When talking about TMC, we have to be careful in how we use the terms, as TomTom Traffic uses TMC technology, but not RDS-TMC. I think RDS-TMC is very unlikely - certainly in the UK, it seems that iTIS are after a licence fee of around 50 pounds per RDS-TMC product shipped. That makes TomTom Traffic a more sensible way to operate and it doesn't require RDS-TMC hardware.

Smoother map scrolling seems unlikely - the GPS receiver only issues a position update once per second, and bearing in mind some Pocket PCs are already stretched pretty hard running Navigator as it stands, I can't see this happening. I don't have any problems leaving POI display on when using my iPAQ hx4700, but my iPAQ h3970, with its slower procesor and slower SD slot, sometimes crashes with POI display on, especially when calculating routes in the Navigator screen.

Altitude display is notoriously tricky, as you get into problems of ellipsoid / geoid correction, different datums, lower accuracy than for horizontal position and SiRF 2.30 firmware arguably getting one of the parameters to do with altitude in the GGA sentence incorrect. I can't see this being implemented in a program like TomTom Navigator that doesn't need altitude information to operate.

I can't see there being much chance of anything that allows you to manipulate the geodata either - whether it be to do with fixing errors like missing one-way streets, or editing built-in POI categories. I would think it very hard to get the necessary permissions from the geodata supplier for even local changes.

Please don't think me negative, but with TomTom standardising on a common platform, I think they already have a jolly good idea what the next European release of Navigator is going to look like. It doesn't stop us wishing, but I wouldn't want people to get their hopes up too much.

David

Robin2 · Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:42 pm Post subject:

The ability to work with add-ons - in particular, CheckPOInt, GPSAssist, UK Postcodes (or incorporate their main features within TomTom)
Robin

MarkHewitt · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 1:09 pm Post subject:

I'd like a set of road types which are specifically relevant to the UK, not a fudge which encompases the whole of Europe and the USA.

e.g. Categorisation could include

Motorway
Dual Carriageway A-Road
Single Carriageway A-Road
(I don't think primary vs non-primary is that important)
B Road
Yellow road (the type you see in OS maps)
Narrow yellow road (often only wide enough for your car and nothing else)
White roads, residential access roads.

What would be excellent is a desktop utility for my PC. One that doesn't provide GPS but has all the maps and you can use it to plan out routes, look up addresses etc. Saves a lot of time before I get into the car.

sdharris · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 2:06 pm Post subject:

I'd like,

- ability to download map updates from the Internet on your desktop and posisbly PocketPC

- ability to download construction/road works data from the internet on your desktop and possibly PocketPC

- ability to load and save itinerary and to reverse it for a return journey

- would also be nice if it learnt from any deviations you made from the route and asked you whether it should record them for future use at the end of the journey

- speed limits recorded for roads

- poi warning, "slow down speed camera" and "are you hungry, there is a fast food restaurant on your left".

DavidW · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:20 pm Post subject:

Map updates - don't expect updates for free (as there's almost certainly licence fees due to TeleAtlas for every update shipped), though maybe TomTom will offer more frequent updates in the future either for one-off payment or on subscription.

Roadworks data - that's already built into TomTom Traffic.

Loading and saving itineraries is already possible - tap and hold on the Itinerary screen for a menu. Reversing an itinerary is a little messier - you need to use the edit features to reorder the steps.

POI warning - there's plenty of third party options with Navigator 3. With the NavCore version of Navigator, there's a POI warning facility built in.

David

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