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stuart
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Location: Dorset, England, Great Britain
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 Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 2:52 pm Post subject: TomTom HD Traffic will be available in 2008 |
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Just saw a small article in January 2008 edition of T3 mag and found this site on TomTom site....
Another version to wait for. |
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uffe73
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Location: Sweden
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:35 pm Post subject: Re: TomTom HD Traffic will be available in 2008 |
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That sounds indeed interesting. However, I get the impression that the service is only provided for the Netherlands. I live in Sweden. But I guess that more of Europe will be covered. I wonder if the quality of the data will be equally good all across Europe. After all it's down to which information sources they are using.
I would also like to see a more dynamic rating where you only pay when you're actually using the service. I'm not prepared to pay €9.95 a month for a service that I use once in a while.
/Ulf |
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uffe73
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:42 pm Post subject: Re: TomTom HD Traffic will be available in 2008 |
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| uffe73 wrote: | | After all it's down to which information sources they are using. |
After studying the article a bit more carefully I understand more:
"TomTom HD Traffic uses a revolutionary new source of traffic information: the mobile phones of people traveling in their cars. From this anonymous data TomTom knows exactly where, in which direction and at what speed all these mobile phone users are traveling throughout the Dutch road network. This real-time data is combined with other available traffic information services, resulting into a much more complete and more trustworthy traffic information."
So, apparently the sources of information are all drivers on the roads using TomTom. This will probably work fine in Holland which is a densely populated country with presumaby a lot of TomTom users. I'm more sceptical to how well the service would work in Sweden - once they release it here (according to the text above they only offer the service in Holland). |
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pete1336
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Posts: 274
Location: North Wales
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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| So tomtom will get some of their data from the mobile phones of ordinary members of the public as they drive about on their private business. Are tomtom paying to use the information generated from private citizens? I suspect not. |
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Darren
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Location: Hampshire, UK
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:29 pm Post subject: Re: TomTom HD Traffic will be available in 2008 |
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| uffe73 wrote: | | So, apparently the sources of information are all drivers on the roads using TomTom. This will probably work fine in Holland which is a densely populated country with presumaby a lot of TomTom users. I'm more sceptical to how well the service would work in Sweden - once they release it here (according to the text above they only offer the service in Holland). |
Not quite, the source of data is all users of mobile phones from the data partner which in the case of the UK will be Vodafone.
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uffe73
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:02 pm Post subject: Re: TomTom HD Traffic will be available in 2008 |
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| Darren wrote: | | uffe73 wrote: | | So, apparently the sources of information are all drivers on the roads using TomTom. This will probably work fine in Holland which is a densely populated country with presumaby a lot of TomTom users. I'm more sceptical to how well the service would work in Sweden - once they release it here (according to the text above they only offer the service in Holland). |
Not quite, the source of data is all users of mobile phones from the data partner which in the case of the UK will be Vodafone. |
That is even more remarkable. Does that mean that all Vodaphone subscribers would provide data to TomTom while driving about, whether they like it or not? Sounds strange to me. |
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Darren
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| Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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It may sound strange but that is exactly what will happen. The data is already stored by the phone companies, the novelty is the use TomTom are going to make of it and the sharing between Vodafone and a third party, see here.
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xda
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Posts: 1199
Location: Park Gate
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:36 am Post subject: |
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Seems like TomTom are making a habit of collecting data from users the selling it back to them. First with MapShare and now Traffic info, won't get much from me I'm on O2 
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Graham.
TT Go720, App:9.510(1234792.1) OS:842337
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uffe73
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:02 am Post subject: |
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| xda wrote: | | Seems like TomTom are making a habit of collecting data from users the selling it back to them. First with MapShare and now Traffic info, won't get much from me I'm on O2 |
Well, I guess we have to accept the moral aspects here. Most people, me included, have probably not considered that the GSM providers have been able to track us ever since the GSM networks came to life some 15 years ago. We tend to get used to new technology and forget the negative aspects.
But another question that pops up, that I should maybe better have posted in the Advanced GPS forum: Assuming that TomTom and the network provider will be collecting data from an arbitrary mobile phone not hosting a built-in GPS receiver or any dedicated positioning software; will the accuracy of the positioning accuracy be good enough for making the data any useful? Since they have no GPS satellites aiding the positioning they must use some network based LBS method for obtaining the position - typically triangulation or cell identification. Neither of these methods provides an accuracy that comes close to that of a consumer GPS receiver. So, with this in mind, how will TomTom be able to distinguish a stationary mobile phone in a house from a phone in a car standing still in a queue on the street outside the house? One way would be to use statistics but that would most likely require an enormous amount of computer power considering the number of phones out there.
And, in an area with a dense road network like Holland and the UK, how will they be able to know which road I am driving on?
Ok, the guys at Vodaphone and TomTom are probably sharp and have a solution to this. I'm just curious how it will work technically. I will sit back and observe how well it works in Holland and the UK and decide if the resulting service to us satnav custumers will be worth the €9.95/month.
/Ulf
PS: See the articles below for interesting reading about the technical challenges in this area:
http://www.telematicsguide.com/Articles/GPS_GSM.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_localization
Last edited by uffe73 on Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:12 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Darren
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Location: Hampshire, UK
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:16 am Post subject: |
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| xda wrote: | | Seems like TomTom are making a habit of collecting data from users the selling it back to them. First with MapShare and now Traffic info, won't get much from me I'm on O2 |
Can't let that one pass unchallenged!
TomTom pay iTIS a licence fee for TMC data, they pay Vodafone for the usage data and then they combine the two using some very clever filtering and calculation software to (hopefully) improve the quality and accuracy of Traffic data. This is then transmitted using servers to end-users.
The data they use has already been collected by Vodafone (and O2, Three, Orange etc) regardless so if anything they are contributing money to Vodafone's coffers. If it does improve data quality then I'm all for it.
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