x40/HD Traffic/TMC in use

ziro · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 05, 2008 Posts: 30

Day 3:

IQ routes reported arrival time of 8:05.

Slow traffic a good chunk of the A14 both directions.

Noticed stop-start traffic reported going the opposite direction (westbound) due to 1 lane being restricted as the recovered a burnt out lorry (which closed the road the last night). nothing reported eastbound though.

Took me a different route to my usual when I got to cambridge, ended up wasting time in traffic. I think I'll just ignore it next time and go my usual way.

Arrived at destination at 8:33 with no traffic/delays shown on my route.

I'd say -something- isn't performing as i'd hoped.

Flashyphotos · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 9:52 am Post subject:

jonstatt · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2005 Posts: 140

I have filed a TomTOm support query regarding the cameras

hailstorm · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 26, 2007 Posts: 78

I'm driving around the Gloucestershire area. Looking at traffic on the map this morning I'm seeing traffic covering a lot more of the map. A day ago I was only seeing reports for London, Bristol and Birmingham. Now the map is covered in lots of red dots. Noticed that there was one for Cheltenham this morning.

I did get stuck in traffic coming out of Gloucester for half an hour last night. Was a bit disappointed that it provided no warning.

Skwark · Regular Visitor Joined: Jan 30, 2005 Posts: 86

Just to confirm - HD traffic is intended to combine data from multiple sources (e.g. highways agency) as well as their own Vodafone stats? Is that right?

Also, at the risk of going slightly OT, I remember reading the sub for Live services was only on a month-by-month basis - how easy is it to upgrade and downgrade from the service as needed? I'm also presuming this replaces the old GPRS/SD traffic so you can't use that on X40 devices as a fall back...

Flashyphotos · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 10:48 am Post subject:

mikealder · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 10:51 am Post subject:

You can still use the old RDS-TMC devices with the x40 if you have the correct type and the mount with the connector for it, the device will handle which service it is going to use, switching to the RDS system if/ when you have no GPRS signal for the built in receiver to use - Mike

Darren · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 10:52 am Post subject:

Skwark · Regular Visitor Joined: Jan 30, 2005 Posts: 86

From the TT web site under About Live services

"There is no minimum subscription period to LIVE Services. You can end it at any time - all you need to do is give one month’s notice."

and also

"It costs just £9.95 per month, and you can cancel the subscription at any time, giving a month's notice." Though we know it's only £7.99...

thetrotter · Regular Visitor Joined: Sep 26, 2008 Posts: 124

Apologies if this question has been answered elsewhere.

Are TomTom likely to provide software upgrade for my 920T to effectively turn it into one of the new LIVE models?
Appreciate that I may have to buy extra kit. If so, what? As and when, if ever, this upgrade becomes possible - in the UK?

Darren · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject:

Guinness2702 · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 23, 2008 Posts: 156

Guinness2702 · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 23, 2008 Posts: 156

rolandgeorge · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 03, 2006 Posts: 1

I have a new 940. The quality of the HD traffic information around Cardiff is extremely poor. None of the traffic jams I've been in this week have been shown and so my arrival times have been way behind what my TomTom has calculated using IQ routes. I have just come back from the M4 where there was a queue over a mile long at the eastbound exit to junction to 33. Nothing is being reported by HD Traffic (the queue has been there over half an hour). I really hope things improve with HD traffic - it is massively disappointing in its current form. Sad

stealthdevil · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 05, 2007 Posts: 40

Well,

I have been using my tomtom 540 for a few days now and have covered 600 miles so far. So a quick review on the HD traffic side of things..

Note I did own a 530 using RDS-TMC for traffic, so will be providing some comparison here as well.

My journey consists of various A roads and multiple motorways with each journey between 50 and 100 miles.

When I first got this tomtom, I wasn't as happy as I thought with the hd traffic. I was under the impression any major traffic incident would be reported. I usually travel over the runcorn bridge which has traffic every single working day and so was under the impression the x40 would alert me every morning. However it didn't.

It didn't because it didn't need to. As the new IQRoutes calculates for every 5mins of the day, the average speed on that road was correct even though it is a lot of stop/start going on at times. The 530 didn't take this into account. For those not familiar with the roads would also not need to know there is traffic as there ETA is already taking the delay into account.

I have so far run into a few traffic incidents. All of them were reported. I was travelling on a busy A road, a car had broken down and so the police closed a small section of the lane. No big delay, but slow moving. The x40 reported this right away as a 2min delay.. The delay was roughly 2mins.

On Friday, I was making a trip up the M6. 8 incidents reported to me from the start, including 1 accident. I was alerted to the accident when the queue was just 4mins. Over the course of the next 25mins, the x40 did continuously update the situation, and I could see the traffic length increase with each update. It certainly does put your mind at ease that you can actually trust the information.

The x40 offered me an alternative route which would save me having to sit 35mins in traffic. The message popped up on the screen, the voice control activated automatically. I agreed to the re-route and went on my way. I rejoined the M6 just a mile after the accident where everyone was still queuing. A friend of mine unfortunately does not have a tomtom and was stuck in that traffic. Over this particular journey, every minor traffic incident was reported. Be it slow moving traffic, traffic queuing up, stationary etc.

Even traffic as small as 150 yards was being reported! I had many 1 min delays showing on the screen. While it may not appear important if it's just 150 yards, collectively over the course of the journey it can be a lot.

Another feature I didn't know this tomtom had, was warnings regarding road conditions. For this journey, I was experiencing heavy winds, tomtom did display on the screen a red triangle with a picture of a wind sock in the middle to warn me of heavy winds. Looking at the traffic map, it had pointed out all locations experiencing heavy wind.

This is all in contrast to the RDS-TMC where I could not trust the traffic incidents. 5min delays taking 40mins, reporting of traffic when it never existed and so on. It was unable to keep a decent signal, you would always doubt the report and if you skipped an incident you could never be sure if you did the right thing. With HD traffic, the speed of information coming through, the continuously updating incidents report all do put your mind at ease that the information you can actually trust.

In summary. I've always wanted a device that would give me accurate traffic information. Something which would actually help me avoid any delay I can. I can honestly say that TomTom have pulled it off with this one.

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