View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
stevefitz Occasional Visitor
Joined: Oct 26, 2004 Posts: 11
|
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
HI;
From the hundreds of inputs into maps, it is obvious that, there are many of us willing to pay for early release updates for TTG, in the same way I get monthly virus updates by subscribing, its my choice to pay extra.
Let the software which comes with the hardware be "Entry level", and we can all have various Cost Vs Update time options.
The manufacturer will then have a ready revenue stream, because(for sure) he did'ent make much out of the intial hardware sale at £400.
This scenario cannot of escaped the management of TTG, as it copies so many other industries, ie Mobile phones, discount the hardware, sell the airtime.
We need a voice into TTG management, any takers? |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Dave Frequent Visitor
Joined: Sep 10, 2003 Posts: 6460 Location: UK
|
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 1:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
We have already discussed this with TomTom Management in the past and the concesus is it's too costly for them to manage a frequent update policy in having to re-press CD's and far too costly for hundreds of thousands of customers to be downloading the maps from their servers. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
icsys Frequent Visitor
Joined: Feb 20, 2004 Posts: 1154 Location: South Lancashire, UK
|
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 3:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
TeleAtlas release updates as often as twice a year for In-car sat nav systems which are purchased directy from TeleAtlas.
Quote: | Ghent, October 20, 2004
As 20 percent of the information on a navigation CD is new or updated with each release, investing in current issues is vital in retaining these safety and peace of mind benefits, which are especially important for the bad weather and dark days of the winter months. New releases are issued as often as twice a year. Maintaining the accuracy of the navigation system is equivalent to ensuring tyres are in good condition, checking the oil and making sure the radiator and screen wash reservoir have sufficient antifreeze.
http://www.teleatlas.com/template_newsdetail.jsp?ctype=pressreleases&contentpage=1642.htm&clang=en&ccoun=uk
|
Perhaps an alternative solution could be for TeleAtlas to manage interim map updates for TomTom and Navman directly thereby releasing them of the burden of having to re-press CD's and the possible cost of hundreds of thousands of customers downloading the latest maps from their servers.
This way the latest maps would be available for those willing to purchase them. _________________ Ian.
iPAQ 2210 | Navman 4100 BT Receiver
Navman iCN 635
TomTom GO
Anquet OS mapping
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
stix Occasional Visitor
Joined: Sep 27, 2004 Posts: 58 Location: Zurich, Switzerland
|
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 4:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
BMW issue a yearly update (apparently).... but you've gotta buy it I think. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
stevefitz Occasional Visitor
Joined: Oct 26, 2004 Posts: 11
|
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 4:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Hi Dave;
Down loading updates to maps, is not a volume technical server issue today also its not a cost issue.
TTG has the option to either push or pull the upgrades to its clients.
The beauty of monthly subscribing is that TTG can be downloaded autiomatically and send the clients updates to please themselves, overnight etc, this is really cheap and very cost effective, we are talking pence per client.
Take it from me its not a TTG cost issue on software distribution, its a map / compiler issue.
THe software package upgrades would be relatively small, once the main software is present, it really is very simple.
Would you have the address on TTG in Holland.
Thanks
Steve |
|
Back to top |
|
|
MikeB Frequent Visitor
Joined: 20/08/2002 11:51:57 Posts: 3859 Location: Essex, UK
|
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 4:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
stevefitz wrote: | Down loading updates to maps, is not a volume technical server issue today also its not a cost issue.
TTG has the option to either push or pull the upgrades to its clients.
The beauty of monthly subscribing is that TTG can be downloaded autiomatically and send the clients updates to please themselves, overnight etc, this is really cheap and very cost effective, we are talking pence per client.
Take it from me its not a TTG cost issue on software distribution, its a map / compiler issue.
The software package upgrades would be relatively small, once the main software is present, it really is very simple. |
Actually it is a volume issue it is also a technical issue as well. The maps are not upgradeable therefore they have to be downloaded in their entirity. This is not an issue for In-Car DVD as most of these use the map data direct from the providers. Both TomTom and NavMan and all other PDA providers need to manipulate the data to provide the most compact but accurate (hopefully) representation of the data. This process takes up to 2 months per release of data to do the compression and then do the regression testing on that data.
The whole process makes it pretty much impractical to provide online updates as the bandwidth costs and potential demand would be prohibitive.
As for the address it is clearly posted on the TomTom website under "Contact Us" along with thier phone number. _________________ Mike Barrett |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Darren Frequent Visitor
Joined: 11/07/2002 14:36:40 Posts: 23848 Location: Hampshire, UK
|
Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 7:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
stix wrote: | BMW issue a yearly update (apparently).... but you've gotta buy it I think. |
Indeed you do and each release CD or DVD is over £200! _________________ Darren Griffin |
|
Back to top |
|
|
mutant Occasional Visitor
Joined: Oct 11, 2004 Posts: 19
|
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2004 1:16 am Post subject: |
|
|
Dave wrote: | We have already discussed this with TomTom Management in the past and the concesus is it's too costly for them to manage a frequent update policy in having to re-press CD's and far too costly for hundreds of thousands of customers to be downloading the maps from their servers. |
Dave, I note what you say and am interested to hear that you have discussed this with TomTom. I accept from what you say and what MikeB has added in a latter post that the way things have been designed there is more to the process than just issuing an update.
However, that does not alter the fact that at some point TomTom are going to have to update the maps if they wish to stay in business. So the only real questions are how often the updates will be, how they are delivered and how much they will cost.
In terms of the physical costs I am afraid I have to agree with stevefitz. I can download between 10 and 15 GB of data a month from Giganews for the princely sum of US$11 so a download of 128MB is, by comparison, relatively trivial (about US$0.10). And anyway, no one was suggesting that the download should be free. Likewise, if they really are talking about hundreds of thousand of CD's the pressing costs per CD would be of the order £0.20 to £0.50 and could easily be passed on to the customer.
So the real question is what are TomTom's intentions. If, as has been suggested elsewhere in the thread, TeleAtlas update their raw data twice or more a year then the problem either lies with TomTom and their modifications or with the price that TeleAtlas is trying to charge. Either way TomTom must have thought of this and I have to say that I find their silence slightly ominous.
That said, if they would just update the software to allow multiple Via's I could probably live with the maps a little longer.
Michael |
|
Back to top |
|
|
imapbox Regular Visitor
Joined: Jul 25, 2004 Posts: 102
|
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:08 am Post subject: Re: tomtom maps |
|
|
rob-bob wrote: | Did tomtom change their map supplier from tt2 to ttgo as i find the latest maps on GO worse, just wondered why they were this way......my tomtom go sits on the side now as i am back using my tt2 on the pda which is much better.......
also one of the big problems i also found with go is the re-routing it keeps trying to make you do a u turn....on the tt2 if you hit a bit of traffic and pull off the route tt2 will find you another route when ttgo keeps trying to make you do a u-turn for quite a while..... i know this is a software thing but being able to turn u-turns off would help
also if i update my maps on tt2 to tt3 am i going to get crap maps like on tt go...
Cheers
Rob |
the routing algorithm is trying to get you on track as soon as possible. if that's not possible due to traffic constraints, it will indeed tell you quite some time to get back on track.
the older software seems to do worse in this respect. in this case you rather would drive a longer route instead of "fixing" your "mistake"
for the maps -- as far as I know, the map data is in all cases the same.
for the netherlands, the maps are very good in fact. the updates are being processed in india -- it takes time to see the changes in the new cards. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
rob-bob Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 27, 2003 Posts: 85 Location: rotherham
|
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:07 pm Post subject: map data |
|
|
the tt2 and go maps cannot be the same.......they have changed it for sure.....this is what i find frustrating that the errors are only on the go version if you look up weltje road in hammersmith and plot a route from the crossing of weltje rd and king street to the crossing of weltje rd and upper mall tomtom go will try and take you straight across six lane of a4 traffic which has a barrier down the middle...tt2 will take you left onto the a4 down the road under the flyover and back up the other side......when you get to te flyover you have to go right onto a slip road to turn right to go back up the a4...on ttgo this is a roundabout which it is not...if the maps were the same would these be different or is this a software problem.....also this is only a demo of the problem to show you how things have changed before some smartarse says somthing stupid......
the thing is if anyone has tt3 on a pda can they plot this route for me to see which way it takes you as i want to upgrade to tt3 on my pda but do not want the same problem with ttgo |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Aquanick Occasional Visitor
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 46 Location: Northants
|
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
[quote="icsys"]TeleAtlas release updates as often as twice a year for In-car sat nav systems which are purchased directy from TeleAtlas.
errrr......just a thought......but if teleatlas release maps twice a year, why cant we bypass tomtom and purchase map updates direct from teleatlas?
Seems too simple.......why cant it be done?
Nick |
|
Back to top |
|
|
mutant Occasional Visitor
Joined: Oct 11, 2004 Posts: 19
|
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:08 pm Post subject: Re: map data |
|
|
rob-bob wrote: | tomtom go will try and take you straight across six lane of a4 traffic which has a barrier down the middle.. |
rob-bob
You are being unreasonable again. The A4 has only been there for 30+ years !
Michael |
|
Back to top |
|
|
rob-bob Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 27, 2003 Posts: 85 Location: rotherham
|
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:26 pm Post subject: unreasonable |
|
|
i always am.........really need someone to try this route on tt3 to see which way it takes then i can upgrade my tt2
Cheers
Rob |
|
Back to top |
|
|
imapbox Regular Visitor
Joined: Jul 25, 2004 Posts: 102
|
Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2004 9:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
[quote="Aquanick"] icsys wrote: | TeleAtlas release updates as often as twice a year for In-car sat nav systems which are purchased directy from TeleAtlas.
errrr......just a thought......but if teleatlas release maps twice a year, why cant we bypass tomtom and purchase map updates direct from teleatlas?
Seems too simple.......why cant it be done?
Nick |
http://www.navshop.com/directsales/catalog/default.php?cPath=1130_1135_1136
shows you that it can be done. however the price is the stopper. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
OZ Regular Visitor
Joined: Mar 17, 2004 Posts: 165
|
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 7:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Perhaps i am missing something here but this link is for a full TomTom set up not maps. I have rummaged around the whole site and can seem to find updates for most other brands but not TomTom seperately.
Now i wonder why that could be so?. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
Posted: Today Post subject: Pocket GPS Advertising |
|
|
We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
|