Are there any TMC products?

dejongj · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2004 6:46 pm Post subject:

Well spotted!!!!!!

I will give them a call tomorrow and see whether it is for sale....I want it, I want it, and want it now!!!

swing · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:33 pm Post subject:

Well, their online Shop is selling the product, and they have stopped selling the previous Business MobileNavigator product (which only included maps for the NL / DE area), so I would expect so. The previous product also supported TMC, so it's not new hardware to them so I would expect they are actually able to supply.

I'm interested to know if they have a UK supplier, and whether PocketGPSWorld has any intention of getting a review copy in?

Steve

dejongj · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:43 pm Post subject:

I haven't had the time to speak to them, but personally I am also interested whether the GPS/TMC receiver supports my Medion PPC.

swing · Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:50 pm Post subject:

It should do, the list of supported PDAs for the Business version (ie the PDAs they provide a cable for as part of the package are:

Dell Axim X5
Fujistu Siemens LOOX
HP iPAQ 22xx/38xx/39xx/54xx/55xx
MyPal 620
O2 XDA / T-Mobile MDA
Yakumo
Zayo A600 / Asus MyPal600

I believe the Medion is a Yakumo clone, so should be supported.

dejongj · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 12:18 am Post subject:

I have fired off an e-mail to their sales team to confirm uk tmc and yakumo compatibility with the Medion....
In addition I also contacted Alturion who also got a tmc product with 3d view including clouds in the sky ;-)

swing · Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2004 12:38 pm Post subject:

Hmm...

Alturion does look an interesting solution, providing TMC data either via RDS-TMC or via GPRS. However, their pricing gets expensive:

Alturion Professional 5 €599 (Pro required for TMC support)
Cable €30
European Maps €199

Total: £575 (approx)

However, they offer 12 months software and map updates including in that price, and you can buy further years for €119 (internet downloads, renewed within 2 months of current period expiring), which makes a difference once you consider the costs over a few years.

Navigon, in comparison:

Business Mobile Navigator European Version €499
(NB: this is PDA only, whereas Alturion provides Desktop and PDA versions in the same package)
Cable is included
European Maps is included

Total: £350 (approx.)

Although upgrades are available from previous products, the information isn't openly provided on the website, so it's difficult to compare running costs over 2 or 3 years.

Once Alturion can provide UK TMC maps (I believe both TeleAtlas and Navtech maps including TMC information), or confirm it already works, then with the ability to buy updates it may be a better solution. However, if you don't renew within the 2 months, you have to buy again, which makes it a more expensive solution.

dejongj · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 1:29 pm Post subject:

Interesting comparison. The one thing I don't like about Navigon are the small 'button' (text). This makes it difficult to operate whilst in the car, I have got small hand but find the stylus is required...

On the other hand I have got it confirmed from Navigon that the UK maps support TMC, the Medion PPC can use the Yakumo connector and are awaiting whether the €299 cross upgrade offer applies to me.....That includes European maps, another carholder, charger and the combined tmc/gps receiver!!!!

Can't wait...

swing · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 4:53 pm Post subject:

Actually, I made a small mistake - the Pro bundle includes the cable (it's actually €569 + €30 for the cable), which reduces the cost a little. It's nice to hear from Navigon about the upgrade from the Aldi / Halfords deal, although for most of us who are starting from nothing it's less of an issue.

I have to say having read the Alturion manual for their software that they do seem keen to have the ultimate solution, offering some very interesting options, for example:

Route planning on the desktop, and exporting to the PDA (good use of the better processing power)
Ability to simply export x miles either side of the route to the PDA (good if you are travelling through an area, as opposed to staying within the one area)
Ability to only download TMC support data for certain countries
Ability to auto re route based on road closed / x% drop in speed from TMC data
Ability to have access to TMC data on the desktop
Ability to sync a lot of the data between the desktop and the PDA

I note that Alturion, Navigon and TomTom all use the TeleAtlas mapping data (making TomTom's lack of TMC support stand out further, although I suspect it will arrive during 2004 now they have greater competition).

However, the unique (as far as I can see in PDA terms) advantage of Alturion is that they provide both software and map updates during the time (well, I guess Wayfinder can claim the same advantage, but that works very differently).

I do wonder whether Alturion should have its forum on here.

As for TMC support, from discussions in the "Other software forum", it's been confirmed that the released version of Alturion Pro 5 with the European Maps does include TMC support for the UK (when using the GPS-TMC unit) - at present Alturion do not have the UK TMC data on their Internet (and hence GPRS) server.

Finally, there is a third party application (separately licensed) called TripC (Trip Companion) which is included on the software CD (as a 14 day trial) which uses the SDK to provide better POI support including speed cameras. The author includes with the software a script to convert TomTom OV2 files, and hence it could easily be used with either the Speed Camera Database on here on those provided by the other sync services to give this support into Alturion.
http://tripc.joval.nl/index.htm

Alturion does appear to be the best in functionality terms (although actual comparisons with the others for useability would be nice to know), it's still a question as to whether the additional cost over the other solutions is worthwhile. I've heard that Alturion are concentrating on the high end solution, and not aiming for mass market (like TomTom) and therefore may offer a better service to those that think it is worthwhile - certainly once you factor in the desktop version (which I forgot to do with Navigon in my comparison), and the integration between the two products, it's going to be an interesting year in PDA SatNav solutions....

Privateer · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 5:14 pm Post subject:

Hi Swing,

Many thanks for the information on TMC. May I ask a quick (and probably basic) question?

TMC data currently appears to be obtained by GPRS, presumably by mobile phone and hence cost. Do you think there will soon be a solution that uses a wired or Bluetooth combined GPS and TMC receiver that will work with a navigation package (e.g. TomTom Navigator) that will automatically pick up free TMC broadcasts (like the Traffic Master units do) and automatically re-route around traffic jams, etc.?

Thanks,
_________________
Robert.
iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 14.0.1: iOS CamerAlert v2.0.7
TomTom GO Mobile iOS 2.3.1; TomTom (UK & ROI and Europe) iOS apps v1.29
Garmin Camper 770 LMT-D

swing · Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2004 5:31 pm Post subject:

Both the Navigon Business Mobile Navigator and Alturion GPS Professional 5 Bundle navigation products come with wired combined GPS-TMC units (a single GPS looking device, which also picks up TMC data), and can reroute based on the free RDS-TMC signals, and both are available right now.

I see no reason why a Bluetooth combined GPS-TMC unit could not be produced, but right now there is no such device (Alturion do sell a Bluetooth bundle, but that does not have TMC support).

Alturion also provide TMC data via GPRS (*) for Benelux, whereas Navigon do not.

(*) Actually, they provide it via the Internet, but it can be accessed either from the desktop via the Internet, or from a PDA via a GPRS connection.

So, your wish is fulfilled, although not using TomTom right now Smile

swing · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 3:41 pm Post subject:

I've found another mistake in the comparison between the two:

Alturion Professional 5 €569 (Pro required for TMC support)
Cable €30
European Maps €199

Total: £555 (approx)

However, they offer 12 months software and map updates including in that price, and you can buy further years for €79 for the base product(internet downloads, renewed within 2 months of current period expiring), and an additional €119 for the European maps, which makes a difference once you consider the costs over a few years.

Navigon, in comparison:

Business Mobile Navigator European Version €499 (PDA only)
Cable is included
European Maps is included

Total: £350 (approx.)

Steve

DavidH · Regular Visitor Joined: Feb 06, 2004 Posts: 78

I am fairly confused!
Dedicated in-car systems with large LCD panel + TMC from iTIS seem to be c.£1500.
PDA GPS seems to be c. £500+. TMC add-on seems to be another c£600, and of course you've got to get it all working together.
If so, £4-500 extra for a 'guaranteed' system starts to sound attractive.

Is this right?

swing · Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2004 1:54 pm Post subject: Re: Cost of TMC

DavidH · Regular Visitor Joined: Feb 06, 2004 Posts: 78

Very helpful. I did think the TMC was an add on to Tom Tom - so many of the posts talk about adding TMC to Tom Tom!

I'm fairly sure that our local dealer seels the Panasonic for c. £1500 including TMC, though there's a yearly charge I think for iTIS data (maybe that's VDO). Dave Burrows had similar info on the forum 'In-Car Manufacturer Sat Nav Systems':
"The Panasonic system comes in at around £1000-£1200 with the 5.8" screen, and gives borderless routing across UK and Europe (covering 14 countries) with Points Of Interest and partial postcode support. It also comes with voice guidance, choice of three routes, route avoidance/detour and colour 3D maps from NavTech. Not too sure what the TMC box usually costs, but I'd presume probably around £130 maybe more."

My comments on 'guaranteed' were from reading the posts. If using Tom Tom it seemed definitely not for the faint-hearted, whereas the dealer sorts it all out for the Panasonic. If Navigon is 'out of the box' then problem solved!

Most people seem to shade Alturion over Navigon, yet it seems quite a bit more expensive. I can't quite see why it's 'better'. Any comments?

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