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iTIS or TrafficMaster
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Fri May 11, 2007 2:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An interesting thought -

Accoding to the guys at Goonhilly Earth Station (BT's satellite station in Cornwall), the power of a satellite signal is roughly equivalent to a lit candle on the moon being visible from earth.

We have no problem receiving data from satellites, but we can't receive an RDS/TMS signal from 'around the corner'
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having had a TrafficMaster Freeway unit in my car since they were first released many moons ago (in technology terms at least), I guess that I've been a fan of the "better the devil you know" philosophy.

However, I contacted both iTIS and TrafficMaster on 28/3/07 and invited both parties to give input into the great TMC debate.

As demonstrated in the 'ITIS Traffic Information' thread, only one of the two has yet given any response:

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=55886

...but why have TrafficMaster been so slow off the mark? Complacency, arrogance or what?

In the minefield of TMC, where useful information is scarce, I would have thought these companies would both have seen the opportunity as good PR to make their presence felt and neither iTIS nor TrafficMaster would be expected to divulge company-confidential information simply to give assistance to members.

Furthermore, in the absence of feedback from TrafficMaster, there is no apparent evidence that their relatively restrictive network will expand in the way that iTIS possibly has a much greater national coverage of the road network.

My allegiance may therefore have to change Exclamation
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swing
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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

With iTIS potentially picking up Winter Hill, and expanding their range of transmitters, I'm certainly interested to see a side by side comparison of both services over the next few months to see which actually provides better data, and my allegiance may well change too.
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iTekweni
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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is appreciated that alot of input about external aerials being fitted to TMC to get it to work but I do not think the company I work for would take it to kindly if I started stripping the dash of their van to get the TMC functional.

So other than an increase in strength of traffic data being transmitted then these over the counter sold TMC would still be worthless.

sorry I had to put my tuppence worth in.
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iTekweni
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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 1:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is appreciated that alot of input about external aerials being fitted to TMC to get it to work but I do not think the company I work for would take it to kindly if I started stripping the dash of their van to get the TMC functional.

So other than an increase in strength of traffic data being transmitted then these over the counter sold TMC would still be worthless.

sorry I had to put my tuppence worth in.
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iTekweni
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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 1:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is appreciated that alot of input about external aerials being fitted to TMC to get it to work but I do not think the company I work for would take it to kindly if I started stripping the dash of their van to get the TMC functional.

So other than an increase in strength of traffic data being transmitted then these over the counter sold TMC would still be worthless.

sorry I had to put my tuppence worth in.
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A little repitition here, I think.

One posting would have been enough to get the message through and IF you were to read the TMC forum, you would find that reception is one of the issues about which many members have complained.

...but at least by using a greater number of radio stations to carry the FM/RDS TMC signal may help with this - it certainly should not make reception worse than it is at present
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iTekweni
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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I apologies for the repetition I do not know what happened because when I submitted the reply the page froze, yes I have been following the TMC thread and do believe that the reception is the problem as well as the TomTom TMC design but I was replying to the comments about the additional aerial that were being fitted by individuals to their cars and was trying to get across that if one buys a reciever off the shelf you expect it to produce.

cheers
iTekweni
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2007 10:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

These extra aerials or splitters aren't being fitted by everyone.

A lot of people use mag mount aerials successfully and if you have a company van, this might be your answer (about £14.99 from Maplin) and you remove it from your van when not in use
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2007 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've contacted TrafficMaster on a further two occasions since iTIS 'joined the club', but still nothing - so it's pretty obvious which of the two TMC providers cares more about their customers and end-users.

Do TrafficMaster have something to hide, or do they just not care?

TrafficMaster has been used in my car since Freeway was introduced, but my allegiance is rapidly shifting towards the provider which shows at least some consideration for their end-user.
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PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2007 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

TrafficMaster have now responded to correspondence and expressed an interest in joining this forum, so I guess it's a case of watch this space.
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Hamie
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GPS_fan wrote:
TrafficMaster have now responded to correspondence and expressed an interest in joining this forum, so I guess it's a case of watch this space.


That'd be nice... I'd like to know why they never have lane closures on the M4. e.g. Last night (2007/06/04) @ 22:30 there were two lanes closed of the M4 between J7 & J8/9 west bound, 1 east bound. Tailbacks were 2km and growing. Yet the TrafficMaster broadcasts said nothing about the M4 (Except the perennial J3-J1 stuff I usually ignore).

In fact M4 appears to be severely lacking in warnings outside the M25... They didn't have the lane closures/speed restrictions between J10 & J11 either.

In addition....

Why isn't the A4 regarded as a 'major' highway? There seems to be no monitoring for the A4 from ColnBrook to Maidenhead (Or even Reading). Yet it's continually choked through Slough. Hence you get rerouted through the congested A4 when on the rare occaison you get traffic on the M4.

The A404(M) only appears to be monitored in one direction (North). I see warnings for marlow - handCross (Junction with M40), but never anything for J9B (A4) to J8/9. Which is annoying as often the roundabout at J8/9 gets fools parked across it, with no traffic on the M4, but tailbacks to well past J9B that can take in excess of 45 minutes to crawl 3km... Especially annoying when TMC cheerily tells you there's no traffic there as you're stuck in it.

FWIW The TomTom traffic interface does seem to be best. I liked what garmin had done to put traffic on the main map window, which TT don't do, but sadly garmin have now removed this, and almost completely hidden both the route and any traffic...
No wonder many people are truned into pratnavs when the damned manufactiurers won't provide the info necessary for a person to make a rational decision on whether they really want to blindly follow the path that the GPS tells them to take.
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GPS_fan
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unfortunately, that's one for them to answer themselves...

...and since they still haven't put in an appearance, I'm not holding my breath

....all the while iTIS are giving feedback, it's clear which of the two cares more about their customers Wink
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