TomTom 740 To Use TrafficCast Not Inrix

[offthegrid]

This means TomTom probe data will not be shared with Inrix. It may also mean that they won't share the 740 probe data with other TT traffic users making better traffic data a reason to upgrade.

TomTom Signs Deal with TrafficCast for Data for Wireless Navigation Device - WSJ.com

By SARA SILVER

Navigation systems provider TomTom NV has signed a deal with TrafficCast International Inc. to provide real-time information about traffic, weather patterns and the cheapest nearby gasoline to TomTom's first wireless navigation device.

TomTom, which is based in Amsterdam and already offers wireless devices in the European market, is seeking to expand its U.S. presence with the Go 740 Live device, its first traffic device connected to U.S. wireless networks. Because it has a two-way wireless connection, the device will also send anonymous information about the subscriber's location and speed to supplement other sources of road and weather information.

The move comes as navigation companies work to stave off the threat of other mapping and traffic services often offered free on smartphones, which have eroded sales of a variety of digital devices. Global sales of personal navigation devices are expected to stagnate this year at 41 million units, according to the market research firm iSuppli, with the economic downturn hitting hard at auto sales and overall consumer spending. TomTom is No. 2 in the U.S., by sales, after Garmin International Inc.

TrafficCast, a closely held company based in Madison, Wis., offers real-time traffic information in 102 U.S. markets and plans to add Canadian data to its system in the coming months. The company uses accident reports, weather conditions, road sensors and the global positioning system for its reports and will update its database based on information from the TomTom device.

"The missing link has been the ability to look at what's happening now that's inconsistent with historical behavior patterns on the roads," said Tom Murray, vice president of market development at TomTom.

The Go 740 Live device lets motorists hear about traffic delays as well as see them on the screen, and suggests alternate routes based on historical conditions. It can also direct drivers to the lowest fuel prices along or near their route. Set to debut this month, the device has a retail price of about $400 and comes with three months of the service. A monthly subscription thereafter costs about $10 per month.

Details of the agreement were not made public, but TrafficCast Chief Executive Neal Campbell said his company will be compensated for each device sold, rather than have a share of the monthly subscription fee.

 

[mvl]

This is great news - they have one more piece of the puzzle for HD traffic.

Unfortunately, the density won't be as great as Europe - the Vodafone contract (I believe) also gives tomtom speeds of all their cell users, not just tomtom users, which is why Vodafone is the restricted Europe vendor.

Tomtom/Vodafone must have been unable to run a similar system with the Verizon/Vodafone US joint venture. My understanding is that from the beginning of E911, Verizon didn't implement phone/tower location triangulation technology, and instead installed a GPS on every Verizon phone, that auto-turns on with 911. That setting defaults of "off" for regular calls on Verizon phones, so tomtom may not have seen as much value with a restricted-cellco HD service sourced on much lower density. In addition, Verizon has a navigation service so they could be viewed as a direct competitor.

Hopefully there is good 2-way data-sharing with TrafficCast. This would vastly improve the density of speed profile/IQroutes data in the US if tomtom gets a hold of TrafficCast historical info.

The last piece is the cellco vendor. I assume tomtom will pay the simcard cellco company a cut of the monthly fee if they're not paying it to trafficcast. This still leaves the option of the Bluetooth relay for the x20/x30, so I'm hoping that's still coming.

 

[offthegrid]

TrafficCast uses cell probes as part of its flow product. Yahoo Maps and Google Traffic are from TrafficCast.
I believe thats why TT chose them for the cell probes. I don't know who they use for the cell probes though but it maybe Sprint because Sprint does work with two other traffic companies, AirSage and Intellione.

 

[mvl]

Thanks for the info - I spent some time reading the trafficcast website. It looks like they use a variety of inputs, and go into more secondary roads than the competition.

I checked out the coverage in Yahoo live traffic, and it was pretty good - covering the main roads during my commute, but not significant backroads. Hopefully IQ2 can pick up the backroad info, and blend in some trafficcast data to update its rush hour stats.

I still feel like I know predictably faster ways than IQ2 in rush hour, but it's perfect in non-rush hour.

It's a partnership of the best traffic companies in the industry. As a regular commuter, I'll probably stay with IQ2. But there's no question that any commercial drivers who don't already have a trafficcast product would be stupid not to throw away their old GPS and buy a 740.

Seems like the NA 740 launch is imminent. Tomtom announced in their last financial call that they were clearing out the old models in Q1 and would make significant new product releases in Q2. We've got the European One-IQ already in Q2, and I think they were just waiting for the 740 launch to keep product differentiation in the GO line. My guess is a dual announcement of North America 740/940 and One-IQ really soo..... wait, I'll start a new thread, now I look stupid - they just announced the 740 and one-IQ availability in the US.

 

[gatorguy]

Their current traffic probe data is primarily coming from commercial vehicles, the same method that Navteq traffic is using for the time-being as I understand it. The downside of that is highways that have restricted commercial traffic may not have as accurate traffic reporting. But it's probably the best that TomTom could do at this point. I do expect some limited HD traffic services to be available by years end, tho not necessarily from TomTom.

 

[gatorguy]

I forgot to mention that from everything I've read, the TomTom/TrafficCast marriage will probably be a short one. TomTom has not indicated any change in plans for eventually offering their own HD traffic feed, tho it may be a year or more before it's actually available. In hindsight, it's not surprising that Inrix and TomTom did not work out a deal. In Europe thaey are competitors, going after some of the same HDTraffic customers.

 

[mvl]

Their current traffic probe data is primarily coming from commercial vehicles, the same method that Navteq traffic is using for the time-being as I understand it. The downside of that is highways that have restricted commercial traffic may not have as accurate traffic reporting. But it's probably the best that TomTom could do at this point. I do expect some limited HD traffic services to be available by years end, tho not necessarily from TomTom.

Trafficcast says on their website that they use cellphone info. There is a no-commercial-vehicle parkway near my house that trafficcast covers, and it shows live varying speeds on Yahoo traffic.

 

[gatorguy]

A short quote from TrafficCast, courtesy of our British cousins. (Mike, I hope you don't mind.)

"Privacy should not be a concern because no private information about the individual or the vehicle is derived from these probe/cellular pings. And for the most part, we are currently dealing with commercial vehicles, where the data is owned by the enterprise."

In addition, from what I can find, it looks like there is a lot of reliance on historical traffic patterns, not unlike what TomTom is already including in IQRoutes.

 

[mvl]

Per the WSJ article trafficcast "will update its database based on information from the TomTom device", so if even 1% of drivers use a 740 on non-commercial routes, it should be enough to cover the major congestion points. I figure 100 drivers pass any given road within the 3-5 minute update window.

Once this is supplemented with improving density IQ2 data, this should get drivers to ideal GPS navigation: the perfect route at all times. With today's limited IQ2 (after doing my edit for the stupid 5min uturn delay), I feel tomtom is already 80% of the way to that ideal goal in non-rush hour, and 40% of the way there in rush hour.

Heck, in 10-15 years when all the patents run out/get cheaper, this could become a standard for most drivers, and the traffic avoidance would go a long way towards US energy independence.

 

[connectednavi]

I looked at Trafficcast recently. Trafficcast does not have any realtime probe data - cell phone or vehicles- in the U.S.. See their web site. They use historical probe data from trucks plus sensors from DOTs. performs poorly.

Check out the traffic on yahoo maps or even Google as it appears to be totally inaccurate on roads that do not have DOT Sensors. The traffic has been way off, when I use my iphone with Google maps.

Trafficcast does appear to use some cell phone probe data in China, but that is another company than the US company.

 

[gatorguy]

MVL, as mentioned, I don't expect TT will be using TrafficCast a year from now, so expecting that TT users input will have much effect in the near future is probably wishful-thinking IMO. Even TrafficCast admits that "Claims that traffic information alone will help drivers avoid traffic are probably misleading. It?s really about helping drivers make informed decisions. And the choice drivers make among alternate routes is generally not based on miles but on travel times. There are a lot of cars on the road at rush hour ? traffic information will not make those cars magically disappear, or carve out a new road, as some commercials would have you believe. With Dynaflow 2.0, we can deliver information about the best route home tonight ? at the end of the day will that add miles driven? Maybe."

It will be interesting to see how TomTom melds IQRoutes with competing TrafficCast info that may, in many cases, also be relying a great deal on historical traffic reports.

 

[offthegrid]

Google seems to be based on Dynaflow 2.0 which is what will be used on the 740 and they show much more coverage in my area than Yahoo does.

I base my assertion on TrafficCast having cell probes available for tracking here on 2 things.

This tech paper stating that the US will be ready for them in 2009
http://trafficcast.com/docs/Dynaflow-2-Whitepaper.pdf

and from an interview that TrafficCast gave where they said they used them. I may have misinterpreted that but it seems possible anyway. There have been 2 dozen long term tests done by different traffic companies with cell carriers in the US most with Sprint but one with AT&T also.

My theory is that TrafficCast has started an actual rollout of that tech here and that TomTom may just purchase them rather than use them and lose them. The original intent of HD Traffic was to bundle TT probes, cell probes, fleet gps data, government data and incident reports.

http://www.its-sweden.com/UserFiles...onferenses/Old/Aalborg2007/CD/papers/2527.pdf

Bottom line though either way is the more of these are on the road the better the traffic info will be.

How many users with a bluetooth connection will upgrade to this unit? How well will it sell @$399 w/3 free months? How many will continue the subscription?

When I had a Dash there were a very few users in a metro area with 1.6 million people (Providence - New Bedford) I am hoping that is eclipsed on the first day of sales and that there are a few hundred by years end here.

Thanks for the info - I spent some time reading the trafficcast website. It looks like they use a variety of inputs, and go into more secondary roads than the competition.

I checked out the coverage in Yahoo live traffic, and it was pretty good - covering the main roads during my commute, but not significant backroads. Hopefully IQ2 can pick up the backroad info, and blend in some trafficcast data to update its rush hour stats.

I still feel like I know predictably faster ways than IQ2 in rush hour, but it's perfect in non-rush hour.

It's a partnership of the best traffic companies in the industry. As a regular commuter, I'll probably stay with IQ2. But there's no question that any commercial drivers who don't already have a trafficcast product would be stupid not to throw away their old GPS and buy a 740.

Seems like the NA 740 launch is imminent. Tomtom announced in their last financial call that they were clearing out the old models in Q1 and would make significant new product releases in Q2. We've got the European One-IQ already in Q2, and I think they were just waiting for the 740 launch to keep product differentiation in the GO line. My guess is a dual announcement of North America 740/940 and One-IQ really soo..... wait, I'll start a new thread, now I look stupid - they just announced the 740 and one-IQ availability in the US.

 

[mvl]

Google seems to be based on Dynaflow 2.0 which is what will be used on the 740 and they show much more coverage in my area than Yahoo does.

What area are you in?

In my area (Boston), Yahoo traffic has far more sideroads than google traffic (5 o 1 coverage - just like HD traffic). Boston wasn't pre-planned like the newer US cities, and most commuters have to use side roads instead of highways. Yahoo has all the major sideroads covered.

Trafficcast has to work out some of the kinks though. One of the side roads in my area has a popular strip mall next to a rarely congested road. Yahoo almost always colors this road red, I think they are getting misled by all the delivery vehicles who stop in the strip mall parking lot supplying the stores.

 

[Goldengriff]

Got my TomTom 740 at Bestbuy today, I don't really see a difference from my 720 bluetoothed to my blackberry.

 

[offthegrid]

Providence but I'm in Boston frequently. If you blow up Google Maps it shows a lot more street coverage but Dynaflow 2 shows traffic based on actual probe feedback more than historical which seems to be the case with 1. Look at the flash movie of Boston probe density on TrafficCast. Yahoo will show a color at all times on all covered roads based on 1.0 whereas Google won't show info if they have no info to show.
Some roads that don't appear covered by Google have info when there is heavy traffic. Also the yellow road color for google imo is confusing because of the yellow traffic color. Not the same but somewhat similar.

Google for instance somehow has coverage in the Ted Williams and Calahan while Yahoo does not. If you blow up google in downtown Boston there is coverage that Yahoo doesn't have, it shows coverage on Charles St and Stuart St downtown also. North Shore Road in Lynn, Google yes, Yahoo no.

Dynaflow? 2.0 | TrafficCast

I see these in stock at a Best Buy near my house gotta go!

What area are you in?

In my area (Boston), Yahoo traffic has far more sideroads than google traffic (5 o 1 coverage - just like HD traffic). Boston wasn't pre-planned like the newer US cities, and most commuters have to use side roads instead of highways. Yahoo has all the major sideroads covered.

Trafficcast has to work out some of the kinks though. One of the side roads in my area has a popular strip mall next to a rarely congested road. Yahoo almost always colors this road red, I think they are getting misled by all the delivery vehicles who stop in the strip mall parking lot supplying the stores.