Does TomTom have to include IQ routes for older models?

[ezerhoden]

Read the answer to 'Will I get anything back when I participate in the collection of anonymous usage statistics?' on tomtom.com

http://www.tomtom.com/support/product.php?ID=183&Language=4&FID=6213

I say if it is not made available, especially to the One units, we turn off this feature.

 

[Gilbert]

I can inderstand your point of view. OTOH, from what I can understand IQ routing is taxing on the cpu and TT does not offer it on the newer ONEs because of this. Then, if you don't participate and want to buy a newer GO model, there might be no data for your are or not enough data for IQ routing to work its best... After all, it does not cost you nor requires attention or intervention on your part.

I am more annoyed at MapShare and the cost of maps. Those require my time and TT does not seem to recognise that fact when offering me their quarterly maps...

 

[Michael Quinlan]

While it is true that the gathering and submission of the data requires no effort on the part of the user, TomTom does benefit from the data submission in that they subsequently sell devices that rely on this data for one of their key differentiating features. It would be entirely reasonable for TomTom to compensate users for the data submitted, possibly in the form of discounted map updates or device upgrades.

Of course, you can also argue that if they were to do this, TomTom would raise the prices on their maps and/or devices to offset their increased costs.

 

[ezerhoden]

I can inderstand your point of view. OTOH, from what I can understand IQ routing is taxing on the cpu and TT does not offer it on the newer ONEs because of this. Then, if you don't participate and want to buy a newer GO model, there might be no data for your are or not enough data for IQ routing to work its best... After all, it does not cost you nor requires attention or intervention on your part.

Gilbert,

I don't get how improving apon the rediculously poor estimated travel times is not something they should pass on to everyone. My One calculates a route, why not use proper road speed data instead of the crap that is in the map now? IQ routing should be no more consuming of the processor than what the unit is already doing. IQ routing is just using more accurate road speed data.

Another thing, what is the point of being able to turn off IQ routing on the x30 units. Why don' they just ask, ' do you want a accurate travel time, or something we just pull out of our a$$?'

 

[Gilbert]

Gilbert,

I don't get how improving apon the rediculously poor estimated travel times is not something they should pass on to everyone. My One calculates a route, why not use proper road speed data instead of the crap that is in the map now? IQ routing should be no more consuming of the processor than what the unit is already doing. IQ routing is just using more accurate road speed data.

Another thing, what is the point of being able to turn off IQ routing on the x30 units. Why don' they just ask, ' do you want a accurate travel time, or something we just pull out of our a$$?'

I don't expect my gps to give me good travel times, especially in the city. TT had three types of roads for which it had set speeds and calculated according to that. Now that the maps have highway speeds, it seems to be better on eta. There are too many variables for god eta: accidents, road repairs, traffic, weather conditions, refuelling need, lunch breaks etc. I remember my first trip to Key West, FL, from West Palm Beach. Looking at the map, I thought I would have ample time to get there and back in one day. From West Palm Beach to Miami was as expected but then on the 2 lane road, with speed limits and small towns, it took way much more time than I had expected.

Even with IQ routing, I know that it does not take consideration the time of day which, for me, is a crucial factor. I know a certain trip I take every 2 or 3 months can vary from 1 to 4 times in time depending on time of day on this 20 mile trip all across the city and one bridge. Even with traffic reports, it knows about the highway but not about side roads. I consider eta as a guess that I should not rely on as it is based on assumptions that don't necessarily stick to reality. To get it to be more realistic would require much more data to be stored or acquired and the capability in storage would need to be increased from what it now is (1GB on ONE models; 2GB on 7x0; 4GB on 9x0 with 2 large maps).

 

[Michael Quinlan]

I look at IQ Routes as being just a more granular variation of road speeds - it's the basic information required to calculate an ETA, assuming ideal conditions of no traffic, good weather, etc. Recurring traffic situations may have a slight effect on the estimated speed, but a 1-2 hour traffic jam is not going to affect the 24-hour-average speed much. The data collected probably includes time-of-day, it's just a matter of utilizing the data on an even more granular level. This is over-simplified of course...

Incorporating time-of-day into IQ Route calculations would be a lot more complex than day-of-week calculations, as the current method probably assume that your entire route will be travelled during the same day on which you start. Include time-of-day and suddenly the travel speed on each road depends on when you'll get there, which builds upon when you'll be on the preceding roads, and so on. Then if you don't actually stay on schedule (hit traffic, take a break, etc) your route must be recalculated based on a constantly changing ETA for each road segment.