HD Traffic Inconsistencies

Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
19
Location
USA
TomTom Model(s)
2535 Live; 340 Live
I like the traffic on my 2535 Live, but sometimes it leaves me scatching my head. I live near Cincinnati and today, was one of those times that makes me wonder how TT is getting their traffic reported. 75 north just south of the Ohio river is down to one lane for construction, and it was backed up for miles. Although traffic was at a standstill the 2535 Live didnt' report it at all. The funny thing is, is that it did report the usual backups that happen on the side streets that people use to avoid that section of I-75. It also reported the backups on 275 East do to construction. So why or how is TT missing the huge backup on 75 North but getting the backups on the side streets as well as other highways in the area. This isn't the first time I've seen this and I wonder if they know they are having issues in this area. After all, I-75 in this area of the country is always very busy.:confused:
 
If traffic on a given stretch of road at a particular time and day of week either barely crawls or comes to a stop on a normal day, a worse situation may not appear as an abnormality. It could be that the problem was worse than normal (was your ETA higher than normal?) but the red road indication color could be the same either way. In other words, traffic reporting may not always vary much between "sucks like usual" and "sucks somewhat worse than usual". I've seen that during construction phases in Denver as well, but here, they do try to keep that stuff to nighttime work and that tends to show up as abnormal. Daytime work during rush hour? Bad is bad.

That said, there should have been an icon on the map if you browsed it that showed the point of the beginning of the construction.
 
Canderson,

I understand you on the "normal heavy traffic" not being reported as abnormal but still being used via IQ routes in the routing. This is definitely not normal and wasn't when its happened before. I-75 does get backed up during rush hour, but usually not on the weekends too bad. However, that's with all three lanes open. Over the course of this summer, on most weekends they have pushed all the traffic over into one lane for weekend road work. It has made it tricky avoiding that every weekend if we go out.

I just checked the following road cam link ARTIMIS Camera Control and by following how fast the cars are moving accross the camera (they refresh every five seconds) traffic is practically at a standstill in some spots. Def. not normal for a Saturday afternoon. Usually busy, but not normal.

As I mentioned, the lack of traffic reporting seems to be on this stretch of I-75, and I just wonder if TT's servers are missing this section of highway somehow.
 
Guess what I'm saying is that the traffic you are experiencing in the area and time in question may be considered the 'new normal', and hence -- stopped looks pretty normal, too.

What is important is whether taking alternate routes significantly improves your ETA. If so, then they do have something wrong. If just shlogging through the construction is as fast as getting involved with all of the other traffic on routes that would be longer, then you'll still be routed the original way even with unit projecting bad speeds through there.

Without being able to watch your ETA myself as you approach and move through the area, it's hard to say what the story is there. Is the ETA for the original route realistic or does it appear that it's actually missing the construction? One way to know -- If you drive into and through the construction, does the ETA continue to increase as you wait? How many minutes?
 
The alternatives, even though they had more traffic than normal, were definitely faster, but the gps would route me on the backed up highway. For some reason, it just wasn't showing the traffic or the construction.

Regarding the "new normal." Any idea how long it takes for an established traffic pattern/density to make it into IQ routes? This area has been under construction just about every weekend over the summer, but I wouldn't have thought that was long enough to make it the new normal. I would also think that TT would take construction into consideration when determining what's normal, because the construction will eventually (sometime this fall) be done.
 
The alternatives, even though they had more traffic than normal, were definitely faster, but the gps would route me on the backed up highway.
If you're confident that the alternatives would have been faster, then yes, I'd take that as an indication that there's some traffic information missing, and that should probably be reported.

I am also looking at the TomTom traffic web site and see no unusual delays reported there, so it's not your unit - they just don't see it. ( Live Traffic )

I think the info in your first post is adequate to describe the situation and can be used for reporting "as is", but it would help to have a location on 71/75 where the construction actually begins. I have a way to report this on your behalf, and have done so. No idea how long or whether they'll get it fixed, but they'll hear about it. Feel free to report via their tech support number as well.

As for how long it takes new traffic speed averages to find their way into IQRoutes data in a map release ... I don't think we've ever put together any sort of experiment that would help us figure that out. The latest map (875) was just released and could possibly have incorporated new data. The previous map (870) is from three months back, and unless your project started some time before that, it would not have had that information. So my comment could only apply if you just picked up the 875 map.
 
Thanks for reporting the issue to TT! I will have to see how it looks this comming weekend as this area is suppose to experience reduced lanes again for more road work.
 
FWIW, the following is the format that would help when attempting to report this sort of thing in the future. The more detail available the better to help them sort it out.

BASIC REPORTING DATA
Date of report:
Time of report:
Device type:
Software version:
Map version:

DATE AND TIME OF PROBLEM
Date and time problem observed:
Time Zone:

GENERAL PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
General Description of Observed Problem:

PROBLEM LOCATION
General Problem Location
Nearest Town or City:
Other:
Road name or number:

Specific Problem Location
Direction of travel
From:
To:

Nearest intersection or interchange
Name intersection 1:
Name intersection 2:
Number:
Hectometer:

DETAILED PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
 

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