TomTom Route Planning - Tyre

[mike wardle]

I have used TomTom One then XXL. These devices (XXL is a Nav2 series) had route planning on the device and especially off device using the excellent 3rd party prog 'Tyre'.
It was possible because TT used an Itinerary file .itn This text file was a list of waypoints.
The file could be created by TomTom Home (but only start/destination points) or a complex route with many waypoints, using Tyre. The progs transferred the itn files onto the TomTom device and were available by menu.
When Nav3 was introduced, itinerary planning was abandoned.
When Nav4 was introduced it partly revived route planning so that it is possible to manually add 'destinations' to a simple route but only via the device screen. I don't know how easy it is to add or how flexible.
Having built a demo route plan on a Go600 in at my local SatNav retailers, we failed to save/or load any routes.
TT support confirmed (Feb 2015) that it is not possible to build a route on any external device (PC, tablet, etc.) and load the route onto the new (Nav4) devices.
Tyre have not stopped supporting TT devices but Nav3 and Nav4 devices do not have any feature to load/save a route files.
So it appears that Tyre is not compatible with new devices when in fact the new devices are missing the necessary route planning tools.

 

[Arno]

Right, TYRE cannot be used to make itineraries in NAV3/4.
NAV3 allows up to 3 waypoints but the route cannot
be saved.

I think it is the intention for NAV4 to allow routes to be save, else it wouldn't make sense to have the Menu item My Routes.

I don't know when but it looks as if TomTom is working on allowing custom POI categories again. (They had asked for beta testers for that purpose in their public forum.)
If that comes about, one should be able to make .ov2 folders again with TYRE.

 

[mike wardle]

Interesting. 'My Routes' does suggest that there is a saved file for a route. Shop assistant (expert) and myself failed save/load any routes. I will download user manual.
If there is a route file then it should be possible to transfer it to PC and investigate it.
Hopefully it has a defined format and it is then possible to create a file separately. --> Making it possible to create routes on a PC.
There may not be any readily available program to build the file but if such route files exist, it is a huge step forward.
Building routes on the device, even with custom POIs would be difficult.
--- The main competition have powerful route planning tools but I am resisting jumping ship for one reason.
--- There maps use road names for major roads in urban areas. Without road numbers it is hard to use road signs, lane markings.
--- Knowing the name but not the road number is a nonsense.

 

[canderson]

If there is a route file then it should be possible to transfer it to PC and investigate it.

Your XXL looked like an external storage device (thumb drive or whatever) to your PC. Not since these Nav2 units has that been the case. We no longer have direct access to the file system on these devices. The closest you will get to being able to save any content from Nav3/Nav4 devices is to look at http://169.254.255.1/personal/ with your unit connected. As they add features, you may find more things appearing there for Nav4,. but it's pretty slim pickin's right now.

 

[mike wardle]

Obviously route planning was never in the spec for Nav3/Nav4 since even TomTom cannot do it.
Not having an open file system means no one else can do it either!
TomTom have been too greedy in trying to exclude any 3rd party progs and have totally mis-judged a significant market.
Tyre claim 1/2 million registered users all deciding routes for themselves + others who route plan on the device.

I will just have to stay with my Nav2 until it fails then jump ship.
Bye Bye TomTom, it's been fun.

 

[canderson]

Or wait to see if they eventually surprise you with Nav4. Like Nav3, but even more, they seem to be dribbling out the old Nav2 features as they can get them sorted out and working properly. They keep starting over with a clean sheet of paper on each of these generations, and it seems to take them forever to get features working afterward.