New Tomtom Go App for Android released worldwide.

[Uriel]

If you look on Google Play there is a new app called "Tomtom GPS Navigation Traffic", released worldwide today. It's basically the same software that Tomtom use on their Tomtom Go series of satnavs. (Tomtom Go 5000, 6000, 400, 500, 600, 40, 50, 60).

It's been in Beta in Italy for the last few months.

The model is 'Freemium' so you get up to 50 miles navigation free a month. Anything over that you have to pay a subscription.

Users of the existing Tomtom android app can get a 3 year subscription to the new app for 50p, via an in app purchase within the old Tomtom app. This can be claimed back from Tomtom as cashback so it's effectively a free upgrade.

I'll probably give this a go and see if it will usurp Route 66 (which uses Tomtom maps and traffic) as my Satnav app of choice.

 

[Uriel]

Whats the difference between this and google maps/waze?

Traffic basically.

Tomtom traffic potentially covers all UK roads and has a ridiculous number of traffic probes (all live tomtom PNDs and apps, all iphones and anyone who's on Vodaphone in the UK).

Google don't cover 100% of roads. Waze don't have enough probes. As it stands I can rely on Tomtom to avoid most traffic jams on my commute. Google misses out some key roads and Waze don't have enough probes to pick up most jams.

At the moment Google are avoiding fully integrating Waze and Maps, probably to avoid anti-trust legislation. If they do they will be a serious rival to Tomtom traffic. As it stands they aren't

Both Tomtom and Google miss some local road closures. Google is generally better for keeping maps up to date, points of interest and integration with Android.

To summarise Traffic coverage:

Tomtom (best traffic flow - used by Tomtom, Route 66, Sygic):
Road coverage: Jam information for potentially all UK roads, including side roads. Consistent Closure info for Strategic Road Network (Motorways and major A Roads). Inconsistent closure information elsewhere.
Automated traffic flow data sources for jams are Tomtom units, iphones, vodaphone handsets.
Journalistic data (roadworks, closures) from Highways Agency, Traffic Scotland, Traffic Wales, Transport for London, user reports (web or on device). Possibly some local authorities but this is inconsistent.

Google:
Road Coverage: Jam information for most main roads and city streets. Doesn't include some minor roads and side roads.
Automated Traffic Flow Data sources: Android phones.
Journalistic data source: Waze

Waze:
Road Coverage: Jam or closure information for potentially any road.
Automated Traffic Flow Data sources: Waze app users
Journalistic data sources. Waze user reports. Strategic Road Network data feed (includes HA, Traffic Scotland, Traffic Wales).


Here / CoPilot:
Road Coverage: Jam and closure information limited to TMC tables (usually only motorways and A roads)
Automated traffic flow data sources?
Journalistic data sources: Unsure but can confirm it includes HA, Traffic Wales, Traffic Scotland and some local authorities

Navigon / Garmin / M8:
Road Covrage: Jam and closure information limited to TMC tables
Automated traffic flow data source: Inrix
Journalistic data sources: Inrix

Inrix (traffic info app only not navigation - best closure information Some in-car navigation systems use their info.).
Road Covrage: Jam and closure information similar to Google.
Automated traffic flow data sorce: Road sensors, Android Phiones
Journalistic data sources: HA, Traffic Wales, Traffic Scotland, Most UK Local Authories

Summary:
Tomtom traffic is best for most circumstances. It is used (and implemented well) in Tomtom apps and devices and Route 66. It's badly implemented in Sygic.

Tomtom's weaknesses are:
- POI database not as extensive or accurate as Google.
- Closures and roadwoks information outside the strategic road network is inconsistent (Inrix and Here generally better for this).
- Mapping information updated quarterly (Google is much more frequent)
- It's not completely free (step forward Google / Waze again).

Strategic Road Network Map can be seen here: http://www.trafficengland.com/map.aspx?ct=true

TMC table map is used for Here Traffic (used in Bing maps). See here: http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?q=bing+maps&mkt=en&FORM=HDRSC4 and turn on traffic layer

Google Traffic can be seen here: https://maps.google.co.uk/ (turn on the traffic layer.

Tomtom traffic can be seen here: http://livetraffic.tomtom.com/ (note - this map only shows jams which are slower than average for the time of day - although a jam can potentially appear anywhere on the map if enough probes are there).

 

[Uriel]

There is an iOS Tomtom app but it's based on the previous Tomtom software not the latest version.

That's pretty much identical to some older Tomtom units (say Tomtom Go 1005, rather than the newer Go 5000 etc).

I guess that they will eventually get around to releasing the new app for iOS and I would expect a similar discount for existing users.

Some tomtom users still prefer the older Tomtoms. I'd say jouney planning is better on the old ones but traffic avoidance works better on the new ones.

 

[Uriel]

Cheaper to buy a Nokia 535 and use the free Nokia maps navigation.

Cheaper for who? It's £15 for a year subscription or £35 for 3 years.

Anyone with Android phone already has free satnav. This is clearly intended to be a premium (or freemium for that matter) product.

IMO Tomtom traffic (in various guises) is worth paying fror until someone comes up with a better product.

 

[Uriel]

I think that's why they've gone for freemium. People will not pay for what they can get for free. However, some will try their free 50 miles a month and realise what it's capable of. I realised that I wanted Tomtom traffic after looking at the way traffic and routing was handled on their website and bought the original Tomtom app. I then switched to Route 66 Navigate after using its 30 day free trial and realising that it handled Tomtom's own traffic info better than Tomtom (Routing in R66 and TT Go are very similar).

People may pay for a better version of what they can get for free. People get earbuds free with their iPod or phone but they may pay to upgrade to better earbuds, IEMs or headphones.

I am not willing to pay for satnav. Google navigation, M8, Here (the andorid version of Nokia maps), NavFree are all perfectly adequate satnavs. Tomtom is not significantly better in this respect (well the routing is pretty good). All will get you from A to B.

I am willing to pay for Tomtom's traffic avoidance. I know because I've tried it and every currently available free alternative (plus several paid ones). Tomtom (either app or with Route 66 Navigate) routes me around jams that are detected by no other provider on my commute. It saves me several hours, maybe days per year. As soon as a cheaper, or free, version becomes available that matches it I will no longer subscribe.

 

[Uriel]

What happens for people who purchased TomTom HD traffic within the android TomTom Nav app? Sounds like its providing something for free when i was asked pay a lot only months back.

HD Traffic will remain active in the existing app until your subscription expires. The old app is officially supported until October 2015. Software updates will probably cease after then. It is included (renamed Tomtom Traffic) in the new app.

In practice, TT Go handles traffic better than the old app. TT Go plans the initial route including the traffic info. The old Tomtom app would plan the route according to IQ Routes (historic average speed for the time of day), then compare traffic and look for a time saving (I think it was a clear 3-5 minutes). The biggest difference is for short journeys, where TT Go can produce a much more bespoke route around and through traffic congestion.

 

[Uriel]

Wait so Vodafone users are tracked without their permission, to provide traffic information?

*locks windows*

Anonymously - yes. Although probably you'll find it's in some contract smallprint or something. I'm not sure if you can opt out. I think it's just done on triangulation from mobile phone masts so it's not that accurate and I think Tomtom only use it for main roads.

That info has become less important to Tomtom as they have been able to track more PNDs and smartophones which give them more accurate GPS info.

With Tomtom app, iOS or android you can choose to opt out but then you don't get the benefits like live traffic either..

 

[Uriel]

After a bit of experimentation last night, I don't this is going to usurp Route 66 Navigate as my satnav app of choice.

The traffic info is the same but TomTom is less willing to route around minor traffic delays. It also has a nearer traffic horizon. I planned test routes from Sheffield to Cornwall. Route 66 planned a detour round a 5 minute delay on an A Road onto a B Road in Sheffield. It was showing the initial route avoiding Traffic on the A30 in Cornwall. TomTom Go routed through the Sheffield incident and had a traffic radius or horizon that meant it didn't show any incidents on the map further away than Birmingham.

I've found I can run both apps at the same time with the audio from each in the background. I may do this for a while to gauge other differences in the two apps' behavior.

 

[Uriel]

After a bit of experimentation last night, I don't this is going to usurp Route 66 Navigate as my satnav app of choice.

May have spoken too soon. This morning I ran with both apps running to compare. They both detected a 2-3 minute delay during the journey.

Tomtom quetely re-routed (I'd set it to automatic fastest route) missing the delay, although no announcement was made as it was doing so. This was around 1 minute before the turnoff.

When Route 66 re-routes it does so with a little more fanfare. There is an announcement that "An alternative route is available that will save you X minutes" and in automatic mode it gives a countdown on screen. During the countdown the user has the opportunity to take the offered route. If you don't intervene it will select the alternative. I gather that it scans for alternative routes every few minutes and looks for a clear 1 minute (min) saving. On this occasion no alternative route was offered.

So today, it seems Tomtom Go saved me a couple of minutes sitting in traffic that I'd otherwise have had to endure. And it did this in a real journey rather than a theoretical test route that I'd set up. Not a bad start.

I agree with Ali195 on the interface. The old Tomtom app looked very outdated and was fairly lethargic. TT Go is much slicker and quicker. To say the cost of the app is less than HD Traffic subscription for the old app, I'd say existing users have lost nothing. Good customer service to allow a very cheap / free upgrade.

 

[Uriel]

How often are their maps updated?

Tomtom is quarterly.
Route 66 (still Tomtom maps) are about twice a year.
Google is pretty much continously
Waze every few weeks.
Navigon - quarterly I think.

 

[Uriel]

I tread carefully on their official forum. Some of the mods aren't keen about mentioning competitors by name. Route 66 is an odd one as it licenses Tomtom's info and Tomtom used to promote it their own press releases before their own Android appswere released. Some mods seems happy with people mentioning them - others don't.

 

[Uriel]

Yeah. Mapping errors and changes I've reported to Google have generally gone live in a few weeks.

Tomtom varies in how long it takes for changes to be added to maps. Most changes I report make it into the next quarterly release but it's been 2 or 3 quarterly releases in some occasions.

I note that the new TT Go app does not yet have the mapshare feature of full Tomtom PNDs (or the current iOS app), which lets you submit corrections to Tomtom in device (or app).

 

[Uriel]

Would this info be pretty quickly available to other users of the app travelling on the same route? Would imagine that feature would be good for mobile camera vans

Yes, it's shared with other users. It also gets fed into Tomtom's free speed cameras app and vice versa.

I'm just waiting for them to implement the road closure report sharing that they have on the full PNDs.

You can do that via the website though : http://www.tomtom.com/mapshare/tools/

Reports of road closures on A Roads upwards are automatically checked agains traffic probe data they have. If they detect that traffic isn't making it through a road block will show up in live traffic within a few minutes. The system isn't perfect. I normally report a temporary blockage at both the start and end to make sure it shows up.

The automated thing doesn't work for smaller roads but they eventually (typically a few days to a few weeks) get looked at buy a Tomtom employee and may be added to the Traffic service. These minor road closures reports usually need to be accompanied by a report from an offical source like a local authority website.

Edit:

I've checked a few more test routes through traffic incidents now. For nearby destinations Tomtom and Route 66 seem to plot the same route around traffic most of the time; however, the ETAs are not exactly the same. My guess is the two routing algorithms are not quite making the same assumptions but they are using essentially the same road speed information (live and historic averages). This will occasionally lead to differences in routing.

 

[Uriel]

Temporarily, the 30 day free trial for Route 66 Navigate.

Properly free I'd say Google Maps or Here

 

[Uriel]

Google has an off switch.

 

[Uriel]

Since my navigon stand alone broke AL I have used is Google nav
For a free product the traffic is spot on.

Can't see the need to pay.

Agree that Google traffic is very good indeed given that it's free.

The free 30 day trial of Route 66 Navigate (includes traffic and speed cameras) should be enough for anyone to decide for themselves whether it's worth paying for TT Traffic in some guise or other.

 

[Uriel]

Google has never failed me. Don't see why I should pay for anything when it works so well.

So Google has never guided you into a traffic jam of which it wasn't aware?

If so, it may be luck of the draw depending on where you are, to an extent.

There are two specific roads near my commuting route that are often busy but on which Google is technically incapable of detecting and reporting traffic.

If traffic builts up on the main route Google will divert me on to those roads.

Tomtom is capable of detecting traffic jams on these roads (or any road for that matter as long as there is some mobile phone coverage) and does so reliably. With Tomtom or Route 66 Navitate I am usually only diverted onto these roads if they are clear.

Road closures are another matter. Tomtom often misses closures on secondary A roads downwards but so does Google.

Edit: I keep checking Google's traffic road coverage. It does periodically improve and if Google one day provide a free service that matches Tomtom traffic I won't be renewing my subscription - simple as.

Edit: Although admittedly the following study is sponsored by Tomtom it does reflect my own experience: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitst...sGuAAAA4gul9A==&bcsi_scan_filename=102984.pdf (although the Inrix app has had a significant improvement in road coverage since the study was written and now has coverage similar to Google)

(garmin SIM is essentially -RDS-TMC traffic delivered via data modem)

 

[Uriel]

When I have used my mobile for Nav, I've just used Google maps which I have found to be sufficient. What additional functionality do they offer to justify payment?

Better traffic detection and avoidance (see graph and link in the edit to my previous post), speed cameras, offline maps and a few other features.

If you just want to get from A-B and aren't bothered about such features I would say there is no point in paying extra.

 

[Uriel]

Garmin's traffic covers a very limited number of roads compared to Google and Tomtom. There is practically no coverage from B Roads downwards. Navigon uses the same system, which is where I've used it (they are owned by Garmin). Usually what happens is it detects traffic on an A Road or Motorway and diverts you onto roads about which it has no live information, which may or may not be clear.

This is still the case with Garmin's newest models with digital traffic. It's just updated more regularly than the old models.

However Garmin does have an advantage over Tomtom in some circumstances. It had much more extensive details of road closures on secondary A Roads (off the HA's stategic road network). If, for exampe, I wanted to know if the A57 Snake Pass between Sheffield and Manchester is closed due to snow, Garmin / Navigon is usually spot on and very timely. That info is also available in the Inrix traffic app, which is free (Garmin get their closure information from Inrix). With Tomtom such closures are often not detected, or are not shown in a timely fashion.

Google is plain dreadful regarding closures for anything other than Strategic Road Network closures, or closures long-term enogh to make it into map updates.

I currently have Google Maps, Navigon, Tomtom Go and Route 66 Navigate installed and often compare them when I'm aware of nearby traffic incidents.

 

[Uriel]

I was a fan of the routing in the old app but it was pretty clunky and badly optimised overall. I switched to Route 66 Navigate after giving their free trial a go. The old TomTom app was pretty good at routing around the odd traffic jam but when the **** actually hit the fan, Route 66 just destroyed it. I guess it's down to Route 66 coming up with a bespoke route based on live traffic every time whereas TomTom would create routes based on IQRoutes (historic average speeds) and then add the traffic. If it could save 3 minute plus it would reroute.

In theory, from what I know of TomTom Go, it should treat traffic in a similar bespoke way to Route 66 but I've yet to see how it behaves in a truly complex situation.

The main important feature that both TomTom (original) and Route 66 Navigate have that TomTom Go lacks is 'avoid part of route'. TomTom Go only allows you to avoid a road block directly in front of you. It's a pain not being able to close off the inevitable odd road that you know is blocked but TomTom traffic doesn't.