RDS traffic information

adolf hamster

adolf hamster

adolf hamster

Soldato
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18 Oct 2012
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so i've just got the new radio in the car, one of the all singing all dancing satnav jobs, and i've just been going through the motions of updating software and maps etc, and i noticed one of the "optional extras" available was getting roadworks/traffic updates service using rds

was wondering if anyone has any experience of this, good/pointless/worth £20/ripoff etc?
 
It's TMC. I find it works quite well personally. Certainly worth a one off £20 if your new unit doesn't have the capability to do 'proper live' traffic using an internet connection and something like Google Maps.
 
Howard said:
It's TMC. I find it works quite well personally. Certainly worth a one off £20 if your new unit doesn't have the capability to do 'proper live' traffic using an internet connection and something like Google Maps.
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Does it just reprogram the satnav or is it a system that switches to the radio every time theres a traffic update? Had something that did that in the old car and was rather annoying.

Its just a "dumb" satnav, no internet connection, but i figured itd be as well to go the whole hog considering how tricky the conversion itself was.

Might well go for it, the 3d maps look kinda gimmicky but this is just a one off i suppose
 
It doesn't just switch to a traffic broadcast, it's packets of data encoded into the FM broadcast (on the Classic FM channel) which will show information such as the type of delay, where it is, etc., and the nav can then route around it if desired. It's quite accurate in my experience.
 
RDS-TMC isn't particularly detailed. It only covers Motorways and A roads. The info you do get is pretty reliable though.

Both Tomtom and Google absolutely murder RDS-TMC for level of traffic detail and number of roads covered but I do sometimes find that RDS-TMC catches closures of minor A-Roads (off Highways England network) that those two providers miss.

The actual info is pretty much the same as what you'd get with a phone subscription to Navigon. There are two main RDS-TMC providers in the UK. One is Inrix (they also do a free phone navigation app with the traffic info included, plus a bit extra detail compared to TMC. Their info also goes to Garmin / Navigon) and the other is trafficmaster. The info gets put out via local radio frequencies (trafficmaster) and ClassicFM (Inrix).

Personally - if you're looking for traffic avoidance rather than just info - I would use Google Maps or Tomtom Go on a phone. Both are leagues ahead of what you get via RDS-TMC, particularly regarding info about traffic flow speeds once you get off the main roads.

I don't think I'd pay £20 for what free phone apps can do just as well (inrix) or better (google). I am happy to pay for Tomtom Go, but only as long as its routing continues to be better than Google's. I think the day will come when Google is on par for routing and it's already ahead in many other respects. It keeps improving with every update.
 
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adolf hamster said:
Thing is i dont plan on using phone apps etc now that i have the built in system, so maybe worth it for me.
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Understandable - so long as you realise that you'd be paying for a traffic information system that was launched the same year as the SNES and Amiga 1200 (and designed for the sort of bandwidth they had back in the day). Current traffic systems have come on about as far as consoles and computers have since then.
 
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