SpicyMikey

I just saw/read that Google Maps now has street view images of locations as well as REAL TIME TRAFFIC. Not only that, but they have real time traffic for my city (Orlando) while the Acura system doesn't. It's supported on more and more phones running Moible WIndows even without GPS. Their traffic data seems to come from NavTeq so I can't understand why the Acura system (feed by the same data source) doesn't have Orlando.

Regardless, I think Car nav systems are going to go the way of Car phones in another few years. It just makes sense that this should be a portable feature you take with you rather then it being bolted to the car. I could see the car having a screen and plug in interface (like the Ipod interface) someday, but not actually have the technology built into the car.

Go to maps.google.com and you'll see some new icons "Street View" and "Traffic".

neuronbob

Noticed the same for Cleveland. I suppose that since the areas for traffic flow are new, it will take a little time to add them to our Acura systems. We'll see. This may be worth a call to ACS.

SpicyMikey

I sent an email to NavTraffic. They just sent me back a generic email about how they appreciate my business and they're working to bring more cities online. Oh well, we'll just wait like good patient consumers.

Chas2

I just noticed the maps, or at least the traffic portion uses Navteq. Now I understand the thread.

SpicyMikey

Traffic.com just updated their website. Slightly different look AND it has flow data online now too! That website is owned by NavTeq also. Are they messing with us now? How hard could it be to push that data down to our RL's? Since some cities already have it then it can't be a software upgrade issue? Too bad, I'd resubscribe to the service if it had that data.

csmeance

the data is sent by sm, so i would guess that you would have to contact xm.

getakey

I got the Google Maps/traffic on my phone and it is much more accurate than NavTeq. I'm in the bay area, and sometimes incidents do not show up for 45 minutes after they occur and the flow data is even worse.

SpicyMikey

Here's the funny part. Google get's it's data from NavTeq. Go figure that one out.

Can't blame the data source. Must be the delivery source -- XM Radio

getakey

Spicey - amazing that Google uses NavTeq and info is so different in terms of timing. Now, I have something to negotiate with XM.

I understand that there is a fundamental difference in the way info is delivered. Google is "pull", i.e. data is retrieved when I choose to refresh the map amd therefore, I think they can deliver the real-time traffic at that instant. Whereas, XM is "pushed", i.e., the data must be bundled up to send to the car at a frequency that XM decides. From watching the display, it seems that the XM traffic is updated every 5 minutes (in my area it refreshes at 2 minutes after each 5 minute mark. That is, I see it refresh at X:02. X:07, X:12, etc.
I think the 5 minute refreesh is acceptable. I think the problem is upstream in the "bundling" service and this causes the delay. In other words, XM is aggregating data before sending and the aggregated data is at least 15 minutes old.

As I said in previous post, I have seen it at as bad as 45 minutes old. I was able to observe this after a very bad accident on HW 92 (at the entrance to the San Mateo Bridge EB) in the Bay area about a month ago. I came on the accident about 15 minutes after it happened according to radio reports. I encountered what should have been at least a yellow flow condition, but Navi showed blue and no incident as well. I passed the scene and kept the display area wide enough that I could monitor the traffic flow on the display. The incident did not appear until 30 minutes after I passed the scene. The flow finally changed to yellow 45 minutes after I passed the scene. (I was able to minotr for an hour because I was waiting to me someone and they were late.) At this point, I had to leave my car, and could not monitor any longer. During all of this time, the radio reported significant back-up and stopped traffic. There's no doubt that it would have been a Red flow condition during much of the hour that I was monitoring, yet Navi showed Blue for most of the time.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

SpicyMikey

A bunch of us have let off steam about this subject already. Don't worry about the lengthy post. We feel your pain

I actually cancelled the service last month. I felt it was causing me to make more bad decisions then good ones. Not having it on the screen is better. Also, as you pointed out. It's on google maps and it's more accurate

TIP: NavTeq just bought Traffic.com. Go there for flow data. It's even MORE timely. They just added flow data to their maps this month. Very good stuff

getakey

one other thing that is odd about the traffic. The incidents almost always show up significantly sooner than changes in flow. I understand an incident usually has to happen before flow is affected, but the incidents are entered manually by people whereas flow is gathered from sensors. Just wonder what the bottleneck is in getting flow data from roadway to XM to car.

Ry4an

I don't know if it's MN-DOT, that we're the city with coverage nearest to NavTeq (they're in Fargo), or just my perception but the traffic flow info here in Minneapolis seems almost precient. It usually turns yellow before it slows significantly and red before things get really ugly. Hopefully they'll improve it elsewhere, or I'll never be able to move.