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TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

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Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#101

Post by j1elo »

gambiting wrote: post #47
kleiba wrote: post #3

For the youngens here on HN: TomTom was once one of the leading manufacturers of GPS navigation systems for cars - purchased as an accessory that was stuck to the wind screen. This was in a time before every car had a screen built in, and before everyone had a smart phone with Google Maps in their pocket. I guess that product is a prime example for becoming irrelevant by society progressing. I actually still use an o…

I have a modern car with a built-in satnav as well as Android Auto support, and yet I still use my TomTom 5000 - it's just better. Definitely better than crappy Google Maps, definitely better than volvo's built-in maps, and it's without any kind of comparison how much better it is than Apple Maps. You get in the car, it auto-selects the destination based on the patterns it learnt(so if you get in at 7am on a workday,…

Very tangentially related, on the front of "stupidly useful features that nobody seems to think seriously about": The fantastic Citymapper app shows a HUGE "Get Me Home" button if you open it past 3am. Just brilliant.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#102

Post by olabyne »

kleiba wrote: post #3

For the youngens here on HN: TomTom was once one of the leading manufacturers of GPS navigation systems for cars - purchased as an accessory that was stuck to the wind screen. This was in a time before every car had a screen built in, and before everyone had a smart phone with Google Maps in their pocket. I guess that product is a prime example for becoming irrelevant by society progressing. I actually still use an o…

Yeah, it's crazy how smartphones crushed entire markets from the 2000s : car GPS, MP3 players, cheap digital cameras ...

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#103

Post by genocidicbunny »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #44
brnt wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> old car that doesn't have a screen (well, it does, but didn't come with a GPS built in I used to pick up and deliver lease cars from/to customers, and I'll never forget the Audi which had navigation, but no screen! There was a two line text display, which would show textual directions. It was an interesting experience!

A two-line text display is still a screen. My dad's early-2000s Peugeot 407 also had a similar set-up: a red/orange monochrome dot-matrix display, with a surprisingly hot backlight, capable of displaying only the most rudiminary of roundabout diagrams and now-and-next directions. It did use TTS to pronounce street names with the wrong inflection and an overemphasis on "yAAARds" as units-of-distance for some reason. I…

(Gonna be the lightning rod of hate here for a moment)

> And still the rest of the car industry doesn't "get" good UX. Le sigh.

Imho, a giant 17" touchscreen that replaces most physical controls in a car is also not good UX for a car. Why do you need high-res satellite imagery of your route on a screen in the center of the car? Just look out the window!

I'll grant that most other manufacturers also do a poor job of a lot of the UX elements, but Tesla ain't the great saviour either.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#104

Post by pojzon »

afknewsagency wrote: post #25
fs111 wrote: post #10

I worked at Tele Atlas/TomTom until 10 years ago. There is literally nothing new in this announcement except that they are going to "steal" data from OSM now. sensor derived data, user generated content, camera vans all of that is not new. All this existed when I left, so did the people mentioned in this announcement that are still running the show. I always hoped they would eventually realize that they need a fresh…

10 years is quite a long time for things to change though. Sure many sources might have existed for a long time, but it sounds like the way the company is going to use them, how quickly it will turn them around will improve. It's not transactional per se any more, more real-time (depending on the specific use or update). As for the same management, depending on your perspective, that might be a sign of stability. Jud…

As someone who worked there over a year ago (no NDA on me anymore).

Its still the same as person before you explains.

TomTom is trying to create competition to HERE map making platform.

And I agree a change id upper management is needed / despite new CTO being hired.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#105

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

kleiba wrote: post #3

For the youngens here on HN: TomTom was once one of the leading manufacturers of GPS navigation systems for cars - purchased as an accessory that was stuck to the wind screen. This was in a time before every car had a screen built in, and before everyone had a smart phone with Google Maps in their pocket. I guess that product is a prime example for becoming irrelevant by society progressing. I actually still use an o…

I'm pretty sure that the original Apple Maps was based on TomTom (or maybe the second iteration, after they fell out with Google).

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#106

Post by maxerickson »

kaushikc wrote: post #71
hotcoffeebear wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tom Tom used to charge for map updates, which became a no-go for many. The same thing thing with built-in ones. Toyota asked 60 euro for the map updates and unfortunately no android/ios auto.. i am going between google maps / apple maps. I find routes better in google maps but i love apple maps voice indications better. I still have also a free lifetime update tomtom but it very slow to add destination etc.

They quoted me $350 Australian/year for yearly map updates last year. I was hoping they would've humbled a bit in 10 years.

How do you know that $350 isn't the reasonable price on their side of it?

It's likely going to be a niche market even if they give the updates away for free (because people will mostly use maps on other devices).

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#107

Post by Cthulhu_ »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #32
kleiba wrote: post #3

For the youngens here on HN: TomTom was once one of the leading manufacturers of GPS navigation systems for cars - purchased as an accessory that was stuck to the wind screen. This was in a time before every car had a screen built in, and before everyone had a smart phone with Google Maps in their pocket. I guess that product is a prime example for becoming irrelevant by society progressing. I actually still use an o…

Their revenue from 2009-2022 tells the story: https://companiesmarketcap.com/tomtom/revenue/

I do recall they provided the maps when Apple Maps was launched, but I can imagine Apple took over and built their own after that.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#108

Post by maxerickson »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #105
kleiba wrote: post #3

For the youngens here on HN: TomTom was once one of the leading manufacturers of GPS navigation systems for cars - purchased as an accessory that was stuck to the wind screen. This was in a time before every car had a screen built in, and before everyone had a smart phone with Google Maps in their pocket. I guess that product is a prime example for becoming irrelevant by society progressing. I actually still use an o…

I'm pretty sure that the original Apple Maps was based on TomTom (or maybe the second iteration, after they fell out with Google).

They still credit TomTom as a data provider.

https://gspe21-ssl.ls.apple.com/html/attribution.html

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#109

Post by FormFollowsFunc »

olabyne wrote: post #102
kleiba wrote: post #3

For the youngens here on HN: TomTom was once one of the leading manufacturers of GPS navigation systems for cars - purchased as an accessory that was stuck to the wind screen. This was in a time before every car had a screen built in, and before everyone had a smart phone with Google Maps in their pocket. I guess that product is a prime example for becoming irrelevant by society progressing. I actually still use an o…

Yeah, it's crazy how smartphones crushed entire markets from the 2000s : car GPS, MP3 players, cheap digital cameras ...

TomTom started with mapping software for PDAs/smartphones. I remember using CityMaps on a PocketPC phone edition (with a separate GPS device) in the early 2000s. They only got into standalone devices in 2004 probably because they were more profitable than software alone. It's only when smartphones (with built-in GPS) went mainstream in ~2010 that standalone devices didn't make sense anymore.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#110

Post by Cthulhu_ »

kleiba wrote: post #3

For the youngens here on HN: TomTom was once one of the leading manufacturers of GPS navigation systems for cars - purchased as an accessory that was stuck to the wind screen. This was in a time before every car had a screen built in, and before everyone had a smart phone with Google Maps in their pocket. I guess that product is a prime example for becoming irrelevant by society progressing. I actually still use an o…

Nowadays most people just use their smartphone, but there's definitely one market where an "old fashioned" navigation thing like this is still relevant: motorcycles. They need to be high contrast, low power usage (because most motorcycles don't have a power outlet), waterproof, offline, and resistive touch screens (because gloves).

I did look into them at one point, but they had a €500 price tag which is a bit steep.

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