Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

tomtom.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 477 posts

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#261

Post by izacus »

kybernetyk wrote: post #251
drtz wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps has been a really garbage experience for me lately, so much so that I've been actively looking for alternatives. Sadly, there aren't many. Some of problems I've had with Google Maps recently: - Routing gives me weird bypasses that aren't necessary and often actually add time to the trip. I've started to not trust the routing. - The UX when searching for places is extremely difficult to navigate, especiall…

Google Maps has a few quirks. Here in Germany it always prefers to send you through 30km/h residential zones. Which might be somewhat faster than taking congested main roads but those 30km/h zones are terrible to drive through. There's always cars parked at one side of the street so you have to wait for oncoming traffic. The streets usually are very narrow. So the stress level to the driver is way higher. I also noti…

I'm just annoyed that Google Maps still has no support for displaying speed limits in Germany or most of Europe. TomTom does show them.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#262

Post by slayerjain »

nicce wrote: post #219
leadingthenet wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that GMaps still reigns supreme, but Apple Maps is now definitely better in some regards, including the actual maps and transit directions for my city. Probably due to all the OSM data they include, in fairness.

Apples Maps just is not very available globally. It is heavily U.S. oriented, while Google seems to offer similar features everywhere. Maybe some day Apple catches a bit.

Apple Maps is also working well for me in Delhi NCR, India. Apple seems to have partnered with local mapping company called MapMyIndia. The traffic information and navigations are also quite useable and the ETAs also seem accurate.

I always check both Apple and Google Maps, but use Apple maps on my iphone because its way more battery efficient.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#263

Post by badwolf »

webmobdev wrote: post #225
Aeolun wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google maps is fantastic. It beats literally everything else I can think of. But that’s scary. I want a competitor that offers at least roughly similar quality, but Google is so far ahead that it’s no contest.

The quality of Google Map is better than others because it has more users, and thus better input data . And that's the real problem - competitors cannot improve improve their product without better data, and so users find it inferior and avoid their product / service and turn back to Google Maps (which allows Google to improve their product further and take a lead). Note though that Google has another edge over its c…

+1 Here maps are pretty outstanding. Offline maps in the apps are great!

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#264

Post by DonHopkins »

Dinux wrote: post #142

I don't understand the 'everything was better when it wasn't google' mentality that is so often found in these threads. My dad used to work at TomTom right here in the Netherlands. They used to be a fun and innovative company to work for. When it became apparent they entered a multibillion dollar business it was all about the money. As someone who used TomTom before other options became available I can honestly say t…

>In other cases, the world is changing in ways that place growing demands on maps and location data. Nowadays, all social media has a location component so we can geotag our digital lives, and fitness and exercise apps, like Strava, augment how we interact with the world with virtual leaderboards based on GPS trace data.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20734665

DonHopkins on Aug 19, 2019 | parent | next [–]

When I was at TomTom, they ran a contest for employees to come up with fun ways to gamify their internet-connected GPS Personal Navigation Devices.

Some wise guy came up with the brilliant idea of maintaining a real-time "Top 10 Speeders" leaderboard for every single road on the entire map. Kinda like Foursquare for speeding on local roads. No matter where you were driving in the world, you could instantly see the top ten speeds of other TomTom users who drove down that same stretch of road, and put the pedal to the metal to claim or defend your own spot on the leaderboard!

That one went over like a lead balloon with the legal department.

The only thing worse would be a chat app for texting while driving above the speed limit with other Leaderboard members along the same stretch of road.

They also didn't appreciate my proposal for TomTomagotchi: a simulated personality on your PND that relentlessly begs you to drive it all around town to various interesting places it wants to visit, to improve its mood and satisfy its cravings. (Kind of like having virtual kids!) I'm sure there's a revenue model having drive through Burger Kings and car washes pay for placements.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#265

Post by arrrg »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #210
arrrg wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, sure, controlling the message is how you can call it, but that doesn’t mean the legal threats (or threats of any kind) are doing the actual controlling. When I say “it‘s about making things as convenient as possible for journalists” what I mean by that (and what I thought I had made pretty clear) is not that convenience for the journalist is the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to get the messages about yo…

But I wonder if, let's say, a media organization were to publish a "hit piece," based on the text, if you could send a DMCA notice to their hosting provider.

If you want a PR nightmare for yourself, then that’s how you create one.

There is probably more than a century of tradition and expectations around how journalists can work with press releases. Whether companies could sue them for releasing press releases (it‘s in the name!) is in that light mostly theoretical. Because no one would sue.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#266

Post by iamwpj »

Reubachi wrote: post #192
Bubble_Pop_22 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Monopolies are bad, near monopolies slightly less bad Natural monopolies (such as the one acquired by Google) are not bad as long as government retains the monopoly of B2 bombers. It's not really a monopoly when it can be ended at a moment's notice

Can you describe a monopoly that isn't "natural"? I see what you mean but struggle to think of a traditional monopolistic company that doesn't have a "we started with the industry" defense.

The ISP in your area could be an unnatural monopoly. In my experience these companies have lobbied out local providers and bought all the competition to make them the only offerers in some areas. It happens more in rural US. The issue also crops up with gas stations in towns and then again with dollar stores as well, in this case they are replacing grocery stores. Traditionally the federal government would crack down on unnatural monopolies so that's why you don't typically see them, but look at the regional level and you can spot them.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#267

Post by greyhair »

Dinux wrote: post #142

I don't understand the 'everything was better when it wasn't google' mentality that is so often found in these threads. My dad used to work at TomTom right here in the Netherlands. They used to be a fun and innovative company to work for. When it became apparent they entered a multibillion dollar business it was all about the money. As someone who used TomTom before other options became available I can honestly say t…

This mirrors my experience directly. Before smart phones, I found TomTom to be more user friendly than competitors, but they were slow to boot up, the battery was only useful for providing clean power vs the car electrical system. I tried using my TomTom for walking Navigation. The battery lasted long enough to reach my destination, but luckily I remembered my way back to the parking lot after, because the battery did not make it.

Google Maps on my phone works fine, and on my current Pixel 5A, I can navigate off battery for a three or four hours. Plenty of walking time to hit multiple points in a day of walking.

Maybe some day the TomTom app will be competitive with Google maps, but for now, Google maps is the reference by which all other mapping will be judged.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#268

Post by [deleted] »

cinntaile wrote: post #249
toyg wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No; their demise was the rise of smartphones who can do pretty much everything they can, for free. GPS navigation was commoditized as part of the smartphone arms race.

What do you mean no? You're saying the same thing, you just added a step to explain why the alternatives were cheaper (free).

[deleted]

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#269

Post by djaychela »

drsopp wrote: post #129

I will never forgive TomTom's bait and switch: I bought a lifetime subscription of their app for my iPhone for about $50. After a few years they stopped the service claiming that "lifetime" meant the lifetime of the device.

Me too. They swapped it into a miles based subscription, which I wasn't interested in, saying that the old app couldn't be supported any more, as if they were forced into writing a new app and changing business model. This was on Android, and I did try the new app, which was not good. Been using Google maps ever since, despite it not being anywhere near as good in terms of giving directions at junctions, etc.
Post reply on HN