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TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

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Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#391

Post by maxerickson »

michaelt wrote: post #181
maxerickson wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Well, you can get a base-model tomtom for AU$179 [1] And the customer's alternatives include "just use year-old maps" and "use google maps" so it's not like tomtom have the customer over a barrel here. [1] https://www.amazon.com.au/Updates-Lifetime-Smartphone-Messag...

Right, but the customer doesn't have TomTom over a barrel either. If producing maps for older devices doesn't net a lot of customers, they either charge quite a bit or don't bother.

The device you link wouldn't net updated maps of Australia. Looks like world map devices are closer to $400.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#392

Post by olah_1 »

mistrial9 wrote: post #374
olah_1 wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now imagine if Tomtom and Microsoft both paid users for map improvements. That would be super cool. They could even make an app to submit the improvements and even show me ads, I don't care. I would still do it.

in practice you can't trust a bounty system like this, so the next best might be to sell your company products in such a way as to minimize the system friction between new sales, new data coming in from those new sales, and feeding back to the open ecosystem. In that latter case, you can't trust the company management, but to my mind .. that's the breaks

> you can't trust a bounty system like this

You mean the accuracy of the data? I guess that is why a lot of systems have “validators” or something like that in place.

But it’s a problem with OSM and wikipedia in general.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#393

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

ipsum2 wrote: post #388
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A business decision regarding IP is not abuse.

Abusive means "extremely offensive and insulting", according to Google

Only if you're part of the entitlement generation that expects everything to be free and nobody should be paid for their work.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#394

Post by ThamesJ »

gambiting wrote: post #384
jstummbillig wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's just better. Definitely better than crappy Google Maps I struggling to see how anything could be "definitely" better than "crappy" Google Maps. To me, GMaps has made navigation about as exciting as using a door knob. It works without fail, and is so incredibly mundane, that the thought of forming a strong opinion about it makes me drowsy.

In my experience - it's just frequently wrong, to a point where I don't feel confident using it. Telling you to turn where you can't, going wrong way up one-way streets, showing you that streets connect on the map where they actually don't.......I could keep going. I keep reporting errors and they never get fixed. Like I mentioned in another comment there's a road near my work which has a no-left-turn sign but Google…

It’s interesting how anecdotal people’s perspectives on Google maps navigation ends up being. Personally GMaps has never failed me (UK based) in the best part of a decade, if anything it has been consistently worryingly accurate, and everyone I know has had a similar experience. As I’ve seen others say in this thread “it just works” without fail. Due to that it’s unbelievable (to me) that others have had such an experience as yours. Do you think a fault in alphabet’s mapping processes in certain geographic areas may have caused this?

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#395

Post by tus666 »

jstummbillig wrote: post #323
gambiting wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

> It's just better. Definitely better than crappy Google Maps I struggling to see how anything could be "definitely" better than "crappy" Google Maps. To me, GMaps has made navigation about as exciting as using a door knob. It works without fail, and is so incredibly mundane, that the thought of forming a strong opinion about it makes me drowsy.

Does it work without fail when you drive out of range of mobile reception?

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#396

Post by speedgoose »

msh wrote: post #97
fork-while-fork wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google maps with Android Auto does auto-learn popular/regular destinations and suggests them at appropriate times. It works pretty well.

apple maps do the same and also works quite well. I miss it in my tesla.

Strange, I have this feature in mine.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#397

Post by NavinF »

tus666 wrote: post #395
jstummbillig wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's just better. Definitely better than crappy Google Maps I struggling to see how anything could be "definitely" better than "crappy" Google Maps. To me, GMaps has made navigation about as exciting as using a door knob. It works without fail, and is so incredibly mundane, that the thought of forming a strong opinion about it makes me drowsy.

Does it work without fail when you drive out of range of mobile reception?

Yes as long as I've downloaded offline maps which I always do when I leave the bay area.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#398

Post by philjohn »

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,…

I definitely miss TomTomGo on the iPhone - it definitely routed me around more traffic jams than google does.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#399

Post by drsopp »

hunter2_ wrote: post #377
drsopp wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The app was still available in the app store, but from a certain date they wanted more money for me to still use it on my unchanged device.

Oh, so they meant neither the lifetime of the device nor the lifetime of the offering... That's messed up. Small claims?

Time is too precious.

Re: TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

#400

Post by HollowEyes »

jstummbillig wrote: post #323
gambiting wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

> It's just better. Definitely better than crappy Google Maps I struggling to see how anything could be "definitely" better than "crappy" Google Maps. To me, GMaps has made navigation about as exciting as using a door knob. It works without fail, and is so incredibly mundane, that the thought of forming a strong opinion about it makes me drowsy.

I just can't get on with gmaps, I stumble with the UI every time.
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