TomTom’s new mapping platform and ecosystem

Post by fork-while-fork » Wed, Nov 02, 2022, 9:58 AM UTC

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,…

Post by aembleton » Wed, Nov 02, 2022, 10:01 AM UTC

tannhaeuser wrote: post #20

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…

> a prime example for becoming irrelevant by society progressing There's still the use case of driving in remote areas with less-than-ideal or expensive connectivity (though probably those spots don't really require sophisticated nav), and also that you might not want to tell ad monopolies your location data.

Post by aembleton » Wed, Nov 02, 2022, 10:05 AM UTC

einpoklum wrote: post #51

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #6

OpenStreetMap is the second most-important resource on the Internet, after the Wikipedia.

I'd say it's even more important than Wikipedia. Static articles on various subjects may require a bit of effort, but dynamic zoomable maps are not something you can get another way (except for commercial offerings).

Post by F30 » Wed, Nov 02, 2022, 10:08 AM UTC

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/

Post by astrange » Wed, Nov 02, 2022, 10:10 AM UTC

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,…