TomTom's new GPS units estimate trip time with the de facto speed limit

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More

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This seemed like a no-brainer, I’m not sure why it hasn’t been implemented before. TomTom’s new models, the 730 and 930, estimate trip time using collected data on how fast people actually go on the streets it suggests, rather than the posted speed limits. I guess the question is, where did they get this data? Is there a “send anonymous usage stats to TomTom” toggle somewhere on their GPS units that people don’t know about?

The system also takes into account “speed bumps and rotaries,” by which I think it means traffic circles. Not only that, but if you live in LA and drive on 12-lane surface streets all day, it’s got a detailed lane view thing now that tells you which you should be in. Cool features, but they also feature a $500 price tag. Not exactly a killer app.

New TomTom Models – 730 and 930 [GPSReview]

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