DriveSmarter

TomTom recently released its new TomTom GO x50 LIVE series of GPS units. The three portable navigation devices; TomTom GO 950 LIVE, TomTom GO 750 LIVE and TomTom GO 550 LIVE combine TomTom’s leading IQ Routes technology with a fully optimised user interface.

A slightly modified main screen has resulted in HD Traffic, safety alerts and fuel prices being clearly displayed on the screen via a new “TomTom LIVE” snapshot. Once on the road, drivers automatically receive real-time updates on what’s ahead, so they remain informed throughout their journey.

On top of this, new menus including a frequent destinations menu have been added to calculate a route to a frequently visited destination easier and faster.  DriveSmart staff have personally tested out this unit and agree that the new menu is much faster (fades in/out etc. between options).

Finally, an Eco Routes option has been added to the route options menu, so drivers can select the most fuel-efficient route to help reduce their impact on the environment.

Increased map coverage
The TomTom GO x50 LIVE series features more maps than ever before, including Malta, Greece and Turkey for the first time. In addition, all devices offer TomTom’s unique Map Share™ technology which allows users to make instant changes to the map and share these with other TomTom users.

• TomTom GO 950 LIVE comes with pre-installed maps for door-to-door navigation in US, Canada and 45 countries in Europe and offers Enhanced Positioning Technology (EPT) for uninterrupted navigation even when driving through tunnels;
• TomTom GO 750 LIVE offer seamless door-to-door navigation across 45 countries in Europe;
• TomTom GO 550 LIVE features maps of specific country or region in Europe.

Powerful performance
All of these units calculate the fastest routes based on the world’s largest collection of historical speed profiles. This ever-growing database now includes over 800 billion historic speed measurements of 15 million road kilometres in 24 European countries.

Once on the road, the device is constantly checking if there is faster route, taking changing road conditions into account by using a combination of IQ Routes technology and real-time HD Traffic information. This continuous optimisation of the route provides shortest and most realistic travel times.

Price & availability
The TomTom GO x50 LIVE series will become available for DriveSmart customers shortly.  We are currently planning to rent out the unit even before its Australian release – let us know if you want to be one of the first testers of the unit in Australia!  (Or if you’re planning on going to Europe/US around Christmas – we might just have an unit in stock for you!)

For further information on the X50 LIVE units, click here.

Ever wondered how maps are generated on your GPS unit?

Navteq shows off their gear here in a short doco.

As part of a plan to risk life and limb in the name of the charity Mercy Corps, a team of foolhardy travelers (Max Court, Nick Shipley, Omar Gardner and Laura Shott) have decided to pay for the privilege of breaking down in a number of central Asian states in the process of driving from London to Mongolia.

This dastardly plan is also known as: The Mongol Rally!

1 totally incapable car, 1 destination, 10,000 km, 4 intrepid explorers and 1 question: KHAN WE FIX IT?

The answer is most probably not as they set off in a less than 1 litre car from London’s Hyde Park to Genghis Khan’s home: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Just a quick thumb through the Lonely Planet demonstrates the foolishness of this task:

“Travelling around Mongolia with your own car or motorcycle-without a driver-is not recommended. What look like main roads on the map are often little more than tyre tracks in the dirt, sand or mud and there is hardly a signpost in the whole country.” – Lonely Planet 2008

Team website

Donations

DriveSmart is proud to sponsor this epic adventure!

TomTom ONE 140

TomTom has launched two new versions of its best-selling portable navigation devices. The new TomTom ONE 140 IQ Routes™ and TomTom XL 340 IQ Routes™ includes leading technologies previously only available on TomTom’s top-end TomTom GO* series. The two new models also feature a high-quality black finish and refreshed user interface.

TomTom IQ Routes ensures all users automatically obtain the most reliable travel and delay times on the screen of their device. Depending on the time of the week or hour of the day drivers set off, the most efficient route will be calculated for that moment. It takes into account factors that can delay drivers’ journeys based on facts derived from years of gathering historic speed measurements.

Advanced Lane Guidance TomTom’s advanced lane guidance makes navigating difficult junctions or crossing multiple lanes safer. It gives drivers timely vocal instructions and clearly indicates which lane or exit to take on the screen of the device, resulting in a much safer and relaxed driving experience.

In addition to the above mentioned features, the new TomTom ONE 140 and TomTom XL 340 devices include the following:

• 3.5” touchscreen (TomTom ONE 140) or 4.3” wide touchscreen (TomTom XL 340)
• TomTom’s newest user menu with high quality icons
• Matching black EasyPort™ mount that easily folds to fit in any bag or shirt pocket
• The Latest Whereis map of Australia (Winter 2009 edition)
• TomTom Map Share™ technology so users can instantly make map corrections on their device and share those with others
• TomTom HOME, the free desktop application to keep users’ devices up-to-date at all times. New maps, safety camera locations or software versions can be downloaded and users can personalise their device by installing and sharing new, fun content such as voices and car icons
• TomTom Help Me! menu and extensive safety features to help in case of a wide range of difficulties, including direct access to emergency and road-side assistance services.
• Safety cameras – the most up-to-date red light and speed camera locations available.

The new TomTom ONE 140 and TomTom XL 340 IQ Routes editions are expected to be available for hire from May/June 2009

TomTom has announced the availability of the TomTom HD Traffic widget, a personal traffic application for the Internet, also known as a gadget. It allows users to receive the latest real-time traffic information directly to their own personal web pages, including Facebook, Bebo and iGoogle, and can be installed free of charge from www.tomtom.com/widgets.

The HD Traffic widget is available now for customers in the UK, Netherlands, France, Germany and Switzerland, and uses TomTom’s unique High Definition traffic technology to deliver the most accurate and detailed live traffic information directly to users’ favourite web pages.

Users can go to www.tomtom.com/widgets to install the HD Traffic widget.

Just an update on the TomTom 740 and TomTom 940 and its availability within Australia.

Unfortunately it seems unlikely that it will be released anytime soon.  This is due to two main features that remain unavailable in Australia:

1) TomTom HD Traffic: this feature provides accurate and current traffic information en route currently available only in Germany, UK, France, Switzerland and Netherlands.  (TomTom’s HD Traffic uses anonymised mobile phone data to bring real-time traffic information to your GPS.  According to TomTom, the system will bring you up to five times more traffic data and cover up to ten times more roads than conventional traffic systems.)   We’re going to have to wait until Suna Traffic Channel upgrades its TMC towers and/or Vodafone AU gets involved like its overseas partners (or another Australian phone network).

2) TomTom Fuel Prices: up-to-date fuel price information guides you to the cheapest fuel stations along users’ routes or in their area.  As far as we know, there is no way for TomTom to gather this information nationwide on a daily basis, unless it collects the information itself (which would be a costly exercise).  Also, there are no companies/businesses which already do this in Australia.

Other TomTom x40 features such as Safety Alerts and Google Search are already available on some of DriveSmart’s GPS units.

TomTom announced the availability of a safety camera subscription service enabling twice weekly updates for safety camera locations across Australia.  TomTom safety cameras will help motorists keep informed about changes to speed and red light camera locations in between map updates, encouraging driver safety and minimising fines.

Once activated, drivers will receive timely alerts on their device when approaching a safety camera location. The TomTom safety camera database is verified by TomTom and updated on a regular basis.

Availability & price: A 1 year subscription for the TomTom Australia safety camera database is now available for $49.95 AUD.

DriveSmart’s verdict: Seeing that TomTom’s MapShare service is already available for free, there isn’t really a need to subscribe to this service.  Also, do speed cameras locations really need twice-weekly updates?  (DriveSmart already updates the speed/red light camera information on its own GPS units through TomTom/Sensis, OzPOI and TomTom’s MapShare service).

Fiat has just launched a new device that could change the way motorists drive their cars forever.  This innovative system gives drivers an accurate insight into how their driving style influences their fuel consumption, and actively helps them to drive more efficiently, saving money and reducing their CO2 emissions.

eco:Drive works using Fiat’s acclaimed Blue&Me entertainment and communications system. Plugging any USB key into the Blue&Me port allows eco:Drive to record detailed information about the vehicle’s efficiency and your driving style during a journey. The information can be ‘read’ by plugging the USB key into your computer when you’ve finished driving.

Users can analyse fuel consumption and emissions for each journey made, and receive advice on how to drive more efficiently, reducing their impact on the environment. eco:Drive will give you a score out of 100 – your eco:Index – to show how efficiently you have driven, based on your acceleration, deceleration, gear changes and speed.  A series of tutorials will help you to improve your score, showing you how to perfect your driving using detailed information from your own journeys.

Drivers who start eco:Driving can expect to improve their driving efficiency by up to 15 per cent. That means a 15 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions and in fuel costs. Fiat has also created ecoVille, a unique online community populated by all eco:Drivers from around the world. Users will be able to share tips, watch the community grow, and see just how much CO2 they are all saving together.

Fiat 500 and Grande Punto are the first Fiat Group vehicles to use eco:Drive, and the system is available to download and install now, free of charge. In 2009, eco:Drive will be extended to the rest of the Fiat range equipped with Blue&Me.  eco:Drive will be open to feedback from users, which will help Fiat to update the application and make it even more useful in future.

(Check out the eco:Drive tips which are actually really useful!  I always thought cars should warm-up before starting – but apparently this is not the case!)

With the relentless rise in geo-locative services – those that exploit location data – it’s about time we used global positioning satellite (GPS) systems to get us out of a jam.

The potential for GPS systems to track traffic snarls will be on show at the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in New York this week, where one of two systems that went into operation earlier this month will be showcased.

Besides improving traffic reporting, the information that the systems glean can also help to route traffic, assist town planners and fine-tune future assistive driving technologies.

Current municipal traffic monitoring systems study individual stretches of road that use induction loops to sense the passage of cars, or complex camera systems that capture licence plates.

In order to keep maps up to date, an even more expensive approach is in place, employing fleets of sensor-equipped vehicles constantly driving around. The data can take weeks to be entered into digital maps.

By contrast, the new approach is instantaneous and practically free in terms of infrastructure – because the information the system uses comes from mobile phone and sat-nav device users directly.

“One of the reasons we’re so excited about community data is the sheer volume of it,” says Rik Temmink, vice president for product management at TeleAtlas, the digital mapping subsidiary of sat-nav manufacturer TomTom.

“In the past we received user feedback, but it was a drip-feed of ad hoc reports. Now we get literally billions of GPS measurements every week – it’s unprecedented and really exciting for us.”

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DriveSmart GPS Hire Australia are proud to announce we are sponsoring two friends who are riding a tandem bicycle the length of New Zealand for charity.

Simon Porter & Joe Kluver are riding 2,200km on a tandem bicycle from Cape Reinga to Bluff from Dec 1 to Dec 28 2008.  They will be supporting the Red Cross of Australia and New Zealand.  DriveSmart will be providing one of our GPS navigation units to make sure they don’t get lost.

So go ahead and donate to this great cause, and let’s make the inevitable pain they’re going to go through worthwhile!  Click here for more info.