november 2008 archives

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Speed Profiles gets personal

Following the announcement in September that TomTom transferred its user-generated speed database to Tele Alas, the new Speed Profiles product was introduced two weeks ago. I couldn't help the smile on my face when I opened the Speed Profiles Info Sheet (PDF). The map in the upper left corner shows two routes between Whitechapel and Bayswater in London. The wrong route takes the A501 passing King's Cross/St. Pancras and takes 24 minutes, whereas the right route goes along the Embankment and takes just 21 minutes.

Tele Atlas example

My smile was triggered, because Tele Atlas used the same start location and destination to explain Speed Profiles as I used earlier this year in my role as Product Manager responsible for delivering IQ Routes Technology to the TomTom GO x30 series! Simply put, I used to live for some time in E1 1NY (Whitechapel) and later moved to W2 3HH (Bayswater)! It's just so funny to see how this then ended up in an Info Sheet at Tele Atlas, without my involvement. True, using IQ Routes your satnav does calculate a route that you would have chosen yourself, but this is getting really personal!

Route from E1 1NY to W2 3HH
TomTomDistanceDurationDescription
Signposted/legal speeds6.0 miles20 minsHigh Holborn, A4200, A501
Measured speeds6.0 miles29 minsHigh Holborn, A4200, A501
IQ Routes (weekdays)6.4 miles27 minsEmbankment, Pall Mall, Park Lane
IQ Routes (weekends)6.0 miles26 minsHigh Holborn, A4200, A501

IQ Routes logo In the GO x30 series, IQ Routes was onlyable to distinguish between weekdays and weekends. So the route based on signposted/legal speeds that takes 20 minutes, actually takes 29 minutes during the week and 27 minutes during the weekend based on measured speeds. TomTom IQ Routes then calculates the smartest route during the week which takes only 26 minutes! Although it appears to be 7 minutes longer than the original based on approximation, you are actually 2 minutes earlier at your destination, as experience has proven. During the weekend, TomTom IQ Routes still suggests the original route as there doesn't appear to be a faster option. The novelty of using measured speeds instead of signposted/legal speeds becomes even more apparent in comparison with routes calculated on some of the mapping websites:

Route from E1 1NY to W2 3HH
Mapping websiteDistanceDurationDescription
The AA6.5 miles19 minsA501
Google Maps6.6 miles23 minsThe Strand, Park Lane
Live Search Maps7.1 miles22 minsA501, Baker Street
Multimap6.39 miles12 minsA501
Yahoo Maps6.6 miles30 minsLondon Wall, Goswell Road, A501

Unfortunately, the route example on the Tele Atlas Info Sheet fails to explain why the routes in the map are right (measured speeds) or wrong (signposted/legal speeds), nor does it highlight that the product even contains measured speeds for every 5 minute interval of every day of the week introduced as IQ Routes 24/7 in the GO x40 series. The wrong route even suggests going along Oxford Street, where passenger cars are not allowed! However, Rik Temmink (VP Global Product Management at Tele Atlas) nicely explains the user benefits of the Speed Profiles product in episode 3 of the Tele Atlas Podcast Series.  permanent link for this entry

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Online mapping Down Under: going under?

Sensis and Google Australia have joined forces to serve Australians with the best business directory search engine. Not only will the business listings from Sensis soon be available on Google Maps Australia, but Sensis' own business directory website Yellow will also display the search results geographically using Google Maps. All good and well, but where does this leave Whereis, the Sensis subsidiary mapping website for Australia?

While Sensis' owned Whereis.com compete with Google Maps though, it will not be axed and will continue to run as it is right now.

Nevertheless, the announcement of the cooperation between Sensis and Google and the already dwindling popularity of Whereis makes you wonder about the future of the Australian mapping website. Google Maps Australia, launched in February 2007, managed to overtake Whereis in popularity within a year in November 2007. By then, 1.516 million vistors used Google Maps Australia, whilst Whereis attracted only 1.471 million visitors. Google Maps' popularity grew further with the addition of Street View in 2008. Currently, Google Maps has 2.5 million users, compared to 1.2 million for WhereIs.

Sensis may still maintain Whereis as a showcase for its own map data and keep competing with other Australian map data suppliers such as MapData Sciences and PSMA. However, if Google Maps were to switch map data suppliers for Australia and start using Sensis map data, then there would not be a need for Sensis to maintain Whereis as a showcase website anymore. Finally, Google could just as well simply buy Sensis and we'd maybe start seeing a step-by-step integration of Google Maps and Whereis as we are currently see happening with Multimap and Live Search Maps?  permanent link for this entry