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Traffic..how does it work? who / what sends out the signals?
Ralph2689
0 Points
My Garmin (NUVI 2689) gets some traffic reports.. but only on some streets. So who.. is responsible for sending out traffic signals.. How does one get more streets into the system? In Edmonton Ab.. there are several train crossings on major arteries..it would be really helpful to have those streets that come to a standstill..on the traffic system.
Comments
It has nothing to do with the maps. The FM traffic is limited by a very slow data rate - similar to an old 300 baud modem, if you're old enough to remember those days ;) It piggybacks on selected regular FM radio station signals. So there just isn't enough bandwith to provide much data, and it is therefore limited to major roads in your immediate area.
The newer HD traffic still uses FM radio signals and also has a slow data rate, but faster than the old FM system.
The smartphone traffic uses a "real" data connection that can deliver much more data that covers a larger area.
I don't think there's any list of what stations offer it, and that's not something the user is supposed to even know about. The device should automatically lock onto the strongest signal (if any). If you go into the developer settings, I think it will give you some data about this, but I haven't looked for awhile. The method for accessing this varies by device, on some of them you need to go to the volume screen and hold your finger on the top right corner. On other models you hold your finger in the middle of the speedometer in the trip computer (IIRC).
The traffic data comes from HERE (formerly Navteq). At one point Garmin claimed that it was augmented by data they receive from users with the smartphone link app. Not sure if that is still the case.
IMO, the FM traffic is useless if not downright misleading. I stopped using it long ago.
In my experience, the areas shown are optimistic for ideal signal conditions. And even if you get a signal, only major roads are reported. Because of this, you can't trust the rerouting feature. Since the minor roads aren't covered in the traffic reporting, the roads Garmin reroutes you to can have worse traffic problems than the original route.
The Smartphone Link (Live Traffic) uses crowd sourcing along with other reporting sources, and therefore has more accurate up-to-date incidents and also covers most major streets and highways wherever there is cell phone signal available.
Also, since the reporting area is very small for RDS traffic, there may be other obstacles ahead that will make the new route undesirable. I found it was much better to just listen to traffic reports that are broadcast every 10 minutes on a local radio station.
The smartlink traffic is much better, but again you are subject to the strange routes that Garmin sometimes calculates. Last winter I was returning home from my daughter's place in Astoria and there was heavy traffic on 278 (as usual). Garmin kept wanting to send me into Manhattan and then back over the Brooklyn Bridge, which is ridiculous IMO. So, I think you need to look at whatever it suggests and decide whether the route makes sense.
OTOH, my daughter and son in law stopped using dedicated GPS many years ago. They don't own a car and they either sign out a company car or rent one when they come to visit. They just blindly follow whatever Waze tells them to do without ever looking at the map. The surprising thing is, they usually make very good time getting to my place (about 140 mile trip). When they tell me the route they took, I would never have chosen it most of the time, it is often very counter-intuitive! :)