Friday, December 19, 2008

TomTom fights back

I've just saying awhile ago if Google puts more efforts to make its Earth & Maps better together, then we could be ditching GPS devices soon enough. All of a sudden, came this news from Webware about TomTom's newest take to fight back Google dominance.

TomTom Route Planner is a free service from the GPS maker that provides door-to-door route planning options to any address in the U.S. or Canada, it's an online mapping solution to compete with MapQuest and Google Maps.

According to Don Reisinger (Webware): Using TomTom's MapShare technology, the service provides users with continued map improvements made by TomTom users that see flaws and correct them. According to the company, improvements are uploaded regularly to provide up-to-date driving conditions.

TomTom's IQ Routes feature will offer more accurate arrival estimates by accessing average speeds for each road instead of employing posted speed limits to determine arrival. The service is currently in beta and available now to all users.

And while we're talking about GPS and TomTom, may I ask how you use your GPS device while driving? Do you use it just like Martin Burns (pictured above) when he was trying out his new TomTom? If you're navigating with a GPS device in car, I hope you bring a friend/partner along to help you. Stay safe! ;-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

To be fair, I was in the passenger seat at the time. Which is useful, because if you think about it, I was holding a camera in my hands as well as a tomtom-powered Palm in my lap (before I got any kind of holder)

Andy J. S. said...

Martin, thanks for your feedback.