Navteq Traffic

TTN / Clearchannel provides the FM traffic, google provides traffic for Garmin Online.
Major multilane roads/highways/interstates only. local roads (anything with a traffic light that does not have a highway sign) are rarely covered (only rarely in the case of major accidents/road closures).

You can click on these links to get the coverage areas.

http://www8.garmin.com/traffic/fm/clearchannel.html

http://www8.garmin.com/traffic/fm/navteq.html

http://www8.garmin.com/traffic/msn/index.jsp

Hidden somewhere you will eventually find that the coverage is NOT 7/24.

For Toronto, Traffic information is only available Monday to Friday 6am to 7pm.

And how well funded the local gov't is when it comes to installing the necessary reporting technology.

As an example, here in NYC, all of the major highways have traffic info. However, there are many highway sections just do not any traffic info because the necessary reporting devices just haven't been installed yet.

jc

I don't know what it said, but the other day I was in downtown D.C. and the traffic icon thingie went red.. but I got no other alert and didn't push the icon 'cause the traffic actually didn't look as bad as I've seen it before!

Tell ya what, if the wife doesn't convince me to go out of town and I'm here in D.C. for the inaguration I'll see what it says. They are closing a rackload of streets and all 5 bridges from VA into the city! If that doesn't induce an alert with gong noises I don't know what will.

Mind you there's NO WAY I'd actually drive there, but I'll plot a route and see what it says!

In the Philadelphia PA area it routinely covers incidents on state roads and limited access highways. In the city itself the alerts cover major incidents on city streets. It does not include accidents on minor roads.

I am north of Chicago and on rt 53 I never have seen a traffic icon on my nuvi 265wt. I have seen traffic bumper to bumber but nothing on the display.

Is there a way to tell what traffic is on the map without waiting for the traffic icon to appear?

AS garmin is saying they are not responsible for accuracy of traffic info. It is being provided by Clear Channel and/or Navteq so You pobably have to check with them where they got those informations from.
Because gps is showing only traffic it is receiving from fm stations, then it will not be able to show anything else.

Check as well status of Your subscription (both services are paid) because it may be expired.
Check as well, if You got any traffic info in different places or if traffic is active (check manual how to do it). I had this problem with receiver I bought - it was showing no traffic at all, because it was broken and didn't receive traffic info. Simplest way to check that it is working is to check if traffic subsriptions are activated, because they can activate only when receiver gets signal for first time.

Do you need a special cable for the NAVTEQ Traffic or is the receiver integrated with the system? I have never seen any traffic settings other than in the avoidances section, so I am assuming it is a transparent application...

_________
nuvi 205w

As far as I know, the traffic receiver is built into the car adaptor for people who have the traffic receiver. I have the 265WT and it comes with the car adaptor/traffic receiver GTM25. If I had to purchase this receiver from Garmin, I see it listed for $119.99 USD. If I just want to get a replacement power adaptor (no traffic), it costs "only" $28.00 USD.

Is there anyway of getting a 2nd traffic cord w/out buying another subscription. (Just using the same subscription)???

Lupo,

The answer is... No, not legally.

Each subscription is linked to a specific GTM.

What you could do is shop around ebay for a deal. I picked up a GTM-20 with Naveteq lifetime for $40 at an eBay auction. There seem to be folks dumping GTMxx units that come with lifetime Navteq traffic apparently because they either don't like it or don't have service in their area.

This thread is not very inspiring, as far as ever motivating me to add the traffic hardware and service to my GPSr, or even to be sure any I purchase has it.

The traffic service (not MS) is now a lifetime purchase that stays with the receiver, not the GPS. (When you upgrade the GPS be sure to keep your receiver!)

The traffic service is "iffy". In your own city, you will get a sense of how accurate and timely it is. In St Louis, it is "pretty good" but sometimes traffic has cleared (which it can do pretty quickly here) and still show a back-up. I do find it useful, however.

In other cities when I travel, it is very helpful, showing road closings, construction and traffic slow downs. It has saved me countless hours in the NY area and appears to be a valuable service for travelers elsewhere also.

If you travel, it is worth the extra cost. Especially with the lifetime service cost now included in some models for under $100. (The 265WT as an example) It's not perfect, but does provide some useful information.

does anyone have any feedback which is better?

look at the coverage maps for your area

In Arizona the Clear Channel coverage is much better than the Navteq. In fact Navteq doesn't cover the Tucson area at all and Tucson is now in the top 30 largest cities in the US.

in the NY area (and Northeast in general -eg Balt., Boston, Philly & NYC) Navteq traffic has been great

When you do not see the icon, it means your system has not acquire the necessary traffic information yet, or your traffic receiver just isn't working.

Normally you should see the icon within couple of minutes after you power on the unit and the lights on the receiver/power plug should be double green.

jc

The 2x5 units use a GTM25 receiver. Most other nuvis use a GTM20 receiver.

The GTM25 receiver only has one LED and it is red when the cord is plugged in and receiving power from the vehicle regardless of whether the GPS is plugged in or not.

The navteq coverage in the Wilmington DE area sucks. I emailed navteq and they have no plans to broaden there coverage. Does anyone know how to get the 3d terrain view in the Garmin 265WT?

I believe that it shows up in 2D mode when you zoom out to about a 5 mile range.

I think that the reports are from your local dot
then the report go to the different services such as
msn direct

mark

Not necessarily. Companies like Navteq and Inrix also have their own set of traffic sensors deployed to monitor traffic flow. These sensors may or may not be owned or co-owned by the local DOT. In addition, the Navteq and Inrix will use probe vehicles equipped with GPS and/or cell phone in the traffic streams to supplement their sensor data.'

The accident reports and construction information does likely come directly from local DOT and/or State Patrol.

I tried that on the 265WT and it wasn't successful. Any other ideas?

Thanks

Sounds like you may not have the proper basemap installed. The basemap contains DEM data used to draw the 3D terrain.

Do you have a file called gmapbmap.img on your unit?

I have both the 205W and 265WT and on both of them if you go out to 5 mi or more you get the terrain map, but once the terrain map is displayed you can't tell if it is 2D or 3D they both look the same. With most GPS units the 3D is only viewable at lower distance settings.

It looks like I have gmapbmap and gmapbmap.sum but not gmapbmap.img. Can you post the file?

Do you know if you have file extensions for known file types shown or hidden?

I'd need to know which operating system you're using to provide detailed instructions to check this.

Sorry file extentions were not shown. I do indeed have that file however the file size is about 90 meg.
Still don't see terrain view.

Yes I believe main roads only, but I have been known to be wrong. I believe you can check on their web site.

...the Navteq that came included with the unit and Clear Channel that I purchased for $60 lifetime. Clear Channel has more cities covered. In Atlanta, Orlando and Birmingham,AL it has worked accurately. I use it to allow me to plan around slowdowns for my customers.

In order to get rid of the ads that show up on a 265WT with the original Navteq traffic service, can you purchase the $50 Navteq Lifetime Subscription and install it on the 265WT? If yes, how is this actually done? Will the original Navteq service with ads go away? Will the new service work in Canada too? Will the new service also end up with ads?

Right now the 265WT came with two Navteq subscriptions that show up as NAVTEQ (US,CAN) twice! Why does it show 2 subscriptions? Is one for US and one for Canada?

Although the GTM 25 is stated for use with Nuvi 2x5's and 7x5's, etc and provides Navteq traffic info (with ads),

1) Can a GTM 25 be used with a Nuvi 350 or 360? The mini USB connector would work OK.
2) Would power get supplied?
3) Would it work if a Navteq or Clear Channel subscription were purchased for it?

The reason for asking is that the GTM 20 will not physically connect to a 360, and the GTM 11 and GTM 12 are expensive and hard to get.

Thanks.

I really doubt it would work...

GTM 1x units get their power *from the nuvi* through the miniUSB (nuvi is powered by the cradle and supplies voltage through the miniUSB for GTM 1x power)

GTM 25 units supply power *to the nuvi* through the miniUSB (nuvi is powered by the GTM 25 miniUSB)

SergZak,

The GTM25 does provide power and traffic signals to nuvi 265WT, say. Does anyone have the pinouts so I could ascertain that at least nothing would get hurt in I plugged the GTM 25 into a nuvi 360? Except unless the GTM25 came with a previously purchased TTN subscription (some people are supposedly doing that) I wouldn't expect it to provide traffic info until I purchased a subscription.

Bottom line: Would something get destroyed? If not, could it be made to work?

Yes, I know that. The problem is that the 350's miniUSB port is supplying voltage *to* the GTM 1x while the the 350 is attached to the powered cradle. If you connect a GTM 25 to the nuvi while it's connected to the powered cradle you'll have voltage going to the nuvi from both the powered cradle and from the miniUSB port (from the GTM 25). I don't think the nuvi would like that.

However, if you totally bypass power to the nuvi from the powered cradle, that may be a different story.

To note: I have tested the GTM 11 that I have with my nuvi 760, but the 760's USB port will not power the GTM 11 like the 350 does since it does not output voltage...it simply does not work with an error message stating such.

I live in NYC and I've noticed that sometimes there is a traffic warring even when there is no traffic - why it could be ?