A POI file for Toll booths

 

Does anyone know if there has been a POI file for expressway and bridge/tunnel toll booths? I keep thinking that a POI file that could alert me when I was appraching a toll booth would REALLY be benifical. Especially if that file contained an idea of the charge for a car or truck. That would really be helpful for my various future trips. I've looked through the POI categories and couldn't find a file like this which would have the info all in one place. There are several individual files by states in the Transportation category, but I was hoping that I could find a file similar to the Combined Rest Areas.

A POI file for Toll booths

sire1234 wrote:

Does anyone know if there has been a POI file for expressway and bridge/tunnel toll booths? I keep thinking that a POI file that could alert me when I was appraching a toll booth would REALLY be benifical. Especially if that file contained an idea of the charge for a car or truck. That would really be helpful for my various future trips. I've looked through the POI categories and couldn't find a file like this which would have the info all in one place. There are several individual files by states in the Transportation category, but I was hoping that I could find a file similar to the Combined Rest Areas.

I, for one wouldn't want to tackle something like this. The maintenance on the file, if it could be compiled would be tremendous. And which tolls would you list? Cars have one rate, trucks - depending on the type have several. Then there are RV's and all kinds of trailers. Any change to the tolls on a single route such as the Garden State Parkway or the PA Turnpike would take quite a bit of time to revise each location, and then what would you do for an end-to-end route such as getting on a toll road at one point and getting off at another where they collect the toll for the distance traveled according to the type of vehicle. Just listing the toll plazas would be difficult enough and then trying to get the correct coordinates would be something else again.

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ɐ‾nsǝɹ Just one click away from the end of the Internet

TOLL BOOTH PO1s

Rand McNally RVND7715 has proximity warnings for toll booths, time zone changes and state or international boundaries, however other shortcomings made me put it up for sale. Unit worked well in USA, in Canada had all kinds of problems.

Mike Sharpe

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Michael Sharpe

Some states..

Geocamp has some states here:

http://www.poi-factory.com/user/99059

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NUVI40 Kingsport TN

Toll Booths

Have you looked at this file?

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/35158

Will Try

mahoney wrote:

Have you looked at this file?

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/35158

I'm going to give this one a try.

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Bob: My toys: Nüvi 1390T, Droid X2, Nook Color (rooted), Motorola Xoom, Kindle 2, a Yo-Yo and a Slinky. Gotta have toys.

I agree that this would be difficult to manage

I've been searching for a similar POI, one that would list all the tolls in the US. I'm grateful that someone pointed the direction to the Eastern US tolls POI. This will still prove valuable.

I've been thinking about this very thing while driving. Instead of listing individual toll booths, what I've been doing is saving the actual Toll Road locations I've been driving on, just after entrance or just before exit of the toll road. This covers a lot of distance this way.

Then when I review the map of the route I'm taking I am able to see if I will be intersecting a toll road along the way, and if necessary I can then avoid it.

This has been working for me. Like I said, all I do is save the actual toll road location just after entrance or just before exit.

My TomTom warns me that there are toll roads on the route, but unfortunately it does not identify which roads these are when I review the route. So I'm always stuck wondering where the toll road is and it makes it difficult to plan my route avoiding the tolls.

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Amazing GPS: I once was lost but now am found.

not rocket science

Vito wrote:

I agree that this would be difficult to manage

I don't think that it would be all that hard to manage. We already have much more complex things like the Red Light database and even the speed camera database. In contrast, toll booths are relatively rare. They seldom if ever move.

Tolls do change frequently, but there is no reason that such a POI file has to tell you exactly what your toll will be. I would find it far more valuable to be able to look at the GPS receiver and determine things like "how close am I to the next toll?", "can I take an exit farther on before getting to the toll booth or should I exit now?", and "does the exit have a toll?". Not making such a POI at all because tolls change makes no sense at all, it would be like not having a red light camera database because we don't know the total cost of the red light tickets.

Rest areas seem to be constantly closing, and, on some occasions, move. Every state and every interstate that I've been on has rest areas, and there are plenty of non-interstate rest areas, yet we have rest area databases. In comparison, tolls are far less common. It seems like people are looking for reason why someone shouldn't do it.

We have a Burger King database. It doesn't try to tell us how much a Whopper costs at each location or get updated every time the price goes up. It can, more or less, be maintained, even though BK's are being built constantly and occasionally they go out of business. So please explain better why a toll booth database would be hard to manage?

POI toll data

One challenge for toll data POIs is that some tolls vary at any one point depending on several factors.

Example: on the Mass Pike west of I-95, you pick up a ticket when you enter the toll road (or the toll transponder is read) and then the toll is assessed at the exit. The toll at any exit is determined by the point of entry. There are over a dozen different possible tolls that can be paid at each exit even for the same class of vehicle, because there are over a dozen points of entry to the toll road.

NYC-area toll bridges and tunnels at the Hudson River collect in only one direction. Tolls also vary depending on the time of day and the day of the week--a trend that is expected to spread as toll roads use variable tolls to reduce peak traffic versus maximizing revenue.

Consumer GPS generally recognizes that the user is approaching a Point of Interest but displays the same information whatever direction the GPS unit is moving and whatever day and time it is.

Might be better to not display any data rather than wrong or confusing data.

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JMoo On

@Frov Well I agree

... that it wouldn't be difficult to manage IF we left out the tolls. I was agreeing that IF tolls were included then it would be. But I'm all for just knowing where the toll booths are, so I'm in agreement with you. I say leave out the toll amount as well.

What we would need are exact locations of the toll booths, either by people saving the location just as they drive through, or by using Google Earth.

Yet another real problem to address is that some toll roads allow you to get on them, or drive an access road towards them (with no way to turn around), THEN you find out it's a toll road when you hit the toll booth after driving on the road for a while. In other words there is no ACCESS Toll Booth so you're not aware a toll is coming. This happened to me in Florida with Sun Pass. TWICE.

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Amazing GPS: I once was lost but now am found.

Here in the Chicago Area my

Here in the Chicago Area my Garmin lets me know when a tool booth is approaching by telling you what lane to be in.

My gps tells me

My gps tells me a toll booth is coming by the traffic alert I have. smile Yup, pretty much the only time I get traffic alerts is when I approach a toll booth.

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Nuvi 2460LMT.

agreed

Vito wrote:

....Yet another real problem to address is that some toll roads allow you to get on them, or drive an access road towards them (with no way to turn around), THEN you find out it's a toll road when you hit the toll booth...

Agreed. Toll roads are of three main types. One gives you a ticket on entry and charges a fee at exit based on distance traveled (the PA turnpike, for example). Here you know that you are about to be charged a toll when you get the ticket. A POI would simply notify you of accepting the initial document. I would even add a POI entry before the booth, before the last exit before the booth, alerting the user that a tool both is ahead.

Other toll systems have booths where drivers have to slow down, stop, and pay a toll every so many miles (or slowly drive through with a RF based "pass" system). Although there should be signs, you can miss them and be on the road before you know that you will be required to pay a toll. Here I think that an extra "toll POI" should be added to the roads before the last exit/entrance ramps before the toll booth alerting the user that the tolling is about to start. Also, most of the exit ramps on this type of toll road have toll booths also, although some, particularly those right after a toll booth, don't. It would be helpful if the POI database told you if these secondary toll booths were there or not. The VA turnpike is an example.

A third type of toll road is starting to pop up. They have no toll booths at all. They either expect that you will have an electronic billing "pass" or they use cameras to record the people without passes and send them (higher priced) bills in the mail. North Carolina is starting to use this awful system. A POI database should really warn drivers about this and treat the entrances with warnings before the last exit as in the above type.

I would have no complaint with having more information. But not making a toll POI because of toll complexities or toll changes makes no sense.

Great!! How about the West

Great!! How about the West Coast?

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NickJr Nuvi 3597LMT

So,

Who's gonna head this one up?

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"As life runs on, the road grows strange with faces new - and near the end. The milestones into headstones change, Neath every one a friend." - James Russell Lowell Garmin StreetPilot C330, Garmin NUVI 765T, Garmin DriveSmart 60LMT

Directional POI

Until and unless you can have directional POI alerts, this one seems to have the potential to create more trouble and confusion -- never a good idea at high speed...

I would rather

jale wrote:

Until and unless you can have directional POI alerts, this one seems to have the potential to create more trouble and confusion -- never a good idea at high speed...

...know it's coming (possibly), than not know it at all. If you set the distance far enough in advance (I use a mile), then there is plenty of opportunity to bail if need be, in most cases.

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Striving to make the NYC Metro area project the best.

Mine does it

pwohlrab wrote:

My gps tells me a toll booth is coming by the traffic alert I have. smile Yup, pretty much the only time I get traffic alerts is when I approach a toll booth.

Mine does the same. I have a setting that says to turn on/off toll booths. Wouldn't need that POI.

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Larry - Nuvi 680, Nuvi 1690, Nuvi 2797LMT

Not sure why it's needed?

Both my Dezl 760 and Nuvi 1490 warn me of approaching toll booths. The units also have a setting under the "avoidance" tab for toll roads. When selected, the GPS will route around them. Toll roads and toll booth locations are already built into the map database.

plenty of reasons for it

bdhsfz6 wrote:

When selected, the GPS will route around them.

Avoidance isn't always practical or even desirable. I may know that I'm going to hit some tolls and expect to pay them, but it is still good to know the details of the toll system in use. This can affect decisions along the way, such as which exits to take when buying gas to avoid extra tolls. Or you may reduce tolls by knowing the right times to get off a toll road and take an alternate route.

You seem to be arguing against someone doing something that could benefit a lot of people just because you personally don't think that you will use it.