Live Traffic and Weather Data

[vincentrose]

How about implementing Live Traffic Data and Weather Radar Data into the program. You don't need to have one of those fancy receivers like Microsoft had a few years ago. Many Laptops now have wireless internet capabilities now and that all you need. I have it on mine. for just $60.00 per month, I get internet all the time. Just simply have the program access the data from the internet from Google (Google has everything) and display it on the map. Maybe even have automatic rerouting based on traffic problems ahead, but for now, lets just get the data on the screen. This feature is not offered anywhere on the market. Hint Hint Delorme, you could be the first.

[techguru]

How about implementing Live Traffic Data and Weather Radar Data into the program. You don't need to have one of those fancy receivers like Microsoft had a few years ago. Many Laptops now have wireless internet access capabilities now and that all you need. I have it on mine. for just $60.00 per month, I get internet all the time. Just simply have the program access the data from the internet and display it on the map. Maybe even have automatic rerouting based on traffic problems ahead, but first, lets just get the data from the net and get it on the screen.

Earlier versions of Street Atlas actually were able to get weather and
construction data (although not live traffic, as it was not available form any source at the time). It would be nice to see this, as many of the competitors can not provide it.

Alan

[vincentrose]

Yeah I know, but it just gave you the basics in text form. ie: Sunny, Rainy Snowy, Cloudy, and of course the temps. I'm talking about that too, but I'd really like to see them go with an overlay that displays the live weather radar on the map. And of course, another overlay that highlights the road color (red,yellow, or green) for traffic conditions like traffic.com does

[techguru]

Yeah I know, but it just gave you the basics in text form. ie: Sunny, Rainy Snowy, Cloudy, and of course the temps. I'm talking about that too, but I'd really like to see them go with an overlay that displays the live weather radar on the map. And of course, another overlay that highlights the road color (red,yellow, or green) for traffic conditions like traffic.com does

Totally agree with you. That would be a very cool addition.

Alan

[Nedra]

Actually it put small symbols on the map as well as text, but these tended to be too much data overlaid on top of the map. A semi-transparent layer of the weather radar would really be an asset.

I just looked at traffic.com and it has serious limitations. It only gives information on a limited number of major cities, which does not include Knoxville, TN which is my closest city. I'm not sure how viable this part is.

... it just gave you the basics in text form. ie: Sunny, Rainy Snowy, Cloudy, and of course the temps. I'm talking about that too, but I'd really like to see them go with an overlay that displays the live weather radar on the map. And of course, another overlay that highlights the road color (red,yellow, or green) for traffic conditions like traffic.com does

[vincentrose]

You know something, you are absolutly, I didnt notice that until you said something. Knoxville is a pretty big town, and it has it's trouble spots. I noticed that they dont have Memphis either. However, having the traffic data for the other cities would still be an awesome feature. To my knowledge, no other software has this feature and Delorme could be the first to offer it. I know Microsoft had a similar feature but you had to have an expensive FM Reciever, but if you pulled the information from the web, there would be no extra required. I really hope that Delorme at least looks into adding this feature. Also I think having the semi transparent weather radar overlay is an excellent idea as well.

[John Moran_2]

NOAA.com has weather data for Knoxville. I just pasted the jpg of the radar reflectivity overlay into Irfanview. Good enough for me without going the KML GIS route. (Also available on NOAA).
JM_2.

[vincentrose]

Does anyone if Delorme is considering any of the suggestion on this post? The Live Weather or Traffic Data?

[vincentrose]

How about implementing Live Traffic Data and Weather Radar Data into the program. You don't need to have one of those fancy receivers like Microsoft had a few years ago. Many Laptops now have wireless internet access capabilities now and that all you need. I have it on mine. for just $60.00 per month, I get internet all the time. Just simply have the program access the data from the internet and display it on the map. Maybe even have automatic rerouting based on traffic problems ahead, but first, lets just get the data from the net and get it on the screen.

[Djtentman]

Traffic data would be a huge plus for me. We are considering equipping all our vehicles at work with navigation and the lack of traffic data is one of the big reasons that we don't want to go with Delorme. If they added it, I think we'd do it very soon.
Add traffic data = we buy many license of Street Atlas Plus.

[TheObserver]

I highly doubt there will be a version of Street Atlas with live traffic data and weather.

1 - Delorme is not known to be a innovator or even keep up with technology. It's map graphics barely matches with what was available 5 years ago.
2 - Traffic data for commercial sale has to be paid for as far as I know, so that would mean a increase in price, which I don't think Delorme wants to do for its products.
3 - The traffic data tends to be badly maintained by police and fire. Not exactly people known for their honest deligence and detail. The traffic data maintained by computers are the best, but most areas do not have such things yet.
4 - People are using dedicated GPS and even iPhones for GPS. Sales of laptop GPS is not as high. Hence, little motive to actually do a good job. iPhone has live traffic data and weather, so its NOT a difficult thing to do.

Now that laptops with Internet via cell towers is pretty common, people can use Google maps to look up traffic. Yes, its cumbersome, but at least its possible.

I feel considering the the lack of features and lack of quality on laptop GPS by the few manuaturers that make them, this market will die off in a few short years, except maybe for the commercial market.

I personally have a personal wifi device (MiFi) and a laptop. So I have Internet everywhere.

[TotemLake]

I feel considering the the lack of features and lack of quality on laptop GPS by the few manuaturers that make them, this market will die off in a few short years, except maybe for the commercial market.

Don't quit your day job. As a soothsayer, you don't show a lot of promise. I've seen your type prediction for years. I haven't seen the validity in it yet.