GPS and NavTraffic

[considering]

Picked up my Black/Black V8 Tech last week and I have a NavTraffic question.

The DIS states on page 217 "the driver information system is able to: ... take the traffic information into account during route guidance"

Which is great because my previous car 05' RL did not do that. But it doesn't really seem to be taking into account the nav traffic information. I commute to work and I can take 1 of 2 highways. It seems to always put me on the shorter route no matter the traffic. Has anyone proven that it uses the NavTraffic information?

Also is there a way to have the ETA based on the NavTraffic information? Currently it seems to go solely off of what speeds I set the different roads at. I set the highway to 100 and it says I am going to be home in 10 minutes when the traffic is averaging no more then 20 mph for a 20 mile commute.

p.s. I lover the car, so far the ETA NavTraffic is the only quibble I have. I really hope there is a way to base the ETA on actual road conditions! If not that was an oversite.

 

[gipp]

Are you sure that the traffic conditions for the roads you are driving are reported to NavTraffic system? It is currently available in 80 major markets. Go to http://www.xmradio.com/navtraffic/market_coverage.xmc to check if your driving area is being reported. Remember that this is a function of the XM radio working with the GPS and not the GPS satellites alone.

 

[Richard Ft. Lauderdale]

My system once told me there was a traffic problem ahead and there wasn't. Yesterday there was a problem and it didn't warn me. My conclusion is that the system leaves something to be desired.

 

[Sonata2009]

The problem with these systems is that they depend upon reported traffic situations. If it hasn't been reported yet, you find out the hard way. And if it's been cleared, the situation is gone, but the XM system doesn't know it yet. No easy fix for these.

Even in well monitored cities, like Houston, the delay in getting the word out results in sometimes inaccurate info. Technology just isn't there yet.

 

[jbert7]

This morning I was making a short 5 mile trip in Atlanta ( here working for the week). Not being from here I fired up the gps and put in my destination, It right away told me there was congestion on my route and asked if i would like a diffrent route, one was the shortest distance route that avoided the interstate, for some reason I think I saw a choice to avoid congestion I will check it again in the morning. What was odd is I did the same drive in reverse tonight and it again told me about the congestion, tried to reroute and it still wanted me on the highway where the slow down was, only way I got it to keep me off highway was to set avoid highway. On the way here in atl almost same problem, as i get close to atl I can see the highway that gps wants me to take is highlighted yellow indicating slow traffic, I am driving wondering if it is ever going to offer me a chance to rerout to avoid the congestion? It did finally tell me there was congestion but only when it was like 2 miles away and no chances of avoiding it nor did it ever offer me a choice of rerouting.

 

[considering]

Are you sure that the traffic conditions for the roads you are driving are reported to NavTraffic system? It is currently available in 80 major markets. Go to http://www.xmradio.com/navtraffic/market_coverage.xmc to check if your driving area is being reported. Remember that this is a function of the XM radio working with the GPS and not the GPS satellites alone.

Quite sure, I live in Chicago. Understand I have the NavTraffic information displayed on my screen. And it warns me of upcoming traffic conditions, and shows my entire ride home as RED, but it doesn't take that information into account when calculating the ETA. Since I am on the highway I can change the highway time in settings and that directly effects the ETA even though NavTraffic is on. I can make the ETA as short as I want 100 mph (10 minutes) or as long as I want 10 mph (60 minutes) in the settings. The system knows the speed it should use that to calculate the ETA for every segment it has information for then revert back to user settings.

As for the system being reliant on NavTraffic, which is actually a seperate company from Xm (XM just delivers the feed NavTraffic provides) I am very used to the delay. And in Chicago it is pretty accurate. Besides my ride is either all red or mostly red. It should take that into consideration when spitting out the ETA. And I can understand the system not routing you off the highway but I have 2 highways to pick from. The other day one option which is rougly 1 mile longer was almost all green while the shorter route was almost all red. It didn't route me the best way till I drove a halfmile toward the better route making the better route (traffic wise) now shorter.

 

[Sonata2009]

I agree that it would be nice to have NavTraffic integrated into the GPS, but it really is a free standing issue that is just displayed on the GPS. (Don't have my V-8 yet, so I can't say for sure) Since the XM/Nav/Traffic is all subscription based (you get it free for a year, then it's a subscription) I can see why it couldn't be fully integrated into the GPS.

Does the GPS have an option to reroute? I have a Magellian that can do that, so I just assumed that the Genesis would also, understanding that you would have to initate a manual reroute.

 

[considering]

On the contrary there is no reason for it not to be integrated. For one I haven't seen another XM NavTraffic car that did not have at least the ETA integrated. If you choose not to pay for NavTraffic then the system on other cars (CTS, RL, LS etc.... etc....) just revert back to judging your ETA on the speed you are currently traveling.

And I will admit most do not integrate navigating around traffic some do and the Genesis advertises and even states it in the manual!

 

[Sonata2009]

I guess we add it to the "Glitch" list!