TomTom opens up MapShare to all 60 million of its GPS units (video)
TomTom has seen the inexorable rise of smartphone navigation and decided that it needs a cheaper way of updating its head units. Its cunning solution has been to open its MapShare community to all 60 million TomToms in the wild -- which was previously limited just to smartphone apps and select devices. MapShare works by allowing users to update their, erm, maps, when they spot a change has been made, which is then uploaded when they get home. It'll now be aggregated and pushed out as a free daily download. Users can filter updates, deciding if they want ones submitted by "some," "many" or those officially verified by the company itself -- so don't bother trying to game the system to make your morning commute easier.
Show full PR text
London, 28 June 2012 – From today, TomTom is enabling all of its 60 million portable navigation devices to receive free daily map changes via the TomTom Map Share community. Map Share allows drivers to personalise the TomTom map on their own device and also share and receive map changes with the Map Share community around the world. Map Share was previously only available on a limited number of TomTom devices.
Map Share technology enables drivers to keep the TomTom map on their device up to date with immediate changes in their area. Dynamic road changes, such as changed speed limits, new street names, blocked roads and new traffic directions can be updated directly on the device. Drivers then have the choice to share those road changes with TomTom and the broader Map Share community. All TomTom customers can now download daily Map Share changes for free.
"Roads change all the time. Overnight, roads can close or traffic can be diverted,having a big impact on people's journey times." says Corinne Vigreux, TomTom's Managing Director. "With Map Share, drivers can update their own map themselves straightaway. Plus, we have an active community of drivers who share around 250,000 road changes with TomTom and each other every month. We are pleased to expand our community, because the more people who use Map Share the greater the navigation experience for all our customers."
Map Share enables people to quickly and easily report and share the most frequent road changes. More structural, long-term changes such as the addition of roads or roundabouts are validated and updated within TomTom's maps and made available on a quarterly basis. TomTom applies a hybrid approach to map-making that includes the combination of authoritative sources, such as field collection, government data or satellite imagery, with community input to ensure its maps accurately reflect reality.
Availability
Map Share is already available for many TomTom customers. From 28 June, all TomTom Start, Via and GO customers will be able to receive free daily map changes from the TomTom Map Share Community via a simple, free software update.
