.
Live Traffic conditions on your mobile phone from Garmap
Garmap, the official map provider for Garmin in Africa, and leading stolen vehicle tracking and fleet management company, Altech Netstar, have announced that after an initial trial period, Garmap Live Traffic has been officially launched and is available for installation on selected mobile devices.
Garmap Live Traffic forms part of Garmap for Mobile, a complete navigation application that turns any GPS-enabled mobile phone into a full-featured satellite navigation device, complete with voice navigation, directions, thousands of points of interest, traffic camera information and, now, lives traffic conditions for the Gauteng province.
The service will be available in Cape Town and Durban shortly with remaining cities scheduled to go live early 2010.
And with over 250,000 map requests coming from Garmap for Mobile users over the last month, it would seem that the thousands of users who downloaded the application are making good use of its features.
“Traffic congestion, accidents, road works and power failures are just some of the challenges that South African drivers face on a daily basis as they commute and travel for business,” says Andrew McHenry, head of mobile for Garmap.
“People need to be able to plan their trips carefully in order to be on time and reduce the amount of stress that they could possibly experience while driving to their destinations.
“All you need is one accident on the highway to ruin your day, which is why an early warning of what the traffic situation looks like before – and even while – you drive is an indispensible tool,” he says.
Live real-time traffic data on your mobile
Unlike many other traffic services that are currently available on the market, Garmap Live Traffic is based on live real-time data, which is constantly being fed from many different sources to ensure that the data is always accurate and up-to-date.
When users plot a route utilising Garmap for Mobile, the map, route data and traffic data are downloaded via their mobile Internet connections and delivered directly to their mobile phone screens.
“Because the system is constantly updating itself via the Internet, the traffic data that is downloaded is always current,” explains Dr. Chris Crozier, chief technology officer of Garmap.
“A lot can happen between hearing a traffic report on the radio or receiving a traffic SMS on your mobile and you actually climbing in your car and embarking on your journey.
“What makes Garmap Live Traffic so useful is that if traffic conditions change, the system updates immediately and you can adjust your route or make a call to say you’re going to be late – even before you’re stuck in traffic.”
Mahir Adroos is a general manager at a filling station in Johannesburg, who uses Garmap for Mobile on his BlackBerry. He says that while he doesn’t often have to rely on navigation products to get around the city, he found the features in Garmap for Mobile extremely useful.
“The Live Traffic feature is a huge value-add especially with all the road works going on at the moment,” he says. I know where I’m going in the mornings, so I don’t really need to be routed to work with the GPS. But I’ve included a ‘traffic check’ into my morning routine, where I use Garmap for Mobile to view the map of Johannesburg, and see where the traffic problems are and how long my potential delay will be in getting to work.
“I know you can’t always navigate around traffic problems, but what Garmap for Mobile with Live Traffic does allow me to do is plan my trip more carefully.”
Franz Erasmus is another BlackBerry user who does a lot of travelling for work. He says that having Live Traffic on his mobile phone has not only saved him time but also money.
“Garmap for Mobile has all the features of an in-car GPS, but this one you can take anywhere with you and when you’re driving, you can quickly find the most efficient route which can save you time and petrol,” Erasmus says.
“And if the Live Traffic warns you that you’re in for a delay on your route because of an accident or road works, you can quickly find a detour around the traffic so you can still be on time – or a little less late!”
For users that are worried about running up huge data bills as a result of using Garmap for Mobile, Crozier says that the application is surprisingly lean on resources.
“We’ve measured the average data usage for Garmap for Mobile users at around 1MB per month or roughly R2 per month based on out-of-bundle data rates. Our heaviest user clocked up an average of a little under 3MB per month, which is still only around R6.”
According to Joel Stransky, managing director of Altech Netstar, the Garmap for Mobile Live Traffic offering is the first product of its kind in Africa.
“Garmap’s mobile navigation application is the most advanced we’ve seen, and we are delighted to provide our traffic data to this leading company,” Stransky says.
“Not only is it going to make the lives of drivers in South Africa a whole lot easier, but it’s also going to put SA on the map again as a progressive nation of innovators. And Altech Netstar is proud to be a part of that through its subsidiary company Altech Netstar Traffic.”
Existing Garmap for Mobile users that want to enable the service can SMS the word TRAFFIC to 32541 in order to be subscribed to the service.
Free Trial
Users who don’t have Garmap for Mobile but would like to try the service can download a 7-day free trial of the software, with traffic enabled, by texting the word MAP to 32541 for a link to download the application.
The software supports phones with on-board GPS and can also be used on phones that can connect to a Bluetooth GPS adaptor.
Garmap for Mobile, which was recently selected as MTN’s official mobile navigation platform, is currently shipped on a variety of phones and is compatible with the Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry and Android platforms.
Live Traffic for Garmap for Mobile is a monthly subscription service. The costs are indicated below:
• 1 month - R29
• 3 months - R85
• 1 year - R299
• 2 years - R549
Click here for more information.
And with over 250,000 map requests coming from Garmap for Mobile users over the last month, it would seem that the thousands of users who downloaded the application are making good use of its features.
“Traffic congestion, accidents, road works and power failures are just some of the challenges that South African drivers face on a daily basis as they commute and travel for business,” says Andrew McHenry, head of mobile for Garmap.
“People need to be able to plan their trips carefully in order to be on time and reduce the amount of stress that they could possibly experience while driving to their destinations.
“All you need is one accident on the highway to ruin your day, which is why an early warning of what the traffic situation looks like before – and even while – you drive is an indispensible tool,” he says.
Live real-time traffic data on your mobile
Unlike many other traffic services that are currently available on the market, Garmap Live Traffic is based on live real-time data, which is constantly being fed from many different sources to ensure that the data is always accurate and up-to-date.
When users plot a route utilising Garmap for Mobile, the map, route data and traffic data are downloaded via their mobile Internet connections and delivered directly to their mobile phone screens.
“Because the system is constantly updating itself via the Internet, the traffic data that is downloaded is always current,” explains Dr. Chris Crozier, chief technology officer of Garmap.
“A lot can happen between hearing a traffic report on the radio or receiving a traffic SMS on your mobile and you actually climbing in your car and embarking on your journey.
“What makes Garmap Live Traffic so useful is that if traffic conditions change, the system updates immediately and you can adjust your route or make a call to say you’re going to be late – even before you’re stuck in traffic.”
Mahir Adroos is a general manager at a filling station in Johannesburg, who uses Garmap for Mobile on his BlackBerry. He says that while he doesn’t often have to rely on navigation products to get around the city, he found the features in Garmap for Mobile extremely useful.
“The Live Traffic feature is a huge value-add especially with all the road works going on at the moment,” he says. I know where I’m going in the mornings, so I don’t really need to be routed to work with the GPS. But I’ve included a ‘traffic check’ into my morning routine, where I use Garmap for Mobile to view the map of Johannesburg, and see where the traffic problems are and how long my potential delay will be in getting to work.
“I know you can’t always navigate around traffic problems, but what Garmap for Mobile with Live Traffic does allow me to do is plan my trip more carefully.”
Franz Erasmus is another BlackBerry user who does a lot of travelling for work. He says that having Live Traffic on his mobile phone has not only saved him time but also money.
“Garmap for Mobile has all the features of an in-car GPS, but this one you can take anywhere with you and when you’re driving, you can quickly find the most efficient route which can save you time and petrol,” Erasmus says.
“And if the Live Traffic warns you that you’re in for a delay on your route because of an accident or road works, you can quickly find a detour around the traffic so you can still be on time – or a little less late!”
For users that are worried about running up huge data bills as a result of using Garmap for Mobile, Crozier says that the application is surprisingly lean on resources.
“We’ve measured the average data usage for Garmap for Mobile users at around 1MB per month or roughly R2 per month based on out-of-bundle data rates. Our heaviest user clocked up an average of a little under 3MB per month, which is still only around R6.”
According to Joel Stransky, managing director of Altech Netstar, the Garmap for Mobile Live Traffic offering is the first product of its kind in Africa.
“Garmap’s mobile navigation application is the most advanced we’ve seen, and we are delighted to provide our traffic data to this leading company,” Stransky says.
“Not only is it going to make the lives of drivers in South Africa a whole lot easier, but it’s also going to put SA on the map again as a progressive nation of innovators. And Altech Netstar is proud to be a part of that through its subsidiary company Altech Netstar Traffic.”
Existing Garmap for Mobile users that want to enable the service can SMS the word TRAFFIC to 32541 in order to be subscribed to the service.
Free Trial
Users who don’t have Garmap for Mobile but would like to try the service can download a 7-day free trial of the software, with traffic enabled, by texting the word MAP to 32541 for a link to download the application.
The software supports phones with on-board GPS and can also be used on phones that can connect to a Bluetooth GPS adaptor.
Garmap for Mobile, which was recently selected as MTN’s official mobile navigation platform, is currently shipped on a variety of phones and is compatible with the Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry and Android platforms.
Live Traffic for Garmap for Mobile is a monthly subscription service. The costs are indicated below:
• 1 month - R29
• 3 months - R85
• 1 year - R299
• 2 years - R549
Click here for more information.
