We should tek this to Jamaica

[Willi]

The story I head was that the driver was on his way back from MoBay, stooped in Portmore and then Duhaney Park before going back to the office and the managers and those who administer the system could tell him where he had stopped.

I understand they system would cost about $35,000 per vehicle which is what US$500?

Map of Teleatlas coverage:

http://www.teleatlas.com/stellent/gr...a_ct015204.pdf

[Karl]

$500 is about what a mid to top end commercial unit costs. Not all have the tracking feature...not really a tracking feature per se, but a route recorder that can be read later. Based on what you tell me, this could just be a topo unit that can give a general location but not a street level pin point address.

You are right! That is the price of the unit (actually - $499) that we chose. The dealer says it shall aid in keeping a track on - 'fuel consumption, braking, how safe the vehicle is being operated, speeding, odometer reading, position of the vehicle, when the engine is turned on, when running and when turned off...etc., etc. You can disable the vehicle...according to the manual the vehicle "absolutely will not start" until you ''enable''.

The manual actually uses words such as "basic tracking", "advanced tracking", diagnostic options", "geofence" (geofence for parking - tells unauthorised movement), "delivery reporting" (detailed summary of history).

You can even view movement via google...and two other sources.

Unfortunately there are monthly fees! ..but, it gives peace of mind. ...and, makes for more efficient use of vehicle.

[Willi]

This appears to be topographical data.

Commercial GPS units are topo for hiking coordinate based for marine use and road network mapping for cars.

This thread is about vehicles, so its the road mapping that is the bugbear.

The next step would be like this:

Tele Atlas Acquires Digital Map Data of Mexico

Expands In-Country Operations

Coverage of Strategic Country to Provide Seamless Regional Map That Supports Emerging Personal Navigation Market and Commercial Operations

May 29, 2006, Detroit, MI — Tele Atlas, a leading global geographic content provider, announced at Telematics Update Detroit 2006 it is expanding its Latin American map coverage with the acquisition of detailed source data covering Mexico’s highway and street network. The company also announced it will grow its operations in Mexico with the opening of an office focused on sourcing and data validation.

A popular tourist destination and an emerging market for personal navigation systems; Mexico is also one of the world’s largest producers of consumer goods. “Mexico’s ports are experiencing a boom in container traffic, and there is growing need for maps that seamlessly facilitate commercial traffic from the factory to the warehouse to the store between Canada, the United States and Mexico,” said Mike Gerling, Tele Atlas COO of the Americas. “Our acquisition of detailed highway and street source data answers customer requirements for highly accurate digital map data to support not only commercial but consumer activity, as well.”

Tele Atlas supplies digital map data across a range of markets, including government, personal navigation, Internet and wireless markets. Gerling said the acquisition will also benefit many non-commercial and consumer-focused partners, including government entities looking to better track border activities.

President Tony Stroncheck of Promiles, a software development company for the trucking industry and Tele Atlas partner, said that the availability of Mexico data is vital to his customers’ business. “They are actively moving operations to Mexico, and want the same types of tools, devices and technologies available to them in other markets. To date we haven’t had a quality map on which to base our applications. We’re excited that Tele Atlas’ source data will help us deliver accurate map-based applications that not only guide our customers’ operations, but protect them as well.”

Tele Atlas has provided digital map coverage in Latin America for nearly ten years. The Mexico maps will enrich a database that already includes more than seven million miles of roads in Canada, the United States, Brazil and Argentina. To date, Tele Atlas maps cover more than 50 countries across Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas regions.

[Willi]

Garmin Walks Away from TeleAtlas - Agreement through 2015 with NAVTEQ

Garmin announced today that they have signed a 6-year extension to the agreement with NAVTEQ to obtain maps and build innovative map related services. This allows them to have access to maps through 2015, with an option to get a 4-year extension. This ends Garmin’s bid for TeleAtlas. Looks like TomTom just bought itself a mapmaker. In my mind, with this agreement sewn up, it allows Garmin to move forward in an economical way that keeps costs low: 1) No expensive acquisition costs, 2) No employee and company assimilation costs, and 3) No change over from NAVTEQ to TeleAtlas platform related costs. I would imagine Wall St. will love this, their stock is up almost 20% in pre-market trading activity. What I am excited about is the collaboration on new mapping capabilities. Garmin has scale to push through new ideas, and they certainly need an answer to MapShare. Finally, TomTom is going to get the mapping company that they wanted; I assume. The advantages are that they can streamline innovations like MapShare. The downside of all of this is that with this bidding war, Garmin just pushed TomTom to offer about $2 billion more for the TeleAtlas acquisition.

[Karl]

Garmin Walks Away from TeleAtlas - Agreement through 2015 with NAVTEQ

Garmin announced today that they have signed a 6-year extension to the agreement with NAVTEQ to obtain maps and build innovative map related services. This allows them to have access to maps through 2015, with an option to get a 4-year extension. This ends Garmin’s bid for TeleAtlas. Looks like TomTom just bought itself a mapmaker. In my mind, with this agreement sewn up, it allows Garmin to move forward in an economical way that keeps costs low: 1) No expensive acquisition costs, 2) No employee and company assimilation costs, and 3) No change over from NAVTEQ to TeleAtlas platform related costs. I would imagine Wall St. will love this, their stock is up almost 20% in pre-market trading activity. What I am excited about is the collaboration on new mapping capabilities. Garmin has scale to push through new ideas, and they certainly need an answer to MapShare. Finally, TomTom is going to get the mapping company that they wanted; I assume. The advantages are that they can streamline innovations like MapShare. The downside of all of this is that with this bidding war, Garmin just pushed TomTom to offer about $2 billion more for the TeleAtlas acquisition.

Seems my 'little bird' knew something was in the works!

[Willi]

No cooperation.

Garmin effed up TomTom. Dem haffi dig deep and makes them a weaker competitor!

LoL

[Willi]

This is more than a GPS receiver. It is a transmitter as well.

[Mosiah]

Sigh

What we must all realise is that Jamaica is not short on the latest gadjets, but there is always a way around them. Most times, any way. Or sometimes it's only hype. Look at videocameras in ATM booths. They all have them. Or do they!?!? What quality are they?

Imagine the excuses when we are caught by those GPS tracking devises!

[Sickko]

Actually a few arrests have been made thanks to the use of video cameras in ATM booths where people have been held up and forced to take money fro their accounts or where people try to use several different passwords for the same card to access money.

[Willi]

Sigh

What we must all realise is that Jamaica is not short on the latest gadjets, but there is always a way around them. Most times, any way. Or sometimes it's only hype. Look at videocameras in ATM booths. They all have them. Or do they!?!? What quality are they?

Imagine the excuses when we are caught by those GPS tracking devises!

Well yuh coulda bawl blood. The commercial units cant be used there as there is NO street MAP!!

The real techies could buy the OziExplorer product to scan in paper maps to the PC and superimpose over GPS coordinates...to get a rough street guide.

If Jam. had a commercial map available, the place would be raining GPS machines. The Navigon 2100 just landed at $99 and is more like a mid range machine. The Mio C220 is also about the same price. Mid-range machine are about $350 to $500 and come with continental maps, text to speech, reality view, user updated maps, interpolating software to guess positions while in tunnels, voice command recognition, mobile bluetooth handsfree calling, mp3, 4.3 inch widescreen etc.

Imagine a Garmin 760, a Navigon 7100 o a TomTom 920T in yuh Lade!!!

[Karl]

This is more than a GPS receiver. It is a transmitter as well.

Yup!
Its called Millennium Plus!

[Westman]

It does not ahve to be GIS mapped. Lattitude and longitude can be mapped to high accuracy. So you do not need to know necessarily what road someone has traveled, but you can still tell each point of travel.

[Willi]

It does not ahve to be GIS mapped. Lattitude and longitude can be mapped to high accuracy. So you do not need to know necessarily what road someone has traveled, but you can still tell each point of travel.

I came to that conclusion after Sickko' post.

This is just a tracker system ... no really a road navigation system. Not very helpful for the consumer or driver...just spyware.