I have had some time now to play with both the new Garmin 3590 as well as my previous Garmin 3490, both of which have new Garmin guidance 3.0 along with the new Navteq HD traffic.
While these are both pretty good PND devices, I have to say that my experience so far with the traffic service is pretty underwhelming. I mean, it is great that the higher bandwidth service provides us with more granularity in the traffic data. However, if the content is just wrong it doesn't matter how granular it is, it is wrong.
I have run into many situations with the traffic service where it leaves me scratching my head as to how the traffic data can report what it is reporting. Or worse yet, not reporting what it should be. Navteq has always had an arrogance about themselves. It would just be nice if that arrogance were backed up by rock solid product content.
A recent example was a trip to Las Vegas. There's an intersection of two major freeways just south of the strip in Las Vegas. This interstate intersection and several portions of the connecting interstates is in the middle of a major construction project. This construction project has closed several ramps between interstates. And when I say closed I mean closed as in "the pavement has been dug up" closed. I don't mean closed as in "hey we need to close this ramp for half a day so we can move some equipment in and out" closed. If you go to the DOT website for Nevada, this construction project and these closures are well-documented. But despite all that, my Garmin backed by Navteq traffic, tries to route me right through the closed ramps on the course of my trip.
I mean really Navteq. How hard is it to hire an intern and tell them to review the websites for the DOT? Is it really that hard to incorporate documented construction data into your traffic service? In 2012? Wow.
They have the opposite problem in other areas. In the Des Moines market, Navteq has a perpetual traffic delay at exit 68 where I-35 connects to Iowa 5. There is no delay there. It doesn't exist. And without question, that delay does not exist 24 hours a day. This is Des Moines Iowa folks. There is no traffic delay that exists outside of about a two hour window during rush hour.
Today, traveling on I 88 into Chicago I was warned of a 9 mile 15 minute delay. Here's a picture of what the road looked like smack dab in the middle of that so-called delay. This wasn't I 88 in Chicago mind you. This was I 88 in the middle of rural Illinois about 100 miles west of the closest Chicago suburbs. Short of a meteor landing in the middle of the highway, there is no traffic out here. Ever.
I will spend the following week in Los Angeles. I look forward to seeing what kind of accuracy this new traffic service has in a major market like LA. I will blog about my experiences when I return. So far, to say I'm underwhelmed is an understatement.
