Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What's the latest rumour on Tomtom for the iphone?
- Thread starter Libitina
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Other peeps that have an iphone.
When will the SDK agreement expire?
Edit: What is the SDK agreement btw??
Why the hell would an SDK agreement expire? Even so, Apple would probably much prefer their own GPS one there. Finally, if you aren't sure what an SDK agreement is then you need to do some research.
I keep seeing people referring to the SDK as preventing major corporations from doing this and that but do you really think the likes of TomTom wouldn't be able to reach an agreement with Apple outside of the SDK? Just like Sega et al had early access to the SDK.
There have been a couple of twists and turns with this one. TomTom firstly announced they had been developing their Navigator software for the iPhone, and that they had a version up and running. Within a couple of days, details emerged about the SDK licence stating that:-
Applications may not be designed or marketed for real time route guidance
Then, after a few more days, an interview emerged on the French website Mac Generation with TomTom France spokesman, Yann Lafargue, who stated "Apple is simply trying to protect themselves in case a customer having a problem." and "there is a whole set of things to confirm before talking about a commercial release."
Here's another link to the whole story.
This was all in the first couple of weeks in June, and so far hasn't really developed any further.
I think that the line in the SDK is simply to stop backwater software engineers from releasing less-than-effective turn-by-turn apps, that may put drivers at risk, leaving Apple liable for what is released and sold on their App Store. I would expect an agreement to be reached with TomTom (and indeed other larger GPS Navigation System providers) which would enable them to release the software at some point in the future.
Applications may not be designed or marketed for real time route guidance
Then, after a few more days, an interview emerged on the French website Mac Generation with TomTom France spokesman, Yann Lafargue, who stated "Apple is simply trying to protect themselves in case a customer having a problem." and "there is a whole set of things to confirm before talking about a commercial release."
Here's another link to the whole story.
This was all in the first couple of weeks in June, and so far hasn't really developed any further.
I think that the line in the SDK is simply to stop backwater software engineers from releasing less-than-effective turn-by-turn apps, that may put drivers at risk, leaving Apple liable for what is released and sold on their App Store. I would expect an agreement to be reached with TomTom (and indeed other larger GPS Navigation System providers) which would enable them to release the software at some point in the future.
Why the hell would an SDK agreement expire? Even so, Apple would probably much prefer their own GPS one there. Finally, if you aren't sure what an SDK agreement is then you need to do some research.
Thank you for your helpful reply.
Thanks
Why the hell would an SDK agreement expire? Even so, Apple would probably much prefer their own GPS one there. Finally, if you aren't sure what an SDK agreement is then you need to do some research.
And you need to get some manners.
after using the GPS more and more. i honestly don't think GPS programs will work very well. a simple drive home i notice the blue dot is sometimes off the road, wrong road, or has a blue radius around it (indicating it's "around in that area").
with my normal Garmin i don't have that problem.
i drove to my friends place last weekend and in his neighborhood, the iphone's GPS had a REALLY hard time finding me. really disappointing.
the one thing i do like about the iphone GPS is how quickly it finds you.
a simple drive home i notice the blue dot is sometimes off the road, wrong road, or has a blue radius around it (indicating it's "around in that area"). with my normal Garmin i don't have that problem.
i drove to my friends place last weekend and in his neighborhood, the iphone's GPS had a REALLY hard time finding me. really disappointing.
the one thing i do like about the iphone GPS is how quickly it finds you.
after using the GPS more and more. i honestly don't think GPS programs will work very well.
with my normal Garmin i don't have that problem.
i drove to my friends place last weekend and in his neighborhood, the iphone's GPS had a REALLY hard time finding me. really disappointing.
the one thing i do like about the iphone GPS is how quickly it finds you.
I'm pretty sure most GPS devices use a lock to keep the indicator on the road. There's no reason software on the iPhone couldn't do this. I know using my Sportrak Pro in the car (a geocaching device, not navigation) the indicator is often off road and sometimes bounces around.
+1, my Garmin c330 will follow me through a tunnel for a good half mile. It doesn't know where I am, but it is assuming that i am still traveling at a constant rate of speed along the road way so it continues to update. Then once it finally admits it lost signal, my dot goes back to about 20 ft into the tunnel.
i hope you're right because it would be cool to have a real GPS program like TomTom and Garmin on the phone.
This is incorrect, the GPS implementation in Google Maps is crap. The acutal GPS antenna and chip are adequate for Turn by Turn directions. Google Maps does not Lock onto the iPhone like a Tom Tom or Garmin does. This does not imply that the iPhone GPS is incapable of being Locked on or providing very accurate Turn by Turn functionality, simply that Google Maps does not provide this level of precision.
The iPhone is capable of this and will have this in the future, hopefully soon. Apple has already said that the iPhone is capable of Turn by Turn, but it is a complicated issue.
it would be great if tomtom did release a program for the iphone. and also if the phone chraged in the car while connected to a charger and running GPS, that way it would completely replace my tomtom and no need to keep having to re-stick the damn thing onto my windscreen every 10 minutes when driving due to it popping off.
To be frank, from being out geocaching with my iPhone, I believe the reason Apple are reluctant to allow a proper Satnav is simply to do with battery life. About an hour with the GPS on constantly (actually using the GPS satellites) and my iPhone was out of juice. If someone is relying on that to get them somewhere and it runs out in the middle of nowhere then I reckon Apple would be worried about being held liable. I don't know if the SDK would support a method where the application could work only if connected to a power source, but I believe that is what would be needed to effectively implement this on the iPhone.
I also like the idea that they don't want some random yahoo making a satnav app that knows nothing about it and sending someone to god knows where.
I also like the idea that they don't want some random yahoo making a satnav app that knows nothing about it and sending someone to god knows where.
That's indeed most probably the reason. As people have been reporting, even when you have your iPhone on a charger, the battery's dead after 2 hours of navigating - the GPS unit + the constant data connection draws more power than any charger can deliver
peter
AFAIK, for all TomTom PNDs and all implementations of TomTom on other mobile devices the maps are stored locally on the device and they are not downloaded on-the-fly. Presuming that the same would be true of TomTom on the iPhone, power consumption would be much, much lower than with Google maps. I have TomTom on a Nokia E61 and it gets about five hours navigating out of a single charge of the battery, and that's with constant BT communication to a separate GPS unit. It recharges quite happily while navigating.
That would desirable - however, there are plenty of other mobile navigation solutions that download maps on-the-fly - Wayfinder for example
peter
SDKs, GPS Nav and Accuracy
I am new to the forum (my first post). I have been a mobile application developer for 6 years and about to dabble in the iPhone. From experience with Bluetooth, GPS and the like, I will share a little on the topic.
First of all, from the user experience side, the cursor snap to the road on the map thing is true. I know this from using TomTom on my Treo. When the map is not very accurate (happens frequently up here in Northern Alberta, Canada) the marker will "bounce" off the road and then snap back when the map position gets close to the map again.
That said, from the development experience side, I know how targetting can waiver as your device can not "see" a good enough number of satellites. The more satellites, the better, up to a point (there are only so many channels on the GPS chip). Sometimes the seek time for a fix can take seconds dependant on stuff like this next paragraph.
The way the hardware works is that it pukes out a constant stream of GPS "strings." In that stream is a variety of different strings as defined by a standard (NMEA). As a developer you sample a bit of the stream - like dipping a pot into a river - and then you "parse" or find and retrieve the section stripping off what you care about. Then you handle it and do whatever your application does - cache it in a database, send it out, display something on a map, whatever. The problem is sometimes the size that you grab means you get a bad sample where the part you want isn't all there. That adds to the accuracy issue because you have to wait (not very long - but a couple seconds is long when you are focused on it). I am hoping that the SDK handles this well.
On "download as you go," I have a 3G iPhone and Google Maps pisses me off when I am out of coverage because I can't get the map data I need. Right now I am up in north western Alberta where Rogers has no coverage and I am trying to navigate and guess what - outta luck. Actually I don't really NEED to navigate... There is only one road HA! I am anti-mobile web app for that reason. Right when you need it most, you don't have coverage and the app doesn't work. Okay... long winded...
I am new to the forum (my first post). I have been a mobile application developer for 6 years and about to dabble in the iPhone. From experience with Bluetooth, GPS and the like, I will share a little on the topic.
First of all, from the user experience side, the cursor snap to the road on the map thing is true. I know this from using TomTom on my Treo. When the map is not very accurate (happens frequently up here in Northern Alberta, Canada) the marker will "bounce" off the road and then snap back when the map position gets close to the map again.
That said, from the development experience side, I know how targetting can waiver as your device can not "see" a good enough number of satellites. The more satellites, the better, up to a point (there are only so many channels on the GPS chip). Sometimes the seek time for a fix can take seconds dependant on stuff like this next paragraph.
The way the hardware works is that it pukes out a constant stream of GPS "strings." In that stream is a variety of different strings as defined by a standard (NMEA). As a developer you sample a bit of the stream - like dipping a pot into a river - and then you "parse" or find and retrieve the section stripping off what you care about. Then you handle it and do whatever your application does - cache it in a database, send it out, display something on a map, whatever. The problem is sometimes the size that you grab means you get a bad sample where the part you want isn't all there. That adds to the accuracy issue because you have to wait (not very long - but a couple seconds is long when you are focused on it). I am hoping that the SDK handles this well.
On "download as you go," I have a 3G iPhone and Google Maps pisses me off when I am out of coverage because I can't get the map data I need. Right now I am up in north western Alberta where Rogers has no coverage and I am trying to navigate and guess what - outta luck. Actually I don't really NEED to navigate... There is only one road HA! I am anti-mobile web app for that reason. Right when you need it most, you don't have coverage and the app doesn't work. Okay... long winded...
If I can run Tomtom GPS on an 8 year old Ipaq 3630 with full UK street mapping (on a 256mb CF card) then the iPhone should be more than capable of doing the same. Put the maps in the iPhones memory, hook it up an external charger (add a caveat about using the GPS without the charger) and all will be fine.
Its not about if it can be done, only whether Apple has the will to do it.
Its not about if it can be done, only whether Apple has the will to do it.