Columbus "traffic problems"

[mattbacon]

Hi, all...

Doing a couple of long motorway journeys today, Svetlana (our Columbus system... I DO wish she would speak with a soft Czech accent...), has told me that there are "traffic problems" ahead, and the route has changed into a dotted line. Twice, she's actually said "Attention! your route has been changed because of the current traffic problems". This despite the fact that we are smoothly progressing at 70+ mph, and there's no congestion visible or indicated on road signs. I assume that she's getting this information from somewhere (ie it's not just common "trouble spots" coded into the map disc). Is there something I need to do to make sure that the "traffic problems" are up to date (eg some setting to do with RDS stations or something)? It just seems that this extremely useful feature is not working properly at the moment, and I'd like to either get it working or turn it off (re-routing to avoid non-existent traffic congestion probably just slows us down...)

Any help much appreciated.

best regards,

Matt

[vRS Carl]

The Nav monitors the whole route and then takes the info from the TMC. If it is told there is a huge Jam 100 miles further on then it will alter the route (if you have it set to do so) and alert you.

The "traffic problems" announcement is also down to the info received from the TMC. If they haven't cleared the TMC for a particular area you can still be alerted that there are problems despite sitting comfortably at 70mph.

It is a good system but it's accuracy comes from the info it is supplied with. Unfortunately this isn't always very accurate.

[philpix]

Hi, all...

Doing a couple of long motorway journeys today, Svetlana (our Columbus system... I DO wish she would speak with a soft Czech accent...), has told me that there are "traffic problems" ahead, and the route has changed into a dotted line. Twice, she's actually said "Attention! your route has been changed because of the current traffic problems". This despite the fact that we are smoothly progressing at 70+ mph, and there's no congestion visible or indicated on road signs. I assume that she's getting this information from somewhere (ie it's not just common "trouble spots" coded into the map disc). Is there something I need to do to make sure that the "traffic problems" are up to date (eg some setting to do with RDS stations or something)? It just seems that this extremely useful feature is not working properly at the moment, and I'd like to either get it working or turn it off (re-routing to avoid non-existent traffic congestion probably just slows us down...)

Any help much appreciated.

best regards,

Matt

Highways Agency, but if they do not update or delete the info you still get the "caution, traffic problems"

Phil.

[Farnz]

It gets data from the RDS Traffic Message Channel - the unit has two receivers in it, so it can pick up TMC from one station while you listen to another station that doesn't have TMC.

If you're finding that the TMC provider your radio has locked onto is prone to being inaccurate, it might be worth seeing if you can tell the nav to switch to the other provider; there are two in the UK, ITIS piggybacking on Classic FM's signal, and RAC Trafficmaster piggybacking on Heart. There's an option buried in the Setup menu to let you either force a preferred TMC station, or let it automatically choose one.

Note that the two providers have different data sources - ITIS rely on fleet tracking infrastructure (lorries, delivery vans, buses etc) and the information they get from the Highways Agency et al (which they also sell to the BBC for the BBC's traffic news), while RAC Trafficmaster have their blue roadside cameras tracking all vehicles on known stretches of road, and responding to cars going slower than expected for that road.

[St]

It gets data from the RDS Traffic Message Channel - the unit has two receivers in it, so it can pick up TMC from one station while you listen to another station that doesn't have TMC.

If you're finding that the TMC provider your radio has locked onto is prone to being inaccurate, it might be worth seeing if you can tell the nav to switch to the other provider; there are two in the UK, ITIS piggybacking on Classic FM's signal, and RAC Trafficmaster piggybacking on Heart. There's an option buried in the Setup menu to let you either force a preferred TMC station, or let it automatically choose one.

Note that the two providers have different data sources - ITIS rely on fleet tracking infrastructure (lorries, delivery vans, buses etc) and the information they get from the Highways Agency et al (which they also sell to the BBC for the BBC's traffic news), while RAC Trafficmaster have their blue roadside cameras tracking all vehicles on known stretches of road, and responding to cars going slower than expected for that road.

Very interesting and informative, thank you for posting that.

I might try Heart as mine picks up Classic and the information is sometimes a bit strange, though that might be the Highways Agency influence.

The problem I find with TMC is that if there is a problem a long way away, e.g. a motorway closure, it can sometimes send you miles and miles out of your way, yet if you stick resolutely to the way you know, the obstacle is clear by the time you get there, and if you'd gone the way recommended you'd be 40/50 miles out of position. Yet if the problem is close to hand the system just does not seem to react fast enough.

Guess what I'm saying is that, as clever as modern technology is, it doesn't have a crystal ball, it's no substitute for having some common sense, a decent knowledge of the ground and geography, and access to a normal map printed on paper.

:Shock horror probe: Poster mentions printed map on satnav thread. :Dons flameproof racing suit:

Warning! Off topic diversion.(sort of)

Re my little dig at the HA. We all see these strange messages on the matrix displays which are either complete nonsense, or seem to have no relevance whatsoever for people travelling on the road you are on. By that I mean if I was here and heading in that direction wouldn't be on this road heading in this direction. Yet I wonder just what effect these strange messages have on TMC.

Highways Agency always blame the numptyism of their PFI contractor SERCO who run the traffic control centre, but never seem to grasp the nettle and do anything about it.

/moan over.

[the chemist]

sometimes I think the system picks up road works where there is a 50 limit for 5 miles for example as 5 miles of slow moving traffic. I know I used to get that on a regular run of mine when the roadworks were on. Now they have gone so has the traffic issue.

Not sure why they cannot sort that problem out to take into account the road work speed restriction.

[dan123]

It gets data from the RDS Traffic Message Channel - the unit has two receivers in it, so it can pick up TMC from one station while you listen to another station that doesn't have TMC.

If you're finding that the TMC provider your radio has locked onto is prone to being inaccurate, it might be worth seeing if you can tell the nav to switch to the other provider; there are two in the UK, ITIS piggybacking on Classic FM's signal, and RAC Trafficmaster piggybacking on Heart. There's an option buried in the Setup menu to let you either force a preferred TMC station, or let it automatically choose one.

Note that the two providers have different data sources - ITIS rely on fleet tracking infrastructure (lorries, delivery vans, buses etc) and the information they get from the Highways Agency et al (which they also sell to the BBC for the BBC's traffic news), while RAC Trafficmaster have their blue roadside cameras tracking all vehicles on known stretches of road, and responding to cars going slower than expected for that road.

Now that I did not know!

Thanks for posting.

Dan

[Farnz]

The problem I find with TMC is that if there is a problem a long way away, e.g. a motorway closure, it can sometimes send you miles and miles out of your way, yet if you stick resolutely to the way you know, the obstacle is clear by the time you get there, and if you'd gone the way recommended you'd be 40/50 miles out of position. Yet if the problem is close to hand the system just does not seem to react fast enough.

The big underlying problem with TMC is that it's taking a small share of the already slow RDS data channel - typically sending 20 TMC messages per minute. When I got home last night, there were 60 messages in the system; that's 3 minutes just to tell all receivers about current problems, plus extra time to pick up new problems.

Even if the TMC provider is quick to add the problem to the message carousel, there's a good chance that you won't receive the message in time if the problem is nearby - if you were under 3 minutes drive from the last sensible diversion point before a newly alerted incident last night, your radio probably wouldn't pick up the alert before you got to the incident. And that's assuming that the TMC provider got the message quickly - if they're only informed by the time the incident support unit are thinking about road closures, you've got even longer to wait before TMC helps you.

This isn't helped by only having 8 choices of value for duration - so for incidents that could take a while to clear, depending on how quickly the recovery crew can work when they get there, the message includes a long duration, in the knowledge that they can send a superseding message later. As a result, a big incident might be marked as "estimated 6 hour clear time", because the officer reporting it in for traffic management isn't sure whether it'll be "load the involved vehicles onto the truck and drive off in 5 minutes", or "spend an hour working out how to lift the involved vehicles onto the truck, then 10 minutes loading, then drive off", and the duration field isn't flexible enough to say "if it's bad, it'll be 6 hours - if you're lucky, it'll be 10 minutes"; if you're only an hour's drive from it, Columbus will divert you, because it believes the incident will still be there when you get there. If the information was clearer, Columbus could decide to risk it, and see if it's still a problem when you're 30 minutes drive away.

As you said, no substitute for an intelligent driver - but if you understand the limitations, it's a useful aid.