Live satnav system set to make light weather of heaviest traffic

DUBLIN CITY Council has announced a new system of live traffic information on road closures, crashes and even weather conditions, to be broadcast direct to in-car satellite navigation (satnav) systems.

However, the system will not be available on most currently owned satnavs without modification and an upgrade of existing maps.

Announcing an agreement with Hungarian firm TrafficNav, the city council yesterday said the new system “will not only show the nature of a traffic problem when it occurs, but will also show its exact location, while also providing an alternative route to avoid the traffic issue and reach the desired destination”.

The council said other information “such as weather warnings will also be included to make motorists aware of possible dangerous road conditions”.

The council was not able to give a specific date for the system to be available to car drivers.

TrafficNav said its service would be available on new Map Master satnav systems as well as on products from one other “big name”, which it could not identify for contractual reasons. This was also dependent on owners of these systems having the latest system maps on their devices.

To access the system, most current holders of satnavs such as Garmin or Tom Tom will have to ensure their device is enabled to receive an FM broadcast of a Traffic Message Channel (TMC).

If the device is not TMC- enabled, a piece of additional hardware can be purchased to upgrade it.

After this, holders of current satnavs will have to install the latest maps of Dublin, which must include the Samuel Beckett bridge, which opened last week.

A spokesman for Dublin City Council said such systems were the norm across Europe and the council saw the provision of traffic information via TrafficNav as complementary to its dedicated radio programme Live Drive on 103.2FM and the SMS and e-mail traffic alert systems provided at www.dublinregionaltraffic.ie

Laszlo Heckenast, TrafficNav managing director, said the company’s experience in Slovenia and Hungary had shown that once the traffic information was available on one satellite service, other manufacturers would have to offer it, on the basis of competition.

For existing users, he said, “the likelihood is that you have to buy a piece of hardware and upgrade maps”. The new service may be available to owners of new satnav equipment as early as January, he added.