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TomTom GO 720 with Map Share |
TomTom has a new navigation gadget out which has brought a new community-based feature to the market called Map Share. The TomTom GO 720 has a lot of the cool features commonly found in portable navigation units plus a little more.
Finding accurate data on routes in obscure areas is getting better all the time, but there are always those new areas of town or those “roads less traveled” where the navigation software voice seems proud to tell you that they have “incomplete data”. The Map Share technology available on the GO 720 (and the new GO 520) allows you to map these new or desolate areas for yourself to use the next time you travel them. The GPS device also lets you record your own voice for directions if you wish, so on new routes or even on existing ones you can listen to a family member tell you where to go, instead of the standard voice.
Once you have these unique areas mapped, you can use the included TomTom HOME desktop software to share these places with the rest of the community that uses TomTom navigational devices. Using the desktop software connected to your GO 720, you can share these routes online with others and find routes that others have uploaded, at your own discretion of course. TomTom will be offering some “verified” routes to help with your skepticism, and will most likely use some of this info to update their data in future map releases.
The TomTom Go 720 has the standard turn-by-turn voice guided directions we’ve come to expect from all GPS devices along with some nice, not-so-standard features. It comes pre-loaded with maps of the US and Canada, has an FM transmitter to broadcast the directions (or music) through your cars FM radio, text-to-speech, Bluetooth, and a “Help Me” menu which will locate the nearest police station, hospital or auto mechanic. It also features not just millions of points of interest, but over 100 tiny company-branded unique icons for the most popular places.
We’re expecting to see the TomTom 720 with the new Map Share technology hit shelves by the end of July retailing for $499.
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Wow! I think Map Share is a great idea from TomTom and will revolutionize the way GPS devices are made from here on out. I see this device being a huge hit when it’s released because there is nothing else like it. I think the “Help Me” feature also sounds like a great idea which help people find hospitals, police station, etc. quickly should an emergency arise. The 720 is loaded with all the latest and greatest features, and still reasonably priced—not to shabby!
ummm… gee WilsonSuit, do you work for TomTom?
what if someone hacks it and posts directions that drive you off a cliff?
Map Share is quite limited in what you can change. You can’t add new roads or extend or change existing roads other than to add a “block” to edit out a portion. This should prevent any “over the cliff” directing but limit what you cann add in a newly developed area. There is the possibility of sending TomTom other updated info but They would have to do any map changes which is likely to be a fairly slow process. Sill nothing else even comes close to offering this sort of updating functionality so I think it is fantastic. Perhaps if it works other functionality can be added later. Perhaps trusted “power users” could be given special software to do other types of edits, anything is possible.