TomTom targets London traffic congestion

Posted on 23 Jul 2012 at 10:44, by Gareth Halfacree

TomTom has announced plans to help drivers in and around London to avoid the inevitable congestion of the upcoming Olympics.

The satellite navigation specialist claims to have created a special 'map task force' specifically to process map changes relating to temporary road closures, changes in traffic flow and additional turn restrictions as they happen across the nation's capital. These changes will be made through TomTom's new crowdsourced Map Share service to compatible devices, free of charge.

According to map experts working with TomTom, the 28th of July is expected to be the most congested day with an estimated 9,000 road changes due to be introduced in a move which could potentially bring non-Olympic traffic to a near-standstill. The next most congested day will be the 1st of August, with over 3,000 planned changes. Additional road closures will take place between the 5th and 12th of August.

TomTom's task force is comprised of more than 20 people working on preparing and testing the latest daily map changes, with the promise that they will continue to do so throughout the duration of the Olympics. After 6PM every day, Map Share users will be able to download changes for the following day for free - as well as resetting any changes made from the previous day which no longer apply.

"We released our latest map update in May which included structural road changes in London and surrounding areas and points of interest relevant to the summer," explained Tom Brown, TomTom's UK country manager. "Now we are going one step further. We want to ensure that our customers drive with the most up to date map available, taking into account the dynamic road changes resulting from upcoming events in the capital. Our aim is to do all we can to give London drivers the best navigation experience possible."

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