Suppport Thread for the TND 500, TND 700 or future Rand McNally products.

A little too far...

As you know I have to walk a fine line between what is good for the driver and what is good for the company. I always look at anything from a drivers point of view and the company always looks at it from do we or don't we.

A lot of major features have been put into the TND and at no charge. This next version due out soon is no exception. Rand is about 250 builds from the production version. Some things that are asked for take time and as any bug or feature it is assigned a priority. Rand is coming close to a "good" version to lock (not make anymore changes) and submit to QA for the next production version.

I live about 800 miles from the company headquarters and as such I do not "sit in" on a lot of policy meetings. I have gotton some information back on the mapping database release.

Rand is going to have the first map update free. Now the catch is, if you have a T5E or T7E which just came on the market you already have the new mapping Database.

The mapping database will be accessible from the TND Dock, but as you are on the road it could take several hours to download. One of the testers download took 4 hours. Other options will be available, but again what the policy is, I do not have the whole picture.

I deal mainly in troubles with the TND either by you, the user or the testers. I get tidbits of other things in the pipeline, but my main concern is the overall running of the TND.

What some do not understand, even though you the user may have called in a issue with routing or a truck attribute, you still have people on the back end that have to go by a lot of methods to verify the information you have provided and update the databases. SO, yes you the user helped out greatly, but still people power was involved. This is where the poilicy for the first mapping database was discussed. How to "reward" the user and at the same time not give everything away for free.

The future policy for map updates has been laid out, and I know some of the details. Because it is Rand policy, I have to make sure that what I put here does not contradict Rand's policy.

A MAC "mini-Dock" has been build and is being tested. But, since the Mac community in the Beta Testing world is not great in numbers, if you own a MAC and would like to test the new update for the MAC, then E-Mail me. Remember, it is still in the testing phase.

I hope this helps out and settle's a few questions on everyone's mind about the mapping database release.

If you are at GATS, stop by the Rand Booth 14107. Stop by early to get a sneak preview of the next production version.

Thanks,
Mark

 

On the feature list.

Thanks,
Mark

 

The maps for the atlases are a different story. This is not laid in a computer DB format, so for example all the map locations on the Begin Route had to be entered by hand in the current database.

The map update, will include issues that have been also corrected with NavTeq. The first Map update is free.

You are correct in that their are two mapping databases and we use Navteq. Garmin and some other navigations units also use NavTeq, and other major navigation companies use the other.

Navteq has the regular mapping database's for cars,but with truck attributes also. Rand pays a higher price for the latter, but Rand also has their own internal truck attribute mapping database that they overlay into the mapping database for the TND. You can buy a car unit, but they can be sold cheaper due to the quanity of units sold and the lower cost of a car only mapping database.

I would also suggest that if you work as a company driver or leased to a company, stop by your safety department and make sure they do not have a list of "authorized" navigations units that they will only allow in the truck. Many companies are now only authorizing certain Truck navigation devices in their trucks.

If you safety department has any questions they can feel free to contact me in regards to information about the TND.

Thanks,
Mark

 

not good,, big fines is stopped.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

Let's verify a few things first..

on the map screen, bottom, to the right is a compass. Tap on it, do you have it in 3D, North up, Direction up?

3D mode is simply 3d mode;

North up will place the icon in the middle of the screen, but the top part of the TND will always stay North.

Direction up, will place the icon at the bottom and the direction you are going will always be at the top of the screen.

Main menu\preferences\device settings\about - what version?

When you update, it stores the update on your computer and the TND. If for some reason the update did not happen correctly, then it will ask you again to update the next time you Dock.

Updates are always being put out for POI's, Global POI's, and construction. This may be what you are seeing.

Let me know the conditions of your settings. You may have also gotten a bad download, but I will know more after I know your version and settings.

Thanks,
Mark