Etak Debuts Traffic Touch: Personalized Road & Traffic Information
Service for the Palm VII Connected Organizer; Delivers Localized,
Up-to-the-Minute Traffic and Road Conditions
BW - 01:41 p.m Dec 02, 1998 Eastern
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2,
1998--Etak Inc., a leading publisher of digital map databases,
software technology and traveler information services, Wednesday
announced plans to deliver "Traffic Touch" -- a real-time traffic
information service, to users of the Palm VII(TM) connected
organizer, a new and wirelessly connected handheld computing
product from Palm Computing, a 3Com company.
Announced Wednesday at the Palm Computing Platform
Worldwide Developer Conference, the Palm VII organizer enables
users to quickly and easily obtain important information remotely
via a wireless connection to the Internet.
With mobile connectivity to Etak's real-time traffic service, Palm
VII organizer users will have access to up-to-the-minute text
displays of local traffic conditions including details such as the type
and location of incidents.
At a glance, commuters can find out exactly what's happening on
their particular route, allowing them to avoid traffic incident areas
and commute slow-downs.
"Real-time traffic information is one of the most requested services
among customers," said Craig Lynar, vice president of marketing
for Etak. "Traffic Touch not only puts traffic information right at a
traveler's fingertips, but it personalizes the information to the
individual's commute."
Offered as part of a suite of data subscription services from Palm
Computing, Traffic Touch is most useful for anyone who requires
instant traffic information either en-route or before they get on the
road.
Users can sign up for a basic service that provides a listing of
incident descriptions by city or an enhanced service that provides
personalized, highly detailed traffic reports customized for their
commute.
For example, basic traffic service users would see a text message
describing an incident as follows: I-80 N & 280 Accident.
Enhanced service subscribers would see: I-80 N & 280 - Accident,
14:30 p.m. Expected to clear by 16:00 p.m. 2 cars with injuries,
left lane. CHP on scene.
The Palm VII product package will include a CD-ROM providing
installation software and descriptions of the various data services
available. To use Traffic Touch, users simply choose Etak's
application from the Palm VII organizer CD-ROM.
"Etak's Traffic Touch application provides a great example of how
our new Palm VII organizer will become a valuable timesaving tool
in people's everyday lives," said Andrea Butter, acting vice
president of marketing for Palm Computing.
How The Technology Works
The Palm VII connected organizer is the handheld solution for
out-of-the-box wireless communications and Internet access. In
addition to providing fast and simple access to personal and
business information, the Palm VII organizer enables users to
quickly, easily and securely obtain information from Web sites via
wireless connection to the Internet and provides a means of instant
two-way personal communications. The Palm VII organizer enters
a national field trial in early 1999, and is expected to be shipped in
the U.S. later that year.
To use the Traffic Touch "Basic" service, travelers select the
"Basic" button on the Etak query form on the Palm VII device
screen. At this point, users can either view the traffic incidents for
the local city or select a "City" icon from the list of cities in a
pop-up menu.
Once a city has been selected, the Palm VII device sends a
"request" to the 3Com server, which receives real-time traffic data
from Etak. Real-time traffic incident descriptions are then returned
to the Palm VII service. Incidents can be scrolled through on the
screen and displayed.
Traffic Touch Enhanced, available for a small yearly one-time
charge, is a personalized and more comprehensive version of the
basic service. Users wishing to subscribe to this service may visit
the Traffic Touch Web site (www.traffictouch.com) where they
can establish and change personal routes.
Enhanced subscribers can create and save unlimited routes,
changing or updating them anytime they wish. Once these routes
are established on the Web site, they are displayed on the Palm VII
device as user selected options. Travelers can then choose from
this personalized list (work commute AM, work commute PM,
route to daycare, etc.) to view detailed traffic conditions on a
particular route.
Subscribers to the Enhanced service also can view incidents in
smaller subsections of a city where they may be traveling at the
time. For example, the basic service displays a selection of the
most severe incidents from the "San Francisco" area. Enhanced
subscribers, on the other hand, can choose from four regions
within San Francisco, and quickly see all reported incidents for
each of those areas in far greater detail.
Etak is the premier publisher of location-based technology and
digital maps for in-vehicle information systems, mobile traveler
information systems, real-time traffic services, utility damage
prevention and commercial business geographics markets. Etak
maps cover the United States and mainland Great Britain. Etak
technology and maps are used within various Web sites, in a wide
range of routing and location-based services and on PCs and
handheld devices for applications in the home, office or car.
With headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Etak is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, which is owned by
Sony Corporation with headquarters in Tokyo. For more
information on Etak's products and services contact Etak Inc.,
1605 Adams Drive, Menlo Park, Calif. 94025. Telephone:
800/765-0555. Email: info@etak.com. Internet:
etak.com.
Etak is a registered trademark and Traffic Touch is a trademark of
Etak Inc. 3Com and Palm Computing are registered trademarks,
and Palm VII is a trademark of 3Com Corporation or its
subsidiaries.
Copyright 1998, Business Wire
Thanx for the cudos. It is my objective to make make COMS holders
knowledgeable. It was an aspect of the opinions offered on SI that I
valued before signing up. Opinions based on just "I've got a feeling"
just won't do.
Moonray, you are such a good news digger all I have to do is just
read your postings here... you are making me a lazy dog...-gg-
Ah yes, well worth it.<g> Some say its a plot to drive SIers to 3COM
56k and Cable modems.<g>
ps: I loved your profile page, took me a whole minute to retrieve
the page, but it was worth it!
o~~~ O |
