Quote:
GPS navigation provider NAVIGON issued the latest version of its iPhone software MobileNavigator with a number of new features, among them Live Weather, Clever Parking and Destination Display. Not mentioned in their press release, NAVIGON also uses the application to gather floating car data (FCD) information from its worldwide user base.
According to NAVIGON, customers have the choice to opt out, in reality it is a bit more tricky since the customer can only say Yes on the first screen when the new application loads and then choose to opt out via a well hidden sub menu (More > Options > Optimise). In addition, it is unlikely that the average consumer really understands what is “Floating Car Data” and how it could potentially impact its phone bill.
This seems to imply that FCD is a 'transmission' that adds to the cost of the user's mobile phone bill when used in conjunction with the app. Not so with ordinary users, i would have thought. But yes so, in regard to the data then analyzed, algorothised and ultimately regenerated back to an active subscriber via his GSM data provider. My [uncertain] understanding is that FCD info is not normally a cost imposition in itself being that it is [mainly] obtained anonymously from the positions and relative movements of millions of GSM phones worldwide to determine the traffic flows/delays in specific areas on specific major roads. Other methods for input of FCD such as GPS receivers in fleet vehicle which wirelessly transmit data obviously do have a cost because that data requires transmission. Cellular/mobile phones do not as such transmit data afaik. The service provider always has the rough position and movement of each phone and this anonymous data is what is used by the traffic provider after it's received from the mobile service providers and duly processed to refine it.