Rand McNally today announced a major, over-the-air upgrade to its Rand Navigation software. The upgrade, which involves a full map update and extensive improvements to the routing and interface, will be available for all the latest models of Rand McNally TND and OverDryve tablet devices.
The update comes 18 months after the company launched its new, proprietary Rand Navigation platform. Although there have been interim updates, this upgrade includes enhancements that go well beyond updated maps and points of interest, according to a statement from the company. The upgrade will be rolling out to the devices throughout November.
Among the upgrades are improvements to the devices’ proprietary operating system, a full map update with additional content, and interface and feature enhancements.
The OS update boosts the number of satellites used for improved GPS positioning on the Rand Navigation map base. As a result, location and routing are even more accurate, said a statement from Rand McNally.
The full-map update includes revisions to highways and roads, travel centers and truck services, truck-specific and general points of interest, as well as rest areas, scales, weigh stations, and more. Rand McNally’s year-round proprietary research layers on 33 percent more truck-specific road data than other GPS providers.
After gathering additional driver feedback, the Rand McNally team also upgraded the user experience with larger and brighter text, more visible points of interest, and double back arrows. The upgraded software includes more “estimated time of arrival” options, as well as local time and county name for real-time, down the road weather alerts. Among other items, the technical team optimized connected services such as real-time weather and fuel prices, reducing data usage.
