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SeaTraffic Questions
Traffic Questions
Cost Questions
Advertising Questions
SeaTraffic Tips
Absolutely! Thank-you for your support.
Here is an explanation of the high-resolution (320x320) color screen. The medium
resolution (160x160) screens have similar features.
Handhelds that do not have left and right navigation buttons may use buttons 1 & 2 to move
West and buttons 3 & 4 to move East. This feature can be enabled or
disabled in the SeaTraffic preferences menu.
SeaTraffic
will only run on Palm® Powered handhelds. Here is a list of handhelds and
handheld-phone combinations that we believe are compatible. If you have a
Palm® Powered wireless handheld or handheld-phone combination that is not
shown here, please try SeaTraffic and give us some feedback. We are
striving to make SeaTraffic compatible with every Palm® Powered
wireless handheld.
| Handheld |
Wireless Protocol |
| Garmin iQue |
GSM/GPRS with IR or serial cable |
| Handspring Treo 180 |
GSM/GPRS |
| Handspring Treo 270 |
GSM/GPRS |
| Handspring Treo 300 |
CDMA |
| Handspring Treo 600 Silver |
GSM/GPRS |
| Handspring Treo 600 Carbon |
CDMA |
| Handspring Treo 650 |
GSM/GPRS/CDMA |
| Kyocera 7135 |
CDMA |
| Samsung i300 |
CDMA (2G) |
| Samsung i330 |
CDMA (3G) |
| Samsung i500 |
CDMA (3G) |
| PalmOne Tungsten C |
WiFi (802.11) |
| PalmOne Tungsten W |
GSM/GPRS |
| PalmOne Tungsten T |
Bluetooth |
| PalmOne Tungsten T2 |
Bluetooth |
| PalmOne Tungsten T3 |
Bluetooth |
| Tapwave Zodiac |
Bluetooth |
SeaTraffic version 3.1 is our most current release.
The Washington State Department of Transportation
(WSDOT) gathers traffic data from sensors (loops) under selected roadways.
This makes it possible to calculate the average speed of traffic and this
information is sent to WSDOT computers. The WSDOT makes this data available
to the public via the internet in a compressed file. SeaTraffic
retrieves this file directly from the WSDOT servers, in the same manner that
a web browser retrieves files. SeaTraffic then interprets and formats
this data to create the maps on your handheld. Additional information about
the traffic data is available at the Washington State Department
of Transportation.
According to the Washington State DOT website,
the traffic data files "should be updated at 1-minute intervals.
However, circuit, timing, or other network problems may cause occasional extended
update intervals."
The Washington State DOT is divided into several
agencies. The Shoreline office maintains the data file used by SeaTraffic.
The Olympia office is responsible for Pierce County. Until recently, there
has not been much demand for including the Tacoma data in the compressed
file. We are encouraging the WSDOT to include Pierce county in the data file
and since we are located in South Sound, we will update SeaTraffic
to add a Tacoma map as soon as the data becomes available.
Yes. SeaTraffic is a free application.
However, your wireless service is not free and each wireless carrier has a
different plan for charging for wireless data. We have no relationship with
any of the wireless carriers and recommend that you consult your wireless
provider for information regarding your costs. Wireless carrier costs do not
apply to WiFi devices such as the PalmOne Tungsten-C.
Several reasons. First, this is a public service
for our fellow Puget Sound commuters. Second, we offer development services
for Palm® Powered handhelds and SeaTraffic provides a great
example of what we can offer. Finally, we offer dynamic marketing sponsorship
(Advertising) on SeaTraffic.
The total amount of data transmitted during a
normal roundtrip retrieval of traffic information is less than 2 kilobytes.
The size varies a little with traffic conditions due to the compression
algorithm. The compressed traffic data is actually around 200 bytes but the
http headers are much larger than the actual traffic data. This data transfer
occurs each time you do an "Update" on the SeaTraffic
application.
SeaTraffic displays advertising information
for a few seconds while it is loading the traffic data. The sponsor
information is also available in the SeaTraffic menu and in the
"tips" for each sponsor. At this time we are donating this space to
the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The maximum size of the sponsor data is 64
kilobytes. Currently it is about 5 kilobytes. The sponsor information is
downloaded to your device when you first start using SeaTraffic and
periodically thereafter. Sponsor downloads are done during normal updates and
are transparent to the user. During a sponsor download, the DOT traffic data
is proxied and bundled with the sponsor data. If there is no sponsor or the
sponsor has not changed, no new sponsor data will be sent to your device. Due
to carrier cost considerations, we will not update the sponsor data file more
than one time per month and we will encourage longer-term sponsor contracts.
It is stored in a hidden prc on your handheld
called 'SponsorNN.prc'. It can be identified using the menu options in the
launcher screen.
Yes, but this is not advisable. SeaTraffic
detects the missing sponsor and will request a new sponsor file on the
next update.
See our download page for instructions.
Beam away! There is a beam menu option to make it easy.
Simply go to the Palm Buttons Preference Panel
and assign SeaTraffic to the button of your choice.
Go to the SeaTraffic Options/Preferences
menu. There is an option to use the buttons to move East and West. This is
useful for devices such as the Handspring® Treo 270 that do not have a 5-way
navigation button.
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