Radar 4.0 Release

Summary

Radar 4.0 adds a new map layer: roadworks, closures, accidents and the things blocking the road, for the Netherlands and France, with planned work shown up to a month ahead. Fuel prices can now be converted into your own money for a trip abroad, and the Radar screen in a Nomad van gets a set of improvements for use on the move.

Roadworks and road events

Radar now draws roadworks, closures, accidents and other obstructions on their own map layer, free and with no account needed. The colour tells you what to expect before you open anything: orange is work under way, red is a road closed or something in the carriageway, and grey is planned but not started.

Planned work is shown up to a month ahead, which is as much the point of the layer as today's closures are. It is the difference between finding out about a shut road while you can still change the plan and finding out on the day.

Tap a pin for what is happening, which road, the dates it runs, who published it and the road authority's own description. That description stays in the country's own language, because it comes straight from the people putting the signs out and translating a safety message is a good way to change what it means. The heading above it is in English, so you always know what kind of thing you are looking at.

Where the authority publishes the shape of the affected stretch, Radar draws it as a line so you can see how far it runs. Where it publishes only a position you get a pin, and the pin marks the start of the stretch rather than the middle.

Two countries at launch:

• The Netherlands, for the whole country, with every council, province and Rijkswaterstaat district merged into one national feed. Refreshed every six hours.
• France, live from the regional road authorities through Bison Futé, refreshed every 30 minutes.

One gap in France is worth knowing about. The French feed covers the state-run national roads, not the toll motorways. Those are run by private companies who publish nothing to the national service, so Radar has no data for the A7, the A9 and the rest of the péage network. An empty stretch of toll motorway means we cannot see it, not that the road is clear.

Fuel prices in your own money

Fuel prices are shown in the money of the country you are in, because that is the number on the sign at the roadside, and that stays the default. New in 4.0: if you would rather know roughly what a litre is costing you at home, open Settings, then Units, choose your currency and tick Convert prices.

Converted prices are marked with a ≈ wherever they appear, on the details, in the results list and on the map. They use the European Central Bank's daily rate, which is a reference rate rather than the one a card issuer uses, so it is a rough comparison rather than a promise about your bill. Your currency choice is remembered whether the conversion is on or off, so you can switch it on for a trip abroad and off again without setting it up each time.

Signed in, your currency now follows you across your devices along with your other settings.

Alongside this, a bug is fixed that could show a foreign station's prices with a pound sign. Prices abroad were always in euro cents, but on some stations the currency was lost when sources were merged, so the number was right and the symbol was wrong.

On the Radar screen in a Nomad van

Several improvements for a screen you glance at rather than hold.

The category buttons now search as you drive. Press one and the pins keep up with you rather than staying where you were when you pressed it, so "where is the next filling station" stays a live answer for the whole journey. Filling stations show the price of your fuel on the pin itself, using the fuel chosen in the cab, so you can compare what is ahead without opening anything.

The map shows the van, and follows it. Where a van takes its position from the driver's phone rather than having satellite positioning of its own, the map shows that person's profile photo in place of the van, so it is clear whose position you are looking at.

Premium vehicle features now apply on the van screen, so routing there knows your van's height, width, length and weight exactly as it does when you are signed in on a browser.

Still to come

Route planning still covers Great Britain only, on both plans. Places in Germany or Portugal do not mean directions there.

Offline map packs remain a planned Premium feature and will arrive with the native mobile app. They are not available yet on any platform.