Waze, the social turn-by-turn navigation app for your phone, has added a new feature to their iPhone app that allows users to generate voice alerts warning other users of road hazards ahead. This new feature allows Waze users to quickly record a voice annotation to their road hazard reports that other users will hear when they approach the area.
If you’ve never used Waze, it’s a compelling idea. After users install the app on their phone (available not only for iPhone but also Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and beta for BlackBerry), they need only have the app running while they drive around. The app automatically captures route and traffic flow information from your GPS location, and then determines how heavy the traffic is and sends that information in real time to other users. If you want to take a more active role, you can manually add road hazards and speed traps, although you may not want to do so while driving. For safety reasons, Waze automatically disables text entry when it detects that you are in motion.
The service is free, and relies on having more users to give a better representation of traffic, as well as adding areas to the maps. You can also log in to the Waze site from your computer if you want to add more information to maps and make corrections. As of December 2010 there were 2.2 million Waze users, and the number is steadily growing.
Check out the new release of the iOS app today. It’s a universal app, and it’s free.
Article Via The Next Web
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Eugene--
Good post--Waze is definitely on the right track with voice alerts.
Two points to add:
1) I've used Waze and outside of the distracted driving issue which is definitely a concern, I’ve found reporting incidents and obtaining the status of traffic conditions to be easy and effective (I've used the app--as "the passenger"--on the busy Boston--New York--Washington, DC corridor with a critical mass of helpful users).
2) Waze will find that voice alerts are much more driver-friendly than anything text-based. My company’s app/service, TrafficTalk (www.traffictalk.info or @traffictalk) has validated the concept of users taking the time to contribute updates on traffic conditions by voice. We recently launched the service in the top 20 most congested cities, and we’re already getting traction in several markets. There’s a cool recording of an actual conversation on the TrafficTalk home page--worth the 90 seconds to hear the clip.
TrafficTalk has taken the basic concept of CB Radio conversations that connect drivers sharing the same roads and added mobile technology and a few new twists, making mass-market access to LIVE, voice-based traffic information possible for the first time. If you want to check us out, you can download the free iPhone app or connect to the free service from ANY phone by obtaining the access numbers and codes for your closest TrafficTalk Community from the website.
We're finding that drivers are helping each other out of traffic through “live voice”--a valuable use of social networking/crowdsourcing and technology. Glad to see Waze adding voice alerts to the app—look forward to using the new feature.
Steve Stern
(Co-Founder, TrafficTalk)
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