Crowdsourcing traffic and roads

Waze has a free social mobile application that uses real-time input from local drivers to update traffic conditions for other users.  Currently, those with iPhone and Android phones can download the free application.  When the application is left open on their phones, real-time GPS information about the speed of the vehicle is relayed to other users in the area.  When a car hits traffic, the route they have been traveling turns red, indicating the logjam. Users can also submit information about traffic conditions in the area by submitting reports from their phone.  Waze is also relying on crowdsourcing to update their road maps.  The base data is TIGER which can be very out of date especially in areas that have a lot of development occurring.  Users can send reports from their vehicles when encountering bad road information.  The geographic data is updated and corrected via community input on their web site.

Read more:

• Waze Guided Tour
• Waze: Make Your Own Maps in RealTime – O’Reilly Radar
• Waze iPhone app provides real-time, crowdsourced traffic data – CNET