This won't work like Seth wants. The problem is the following:<p>- Few users have the iPhone hooked up to a car charger when in their cars.<p>- The GPS receiver sucks up power like mad when it's on. A constant connection will drain the battery very quickly.<p>- The iPhone is also incapable of passively uploading GPS data to a remote source, nor is it capable of running an app in the background. This is to say, your users must keep their iPhone unlocked (disabling auto-sleep) and your app open <i>at all times</i>. This is similarly a large drain on your battery.<p>The amount of work (buying a car charger, making sure to hook it up, unlock the phone, and open your app, and disable auto-lock) every time the user needs to use the service is just absurd. This has no chance of working as it is.<p>It's a cool idea, and if we all had devices in our pockets that can, without excessive hackery, sustain a continuous GPS feed to a 3rd-party source, this would actually work. Sadly, the iPhone is not it.
This is called TrafficMaster in the UK ( <a href="http://www.trafficmaster.co.uk/home.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.trafficmaster.co.uk/home.php</a> ). It uses detectors placed at regular intervals along all major and a lot of minor roads and you can receive basic traffic data over the cellphone network without a subscription.Been operational for ten years or so. It's not quite as described here as it does not require the active participation of it's users.
Hmmm.... I've tried looking but I can't find anything to back up the existence of 'RadaR'. I don't remember hearing about anything in this regard<p>I'm tempted to call BS, especially given the content of <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20011130151150/http://radar.com/" rel="nofollow">http://web.archive.org/web/20011130151150/http://radar.com/</a><p>Anyone else ever see or hear of this invention?
I think the "bonus" idea that Seth gives, the automatic sending of recorded reminders, is a feature that is available from www.traqmonkey.com. It is called "callback reminder", and you have to know to make the reminder go to a "distribution group" instead of just yourself.<p>On his main idea, I have one comment: why don't people who live where the primary impediment to their getting around just move ? In theory, the internet and modern communications should allow a much more dispersed population and economy, without the costs that come from overcrowding. In practice, everyone in that traffic jam has an economic reason to be there. I think that any services or business ideas that allow a more "free range" type of economy instead of the "factory farm" overcrowded cities will have a strong demand.
I think you could get something almost as good by convincing Google to take traffic data into account when finding the least-cost route between two points. I know that in Chicago the freeways have speed sensors spaced pretty closely together, so it is possible to look at that data and immediately know how long you are going to spend on the freeway. If you use that data to determine your route, then you should avoid traffic jams.<p>Obviously conditions can change pretty quickly, but most of the time they don't. So this could be a good 90% solution without requiring people to broadcast their location to you.
Nokia and Berkeley are piloting software which monitors traffic via mobile devices that have GPS - they say they are working on an iphone version. <a href="http://www.traffic.berkeley.edu/" rel="nofollow">http://www.traffic.berkeley.edu/</a><p>Some stand-alone GPS, if given traffic data, will take that into account when trip planning. <a href="http://www.gpsreview.net/traffic/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gpsreview.net/traffic/</a><p>All he's saying to do is combine the two into a single application. Not that interesting IMO.
what about privacy? will the location data that is uploaded by the iPhone be stored on the server side? Can guarantees on privacy be provided? Clearly the govt can get access to this info with warrants (or may be even without depending on where you are)...