I know we have seen the latest and greatest and how it will be the best… but I honestly do not think the crowd sourcing traffic information is the best option out there.

It just depends on too many variables to fall into place, and people needed the right phone/application.  I can’t say for others… but I am not going to run out and get an iPhone for something that may or may not work well, or even be accurate.

What would be a better option though?  Well, the best one I have seen is the 511 system that many states are adopting.

America’s Traveler information number, 511, allows you to instantly access road updates from the convenience of your phone. This handy number allows you to obtain updated road and weather conditions, traffic information, and construction reports for specific routes, regions and cities. Some state systems, such as Georgia’s 511, even provides airport and train information.

This information is gathered by police reports, traffic cameras and other traffic monitoring systems.  All of which are more reliable sources.

Maybe if both were combined together, then you would have a very powerful tool.  But still limited to only certain phone users that way.

Read a small AP story in today’s paper about a thief that got caught because the phone he stole had a GPS built into it and the owner used that to locate said thief and he was arrested.

With the number of phones with GPS built in increasing.. I wonder if this will shortly be one area that will see thefts drop because the criminal could be more easily located.

I tried to find the AP story online to link to it.. but no luck yet.

A CNN video news story about a truck that was 13’ in height hitting a tunnel that has a 12’ max height limit.  He passed by several signs that said the max height is 12’ (as a truck driver you better darn well know how high your load is) he even ignored a flashing warning light that was telling him his load was too high for the tunnel.

So, what happened?  Well, what you would expect to happen.. he wrecked the trailer and got himself stuck.  But WHY did he go down such an obviously well marked road that was telling him he shouldn’t?  “My GPS said I should go this way.”

Well, apparently.. they know a less than 1th of a mile savings when using “Shortest Distance”.

This summer I have seen a huge increase in out of state traffic going up my 20mph residential road to get to a main road when they could have gone less than .1 mile and gotten on the same road.  I know they were following GPS unit directions because 1) all out of state 2) doing the speed limit or slower 3) they all have GPS units stuck to their windows and turned on.

I have tried it with two GPS units I have, using shortest distance it will take you up the residential road, using shortest time you go the main intersection and go up that way.

They are gonna hate it when we finally get the road closed off…

.. And a lot of resources. An interesting article on CNN about what is behind Tele Atlas’s constantly updating base road data.

Tele Atlas gets this information by combining satellite imagery, local, state and federal maps and most importantly, putting the rubber to the road in its Mobile Mapping Vans.

Now what is interesting are their vans, like the Google street view vehicles, they are also taking high resolution images as they drive around.  But this is not for street view (thought it probably could be), it is for getting road information such as number lanes, speed limits, ramp layouts and road types.

Last Thursday was a good day for navigational related comics it seems.  Well, at least in my paper it was.

First up was an Argyle Sweater comic, playing on the old adage “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

And next up in the same day was a Beetle Bailey comic, showing that the best navigational aids, are sometimes the oldest.