Streaming Traffic WebCameras on your GPS?
I have to admit that I am a bit o a traffic junkie and am looking forward to the day when I can press a button and have the roads clear ahead of me as I drive to work. That will probably never happen, but short of that, I would settle for being overly informed about the status of the traffic, including accurate predictions of my arrival time, smart alternate routes and automatic re-routes when issues arise.
As connected GPS unit become more mainstream and their connections are made through higher and higher speed technologies, the potential to incorporate traffic cameras, becomes a reality. I am talking about the sometimes streaming camera shots of the traffic on major routes, not the red light cameras that try to catch people as they blow through red lights. The bandwidth needed is real, but the interface issues are easy to overcome. Imagine seeing red on your traffic route, then tap the Cam icon, and a window pops up with either a static image or a streaming image to give you a very good idea of the issue.
Some concerns: Driving off the road or into the back of another car as you look at the streaming traffic, the cost of the service would go up as downloaded content amount goes up, thus driving up the cost of the service beyond what people are interested in paying for, and clunky, unreliable serving of the webcam feeds - they aren't currently known for highly reliable shots of the roadway (glare, rain, mis-directed cameras pointing at the side of a building, etc.)
Despite all of that, I like the potential, and would like to see what a major could do with the idea.
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Posted by Scott Martin at September 9, 2009 7:25 AM
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