Yesterday, my iPhone 3G showed its value. I was heading down I270 south towards Virginia when I noticed a backup about a 1 mile ahead of me. After living in the Washington area for many years I have a pretty good idea of where backups occur. I automatically made the decision to get off at an exit before I got caught in it. The problem is that you don't necessarily know why the backup was occurring. Half the time it is just congestion and the other half are accidents or work zones. When the reason for the backup is congestion, you are usually just better off working your way through it. The key is knowing which type of backup your dealing with. There are several methods I use:
- Take your chance by getting off the nearest exit or working your way through the backup
- Listen to WTOP traffic, the problem is they only provide update every 8 minutes
- Listen to Sirius traffic, better than WTOP at every 4 minutes but still a long time when you are approaching a backup at 60MPH
- Use your traffic enabled GPS device . My aging BMW GPS system does not display traffic data in the US. In Europe it would work just fine with TMC, but that system never took off in the US. A newer version of TMC is now being implemented in the US via satellite and FM radio but that is not currently an option for me. I use my Internet enabled mobile device to display live traffic using Windows Live Search or Google.
The quickest method is number 4, unless you hit the appropriate radio traffic report in time to make your re-routing decision. My problem to date with number 4 has been to easily display the appropriate map using one hand. Getting your location quickly simplifies the process of displaying the appropriate section of map avoiding any fumbling with the device. With my Tilt, the GPS acquisition time is hit or miss. Sometimes I can get it in 30 seconds, other times the only way to get a fix is to use Quick GPS but that takes additional steps and time. Using the Tilt in this situation is just not reliable. In comes the iPhone 3G, with the location service and Google Maps traffic turned on, displaying traffic is three presses (turn on, Google maps, and find location) and an unlock slide away. The location acquisition happens within 20 seconds, it uses the 3 built in (cell, WIFI, and GPS) methods in sequence to get the most accurate fix and displays the appropriate portion of the map. I was able to determine by viewing the map that the length of the backup did not indicate congestion and was probably due to an accident. I rerouted my trip via back roads which extended my trip by about 10 minutes. Who knows how long it would have taken me to get through the backup. When I listened Sirius radio traffic, they confirmed that it was accident and the current backup was about 10 miles.
Comments