Free Real-time Traffic At Your Disposal

by Lori Cunningham

I still remember my long commute home from work one Valentines Day.  My commute with traffic typically took one hour, utilizing the carpool lane with my carpooler.  It was Valentine’s night and both my carpooler and I were anxious to get home to go out to dinner with our spouses.  On the way home, we shared with each other about our plans, noting our eagerness to get home a little earlier that evening to avoid the long restaurant waiting times.

At first we zoomed right along the Los Angeles freeway.  But soon after hitting Pasadena, we were in a near complete gridlock.  The freeway wouldn’t move.  Now come on, we knew that everyone else wanted to rush home to get to their Valentines dinners too, but this was a little ridiculous.  Knowing Pasadena is a very busy city itself during rush hour, we opted to move forward on the packed freeway rather than get off.  After about 1/2 hr., we changed our plans and were finally able to get ourselves into a position to move off the freeway.  Finally we heard a news report that someone was threatening to jump off a bridge onto the freeway, obviously some sort of Valentines gone wrong scenario.

We pulled off in Arcadia, still a good 1/2 hr. away from our homes.  As smartphones were not around in that day and we were lacking the famous Thomas Guide, we headed for the residential streets to see if we could avoid the  backlash of angry drivers flooding from all exits of the freeway.  We found a residential street to drive down…to our dismay, so did everyone else.  We sat gridlocked on this residential street for what seemed like an agonizing hour or so.  After sometime on this road,  my friend turned to me and told me she had to go to the bathroom.  But where could we go?  Knock on someone’s door?  Another hour passed by.  It was at this point, we turned to each other and asked each other to be our valentine, as it became obvious, we weren’t getting home any sooner.  We would be spending our Valentine’s night together in a car, with hope that at some time we’d make it home to our husbands.  After a four hour adventure, we finally made it home, too emotionally exhausted to go out.

Had I had a smartphone and the INRIX app, this horrible evening would have never happened.  Times are much different today and with the right tools, we no longer have to suffer through horrific traffic situations like we used to.  INRIX is both a free and premium app designed to help you recognize which freeways and major surface streets to avoid when driving to your desired destination.

Features

With Both Apps (free or premium) You Can:

• Set your Home destination – and find out the best route to get home when you are away
• Set your Work destination – and find out the best route to take and the best time to leave for work
• Receive real-time reports from other drivers who have encountered construction, slowing, or accidents along their way
• Share your traffic time – easily share your traffic time with friends or co-workers to better manage their expectations

With the Premium Version You Can:

• Add as many destinations as you’d like (besides just Home and Work) to get up to the minute reports on the best routes to take
• Access to over 10,000 traffic cameras across INRIX’s nationwide network – see an actual picture of the traffic flow wherever a camera is stationed
• View gas prices of gas stations along your route for more than 100,000 nationwide gas stations (recorded via credit card transactions)

INRIX uses up-to-date data from more than 100 million trucks, cameras, road sensors, in-car navigation systems, and INRIX app users to make the best free traffic data available to everyone.  It has the largest network of volunteer traffic reporters in the nation.  In fact, INRIX data is so rich and relevant with today’s roads, that all the top car manufacturers  Ford, Toyota, BMW, and more use INRIX in their built-in navigation systems, and are happy to charge you a monthly fee for the use of this data.

INRIX offers two orientation methods in viewing your map:

1. North up – the map doesn’t move around as much and the top of the screen always faces North
2. Follow me – the map is more fluid, moving in the direction you’re headed.  It’s the most true portrayal of where you are and where you are going.

Let me tell you, when you are outside of your city, it is very easy to get turned around to figure out which way North is.  The Follow me orientation is truer to life and can be very handy in identifying where you are on a map.  I wish Google Directions would have this orientation when you walk, it would make it a lot easier.

Pros:

• Shows a very realistic map, making it easy to see by color the fast, slow, and spots to avoid.  Colors show both directions so the northbound side of the freeway may be red while the southbound is green.
• Predictive Traffic – predicts your drive based on historical data, local weather, and events.  Will show the routes automatically for those locations you have saved.
• Fellow drivers are sharing accident reports, make INRIX one of the fastest, most up-to-date ways to find out about accidents on the freeway
• International – INRIX works in 30 different countries.  If you’re traveling and you have data on your phone, you can tell the taxi driver the best route to take.
• Inseparable – I will never head down to Los Angeles (about 45 minutes away) again without this app.
• Doesn’t stop – INRIX will continue to keep your phone “awake” as you drive to your destination.  No need to worry about your phone timing out and turning off.
• Low-battery consumption – INRIX uses a low-battery consumption mode when running in the background.

Cons:

• No voice navigation/written directions – you only see your path on the screen, but INRIX doesn’t detail for you your exact path
• No speed detection – you see green, orange, and red lines but you don’t really know how fast the traffic is moving, there is no estimate of mph
• It’s a little pricey – the basic app is free but $24.99 is just a lot to pay for the premium app, though there is no monthly cost

INRIX is free on Android, iTunes, Windows Phone, and Blackberry.  A lifetime subscription to the premium version of INRIX Traffic is available for $24.99 from within the INRIX app.

A Mom’s Perspective

My family and I drove down to Los Angeles yesterday and INRIX was invaluable in helping us choose the right freeway and avoid accidents.  We ended up taking a freeway that was a little further away  than another freeway due to INRIX’s recommendation.  The closer freeway had a number of accidents reported and showed some red in areas that would be best to avoid.  We were able to travel to Los Angeles without any major traffic delays.  Finally, I can choose the right route to go places with confidence, knowing what traffic I will and will not encounter, versus going blind and hoping for the best.

One great feature to note, when you save your home and work address, and any other addresses if you have the premium version, it saves free to the cloud, so you can actually view your data on multiple devices.  I tested this out with my second phone and found that all the addresses I entered in my first phone showed up on my second phone after logging in.  Very helpful.

My one disappointment was that INRIX does not give you directions/voice navigation to help you get to your destination.  I still needed to use Google Maps to help me figure out the side streets I needed to get me to where I was going.  INRIX does a fantastic job at the big picture of traffic, but falls short at getting you to your destination.

With the premium version, I am armed with information.  I remember the one time I was coming back from a book opening night in Los Angeles, all dressed up, but with an empty gas tank.  I figured I’d get gas on the road.  As I neared empty I knew I had to get off and find a gas station.  I found one, but apparently, in a very bad area of town.  I said a prayer and acted confident, but I had gained the attention of a bum or two who talked to me as I pumped my gas.  With INRIX, I will know where the gas stations are, close to the freeway and will make a wiser choice next time.

I’ve read on the INRIX blog that soon they will be adding parking lot indicators to their data.  According to INRIX, experts cite that nearly 30 percent of traffic in major cities derives from drivers circling the  block looking for a place to park.  That’s been me several times.  Such information would be very helpful…I wonder if INRIX will include prices too, that would be great!

Could INRIX help you with your commute?

*  I was given the premium version of INRIX in exchange for my honest opinions.  All opinions represented here are my own.