INRIX Traffic Blog

INRIX Traffic for Windows 8 is now live in the Windows Store!

This app release is an important first step of many to bring our community members onto all important platforms including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.  Now avoiding the traffic has never been easier.   By working closely with the Windows 8 Team, we were able to develop and publish this native app with the guidance of Microsoft’s design team.

INRIX Traffic now Available for Windows 8

With drivers wasting 34 gallons of gas last year idle in traffic and fuel expected to soar to $5 per gallon by summer, INRIX Traffic saves drivers time, gas and money helping them avoid traffic.

Available for download now on the Windows Store, key INRIX Traffic app benefits include:

• Precision Traffic. INRIX covers more roads with greater accuracy than any other app providing consumers with insight for more than 1 million miles of highways, interstates, city streets and heavily trafficked local roads – 2x the coverage of any other app.  Accurate within 2 mph of actual traffic speeds, INRIX‘s traffic intelligence is fueled by more sources than any other app including a crowd-sourced network of more than 70 million drivers – the largest in the world.
• Reliable Traffic Forecasts.  INRIX Traffic Forecasts help drivers plan ahead illustrating how traffic conditions are expected to change up to 8 hours ahead of their next trip.  INRIX uniquely analyzes the impacts of local events such as concerts, sporting events, weather and even school schedules to help drivers reliably avoid traffic.
• Anytime, Anywhere access on a Tablet, PC or Windows Phone.  Windows 8 Consumer Preview is available for download at http://preview.windows.comto existing Windows 8 compatible PCs, tablets and laptops extending the benefits of INRIX Traffic to all Windows-powered mobile devices.

INRIX Traffic on Windows 8

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Call me obsessive, but, I love the fact that my smartphone keeps me connected all the time.  However, driving with my kid in the back while staying connected is hard and unsafe!  This is why INRIX and Ford have partnered to build the safest in-car experience.  With Ford SYNC Destinations, a mobile app available on iOS, Android and BlackBerry, you can use simple voice commands to access the latest traffic conditions while keeping your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.

The latest version of Ford SYNC Destinations takes the driver experience to the next level by adding seamless in-vehicle integration to the existing trip-planning functionality.  Once in the vehicle and paired with your vehicle (this means BlueTooth paired on your Android/BlackBerry device or connected via USB on your iOS device), you can press the voice button and say ‘Mobile Apps’, then ‘SYNC Destinations’ to start the app on your vehicle.

Allow me to show case a few of the new capabilities built into this app:

• Fastest route to get to Work

Once the app is focused on your vehicle, the command ‘Traffic to Work’ (assuming Work is one of your saved points) gives you with a voice summary of the current fastest traffic-aware route to that location along with the travel time, distance and traffic conditions on the route. You can also choose any alternate routes that may be available at the time. For my daily commute to work/home, this is perfect since I can ask SYNC for the best route at every decision point on my drive!

• Search and navigate to that Tibetan restaurant

Every so often I get suggestions on good places to eat but I can never seem to remember the names of these restaurants. With Ford SYNC Destinations, I can search for restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses, check for the general vicinity on the map and ‘Send to SYNC’ with a simple click of a button. Ford SYNC Destinations prompts me that a new ‘web point’ is available the next time I am in my car and I can then get turn-by-turn guidance to the location.  No more sticky notes to record addresses or any other printed summaries, all thanks to SYNC!

• Report the traffic accident to fellow community members

Powered by INRIX’s largest driver community, traffic impacting incidents are available at your fingertips via SYNC with the voice command ‘Incidents around me’. Now, you can contribute and be part of this community as well with the click of a button on the app or even better, a simple ‘Report accident’ or ‘Report Police Situation’ as the case may be.

• Remote Start

By far the most exciting part of this new version is the ‘remote start’ of the app. On your favorite Android or BlackBerry device there is no reason to manually launch the app any longer, SYNC can do that for you! Once in the vehicle and BlueTooth paired, you can summon SYNC to start the Ford SYNC Destinations app and off you go. Talk about seamless access while driving!

Currently available exclusively on select 2012 and 2013 Ford models, this technology will soon be offered on all Ford and Lincoln vehicles. For detailed info, check out www.syncmyride.com.

Ford SYNC and INRIX are constantly re-inventing the safest driver services in the world and I am proud to be part of the team that is pushing the boundaries on achievements in this space.

Thank you Ford and INRIX!   Happy SYNC’ing.

Ram

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Ram Tulasi

Program Manager, Mobile Applications

INRIX, Inc.

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How exactly does INRIX deliver such accurate traffic?  Is it magic?  Dad, are we there yet?  These are three of the more popular questions I hear these days.    The answers:  INRIX “crowd-sources” the traffic; No; Let me check my mobile app.

OK, so what is “crowd-sourcing” and how does INRIX do it?  Well, in February, we surpassed the 70 million GPS-enabled vehicles and devices milestone in our crowd-sourced network, the INRIX Smart Driver Network (pictured below).  We gather information anonymously from cars, trucks, taxis and many other types of vehicles as well as from GPS-enabled smartphones like the iPhone, Android-based devices, Windows Mobile phones and Blackberries.

Each of the 70+ Million devices provides anonymous real-time data as input to our traffic content.   Everyone who uses our free INRIX Traffic mobile app, is automatically a member of this 70 Million club.  When you use the app, you anonymously send us “GPS probe” speed datapoints to our INRIX servers which intelligently combine the information with billions of real-time speed data points from other drivers in the INRIX Smart Driver Network.  Wait a second.  Billions, with a “B”?  That’s right the 70M devices send us billions  of data points per month.  Now that is crowd-sourcing at its finest and a great showcase of the power of the “network effect.”  Or as famous writer and scientist Arthur Clarke put it “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”.

Let me show you.  On the left are snapshots of the US and Western Europe, with each little red dot representing a single GPS speed data point during a typical one hour time window and on the right is the resulting traffic report as you know it showing the zoomed out traffic coverage we provide on the road networks.  Magic?  No.  Patented work from very smart software engineers?  You bet.Finally, INRIX updates the traffic conditions every 60 seconds in 30 countries to ensure you have the very latest conditions to avoid the traffic and save time, gas and money.

Thank you for being a valuable member of our community.   Please drive safely and recognize that by keeping the app open while you drive, you are a member in the world’s largest crowd-sourced traffic community.

Kevin

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Kevin Foreman, VP, Mobile Applications

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I’m often asked why INRIX Traffic is in the “navigation” category of the various mobile app stores.   My reply: “Our 100+ million drivers navigate to home and work typically 5 days per week”.

Think about it for a minute.  Every time you jump into your car you “navigate”.  Often you navigate to the places you know how to drive to, like home, work, airport, mall, and the stadium.  Sometimes you navigate to places you don’t know how to drive to, like the infamous Starbucks use case we often hear.   If you examine the various app sub categories within the “Navigation” app category, you will see three big groups or classes of apps: Turn-by-turn apps, Local Search apps and Traffic Apps.   The image highlights just a few of the over 7,000 navigation applications that people can download.

Of the 7,000+ iPhone apps, its interesting to note that over 800 of them are Traffic apps.   OK, so now the next question.  What’s the difference between these app categories?  Great question.

All of these apps help you “navigate”, but they have different use cases.  Just as instant messaging and email are different use cases of “internet text delivery”.   Turn-by turn apps typically include address search, voice instructions and detailed micro navigation maneuvers.  Local Search apps typically include user reviews and store hours.  (It’s interesting to note that Home Depot is the 8th most search mobile brand.  Not for finding how to navigate to Home Depot, but to ensure the store hours reflects its open or closed). Finally Traffic apps typically include real time traffic flow, incidents, forecasts, cameras, and the like.   Here is a simple chart that attempts to highlight the important attributes of the various apps within these 3 big sub categories.

OK, so what does all of these mean?  It means that INRIX Traffic, as are all the Traffic apps, in the right category being inside the larger “Navigation” mobile category.  By the way, thanks to your support,  INRIX Traffic is the #1 Traffic app in terms of both overall downloads and active monthly members (source: comScore) in numerous countries including the US, Canada, France and the like.

Happy navigating.

Kevin

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Kevin Foreman, VP, Mobile Applications

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Just a quick note on this Family Day holiday (Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan) to say thank you to all our Canadian INRIX Traffic members.  With your help, INRIX Traffic is now the nation’s #1 Traffic app and a Top 10 free “Navigation” application overall which includes Traffic, Local Search, and Turn-by-turn apps.

Here is a graph of INRIX Traffic’s rise in the Navigation app category in Canada:

INRIX Traffic’s rank with the “Navigation” apps category, including Traffic, Local Search and Turn-by-turn apps

Why the sudden success?

A few reasons.

On Jan 17^th, we released version 3.6, our most robust and highest quality app ever.  This release is being very well received across Canada and across the globe.

In just 30 days, Canadians have given INRIX Traffic v3.6 a favorable 4-Star review with over 40 reviews in total.  Thank you.

Just a few of the reviews of INRIX Traffic version 3.6 from Canadians

As you may know, we are all in this community together.  The more people who use the app and join our community, the better the underlying traffic data becomes, which in turn helps us avoid it to save time and money.

Thank you Canada.

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We want to thank you for your feedback, insight and enthusiasm over the past year.  Your input has pushed and inspired us to keep driving INRIX Traffic forward.   In appreciation of your support and to celebrate our best year yet we’re giving away $1000 to one lucky winner.

Reviews are important, they improve app visibility and downloads which means better traffic coverage for you and the rest of the INRIX Traffic community.   To be eligible for the prize simply review the app in your phone’s app store and follow the steps below to enter a drawing for a $1000.00 Visa giftcard.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Visit your respective app store (App Store, Windows Phone Marketplace, Android Market or BlackBerry App World) and review the latest version of INRIX Traffic.
2. Send an email to mobilefeedback@inrix.com with the app store of your choice and the name associated with your review.  Please include “Giveaway” in the subject line of the email.

We will be accepting entries through 9:00 am PST, Tuesday, January 31^st.  Limit one entry per person.

Again thank you for a fantastic 2011 and we look forward to serving you in 2012.

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The Mobile team is excited to announce INRIX Traffic version 3.6 of our iPhone/iPad app.

What’s New in this Version

• Landscape mode
• Cup holder mode (works upside down and with your car charger)
• Improved Traffic Alerts
• Better Incident Filtering

With landscape and cup holder mode, you can now position your mobile device in any orientation you want. This ensures valuable traffic data will display in an easy-to-read way.

We now look in front of you more efficiently with our new and improved traffic alerts.  This improves upon the way we send data to you about the incidents along your route so you can make more informed decisions based on the traffic conditions ahead of you.

Ever wish you can see only certain incident icons that you’re most interested in?  Well now you can, with better incident filtering within the settings menu.  You are now able to turn on or off icons of certain incident types.

Ka Wang Yee
INRIX Program Manager
mobilefeedback@inrix.com

Like what you see?  Then please rate us in the iTunes Appstore!

From within the app:
Go to the “Settings” tab, then tap the “Rate INRIX Traffic” right below the Facebook like button.

From iTunes:
Please go to: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inrix-traffic-get-there-faster/id324384027?mt=8 and click the “View in iTunes” button.

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Since we shipped our iOS 5 update (INRIX Traffic 3.5.1), many of you have alerted us that you’ve been experiencing increased battery drain.  While it would appear this would be the result of persistent use of the GPS in order to provide you with personalized traffic alerts based on your location, this is not the case.  Even though the Location Services icon (a small arrow in the status bar) appears in your status bar, we anticipated issues with battery drain and purposely developed this feature to use the iPhone’s cell-tower triangulation technology instead of the GPS.

The cause of the excessive battery drain problem is actually an iOS 5 issue some users are experiencing following their upgrade to the new operating system.  On November 2^nd, Apple issued the following statement acknowledging the problem, “A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices. We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.”

We have contacted Apple to get more information on when we can expect an iOS 5 software update and promise to keep you posted.  In the next week, we will be issuing our own update that takes further steps to help you in the interim.   Until then, you can find more information on how to address the battery drain issues your are experiencing with iOS 5  on Apple’s official support forums.

Thank you for your continued support and our sincerest wishes for safe, hassle-free travels this holiday season.

Melissa Korb

INRIX Community Manager

mobilefeedback@inrix.com

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INRIX is working hard to provide our members with the best of both worlds: the ability to notify you of upcoming traffic influencing incidents, like accidents and police activity, while limiting the drain of your phone’s battery. The app does this by using Apple’s Location Services functionality that allows us to use cell tower triangulation, and NOT the battery-heavy GPS chip of your phone.

Details
Let’s start with a shared understanding of the Location Services feature. Counter to common misperception, the Location Services icon in the status bar does NOT necessarily equate to the use of your GPS chip. The Location Services features uses a potential mix of Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi and cell tower triangulation to determine your approximate location. Location Services allows all of your apps to provide you much more relevant content and answers. In some cases Location Services calls on GPS, for example when INRIX Traffic is open and in the foreground, so we can determine the exact road you are on, but at other times Location Services uses only cell tower triangulation, such as when INRIX Traffic is in the background monitoring for incidents on your behalf.

Screen shot of Apps using Location Services

To see all the apps that use Location Services, go to your iOS Settings app, then click on Location Services. A purple arrow icon next to the app will indicate that the app is currently using Location Services (even in background mode), while a gray arrow icon indicates that the app has used Location Services within the past 24 hours.

INRIX Traffic uses Location Services in 3 primary ways.

I.  INRIX Traffic open:

When the app is open, like other navigation apps, INRIX Traffic uses the highest granularity location services, which typically relies on the iPhone’s built-in GPS services.

II.  INRIX Traffic in background, alerts on, while driving:

When the app is in the background with traffic alerts on, the app may occasionally invoke your GPS chip. In our in-house test runs, we notice a typical battery drain from 100% to 96% percent over a 30 minute drive.

III. INRIX Traffic in background, alerts on, while stationary:

While you are stationary with the app in the background with traffic alerts on, Location Services rarely, if ever, directly invokes your GPS chip. In our testing, we have found battery drain to go from 100% to 97% percent over an 8 hour period.

While having the arrow in the status bar could be considered annoying, instead you should consider it reassurance that long as you see it there, INRIX is monitoring the road network around you and preparing to warn you before you find yourself hitting any major accidents or delays that would otherwise ruin your normal commute.

Happy and safe driving!

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