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Google Maps

| FREE | Google Inc.

Google Maps' Android app now routes drivers around traffic - CNN.com - CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News

The Android version of the Google Maps app now automatically routes users around traffic when providing directions. Editor's note: Amy Gahran writes about mobile tech for CNN.com. She is a San Francisco Bay Area writer and media consultant whose blog, Contentious.com, explores how people communicate in the online age. (CNN) -- Recently, Google announced that the Android version of its Google Maps app now automatically routes users around traffic when providing directions. According to the Google Blog, Google Maps navigation previously "would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account. It would also generate additional alternate directions, such as the shortest route or one that uses highways instead of side roads. "[Now], our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates. That means that navigation will automatically guide you along the best route given the current traffic conditions." It will be interesting to see, as this feature develops, how well it adjusts for recurring or special events that not only cause congestion but also block traffic. For instance, could Google Maps navigation account for street closures for fairs and marathons -- especially if they're held in the same location annually? What about drawbridges that tend to open at regular times? Or St. Patrick's Day parades? Or what about when streets get flooded, or when public safety agencies shut down access to an area in an emergency? So far, the iPhone Google Maps app lacks this traffic-avoiding feature, but it's probably coming soon. For now, iPhone users of Google Maps can still use the "alternate routes" feature, with the live traffic layer enabled, to find their own ways around traffic. Or you can try the HD Traffic feature on the TomTom iPhone app, which, according to Read More

SCVNGR

| FREE | SCVNGR

What's next for 'check-in' apps? - CNN.com - CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News

(CNN) -- Seth Priebatsch was at a burrito joint in Boston recently when a message popped up on his smartphone from an app called SCVNGR. If he opened the foil on the burrito ever so carefully and turned the wrapper into a piece of origami art -- and if he uploaded a picture of his creation to the app, the note said, then he would earn points toward a free burrito. Priebatsch thought: That might be fun. "I made a really weak origami crane, because I'm no origami artist myself," he said, but "it got me closer to unlocking a free burrito, which was cool." SCVNGR, which Priebatsch helped create, is one of the latest apps to build on top of the idea of a "check-in," that emerging term some tech-savvy people use to describe the act of using a GPS-enabled smartphone to share their whereabouts with friends. Increasingly, app developers are using existing location-based social networks -- such as Foursquare, Gowalla and, most recently, Facebook Places -- to create games, challenges, city guides and dating services. It seems the "check-in" was just the beginning. SCVNGR, for example, announced its integration with Facebook Places on Friday. That means people can use that free Android and iPhone app to complete challenges similar to Priebatsch's origami experiment and share that information easily with friends on Facebook. People on SCVNGR (pronounced "scavenger") also will be able to see the locations of their friends who use Facebook Places. Users also can go onto the app and create their own challenges if they've earned enough points, Priebatsch said. 'Check-in fatigue' Other location-based apps seek to make the act of checking in easier. Tim Sears said he developed the Future Checkin iPhone app, for example, to help people combat a phenomenon he calls "check-in fatigue." The app Read More

Oil Reporter

| FREE | Intridea, Inc.

Reporting on the Gulf oil spill from your cell phone - CNN.com - CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News

Some oil spill crowdsourcing projects have created smartphone apps. (CNN) -- As the Gulf oil spill spreads, news about it is coming from all kinds of places -- including regular people with cell phones. Here are a few ways that you can participate in "crowdsourced" reporting efforts about this unfolding disaster and response efforts. The Oil Spill Crisis Map, a project of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade (an environmental advocacy group) and Tulane University students, includes hundreds of field reports filed by people throughout the Gulf region. This map was built using the free open-source software Ushahidi, which was created in Kenya in 2008 specifically with cell phones in mind. You can submit a spill-related report from a cell phone or computer: Text message (SMS) or multimedia message (MMS): Send your message to 504-272-7OIL. Text messaging works on even the most basic cell phones. E-mail: bpspillmap@gmail.com. Many cell phones, even simple inexpensive models, can send/receive e-mail. Twitter: Include the hashtag#BPspillmap in your "tweet." There are Twitter apps for any smartphone, or you can post via Twitter's mobile web site from any phone with even rudimentary web-browsing capability. You also can configure your Twitter account so that you can tweet via text message. Web form: This page should display adequately enough to use in most mobile web browsers. A similar project, which also was built using Ushahidi, is Skytruth's Oil Spill Tracker. This project only accepts reports by e-mail (reports@skytruth.org) and web form, so it's not quite as cell phone-friendly as the Louisiana Bucket Brigade's project (no SMS, MMS, or Twitter reporting). Other oil spill crowdsourcing projects have created smartphone apps. For instance, Oil Spill Response is a free iPhone app by NVision Solutions. This app lets you file mobile reports (with pictures and location data) about oiled shorelines, oiled wildlife, and other Read More