Any of us have been there. We rush in the morning to reach our office and soon we are stuck in a bad traffic jam. There are deadlines that we need to meet and the time is always ticking. So, it would be great if our smartphone could help us to deal with this situation. A good solution should save the gas that’s being burned slowly as we are running the car for hours in the jam. What we need is reliable real-time information that can help us reach alternative routes if necessary. Fortunately, there are more and more real-time monitoring apps in the market that can help make our lives so much easier. These apps can be free, but those with more capable features should deliver us so many new things that we never expect before.
Traffic apps are developed by talented programmers who are dedicated to provide us with so many great things. We could appreciate their effort by checking their apps in various popular app stores, especially those operated by Apple and Google. A traffic app should be able to accurately inform us what we could get when we choose specific streets. More reliable apps would tell us which route that’s the best. There’s nothing wrong about downloading these apps. Traffic apps are usually light and don’t consume too much hardware resources. One thing we need to consider is the ease of use.
Drivers shouldn’t be distracted inside the car and the interface should clearly show the information we need. It is also a good idea to put a holder on the dashboard so we don’t have to hold the phone while driving and put it on our lap when we need to concentrate on the road. Good traffic app should include reliable voice-based feature. The voice assistant should be able to clearly inform and instruct us when we are driving. The app may also receive our voice commands, which make it even easier and safer to access traffic information.
Traffic apps should be available for major software platforms, including Windows Phone, Android, iOS and BlackBerry. When we use them for the first time, the interface must be very obvious. There must be a way to zoom in and out, so we could see things clearly on the display. It is a bad idea to choose an app that makes it easier for us to push elements on the screen accidentally. There could be loading and refresh time that we need to handle. This obviously requires decent data connection, but our smartphone should be able to properly capture the mobile signal with its antenna module. Symbols should be easily recognizable and we know that they show directions and speed properly. Marks should be shown prominently on places where there are standstills. It is also a good idea if we could get a list of incidents, accidents and events on the road that could affect our journey. It would be immensely useful if the app could plot new routes quickly and dynamically without our involvement.
