Waze.

So Earl and I are currently en route home from our quick visit to his old stomping grounds. With it being the last day of the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States, traffic is rather heavy, especially along Interstate 81 between Scranton, Pa. and Binghamton, N.Y. Traffic was at a standstill at a number of locations, including just south of Exit 230.

Enter Waze.

Waze is an app that I have on my iPhone and one that I have grown accustomed to using whenever I’m in the car. Waze is what they call a crowd-sourcing app, the more people that use the app, the more reliable the data that is being presented. With Waze, the data being presented is traffic data; the GPS functionality of the device keeps track of your whereabouts and how fast you’re traveling and supplies that information to the cloud. The app shows a map with average speeds and the like. There is also an interface that lets you provide further information to the cloud, such as a speed trap or construction or debris in the road.

All in all it’s pretty nifty, in my opinion.

Because we were using Waze, we were able to see that traffic on Interstate 81 was backed up for several miles and that there were further slow downs farther up the route. So we exited at Exit 230 and made our way up US Route 11, which was free and clear and more scenic anyways. From Route 11 we were able to see the traffic along Interstate 81 at a standstill. I resisted the urge to feel smug.

If you travel a lot and wish to help this app be even better, I suggest giving Waze a try. There’s a little chat feature built-in so you can say hello to other Waze users around you, but I haven’t explored any of that yet because I find it to be a little weird, but that’s just the way I’m wired.

For more information on Waze, feel free to visit their site.