Blog

Traffic Apps Galore

The last thirty days have been exciting exciting times for my burgeoning traffic app empire. In July I ported Tennessee Traffic Advisor to Georgia and Alabama. Yesterday saw further expansion into the great states of Michigan and Utah.

I've been able to expand to more states quickly because each app uses the same generic codebase with certain features turned on or off depending on the data available for each state. Assuming the state's Department of Transportation makes their traffic data available in a readable format, I've got the process of launching a new app down to just a few hours to read in the data on my server, and about ten minutes to actually create the new iPhone app in Xcode. Being able to expand rapidly was my goal from the beginning — I'm thrilled to finally see it coming to fruition and hope to bring more states online soon.

In addition to adding Michigan and Utah, the others states have all been bumped to version 2.2 with some long overdue UI cleanups and a brand new feature — tweets! No, you can't tweet and drive. That's dangerous. But, I've added a new section that automatically pulls in the latest traffic info about your location as reported by users on Twitter. It's a great way to dive into the details of what's happening around you beyond what your local traffic agency reports.

If you're a state agency or even a local news channel looking to bring a feature-rich traffic app to your viewers, feel free to get in touch. I'd be more than happy to work out a white-labeling deal.