Project Turns GPS Phones Into Traffic Reporters 119
narramissic writes "Starting on Monday, researchers from Nokia and UC Berkeley will kick off the Mobile Millennium project. The researchers hope that thousands of volunteers will download a free Java program that figures out by their movement and location when they are driving, and then transmits that information to the project's servers, which then crunch it into a Bay Area traffic map. 'The whole concept here is that if everyone shares just a little bit of what they're seeing ... then everyone can benefit by seeing the conditions ahead of them,' said Quinn Jacobson, a research leader with Nokia in Palo Alto."
Yeah but Helicopter crashes are more entertaining (Score:5, Funny)
Come on. Don't they know the reason we all listen to the half-hour-out-of-date traffic reports from the helicopter reporters is the same as why we watch Nascar and Indy car races? The chances of a crash and the anticipation of mayhem are the whole idea. Not to mention the cheesy chopper sound track they add.
This takes all that out of it. It guarantees a daily fender-bender on I-95 while drivers fiddle with the app. Whoop-de-doo.
Well, maybe if they keep the chopper sound effects.
And what would happen if... (Score:4, Funny)
You and your 50 coworkers get to the office and forget to turn off that app? Massive non-existent traffic jam?
Who would be dumb enough to download this? (Score:5, Funny)
*considers existence of FaceBook*
Nevermind.
Re:And what would happen if... (Score:3, Funny)