New GPS Navigator Relies On 'Wisdom of the Crowds'

Hugh Pickens writes "The New York Times is running an article on Dash Express, a new navigation system for automobiles that not only receives GPS location data, but broadcasts information about its travels. Information is passed back to Dash over a cellular data network, where it is shared with other users to let them know if there are slowdowns or traffic jams on the road ahead. The real benefit of the system isn't apparent until enough units are collecting data in a given area - so Dash distributed over 2,000 prototype units to test drivers in 25 large cities."

not wisdom of crowds

Come on, this isn't the "Wisdom of Crowds". This is just collecting and organising a lot of information from asked from different people. We should keep the "Wisdom of Crowds" tag for times when knowledge or decisions spontaneously emerge, otherwise it'll become another meaningless buzzword.

Re:not wisdom of crowds

That's right.

This is more like... GPS Torrent?

Done: TomTom's MapShare & Tele Atlas's MapInsi

Agreed. And this isn't something new. The two major road data providers, TomTom and Tele Atlas, already have their "crowdsourcing" tools to improve the maps of their GPS Nav systems (and any other other of their customers, such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!). See MapShare [tomtom.com] and MapInsight [directionsmag.com], their official tools. Of course, OpenStreetMap [wikipedia.org] is could be considered another pertinent project bridging GPS and crowdsourcing. Oh, and by the way, you have real-time traffic in Google Earth [blogspot.com] too you know. And we discussed p2p networks for road traffic [slashdot.org] some time ago.

And now, totally off-topic, I would have liked /. to discuss the last Microsoft Virtual Earth release this week [slashdot.org]. It's really major. My story submission about it was rejected. There's even a Google SketchUp competitor in there and many features we won't see anytime soon on Google Maps / Google Earth (and other few worthy competitors).

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As long as nobody is following my Dad around...

Grossly inacurate headline!

"The Wisdom of the Crowds" does not apply here. TWOTC applies to aggregated decisions made my groups of people. This is more akin to a routing algorithm than individual assessment of a condition.

If you assume that most people don't know anything about a ce

Re:Grossly inacurate headline!

Maybe a wisdom-of-crowds GPS system would help you follow all the traffic if you get lost, under the assumption that everybody else probably knows where they're going.

I had this....

I had this idea ages ago. Privacy and Big Brother issues notwithstanding, it makes perfect sense. If the average speed of cars on the M4 Westbound at Chippenham is my tracker with in mind. (Although I don't know anywhere I can get access to a free route ca

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Arse. Try again.

I had this idea ages ago. Privacy and Big Brother issues notwithstanding, it makes perfect sense. If the average speed of cars on the M4 Westbound at Chippenham is < 10 mph, then possibly look at re-routing drivers a different way. It

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I know that you can get directions when using maps.google.co.uk, but can I programatically use it?
Also, can someone with IE tell me if my page works OK - I can't test it.

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This is kind of what Trafficmaster does, but by tracking cars. It records the middle four letters of each car number plate - not enough to positively identify the car but enough to have a reasonable expectation that it's the same car you saw a mile up the

So how long

before users get a button to press when they see a speed trap? If enough users report a speed trap at a given intersection or off-ramp, the system could issue an alert to other drivers approaching the area. People would love that.

Re:So how long

> How long... before users get a button to press when they see a speed trap?
> If enough users report a speed trap at a given intersection or off-ramp,
> the system could issue an alert to other drivers approaching the area.
> People would love that.

It'll happen in about minus 10 years, if my experiences in Australia in the late 1990s are anything to go by.

Re:So how long

They won't NEED speed traps anymore. Now that you have volunteered to give your position and speed information via GPS to the authorities by broadcasting it all the time, "your ticket is in the mail" from *ANYWHERE*.

No thanks. There is enough monitoring of citizens' activities and controlling what we are "allowed" to do, already.

Re:So how long

It's not so bad though. With perfect enforcement, people might actually start complaining about the right things. Like roads whose speed limit is set at "revenue generating" levels or roads which really aren't safe enough for the speeds people tend to drive them and therefore need a redesign.

Wisdom of crowds?

Here's a counterpoint [amazon.com]. While this is not really a "wisdom of crowds" application (being rather just a mass data aggregation scheme), it's worth noting that crowds are prone to fads and other mistaken behavior. Mass decision-making seems to work best with unconscious decisions, choices that everyone makes but does not think about a whole lot.

I could see this system working, though, at least reasonably well. If I see a lot of GPS units going to a particular area, and then slowing down and stopping, I might want to avoid that area. Unless, of course, I'm on the way to a football game or something like that. :-)

Compare timestamps and update

I had an idea similar to this last year, but I wasn't planning on transmitting data through the mobile phone networks as that could get costly. I thought that each unit could automatically connect to any open wifi network and download the traffic information for the whole country, much like this one sounds like it does. But, when units pass each other on the road, then they should compare time stamps and then update each other to the newest copy. At that point they could also update each other on slow downs and where they happen, as well as slow downs taken from other units as they passed. This would avoid the expense of a mobile network and the risk of a centralised collection of data.

I currently have one of the mentioned Garmin units here in the UK that uses FM bands to pick up traffic information. The biggest problem is only the major routes are updated, and even then are sometimes missing traffic jam information.

This unit does sound very good though, and I look forward to getting my hands on one.

Slow & Inefficient: Use mobilephone data

Why dont these companies use mobile phone data to update this information? Eg mobile phone companies can track how many phones are at a certain location. The more mobile phones are at a certain location (even speed could be measured) to more likely there a

Sounds really secure...not

FTA:

"data collected anonymously from Dash units is added to the group database"

and

"Dash's outgoing information is sent over a cellular data network, which is also used to receive things like minor software updates and traffic alerts. Large amounts of data, like major map revisions, come through the Dash's built-in Wi-Fi receiver. The unit will automatically spot open Wi-Fi networks and connect."

Finally,

"The prospect of a G.P.S. unit continuously reporting a car's speed and location gives some drivers the willies, but Ms. Bender said that the information was sent anonymously -- there was no way to know which car it came from. If the unit is stolen, the company can send a signal to erase its memory, including driving data and the address book, so that it can't be extracted."

Hopefully your unit will not be stolen while you've parked your car overnight, or even for a hour, so you'll have time to get them to send the kill code before the unit is compromised.

If this thing connects to Wifi then it must have a unique network ID, ditto for GSM. Sounds like a gift for the DHS guys.
Now, where is my tinfoil hat?

Let me guess....

Everybody is now going to freak out about the "privacy issues".
A) The device supposedly transmits the data anonymously
B) Nobody is forcing you to get it
C) You probably aren't interesting enough to bother watching

Now, privacy concerns are valid and good. I don't want a "big brother" state as much as the next guy. However, how much are we going to let "privacy" get in the way of innovation? Think about how valuable this could be if everybody did have it? Think about the time saved, the gas saved, and possibly even the lives saved. I'd love to know if there is deadlock traffic ahead that I can't see, and I'm still cruising along at 60+ mph.

Now, as far as the privacy goes. I wouldn't even mind if this could be used by law enforcement to catch criminals. What we need is a way to limit when systems like this good be actived. I don't care if the police bust down doors, listen to phone calls, read e-mails, etc... as long as they have a very good reason to suspect the person of wrong doing, and they went through a judge and have the legal authority to use these systems. If there is some good evidence that a person minght be a criminal, I'd love for the police to have every bit of possible information on that person. It makes there job easier and safer, and hopefuly makes the world safer.

We don't need to worry about the technology. We need to worry about the laws that congress passes, and the things that our govenment does that bypass a good solid legal proccess. There are plenty of gadgets in our lives that can be used against us to limit our privacy. That part is done and over. What we need to be conerned about is the actual legal basis for when the government can access those devices. So, before you post about how big brother is going to watch your car, think abougt writing your congressmen instead. Let them know what you think.

Tech already exists..

Speaking as a truck driver I can tell you that CB-Radios already do this.

"Hey North-bound, you better get your ass off that road and find a detour, there's a 3 mile parking lot ahead of you."

"10-4 South-bound, thank-you. There's a Bear with a radar-gun at mile-marker 127."

Just add more profanity and you get the general idea.

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So, the question is: will there be an anonymizer GPS network?

So that they may be able to know the number of cars in each location, but not the owner of each car?

Though I'd love to see mandatory GPS tracking of vehicles. Automated speed tickets, hit-and-r

OnStar Car Tracking and Shut Down?

I've heard that OnStar installed in cars will be able to shut down cars. For instance, if the police are chasing a vehicle, they can have OnStar disable it, which turns it down to idling speed, forcing (or allowing) it to pull off the road. Of course, they

The facility already exists

There is no argument why a mobile phone operator cannot generate this anonymised data and sell it to GPS companies. They know how many cells are in the area and how they move already, so it's more a matter of how to package that data and sell it - this wo

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There is no argument why a mobile phone operator cannot generate this anonymised data and sell it to GPS companies. They know how many cells are in the area and how they move already, so it's more a matter of how to package that data and sell it - this wo

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"We're slipping guys and there's no stopping it"

Then why post?