Startup Idea: Real-time route suggestions based on traffic or needs November 16, 2006

Today I can use a mapping service like Google Maps or Mapquest to get directions from point-A to point-B (or multi-point trip planning). I can use a fat-client application like MapPoint to get DOT road construction data or to find points of interest along the way (i.e. “gas stations within 5 miles of the route”). Also I can get real-time traffic reports on MSN (and likely other services) that let me know about congestion, accidents, or road closures in roughly real-time.

But that information needs to be mashed up.

I have 4 routes I normally take. Which route I choose on any given day is based on a few simple factors:

The time of day

Traffic information from the radio

Whether I need to stop to get something along the way

Sometimes I guess right. Sometimes not.

All of the data I need to make the decision, and even the process needed to make the decision, could be automated though.

I could look at a website (or get an email or an RSS feed or a text message or whatever) before leaving work that tells me which of my preferred routes is the one likely to get me home the fastest. I don’t need to look along each of the four routes for accidents and then think about what time it is. I just need to read the words “Go home in I-40 to US-1”.

If I need to get something like gas it could suggest which gas station along the way is the best route. If I promised my wife I would pick up a pizza on the way home it could route me to Papa John’s site, make my order and then optimize my route with that stop.

I could have used this yesterday. I needed to stop at a florist to get my wife flowers (aren’t I a great guy?). This meant finding a florist on my route, figuring out the best way to get there and making the order. It shouldn’t have taken the 15 minutes it did. All I needed to do was say “find me a florist on my preferred route home. I anticipate I will leave at 4:30”. Obviously real-time traffic data can’t fit into the prediction but when 4:25 rolled around I could have asked for an update that would confirm that my route was still good or it would have recommended another route between the office and the florist.

Basically we already have all the information we need to do this. All we need is a mashup that allows me to give my preferred routes and then use that information to form a recommendation.

There are many integration possibilities here. Cell phones, in-car GPS units, On*Star, etc. The revenue stream could be from retail affiliations, subscription fees (free + premium service?), ads, corporate accounts (fleet management), licensing, etc. I don’t know. I’m just the idea guy.