Traffic and Commuting services
Commuting help and ‘weather of traffic’ information provision via internet can be prime candidates for mass usage services. These would rank even higher when adopted for mobile phones with seemingly easy but sophisticated implementation.
Such services adopted for mass usage provide:
(1) Real-time Traffic updates / traffic scanning
(2) Commuting aid / Route planning
Extending this has already lead to:
(3) Personal transportation services
(4) Community services
For the past few years, there are quite a few web portals offering car pooling and bike hiring services(2) and increasingly dedicated traffic updates(1). An extension of these developments is personal transportation services, where commuters make money by sharing modes of commuting(3). Communities(4) spring up from such interaction, and socializing becomes a stepping-stone. Internet and mobile phones coupled with location information are harbingers for such innovations.
Google Maps on mobile, Yahoo Updates are examples of (1)
(2) Route planning and Dynamic carpooling are sophisticated services (patent pending) offered by Finnish startup Ecolane. Local versions of car pooling exist in various cities across the world including http://www.erideshare.com/ (includes cross-coutry listings), www.commuteeasy.com/ for Bangalore and Pune in India, Canadian carpooling and many more. OYbike is an interesting bike sharing and hiring service offered on-the-go (think pay-per-usage or rental model) in London. Here’s a description of the same with links to other similar offerings.
(3) Ecolane provides community and corporate commute services. Their personal transportation method also allows people to make money in exchange for pooling services. These are largely based on demand-response model as described at their website.
In a way, physical social networks are built via these exchanges and this is one example of reverse trend where face-2-face(or physical) interaction is brought about although starting nodes are the internet or communication devices, rather than other way round of people growing farther physically as they increasingly interact online. Mobile phones providing exclusive features and methods in this area is wide open, barely scratching the surface on such applications.
P.S: Surely, there must be more instances of the above which I haven’t been able to zero-in on.
