While driving from Boston to Washington, DC there were two occasions where a national wireless Internet would have saved some fuel. The first occurred when impulse dictated the following of a “New Jersey State Aquarium” sign off the NJ Turnpike. This attraction was in the car’s GPS database so I asked the machine to change its destination. However, it turned out that the aquarium was closed for renovation until May and the side trip was merely a fuel-wasting detour.
The second occasion was en route to Longwood Gardens, near Wilmington, Delaware (fabulous greenhouses this time of year). A bad accident on the other side of the road would have made it much faster to stay on the Interstate for another few exits.
The GPS is a $1000 machine with a powerful computer, a full North American database on a microdrive, and a large LCD display. Adding an 802.11 receiver would add almost nothing to the cost. If the U.S. had a free universally available wireless Internet companies such as Garmin would build Internet transceivers into their products so that they would know (1) current opening hours of attractions, and (2) the locations of traffic jams to route around.
We complain that we are running out of oil but we aren’t willing to lift a technological finger to conserve any.
[Note: The traffic accident was an interesting example of Mutually Assured Destruction via SUV. The driver of a GMC SUV had lost control of his vehicle and spun it around, ending up by smashing into a tree. Because his vehicle was so ponderously bulky the impact had knocked the tree out of the ground. Sadly, in a Coyote v. Road Runner-esque turn of events, the tree proceeded to fall on the SUV’s roof. In an effort to keep SUVs from rolling over there apparently isn’t much structure up there. So the entire roof of the SUV had been flattened by the tree.]
“Sadly, in a Coyote v. Road Runner-esque turn of events, the tree proceeded to fall on the SUV’s roof.”
That should be “hilariously and satisfyingly, in a Coyote v. Road Runner-esque turn of events…”
My GPS database includes phone numbers for most places listed in it. So I usually call ahead on my cell phone to avoid disappointing side trips, such as closed aquariums.
But I agree with your general point. Wireless Internet would be better.
Of course, when you say to make it free, you run into all kinds of problems. Phone companies in several areas are fighting against free wireless Internet, because they want to sell you that service. They say that government shouldn’t be competing with private businesses. Following that logic, I’m thinking about opening my own for-profit police and fire departments and suing the city to make them shut down their free ones.
The new Pioneer AVIC-N2 nav receiver can subscribe to a $12.95/month satellite radio service that includes traffic routing information. No idea how well it actually works, though. Is there already a centralized source of traffic slowdown data available for free on the net?
Gray: “Following that logic, I’m thinking about opening my own for-profit police and fire departments and suing the city to make them shut down their free ones.” It’s been done. http://www.ruralmetro.com/
This would be nice, wouldn’t it. The lack of a wireless connection in your gps, however, is the least of your worries. The web isn’t ready for this. Although it is passe to speak of the semantic web, this is an example where having computer-readable information available could lead to some real applications. Actually, now that I look at the aquarium’s website [www.njaquarium.org – I think] it seems that there isn’t even any human-readible information regarding hours, although the closing information is plainly evident.
“We complain that we are running out of oil but we aren’t willing to lift a technological finger to conserve any.”
Actually, a few pennies from your gas tax contributions are going to lift that technological finger (not the middle one either). Something called ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems are being designed to take a broad range of information and use it to monitor and manage traffic flow; reduce congestion; and even provide alternate routes to travelers.
This is going to take a new kind of transportation infrastructure and not all of it is inside your vehicle, but there are some interesting things happening in this area.