Inrix today introduced a new iPhone application that should resonate with Seattle drivers -- especially on days like today when the I-90 floating bridge will be closed. The free app predicts traffic conditions on more than 160,000 miles of roadways in North America.
Inrix relies on drivers for the data with the company calling it the "world's largest crowd-sourced traffic network." The app shows construction zones, road closures and other factors, and attempts to predict what traffic will be like one hour in the future.
Interestingly, at the WTIA Summer Celebration last night I bumped into Eric Burke and Jin Kim of GreenTraffic, who are working on a real time traffic application for other GPS-enabled smartphones.
Inrix is a Microsoft spin out, so the fact that it is developing an app for the iPhone is notable. (Seattle-based Zumobi -- also a Microsoft spin out -- is another example of a company with Microsoft roots that's going deep into iPhone app development.)
Microsoft certainly doesn't like to see developers -- especially those with strong ties to the company -- building cool stuff on another platform.
That's why the company is getting more serious about boosting its own mobile app store, but as former Microsoft Mobile manager Kevin Lisota writes in a guest piece today for TechFlash the software giant has a long way to go.
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