One of the problems of living a high speed lifestyle is we often get caught out by circumstances beyond our control, which throw our carefully laid plans into chaos. Take car travel for instance, a process full of scheduling dangers. How many times have you been caught out by a sudden traffic jam on the way to the airport, or nearly missed a vital interview because of roadworks or obstructions on the freeway?
What you need is NeverLate, an Android smartphone app which incorporates a sophisticated traffic alert and alarm system to let you know when you’re planned journey time is disrupted. You set up the program for your journey as you would a standard GPS navigation app, with your origin and destination points. But you also have options to add a desired arrival time, as well as a buffer period in which to get ready (in case you need to get some papers together or pack a few things for the airport or whatever).
Once you’ve set all the parameters for your journey, you just trigger the alarm and forget it. The program will then keep a watch on traffic flows on your proposed route, and alert you immediately if there’s a change and you need to leave early to reach your destination on time. You can set it up for your regular commute route, school runs, trips to the airport, important appointments, any situation where it’s vital you reach your destination on time.
The interface is extremely well designed and the maps are the usual Google quality, which makes the whole program a joy to use. There’s also a Traffic Tab, which displays a snapshot view of your general location which incorporates all traffic disruptions displayed as a set of yellow markers on the map, which again makes it very easy to see if there’s likely to be any problem even without setting up an alarm.
This is one of those smartphone apps which I can see will quickly become indispensable to those who spend a lot of time on the road, or those who get stressed with journey times and city uncertainties. The idea that you can take a look at what’s going on instantly in your area, or relax and wait for an alarm to let you know you have 20 minutes to go before you have to leave, is very cool. If the developers add-in traffic cam data as well later on, it will be the icing on the cake.
The app is available for direct download from the Google Play service and is priced at $5.99/£4.29 for a lifetime subscription. The program works in over 30 countries and most of the major cities in the world.
Bonus tip: the program is currently featuring all the traffic disruptions in London due to the Olympics, as well as advance warning (via green markers) of actual events. It’s like an event calendar for the Olympics, which is a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening each day.
http://youtu.be/TIrEYEbkS50
