Purpose-designed travel information apps are emerging to support the real estate market in the US – and potentially more widely – in a major diversification away from the conventional automotive and navigation device sectors. In July 2013, Washington State-based Imprev, which develops web-based marketing support aids for realtors, announced its App Generator. Claimed as an industry first, this enables property businesses to create their own branded mobile apps to give away as marketing tools to potential
David Crawford finds apps entering new markets and attracting new investors.
Purpose-designed travel information apps are emerging to support the real estate market in the US – and potentially more widely – in a major diversification away from the conventional automotive and navigation device sectors. In July 2013, Washington State-based Imprev, which develops web-based marketing support aids for realtors, announced its App Generator. Claimed as an industry first, this enables property businesses to create their own branded mobile apps to give away as marketing tools to potential home buyers.
Among the first is a Drive Time web app, developed in partnership with Seattle-based traffic information and driver services provider163 Inrix.
It leverages the company’s Traffic Intelligence Platform analysis of billions of data points collated in daily crowdsourcing from vehicles on US roads. The aim is to give potential homebuyers a more realistic idea of commuting times – peak and off-peak - between their workplaces and homes being listed for sale.
Inrix’s Drive Time is also directly powering a new travel-based web service from the Windermere real estate franchise in the western US. It shows actual drive times for regular commuting hours.
The franchise’s Spokane office is the first to produce an app; the rest will follow in time. Inrix has plans eventually to expand the scheme to Europe.
The company’s Mark Timms told1846 ITS International: “While we are a traffic intelligence business, we also see ourselves as a big data and analytics organisation. Our data can be used for a number of purposes, with real estate as a major opening for navigation information”.
In its more traditional sectors, Inrix has recently introduced two new refinements to its Mobile Traffic App. Custom Routes caters for those drivers who don’t necessarily make use of satnav systems on regular journeys to save their private route choices. They can also check whether these alternatives are faster than recommended routes.
Initially available only in the UK, Keep Moving Integration gives drivers access via their smartphones to traffic incident alerts. Both products will be made available globally following further refinements. This burst of activity is being mirrored by developments at Israeli-headquartered navigation aid developer6897 Waze, which earlier in 2013 won the Best Overall Mobile App category in the GSM Association’s Global Mobile Awards. (The judges described it as a “masterclass in how to exploit the potential of mobile devices”).
Plans announced at the time of its recent acquisition by1691 Google include retention of the Waze development team in Israel and the enhancement of each provider’s offer with contributions from the other. This is now happening.
In August 2013, Google announced that iPhone and Android users of Google Maps would begin seeing live traffic reports posted by the Waze community of drivers. Their alerts on incidents or heavy traffic will now show up on both Waze and Google Maps apps in the US, Latin America and Europe.
At the same time, Wazers are gaining access to Google Search in both iPhone and Android versions, giving them increased numbers of search results. The Waze Map Editor has also added Google Street View and satellite images to enable users to generate more accurate maps. The acquisition of Waze is being seen in the industry as critical to Google’s bid to meet competition from493 Apple Maps, which has been progressively upgrading its software and acquiring navigation providers. Among these is Embark, which offers transit information apps covering US cities including Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco.
In 2012, it won both the New York City (NYC) Big Apps 3.0 judges’ award for Best Mobility App; and the Grand Prize in the NYC Metropolitan Transport Authority’s App Quest recognition scheme for solutions offers using the agency’s opened up transit data. In the same year, German1731 BMW automotive group’s New York-based 6279 BMW i Ventures offshoot became an investor.
Commute facts
According to the US National Association of Realtors, 73% of the country’s home buyers see the drive time to work as a key criterion. The 2013 US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey has found 80% of American commuters commute by car, while 8.1% of them face journeys taking at least 90 minutes each way.
The American Public Transportation Association (618 APTA) reports that:
• Americans living near public transit save 796 million hours in travel time annually;
• Americans living near public transit save 1.15bn litres of fuel annually in congestion reduction alone;
• The overall effects of mass transit’s overall effects saves the United States around 16bn litres (3.5bn gallons) of fuel each yearThis marked a fundamental step in BMW’s strategic movement beyond the traditional motoring sector to reposition itself as a mobility services operation – with an intermodal emphasis. BMW of North America business communications manager Kenn Sparks told ITS International: “Helping people navigate mass transit systems in cities is now an aspect of the company business”.
Among its other investments, MyCityWay produces apps and mobile interfaces designed to “guide residents and visitors through their daily experiences in cities”. Content includes live traffic feeds, up-to-date travel times, metro service updates, the quickest walking and driving routes, weather and leisure time information.
ParkatmyHouse started in the UK and arrived in the US in 2012 as an online parking marketplace. It brings together drivers and home or business owners with driveway, garage or other parking available for rent for periods from half an hour upwards. Its app, currently available in the UK and due for release in the US by end-2013, offers parking space booking and directions and payment handling.
4825 ChargePoint, which runs some 11,000 electric vehicle charging locations worldwide, includes details of each on its apps for iPhone and Android together with turn-by-turn directions and real-time availability of points, the ability to start and stop charging sessions, and collect session data such as on the energy used.
Accessibility scoring
US businesses and local governments are increasingly using area travel rating products from neighbourhood data provider, Seattle-based Walk Score. The original Walk Score product, and its more recent sister services Transit Score and Bike Score, seek to raise awareness of the desirability of urban areas with good walkability and/or public transit access and to encourage alternative commutes.
Transit Score uses data that is made available in a standard format by city public transit operators, mainly in the US but also in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Its algorithm calculates the score for a specific point by summing the relative usefulness of nearby routes in terms of, for example, the mode, service level and the nearest stop. The result is a score ranging between 0 and 100 (see table).
The company’s Travel Time application program interface for web and mobile applications allows people to search for places to live by commute time. Users can, for instance type in ‘I want an apartment where I can get to work in 30 minutes on public transit’, allowing for both normal and peak-hour conditions. It enables them to calculate travel times by alternative modes and to visualise ‘commute sheds’ of areas that can be accessed in a given time period.
Purpose-designed travel information apps are emerging to support the real estate market in the US – and potentially more widely – in a major diversification away from the conventional automotive and navigation device sectors. In July 2013, Washington State-based Imprev, which develops web-based marketing support aids for realtors, announced its App Generator. Claimed as an industry first, this enables property businesses to create their own branded mobile apps to give away as marketing tools to potential home buyers.
Among the first is a Drive Time web app, developed in partnership with Seattle-based traffic information and driver services provider
It leverages the company’s Traffic Intelligence Platform analysis of billions of data points collated in daily crowdsourcing from vehicles on US roads. The aim is to give potential homebuyers a more realistic idea of commuting times – peak and off-peak - between their workplaces and homes being listed for sale.
Inrix’s Drive Time is also directly powering a new travel-based web service from the Windermere real estate franchise in the western US. It shows actual drive times for regular commuting hours.
The franchise’s Spokane office is the first to produce an app; the rest will follow in time. Inrix has plans eventually to expand the scheme to Europe.
The company’s Mark Timms told
In its more traditional sectors, Inrix has recently introduced two new refinements to its Mobile Traffic App. Custom Routes caters for those drivers who don’t necessarily make use of satnav systems on regular journeys to save their private route choices. They can also check whether these alternatives are faster than recommended routes.
Initially available only in the UK, Keep Moving Integration gives drivers access via their smartphones to traffic incident alerts. Both products will be made available globally following further refinements. This burst of activity is being mirrored by developments at Israeli-headquartered navigation aid developer
Plans announced at the time of its recent acquisition by
In August 2013, Google announced that iPhone and Android users of Google Maps would begin seeing live traffic reports posted by the Waze community of drivers. Their alerts on incidents or heavy traffic will now show up on both Waze and Google Maps apps in the US, Latin America and Europe.
At the same time, Wazers are gaining access to Google Search in both iPhone and Android versions, giving them increased numbers of search results. The Waze Map Editor has also added Google Street View and satellite images to enable users to generate more accurate maps. The acquisition of Waze is being seen in the industry as critical to Google’s bid to meet competition from
In 2012, it won both the New York City (NYC) Big Apps 3.0 judges’ award for Best Mobility App; and the Grand Prize in the NYC Metropolitan Transport Authority’s App Quest recognition scheme for solutions offers using the agency’s opened up transit data. In the same year, German
Commute facts
According to the US National Association of Realtors, 73% of the country’s home buyers see the drive time to work as a key criterion. The 2013 US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey has found 80% of American commuters commute by car, while 8.1% of them face journeys taking at least 90 minutes each way.
The American Public Transportation Association (
• Americans living near public transit save 796 million hours in travel time annually;
• Americans living near public transit save 1.15bn litres of fuel annually in congestion reduction alone;
• The overall effects of mass transit’s overall effects saves the United States around 16bn litres (3.5bn gallons) of fuel each yearThis marked a fundamental step in BMW’s strategic movement beyond the traditional motoring sector to reposition itself as a mobility services operation – with an intermodal emphasis. BMW of North America business communications manager Kenn Sparks told ITS International: “Helping people navigate mass transit systems in cities is now an aspect of the company business”.
Among its other investments, MyCityWay produces apps and mobile interfaces designed to “guide residents and visitors through their daily experiences in cities”. Content includes live traffic feeds, up-to-date travel times, metro service updates, the quickest walking and driving routes, weather and leisure time information.
ParkatmyHouse started in the UK and arrived in the US in 2012 as an online parking marketplace. It brings together drivers and home or business owners with driveway, garage or other parking available for rent for periods from half an hour upwards. Its app, currently available in the UK and due for release in the US by end-2013, offers parking space booking and directions and payment handling.
Accessibility scoring
US businesses and local governments are increasingly using area travel rating products from neighbourhood data provider, Seattle-based Walk Score. The original Walk Score product, and its more recent sister services Transit Score and Bike Score, seek to raise awareness of the desirability of urban areas with good walkability and/or public transit access and to encourage alternative commutes.
Transit Score uses data that is made available in a standard format by city public transit operators, mainly in the US but also in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Its algorithm calculates the score for a specific point by summing the relative usefulness of nearby routes in terms of, for example, the mode, service level and the nearest stop. The result is a score ranging between 0 and 100 (see table).
The company’s Travel Time application program interface for web and mobile applications allows people to search for places to live by commute time. Users can, for instance type in ‘I want an apartment where I can get to work in 30 minutes on public transit’, allowing for both normal and peak-hour conditions. It enables them to calculate travel times by alternative modes and to visualise ‘commute sheds’ of areas that can be accessed in a given time period.
| Transit score | Description |
|---|---|
| 90 - 100 | Rider’s Paradise World-class public transportation |
| 70 - 89 | Excellent Transit Transit is convenient for most trips |
| 50 - 69 | Good Transit Many nearby public transportation options |
| 25 - 49 | Some Transit A few nearby public transportation options |
| 0 - 24 | Minimal Transit It is possible to get on a bus |
