Human history can be divided roughly into four periods: The first, which lasted more than a million years, is commonly known as the Map Phase. It was during this trying time that man developed the ability to stop at gas stations and ask for directions. Next came the MapQuest Era, which was brief but essential. With MapQuest, wandering hunters and gatherers could finally arm themselves with printed routes to lead them wherever they needed to go. Soon afterward, the United States military's network of Global Positioning Systems went mainstream. Thus began the Epoch of Location. Getting lost became to modern motorists what scurvy was to ancient mariners: a horrific blight banished by technology. I smile every time I turn on a GPS system (I have one for my bicycle and another for my car), because without it I wouldn't make it to the corner store. Now I simply type in the address of my destination and let the device tell me how to get there. But while a GPS unit receives a constant stream of radio signals from a series of satellites orbiting the earth, it still relies on maps. And maps, lovely as they are, are disappointingly static. People, on the other hand, never stop moving. Wouldn't it be useful to know if an exit was closed, a new road opened, or an accident at the Lincoln Tunnel had traffic backed up to Newark?
If we can stream video from Mars and Grateful Dead concerts from 1968, why can't we get an accurate idea of how traffic is moving on the 101? Well, starting this month, we can. Thanks to the felicitous marriage of GPS and the Internet, the fourth era of man has begun: This is the dawning of the Age of Dash Express.
In many respects Dash Express seems like any other GPS unit: It has a pleasing color display, an easy-to-use touch screen, and that typical (and slightly annoying) disembodied voice telling you when to get into the right lane and when to make a U-turn. But Dash also constantly scans the nearest WiFi spots and GPRS cellular networks — and seamlessly switches between them — to provide constant real-time traffic data from hundreds (even thousands) of sources. It doesn't just tell you a route, wish you luck, and send you on your way. It clearly shows you what traffic is doing — with red, yellow, and green stripes — and offers alternatives based on the conditions as they change. How? Dash is essentially the Napster of the automotive world. The Dash Driver Network is nothing more than a peer-to-peer network of shared information that permits everyone in the system to benefit. (Unlike Napster, the information is legally obtained and will run you about $10 a month in addition to the initial $399 cost of the unit.)
Because the network lives online, Dash monitors your speed and position and reports it to its servers, which then mix your data with that of other commuters before streaming it back to your car. The resulting snapshots of road conditions are continuously refreshed as you drive. As is true with any online social network — and that's really what Dash is — the power is in the numbers. If 5,000 people are feeding the server from the freeways of Los Angeles, they're going to provide precise bumper-to-bumper updates. If, however, you are one of 20 motorists in Peoria, the data may be less robust.
