i have been discussing a GPS with real-time traffic info with tom and maskit a while back. we all came to the conclusions that:

a. it would be great to have a GPS that could recommend different routes based on traffic

b. that basing it on just the people who use the specific GPS is useless (since there is no critical mass)

today a company called Dash demonstrated their "smart"/internet connected GPS product, Dash Express at the Demo conference. and they list a few cools features.

first and most important is their "Network Traffic" feature. it combines historical traffic flow information with real-time reporting from the Dash Network (i.e. people who are using Dash Express). it's not clear whether they also throw into the mix traffic reports from the internet/radio (i think they should). the Network Traffic feature will suggest the driver 3 possible routes with estimated times based on traffic.

as i mentioned above i believe the real-time data will not be useful until they reach critical mass, which may never happen. a much better approach to solving this problem would be to build on people's mobile phones (and i think i know how to make it work).

the second feature is "Destination Search", which sounds like they are integrating the location information with internet search. that makes perfect sense. my current GPS is very limited in the information it has, and i rarely use it because of it.

the third feature is "Send to Car", which enables users to send destinations via email to their GPS. small but very useful feature in my opinion.

it all sounds very promising. i signed up to 'be the first on the block'.. since my audi does not have a GPS it may very well serve as a good enough excuse to get a Dash once it comes out