Israeli App "Waze" Helped FEMA Deliver the Gas after Hurricane Sandy
-Ryan Kim
With gas shortages rampant following Hurricane Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the White House turned to an Israeli invention, the crowd-sourced navigation app Waze, to gather data on where to send gasoline trucks.
Di-Ann Eisnor, Waze's VP of platforms and partnerships, said the government called up Waze Friday and asked for help.
Within an hour, Waze had a simple system up and running that allowed users who visited a gas station to get a system message that allowed them to report the conditions there.
The users were able to leave a chit-chat message explaining if there was gas available, how the lines were and how long the wait was.
The Waze app also displayed pins on its maps for local gas stations that were open.
After opening up a line of communication with New Jersey residents, Waze expanded its reporting program Saturday to Staten Island and Long Island.
(Gigaom)
Beat the Traffic with Waze -David Shamah
Israeli startup Waze has developed the technology to truly revolutionize driving, allowing drivers to shave precious minutes off their commutes, providing real time updates of traffic conditions, and even generating real-time maps - all for free.
(Israel21c)
2 comments:
Interesting! I will have to look into this.
Waze is my absolutely favorite smartphone app. It's like driving in an electronic game. It even has safety features that prevent typing while driving.
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