Route Guidance, Traffic Reports Integrated

By Joseph Palenchar On Apr 4 2005 - 6:00am

Verizon teamed with digital mapmaker MapQuest to offer the industry's first service to deliver integrated real-time traffic and navigation data directly to select handsets.

The service helps drivers navigate around traffic jams.

Consumers download the MapQuest Traffic application over the air to select BREW-equipped handsets. Although the service doesn't use GPS, the phones display color maps, text-based driving instructions, and text-based traffic reports. Traffic backups are also displayed on maps. The service also suggests alternate routes to get around traffic.

"Other than text alerts, no one else has navigation with real-time traffic information," said a spokesman for MapQuest parent AOL.