Virbisol, an IT consulting company, has launched Traffic Genie, an app on Android and iOS platform that updates real time traffic information in Bangalore (hat-tip - @gkjohn). For the same, Virbisol has partnered with the Bangalore traffic police. The free app is available for download on Google's Play Store and Apple's iTunes store. Features: Currently, the app delivers instant traffic information and traffic situation at different parts of the city, right from the traffic police control room. The app also lets users search and decide on alternate routes from the map based on the traffic situation. It uses Google Maps. Apart from that, it follows a crowd-sourcing approach where it lets users report a traffic situation to the reporters at the Traffic Control Room who in turn validate and share it with everyone in the city. Users can report accidents, breakdowns, road works, water logging, public on road and any other kind of reports through the app. The app also allows users to upload the photo of the situation. More accurate: While the crowd-sourced approach to collecting traffic information is interesting, we're not sure how the traffic police verifies this data, gives a go ahead before it reaches users, and the time involved in the entire process. Most traffic reporting solutions rely on anonymous data generated by other users (who eable location sharing) of the app. However, since the traffic police is also involved here, the data generated might be more accurate as the police would keep track of incidents and filter false reports. Other similar apps: Nokia…
