What that means is that if you’re cruising along a highway and there’s a traffic jam ahead, you’ll get a warning from someone stuck in the jam who decided to be nice and inform the world about it.

It’s not only for traffic jams, police traps, accidents, speed cameras, broken traffic lights and any number of ‘Custom’ events can be flagged up. What’s more, when these obstructions are flagged up by other users and if they’re in the way of your route, Waze will automatically alter your course so you can avoid them.

Despite all these features, it takes a community to make Waze what it should be; and there is a shortage of alerts with community activity being sporadic. However, the reason for the afore mentioned lack of community is that the program is still in beta (even alpha for some devices), plus the fact that it takes time for an active community to build up. In time, this will make an extremely useful app. Definitely worth having, especially for the commuter.

For more details watch demo video below:

Check out Waze @ www.waze.com (by Dean Sherwin)

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Vessel locations are shown on the map using colored markers with each color representing particular type of vessel (Cruise Boat, Cargo Tankers, High Speed Craft, Yachts & Others). Clicking on a marker displays vessel’s image, speed, course, dimensions, voyage details… etc.

The site also lets you check real-time information on ports along with ship arrival & departure times.

Sailors have an option to install a VHF antenna and start sending and seeing their data on MarineTraffic.

Features:

• Track ship positions in real time.
• Search vessels by name or by type.
• See ship’s image, speed, course, dimensions, voyage details and more.
• Get info on sea ports, stations and navigation aids.
• No signup needed.
• Similar website: Sailwx.

Check out MarineTraffic @ www.marinetraffic.com

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• SeeMyWhere: Share Your Real Time Location With Others
• Sailwx: Real Time Ship Tracking
• Locle: Share Your Location without GPS
• BuddyWay : Free GPS Cell Phone Tracking Software
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Locle allows you select the friends with whom you want to share your location. It also lets you update your location manually or disable it in case you do not want to be found. If you use Facebook, it lets you retrieve your friend list.

Features:

• Share your location and view where your family and friends are from your mobile phone or computer.
• You can import your Facebook friends and invite them to use Locle.
• Manually update your location or temporarily disable it.
• Share your location with selected people.
• Similar tools: SeeMyWhere, Loopt and NavXS.

Check out Locle @ www.locle.com (By Abhijeet from Jeet Blog)

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• SeeMyWhere: Share Your Real Time Location With Others
• Loopt: See Where Your Friends Are From iPhone or Mobile
• Spokeo : Find and Track Your Friends
• Scred : Track Shared Expenses
• Sailwx: Real Time Ship Tracking

Loopt also provides you with detailed maps that show where your friends are and what they are doing. Furthermore you can easily share your location, photos and comments with your Loopt friends. And if you’re looking for some nice place in the nearby area you can check out all the cool places recommended by your friends.

To get Loopt on your mobile, simply register by going to the Loopt sign up page. Enter your information, and an invitation link will be sent to your mobile, just follow the link and install software onto your device. Other methods are also listed, to learn more visit Loopt help page. Individual installation guides for iPhone, BlackBerry, Verizon (non-BlackBerry), MetroPCS are also available.

Feature overview:

• Turn your mobile phone into a social compass
• Supports over 100 phones.
• Get alerts when your friends are nearby.
• Share your location, status and photos with others.
• Explore recommended places by friends.
• Easily turn it off you whenever you want.
• Supported wireless networks: At&t, Sprint, NexTel, Boost Mobile, T-Mobile, MetroPcs and Verizon.
• Service is available in United States only.
• Similar website: Brightkite.

Check out Loopt @ www.loopt.com

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• Locle: Share Your Location without GPS
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• NavXS : Track your Friends’ Location from a Cell Phone
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You can search for ships by name or browse data by ship type such as tall ship, cruise ship, cargo ship, yachts… etc)#.

Features:

• View real time ship positions.
• Search by name or browse by ship type.
• Additional info such as sea temperature, hurricanes, tides, ship speed are also provided.
• No registration and simple to use.

Check out Sailwx @ www.sailwx.info

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• BuddyWay : Free GPS Cell Phone Tracking Software
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Once it is installed you can start sharing your whereabouts with anyone you like by simply forwarding them your personal SeeMyWhere link. Anyone who has that link can check your location on the map.

The tracking can be easily turned off and stay untraceable at anytime.

Features:

• Share your real time location with others.
• Currently works on most Blackberry phones. More devices are coming soon.
• Option to turn tracking on/off at any time.
• See the location of your friends who have SeeMyWhere installed on their phones.
• Free

Check out SeeMyWhere @ www.seemywhere.com

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Features:

• Track any GPS-enabled phone in real-time online.
• Save trips for later reference.
• Share the trips with desired people or keep them private.
• Capture and comment on particular locations of your trip (in real-time) directly from your phone.
• Import and save trips to Google Earth to visualize them in 3D-mode and more.
• View route statistics and charts: route length, route duration, avg. & max. speed, altitude changes, etc.
• Setup alerts on desired regions and get alerted when nearby.
• See the list of supported devices on the website.
• Check out one of the mapped BuddyWat trips here

Go to BuddyWay @ www.buddyway.com

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Features

• Share your current location with friends.
• Only contacts whom you have granted the permission are able to see where you are.
• Log out and stop sharing your location at any time.
• Follow contacts : View current location of each of your friends on the map.
• You can access NavXS and view contacts’ locations both from computer or mobile phone.
• Easily bookmark and store locations you like and share them with friends.
• Currently works with Java-enabled mobile phones and Windows Mobile based PDAs and smartphones.
• It’s free.

Important: NavXS is a free service, however it’s very important that you check with your mobile operator about data usage fees. Unless you have an unlimited data plan, using NavXS can be quite costly.

Check out NavXS @ www.navxs.com

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• 1. Send a message and specify a delivery time and target location.
• 2. When recipient/s arrive at the specified location JotYou sends them your message.

So, why would anyone use this app? Ever plan to pick up something on the way home, but drive right by the place and simply forget? If you use JotYou it can remind you as you pass-by those ‘to remember’ locations. You can also use it greet friends when they are in the neighborhood, play scavenger hunts, etc. The possibilities are endless. On top of that, it can be accessed both from PC and mobile phone.

Feature List

• Messages only delivered when the recipients are in the area.
• Selet target areas rite from the map. Make target delivery area as big or small as your need.
• Messages can be send to groups and indiviual users.
• Option to specify message delivery time frame. If the recipient reaches the target area outside specified time-frame your message won’t be delivered.
• Store and manage sent messages in your account area.
• Set up tracking groups for events (i.e. bicycle races, marathons,etc) and track friends as they move from.

JotYou Demo Video

Check out JotYou @ www.jotyou.com

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