Aha Mobile is an iPhone app that offers drivers location-based information and entertainment. A personally tailored audio stream not only provides up-to-the-minute traffic info, but also features "shouts"—15 second snippets recorded through the application by other drivers in the area. The idea is that drivers can help each other out by sharing reports on road conditions, extending the real-time connectivity that people have on Facebook or Twitter. Furthering the social element, drivers can belt out tunes in the Caraoke Room, or vent their road rage in the Bad Driver Shout Room.

Aha Mobile's on-screen information is designed to be easily navigable and digestible at a glance; although for safety reasons, people should of course keep their hands off their iPhones while driving. Roadside services can be located with the help of Yelp and SitOrSquat by answering simple on-screen questions: "Hungry?" "Need coffee?" "Need a bathroom?" Drivers can also get alerts when they're approaching red lights or speed cameras.

Aha Mobile's service is available across the US, with special emphasis on the most heavily trafficked urban areas. One to bring to highways and byways in other parts of the world?

Website: www.ahamobile.com
Contact: support@ahamobile.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

This Smarter Cities post is supported by IBM. Read more about building a smarter planet on IBM's A Smarter Planet blog.

The world of iPhone apps is increasingly crowded. And while there are several that help users to find convenient meeting points, MeetMe is the first one to integrate both Google Maps and Yelp reviews.

In order to find an appropriate meeting location, users input Point A and Point B, and the type of venue they'd like to meet at. For instance, users can pinpoint the best sushi restaurant halfway between Boston and Philadelphia, or a romantic hotel between York and Manchester. The USD 1.99 app then provides a list of suitable locations complete with Yelp recommendations. Once a location is selected, MeetMe emails both parties a map complete with driving directions. If users prefer to meet closer to one point or the other, the distances can be adjusted. MeetMe points out that the app can also help plan road trip stopping points. MeetMe works worldwide and, according to reviews, has fewer accuracy problems than most mapping apps. It's also ad-free, so users can be sure the recommendations they're receiving aren't promos in disguise.

In theory, the app could help cut down on miles traveled because both parties will be encouraged to drive the shortest possible distance, instead of relying on meeting points that are familiar to both, but might not be most efficient. Mobile applications like MeetMe aren't just convenient tools for consumers—if widely adopted, smart navigation can reduce miles travelled and hours spent on the road. It can also help prevent congestion by feeding commuters real-time and predictive road data about potential traffic jams. As our everyday tools become ever more sophisticated at navigating cities, opportunities abound for entrepreneurs than can help us unlock location-based data in useful and intuitive ways.

Website: www.aboutmeetme.com
Contact: ideas@aboutmeetme.com

Spotted by: Adam Finkle

As the number of people who are twittering continues to rise, more and more businesses are adding to their existing methods of communicating with (potential) customers. An innovative example was recently introduced by London's eco-taxi service greentomatocars. The company, which we covered when they launched back in 2006, claims to be the first private hire service in the UK to take bookings via Twitter. Users simply send a direct message to @greentomatocars with the booking details, receive a tweet back with a unique booking reference, and wait for a Prius to pull up. Besides using Twitter for bookings, greentomatocars also hopes to encourage debate about environmental issues.

Although Twitter hasn't released hard data on how many active users it has, the service seems to be having a profound effect on business-to-customer communication, enabling companies to engage in an immediate, ongoing and intimate conversation with customers and potential customers, creating a better mutual understanding and forging brand loyalty. (For more, see our sister-site trendwatching's briefing on foreverism.)

Website: www.greentomatocars.com
Contact: mail@greentomatocars.com

There's been plenty of lip service paid to electric vehicles in recent years, but the fact remains that in many communities, they're still more frequently discussed than actually seen. Not so in several U.S. neighbourhoods, however, where golf carts and other diminutive electric vehicles are part of the very fabric of community life.

With many of the same gas-free benefits offered by larger electric vehicles—but considerably lower price tags—neighbourhood electric vehicles, or NEVs, are the transportation of choice for residents of several large retirement communities, an article on Wired.com recently reported. Golf carts are a common sight on the streets and specially designed paths of The Villages community in Florida, for example—and not just the ordinary, plain-vanilla variety. In fact, many of the community's 77,000 retired residents "pimp their rides" to look like fire trucks, 1930s roadsters and stretch limos, Wired reported, spending as much as USD 20,000 in the process of swapping in bigger tires or hacking engines to surpass the traditional golf cart's maximum speed of about 20 mph. Similar sights are apparently seen in other communities around the country, including the retirement mecca of Sun City, Arizona, and the all-ages suburb of Peachtree City, Georgia. Accessories are sold by companies like GoNEV.

Driver's licenses are not typically required for most golf carts, but full-fledged NEVs—which are street-legal in most states—require insurance and registration, Wired reported. Either way, such vehicles offer not only eco-benefits and credentials, but apparently also those of the more neighbourly kind: "If your neighbour is in his yard, you can't drive by in your golf cart without waving and saying hello," Gary Lester, VP of community relations for The Villages, told Wired. Chrysler's Global Electric Motorcars is one major maker of NEVs, selling its vehicles for as low as USD 3,644 with tax credits.

Lower prices, fewer emissions and social benefits on top of an eco-iconic appearance and government tax incentives? Legal and insurance issues notwithstanding, sounds like a potential winner to us. Who will put golf carts at the forefront of *your* community's next planning venture...?

Website: www.gemcar.com — www.gonev.com
Contact: www.gemcar.com/contact — www.gonev.com/index.php?main_page=contact_us

Spotted by: Katherine Noyes

Aiming to grab a share of the growing car-sharing market, Daimler created car2go, which enables customers to order and pick up a Smart car within minutes. The service was rolled out in the German city of Ulm last October, and is expected to launch in Austin, Texas sometime in early 2010.

Cars can be reserved online or over the phone up to 24 hours in advance, costing a maximum of EUR 9.90 per hour or EUR 49.00 for a day. A text message informs the customer of the car's exact location, which, in the urban area of Ulm, is usually no further than 3 minutes' walk away. Once the driver reaches the car, he or she can unlock it with a PIN code provided during registration. As well as being simple and flexible, car2go's use of diminutive Smart cars makes the system more environmentally friendly than most other car sharing systems. Having enticed almost 10% of Ulm's driving population to use the scheme, we're waiting with interest to see how car2go will fare in the US, where it faces tough competition from ZipCar. An obvious advantage for car2Go is its access to cars without having to pay a mark-up. And besides tapping into a new source of revenue, Daimler could benefit from the brand exposure of having its Smart cars in heavy rotation on city streets. (Related: Half-price parking for half-sized cars.)

Website: www.car2go.com
Contact: www.car2go.com/portal/page/community/feedback.faces

Spotted by: Adele Morten