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Scout adds crowdsourced incident reporting to nav apps

The latest update to this navigation app helps users find fun things to do, share those things with friends, and avoid traffic along the way.

Antuan Goodwin Reviews Editor / Cars
Antuan Goodwin gained his automotive knowledge the old fashioned way, by turning wrenches in a driveway and picking up speeding tickets. From drivetrain tech and electrification to car audio installs and cabin tech, if it's on wheels, Antuan is knowledgeable.
Expertise Reviewing cars and car technology since 2008 focusing on electrification, driver assistance and infotainment Credentials
  • North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year (NACTOY) Awards Juror
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Antuan Goodwin
2 min read
Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET

Telenav's Scout GPS Navigation & Traffic borrows a bit from Waze and Trapster's books with the addition of crowdsourced incident reporting in the newest versions of its mobile apps.

On Scout's map screen, there now appears a new "Report" button that, when tapped, presents four large buttons to report Traffic, Police, Hazards, or Accidents with a single tap. When you report these incidents, you're sharing potential delays with other nearby Scout users and helping them to avoid congestion. For your trouble, you'll benefit from the driving experiences of your fellow Scouters and Scout's millions of users worldwide.

At time of publication, the iOS version of the app (version 1.11.x) has this new feature, but I didn't see the Report button in the current version of the Android app (1.5.x), but it's coming.

Additionally, both versions (iOS and Android) have been updated with new "Things to do" event listings. This can be found below the standard destination categories that help users find events, landmarks, nightlife, and things to do from the app.

Once a destination has been chosen, a new checkbox option on the Route Planning confirmation screen for Share ETA allows drivers to automatically share a map of their trip, complete with a live-updating estimated time of arrival, via SMS. The recipient can then initiate turn-by-turn navigation with spoken directions from within their phone's HTML5-capable browser by simply clicking on a link, the Scout app doesn't even have to be installed.

Scout route planning screen
The new "Share ETA" option allows users to send a map of their route via SMS. Screenshot by Antuan Goodwin/CNET

Put these features together and you can use the Scout app to find a place to meet your friends for dinner, send the destination and your ETA to them via SMS, and give them directions all in one fell swoop. That's pretty cool.

Scout GPS Navigation and Traffic is available now in the iTunes and Google Play app stores.