Are you going somewhere this weekend? DriveBC’s new features might help. Today, we’re releasing an update which includes an enhancement to the Trip Planner.
You may or may not be aware that we’ve actually had a trip planner on the DriveBC site since March of 2010. If you’re not familiar with it, the trip planner lets you pick your start point and end point which results in a route being drawn on the DriveBC map. It then displays a route with the shortest driving distance as provided by Google. What’s so special about the new version? It takes into consideration any delays, road closures and border waits.
The new Trip Planner enhances your chosen route by including all incidents and delays associated with it, from start to finish. In addition to showing them as icons on the map, the turn-by-turn directions will include messaging on the dynamic message signs (DMS) associated with that route, and webcam images to give you a full picture.
But wait, there’s more: if you are traveling through the lower mainland, the estimated travel time generated by Google is modified to reflect border delays for routes spanning the four lower mainland border crossings. (Peace Arch, Pacific, Sumas, and Aldergrove). Too long a wait at one border? You can easily change the route to find the border with the shortest wait time.
The DriveBC Mobile version uses geo-location to fill in your start point. Due to display challenges on small screens, the map has not been included for smart phones, but it is available for tablets. The tablet and smart phone versions provide all the same information in the turn-by-turn directions as you’d see on a desktop.
I’d say that’s it…but it’s not. Other enhancements to DriveBC include:
- A simplified left-navigation bar. The legend is presented with the map, rather than in the left navigation bar.
- The Trip Planner opens up as a separate window, rather than integrated in left navigation bar (previous version).
- Option to include a personalized note before printing route information.
- A larger, stylized tab bar above the map.
We’re always working to improve DriveBC and the services it provides. Whether through our own experience or from your feedback, we strive to continually make the site better. Let us know what you think of the new upgrades, whether on Twitter, our Facebook page or our DriveBC Feedback form. We’d love to hear from you.
