If you build it they will come, and if they come they will build it

Smartphone apps can have interesting and practical features. Some find things for you, some look up things for you, some show you best... or worst.... and some harness the collective input of its users, aka cloud-sourcing. This weekend I got to see cloud-sourcing at its best and got to see the actual difference it makes when the data is there and it isn't. I'm talking about one app in particular, Waze.
I had used Waze before on my phone, but only around my home-base, Fresno California. This weekend I went to Orange County, where there is probably higher percentage of the population using smartphone, and obviously, Waze. The app comes alive, you see the advertised features actually in play instantly:

• Estimated travel times on roads around you, automatically calculated from anyone running the app. And when there's enough people using it, such as in OC, you get instant and real-time useful traffic flow info.
• Instant accident reporting, quicker than the local police or transit authorities which have to wait until someone reports the event, till they go out to inspect, and then report. People using the app at the scene report it instantly with a few clicks.

It was refreshing to see technical brainstorming and hypothetical features come to life in actual practical day-to-day use. The app gave the users the framework, and in return the crowd provides the data and consequently, the actual intended result from the app for the users, thus completing the circle.