Waze is a social mobile application providing free turn-by-turn navigation based on the live conditions of the road. What does that mean? It means it collects passive information from all its users as they drive, in addition to using active feedback from drivers who choose to submit updates, photos, road changes, and so on, to provide its users with real-time traffic and road information.

This is a really great concept and a terrific use of the built-in GPS in most smartphones these days. Waze has been available for the iPhone and Android for a bit, but their site indicates the development of a Windows Mobile version. Watch the Waze guided tour to get a better understanding of how it works.

I imagine it requires a critical mass of users in any given area to be effective, but I haven’t tried it yet. In fact, their alpha program is looking for candidates to help get this project rolling, so why not head over to the Waze website and sign up?