Text to Speech Smartphone App – Trial Release

Traffic Scotland is trialling a new smartphone application which harnesses the latest in text-to-speech technology and recent advances in smart devices to proactively deliver information to you without requiring you to read from a screen. This provides a number of benefits to you; most notably ensuring that you have access to real-time information in a safe manner whilst on the move.

The service incorporates a location-aware feature allowing you to receive automatic alerts of events in your vicinity via an audio announcement. Once activated, the application uses the device's built-in location API to start monitoring for upcoming events. As you travel along, the service tracks your position, calculates your direction of travel and then runs periodic searches for any events coming up on your route. The service converts the event information into audio and reads it aloud.

The service currently presents incidents, roadworks and Variable Message Sign information. These alert types, as well as the alerting range, can be changed to suit your personal preferences. In addition to the audio broadcasts, the application also plots events within your vicinity on a map. By tapping on an event icon, you can get a readable version of the event.

The application can be downloaded from the Google Play store. At present the application is only available for Android version 3 and higher. This is very much a work in progress, and the reason this is a trial is that we would very much like your feedback so that we can develop and improve this service for future releases. Feedback can be provided via the application or via the Google Play store. Unfortunately, we cannot provide individual responses to feedback, but may respond to common queries via this website or the Google Play store.