A friend once told me that developers would have to first include in their system a real-time running advisory during heavy rains and flooding for him to become a true convert and avid fan of Goggle map or Waze,
In his life, he must have fallen victim to countless underwater shortcuts suggested by these apps on his phone. Laughingly, I told him that he’d have to also consult his phone’s weather report, which, unfortunately, is a separate feature.
At present, real-time advisories on what streets to avoid during traffic and heavy rains are still very much confined to taxi companies who employ radios to communicate with their several units.
For a long time, they already have this system in place: their command centers, after collating information radioed in by other company drivers on the ground, come up with a general picture of whatever the situation in the city streets, then pass it on back to all the units on the road. All on an hour-to-hour and daily basis.
Flustered as he was with the situation we were in, he finally muttered, why not, perhaps in the near future, especially in this new age of A.I., phone apps will have this feature which includes running advisories on what routes to choose. Also, offering alternative shortcuts in case these are not available at the moment, I added.
The amusing thing about this conversation, it happened a few months ago and actually took place as the street we were navigating at the time had become dangerously close to flooding. Being not any more familiar with the city’s roadways, he had become tentative on what route we should take, and Google Maps wasn’t much help. But as the song goes, that’s just the way it is. We trod on. Find a way. And that we did. By the skin of our lumpia.
I use the word again, ‘laughingly’ we joke, in the binocular, the Visayan term is “diskarte” (not the philosopher).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I just noticed diskarte or finding a way through any mess appears to be ill-distributed in some of our young today. Not to appear critical of this younger generation, but I’ve already known many who appear like animals frozen in the headlights whenever problems come their way.
To be fair, this is also traceably present among all age groups. It’s just that the drama coming out of this group is still something. To add, I might be vague in this, but the ability to make do with what’s available (diskarte) appears to be missing in the play kit they came in with.
Despite all, I still refuse to tack it down simply as a generational glitch, if ever there was such a thing. I’m sure, sooner or later, navigating through life’s rainy days and flooded streets may still prove to be the best teacher. Definitely much better than our real-time Googly maps and Waze.
