WSDOT Twitter Voice Reports Win Netbook Contest for Twitter Mashups

WSDOT Twitter Voice Reports Win Netbook Contest for Twitter Mashups

This past week, we challenged Twilio developers to build mashups with Twitter to voice enable the social web for the chance to win a Dell mini Netbook in our weekly contest.  Among the fun, creative, and useful submissions one application developed by Wayne Dyck at the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) stood out as truly groundbreaking.

UPDATE: The Twitter + Twilio category was so popular, that we are keeping the same category this week and developers who submitted last week are eligible to resubmit.  The deadline for submissions will be 11:59pm “midnight” on Sunday night.  Submit here

How WSDOT Twitter Voice Reports Work

If you are a Twitter user, you can receive automated voice calls for wait times at Washington State Ferries terminals and northbound Canadian border crossings by sending a direct message to @wsdot. You can send a direct message either from Twitter or from your phone via SMS. Include the terminal or border route id, and the phone number you would like to receive the call back on, and we’ll send it to you.

If
you are a Twitter user you can receive automated voice calls for wait
times at WSF terminals by sending a direct message to WSDOT. Send a
direct message either from Twitter or from your phone via SMS,
include the terminal id and the phone number you would like to receive
the call on and we’ll send it to you.

For a direct message from Twitter use this format:

wsf [terminal id] [phone number]

Example: wsf ana 360-XXX-XXXX

For current wait times from your cellphone, send a text message to 40404 using this format:

d wsdot wsf [teriminal id] [phone number]

Example: d wsdot wsf ana 360-XXX-XXXX

Terminal ids are based on the first three letters of the terminal name.

Getting voice Canadian border wait times via Twitter

If
you are a Twitter user you can receive automated voice calls for
northbound Canadian border wait times by sending a direct message to
WSDOT. Send a direct message either from Twitter or from your phone via
SMS, include the route id and the phone number you would like to
receive the call on and we’ll send it to you.

For a direct message from Twitter use this format:

border [route id] [phone number]

Example: border 5 360-XXX-XXXX

For current border wait times from your cellphone, send a text message to 40404 using this format:

d wsdot border [route id] [phone number]

Example: d wsdot border 5 360-XXX-XXXX

Route ids are based on the northbound highway number.

For more information, read all the details about this application on the WSDOT website.