Haven’t used this new version yet but the old one was worthless for figuring out road construction. It would show construction still for places that had been completed for weeks after completion. Example was road work on Hwy 28 between Hot Springs and Hwy 93! I drove that piece regularly and while they were doing work for a couple weeks, the app continued to show it for weeks after. I finally deleted the app as found it worthless
It’s very hard to look at a glance and figure this map out. The key is hard to find and just as hard to use. Having to read the road conditions is a step backwards. Also the printed description doesn’t include in which direction conditions exist. It’s also hard to find the cameras. When you do it seems there are fewer camera angles. Many cameras had multiple angles previously. If they do now it’s hard to access. The overlay of various features is cluttered and nearly impossible to use. Why are the symbols for various features also hard to recognize now? Like the camera symbol looking like a paint roller. If someone would put the old app as it was back into use I’d gladly pay a monthly fee and delete this worthless version. I’ve read the reasoning. The old app needed updated. That’s understandable. But it didn’t mean scrapping a useful tool in favor of something that’s absolutely not user friendly. How many one star ratings and scathing reviews will it take to return this app to as similar to previous version as possible?
There’s a lot of information in this app, and all in all it’s everything you need to know about the roads. I really like how you can swipe on the road cams and it’ll give you the next one down the road. As a truck driver I wish there was a road camera on Cardwell, and I wish they would update the pictures of the road cams more frequently. I drive these roads everyday and know that in the winter the roads change very quickly. The update times are more than 40 minutes behind and that’s just not fast enough. I also wish you could use multiple features at one time. This app has a lot of potential and I like the update so far though.
The old version was easy to use. At a glance, road conditions were easy to see, and with a simple swipe, the legend would better define the actual conditions. This new version has eliminated that function. I still haven’t found the legend. Currently one has to read the conditions report as opposed to simply looking at the map as in the previous version. Huge, wasteful step backwards. My official rating would be 1/2 a star it I could. Updated review: after trying to use this worthless app, my decision has not changed. There’s no cities noted. While trying to help my granddaughter navigate roads, she kept asking where was a certain city. We had to refer to a Rand McNally map and compare them side by side. Worthless app. Find another one to use.
I originally gave this app one star. After taking time to play with it I have to agree that it does provide enhanced “planning” tools for your trip but is a step backward for one simple reason when it comes to “managing” your trip. When driving in the winter I want to be on top of changing road conditions. It was much simpler on the old app to check the color codes for the road conditions. Now that takes a couple of screens to get to the “legend” for the 12 different color codes. Simpler is better for my purposes.
I wasn’t a user of the old app so i can’t compare. But I am very happy to have this on my phone now. It was easy to set up my favorite road cameras to view and then toggle between different views. The overlays are great to change what you want to focus on. For the complaints about not seeing the key, there is a large key icon at the bottom of the map. Yes it’s a pop up, but I understand for space reasons why it’s necessary.
I wasn’t a big user of the old app, but this looks like an improvement to me and I’m likely to use it more often. I just have a few quibbles with how the legend is implemented. First, it would be helpful if it could be parked on the screen, off to the side somewhere, and could be toggled on or off as the user gains familiarity with the various colors, etc. As it stands, I have to go back and forth between the legend and the map several times to figure out which route to take. Second, the legend would be simpler to decipher if it were context-sensitive, showing only the layers that the user has turned on. Third, the legend is dismissed by tapping an orange checkmark, which isn’t consistent with the rest of the app, where you can just tap anywhere on the map to make an overlay go away. All in all, good work!
Not sure about why so many complaints about the new version, other than it is just different than the old and people want to resist change (I get that). I think the new version is easier to use and provides better information faster than the old, which was really dated. Kudos for stepping up.
Every time they re-invent the wheel it works less efficiently. This app is no different. It should not require a degree in computer science to operate it. The old version was much more user friendly. But that’s why some college educated idiot had to change it. Because it was useful. And it worked in seconds. I could pull off the highway , check the road report, and be traveling again in two minutes or less. But now it’s at least twenty minutes. Or longer. If this required a subscription I would not pay for this garbage.
All these reviewers that gave it a bad rating must struggle with change. It’s a perfectly user-friendly upgrade. Just take a few moments to learn the new way around rather than opening it up and throwing a fit because it’s not exactly the same as the old one.
Not much better than the older version. Legend not readily visible. I like the easier access to road cameras, but wish more cameras were available. App on my iPad just crashed, locked up and was showing a blank screen only. I had to delete app and reload to fix the issue.
The previous app was elegant and easy to navigate. I actually was at a conference where it was used to use it as an example of good and universal design for all skills and user. This is clunky and impossible to use while traveling, maps are no longer intuitive and difficult to decipher. My older family members have given up using it. Very disappointed at the Gianforte administration here. No reason to waste time and money replacing something that wasn’t broken.
Appreciate the details provided especially with how interesting MT weather can get. There are lots of layers for conditions and I take that over vague any day. Want to see a worthless reporting tool? Take a look at Idaho’s version of this, that will give you perspective.
Title says it all. Move the button that plays the robot voice of someone reading the weather report. That’s where the “close”button typically is, not a “play sound” button. I always end up having to close the app to get that robot voice to stop telling me how icy it is.
Wyoming 511 is simple and easy to use. I wish the Montana 511 was easier to navigate and use. There’s like 12 different “road conditions options” and Wyoming has 5. Montanas cameras don’t even freaking work???? I was trying to travel through and the cameras were no help and pitch black. The Wyoming cameras keep updated and have night vision so you can see them in the dark. I’m extremely disappointed in this app.
The old version of this app was simple and easy to see at a quick glance exactly what to expect on the road. Even people who were not tech savvy could figure out the information they needed. This new version not intuitive at all. For example, where is the legend?! The old version also made it easy to pull up traffic cam photos of conditions. Very disappointed that a previously useful app is now gone.
This app is just bad, completely missed the bar on what a road conditions map should be it’s not easy to use not user-friendly and it’s just. Added useless features and made the legend so difficult to see and use that it almost makes it unusable. Unless it’s fixed to something way better which I’m told is in the works skip it and use something else. Shame on you montana this is bad
The old app was so much better. You can’t look at the map and legend at the same time so you have to go back and forth over and over. Really disappointing, and navigating on the map while reading the legend is impossible. I can’t believe it hasn’t been changed as the reviews from two years ago state the same problem. Give us the old app back! This is trash.
Better than expected from a free state app. It’s better than the website and will live on my phone forever now. That’s it. Rating 5 to balance the hate.
Why would you hide the legend, then when you find it, it covers the map so you can’t look at it and the roads that will be traveled on. The old map was updated constantly by the snowplow drivers calling into dispatch, so the conditions were very current. The old conditions map also had when it was last updated. Change is NOT always for the better!
This updated app is light years ahead of the old version. Far more intuitive and user friendly. Super simple to get text descriptions of what to expect as well as weather in the area.
The new UI looks good but the map wasn’t accurate today. We’ve had snowy/icy conditions in Bozeman area over the last 4 hours and the app still lists everything in green (dry roads). This isn’t accurate and I’m hoping you guys can get it sorted out as I really relied on the old version for travel decisions.
No logical reason to completely overhaul the old app that people never had issues with. Whoever came up with the ridiculous design and development decisions in this should be fired immediately. It’s like Montana outsourced this entire new app upgrade project to some third world Bangladesh app developers for pennies on the dollar. App is a complete disaster that causes more people Issues than helps. Pathetic
I find this new app is harder to use and not user friendly. The key comes up in the middle of the map. It would be more useful on the side of the map. Why aren’t the cameras on the map where they could be easily available? Having to figure out the highway numbers to use the camera is frustrating. I don’t use this app while driving.
They updated this app and its worthless. The older version was more user friendly. Why in earth would you make it difficult to understand road conditions when a person wants to travel? There are more steps and trying to figure out road conditions is difficult! Shame on you guys!! Horrible
This app is not intuitive. If I’m traveling and want to stop for a minute to check the map, I don’t want to have to read an extensive road conditions report. I just want to glance at the map to see the conditions. Bring back the old map!
Just awful. I can get around computers and apps quickly. But not here. It’s a mess. The road color/symbol codes require Sherlock Holmes to figure out where they’re located. It’s a waste of time trying to figure it out. Please go back to the old system which was easy to follow. Updating software is okay for something that needs help. The old system didn’t.
This app is slow and clunky, the older version was fast and responsive, I hope this is worked on in time as it is frustrating and almost not worth the hassle most of the time.
Whose idea was it to change this map? The old system was functional and easy to read… this new system it’s impossible to follow unless maybe you’re a computer geek. Give us the option of going back to the old map so we don’t have to deal with this BS….Very frustrating and dangerous to the Montana traveler
The app is hard to use and not accurate at all at times. This used to be a very dependable app. Closures in Livingston only show up in traffic speed and not in road conditions. Please fix or discontinue the app. Too many people rely on accurate travel info, especially in the winter, for this app to perform as poorly as I does.
This app is absolutely worthless as well as the homepage. It used to be you could look at the map and immediately see through color coding what the road conditions were. Now you have to click on the road and read a bunch of text to get the information. Thanks for nothing.
This is terrible. The old map was so simple. Look at the color and you know what to expect. I used the old one all the time because we travel often. I can’t even figure this new system out. Please go back to a map like the old one that is easier to navigate
I agree this is a horrible update and a total step backwards. I can’t even begin to imagine how many tax dollars were spend developing an update that did not need to happen. Bring back the old app! The previous version was way more user friendly!
It’s like the programmers went wild and tried to add in all the things but it’s become bloated and at times unusable. We just want to know if there’s black ice on the road or blowing snow, etc. Please consider simplifying it again.
Are use the old app whenever I took a trip out of Montana. He told me everything I wanted to know. How this app tells me is that I won’t use it. After I write this review, I plan to delete the app. I hope state dollars weren’t used to develop it, and the developers are to be ashamed.
I very rarely write reviews, but as this app was particularly bad, I thought it was worth the time. Don’t bother, don’t download it. Use Waze and dial 511 to get weather updates. It’s so non intuitive, nothing about weather in the default display, and you should be able to tap the route and immediately read weather conditions about it. There is no legend to explain what the various colors and lines mean. If you have to go digging, it isn’t worth the time. That’s the nutshell: just not worth the time.
It’s now 9:25 pm with a winter weather advisory on my weather app. The information on this useless MDT511app was last updated at 1:46 this afternoon! Also terrible to use where are the cameras! This used to be so simple. Fire the clowns that conceived this trash and bring back the old app!!!
I use it on my iPad and almost impossible to click on a road and get an answer. Most of the time nothing comes up. This morning Billings and Bozeman were “not available”. Pretty useless for vital information.
This “new” and updated map is worthless, hard to read, not user friendly very cumbersome. Where did the snow plow cams go? This app is not an upgrade to the old one, definitely a down grade.
Took an easy to use application and made it abysmal. Some new information is useful but not at expense of workable format. Person who signed off on this should be reassigned or let go. Terrible waste of Montana taxpayer dollars.
This was a useful app that is now so clunky and unfriendly. It took crazy turns. Looking at Macdonald pass I was connected to Ingomar! Why are cameras so hard to find at all much less follow? Trying to enter a route is so difficult I gave up.
Alot of information and high learning curve. Wasteful and not a quick look while driving. So complicated that is close to worthless. Older system was better. Nice if you’re just catering to out of state people.
At best they update road conditions twice a day in the winter. The old version was way better. In Montana this MUST be updated more often if you want this to be an app that can be used.
This app is an example of fixing something that wasn’t broken. The old MDT map was quick and easy to read. This abomination is equally inconvenient and uninformative.
The Montana 511 mobile application provides real-time access to traffic and traveler information supplied by the Montana Department of Transportation (Montana DOT). Maps depict current traffic conditions, as well as incident and construction events that can impact traffic on all Interstate, U.S., and State Routes. Alert, and weather information is also available. The map indicates the location of roadside cameras, which allow users to view current traffic conditions. As users move through the highway network, the app can keep track of their location on the map. Montana DOT's Twitter feeds are also accessible and provide information impacting traffic across the state's regions. Powered by ClearRoute™
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