Highways are presented as unlabeled green lines. There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to see what road is depicted except perhaps to view a traffic camera output identifies the roadway shown. Of course, in metro areas, cameras are so densely located that the camera location view summarizes how many traffic are in a given area. Expanding the map to select a given camera shows the green lines without context, and you must know what highway whose cameras are depicted. This is not for through travelers, but for locals thoroughly familiar with the shape of their major highways.
We use several routes quite often around the Twin Cities and collar counties. We have found the farther you are from Hennepin and 1st, the less current data there is and the less accurate the 511 data becomes. A prime, and truly frustrating, example is Hwy 65 north, a very, very busy artery. It is under construction and modifications and lane closures. Yet the 511 “system “ says it is just fine, just normal, no problem!! Then why are we sitting in crammed lanes, slow traffic and increasing road rage, fueled by huge pickups constantly cutting us off and aggressively pushing their privileged “status” “earned by” size. I just now looked again and 511 indicates “no problem.” I’m very disgusted with 511’s minimal and inaccurate coverage. You folks should be ashamed. As my son said yesterday as he traveled north from Cottage Grove, “well that drive from 694 up the 25 miles on 65 is another hour and a half I’ll never get to spend again.” And, he checked 511 for road slow downs and closures!! Not a good system when it actually leads us into problems. Dr. Wayne Samuelson and extended families.
I have to presume the poor rating for this app is based on previous versions. I’ve been using this app since the beginning of winter (2022). I work 45-60 minutes from home, with the flexibility to work from home if needed. I rely on this app regularly to look at the road conditions on my route, and I’ve always found it reliable and up-to-date (or minute in this case). I like that I have the option to chose the legend filters I’d like to see so I can specify what I want to know without the map map getting clogged with info that isn’t important to me.
To 511mn: Please add an ON – OFF button to this app in the Settings to prevent battery drainage and the annoyance of unwanted alerts when not in use. I receive far too many crash alerts at a nonstop rate throughout the day because of stupid drivers. Whereas My 511mn Alerts are extremely helpful when I am about to drive somewhere, receiving alerts while I am at work with no plans to drive anywhere within the next half hour becomes extremely distracting, annoying, and wasteful of battery usage!! If you are not going to do anything about this problem, then I’m going to delete this app completely. Thank you for listening.
This app is awesome! We all want to know what condition the roads are in before we head out in the winter. This app let’s you see the actual road pictures from the highway camera’s. Additionally, you can get inside the plow truck and see the actual road images from the plow truck dash cam! The people that rate this app low don’t understand how the hwy Dept works I guess. They’re expecting someone to physically be out walking every mile of road and live teeeting the conditions. That’s not how it works. Have you ever started your car on a cold morning and the dash reads “Ice possible”??? That’s because it’s using the outdoor temp to make this assessment. Same thing here. There are weather stations throughout the state that are reporting the weather conditions. These stations have live camera feed as well as the plow trucks too. No better way to check the real, physical roads than that!
I use this so I can plan my routes accordingly. During one of the April storms road conditions listed as green when it should have been pink or at least blue on 28 Glenwood to Sauk center. Even after being home 2 hours it was still showing green. Roads were very very poor ice covered & compacted. Today morning commute blue which I expected & accurate on the map. This afternoon same blue at 1:30 In actuality roads completely clear /wet pavement. How can drivers report inaccurate conditions listed?
Before they “updated” this App it worked great! Now, not so much! So frustrating. The colors all blend into each other. One can’t tell with a quick glance the backed up areas from the roads that are moving quickly as it used to be. Before colors were bolder and the red backed up roads showed very easily. Now one has to spend a lot of time zooming in to tell what road has stopped traffic. Also the crashes and other disruptions are not as easily determined. Why “fix” something that isn’t broken???? Does anyone has suggestions for another App that one can get the same information on? I used to brag how easy our MN 511 App was to friends from other states. No more!
This version is much worse than the previous. It is very buggy and has annoying behaviors. When opening the app it zooms in closely to your current location. Previously it opened to last zoom which I strongly prefer. At least make it an option. Bugs are too numerous to list, but generally if you touch the screen on event icons, cameras, or pretty much anything, the app locks up and has to be reopened. It frequently locks up when using the layer selection. About the only thing that seems to work with any consistency is the traffic overlay. On the plus side it looks better, but with all the bugs it’s not much solace.
My husband and I have been using the app for years now. It’s very user friendly and has been a great help in trying to locate and find specific people and their locations. Whomever designed this needs to be aware of it’s importance. We live in Wisconsin and are not that familiar with road closures, ongoing construction and new locations for sites. Thank you very much🤗. Bob and Kathy Hirsch
If you’re dealing w/the April blizzard today this app might save you! You can see what the roads are like via traffic cams along your route, it tells you everything that’s happening on roads from crashes, closures, speeds, etc as it’s happening. I love that the app will ‘talk’ tell you what’s happening so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road. Very simple and easy to use app. Great design, smartly done. Thank you!!
It is not easy to navigate to find what your looking for in road conditions. With North Dakota its really just straight forward. Look at the map, they’re either green for open & good road condition or they are colored. On the left of their app is a ledger of colors with the condition of the road for each color. One can also drill down to look at the actual Highway as on the MN app too, plus many of tools. I travel a lot and MN road conditions app ranks among the worst I’ve used. MN app developers should pick up the phone and talk to the states that get higher reviews, it may just help.
I check the roads every time i want to leave. Today at 11:15 am it told me the roads were normal.... guess what they were icy as hell. I looked at the update time and it was between 3 am and 6 am. That’s dangerous that you dont constantly update road conditions. It snowed this morning and it wasn’t taken into consideration. I depend on knowing current road conditions to safely travel. In the past i have noticed this same problem: road conditions are not current! Hwy 6 north from deer river still hasnt been updated since 3 am this morning it is 3:03 pm now and the road is slick! Im supposed to be able to depend on this app for my safety.
Since the new update and makeover the app doesn’t work well. I click on an icon on the map to see the problem but the ‘X’ won’t bring me back. If I go to ‘more’ from the map to look at something else again nothing takes me back to the map. I must close the app and start over. Please correct these issues. And just let me see the map with winter driving. I don’t want to be forced to put in a route. I pick my route based on the roads. With a route line, I can’t see the color of the winter driving conditions.
I use this app on my iPad to ensure before I decide to venture out in weather, I can see should I. There is no option in settings for WiFi only. Msg pops up all the time to ask me if I’m driving. I select “I’m not a driver” and it will ask again next time. I left my location,I’m on WiFi. My iPad does not have Cellular capability and it’s not tethered to my phone. 👩🏻💻🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
One of the main reasons I go to this website or bring up this app on my phone is to look up road construction on a travel route. On the old app and website there was almost always a link to the construction project website. From here I could learn about the progress and schedule of the project. He new app and website almost never provide a link. (I found one after checking over 20 projects.) This is bad. You get a poor rating.
Traffic speeds should always be on the map, if you have it tabbed in the layers on the app. I always have to go back to the layers, uncheck it and then recheck it. Yes, the update worked and can see traffic speeds without having to go back and uncheck the tab and check it again. Thank you! Works like a charm
What a wasted effort by MnDOT! First, there is no home button to take you back to your current location after you have searched for something. If you search for MIA (MInneapolis Institute of Art) the only search results are Miami. If I was in Miami I would use Florida 511. Under “more options” the rate this app doesn’t work. Obviously the programmers knew they did want feedback for such a poor effort. Needless to say I will be uninstalling this app and using the Iowa 511 app. At least it shows me the traffic problems.
It used to be very easy to see road conditions anywhere in the state. After the so called update, I can no longer just open it to a map of the whole state. Instead it opens at my address and I have to change the size of the map to see anything. And theres a box across the entire screen covering the middle of the view so I can’t see what I want. This is not worth the hassle. Too bad, since it used to be very helpful and informative
I am not going to use your alerts for months, but I can’t find an “off”button to stop all the interruptions without deleting my account, which only means having to set it up again. A year ago someone asked you to set that up, but apparently nothing has happened with that.
The new version is hard to see the traffic color differences. The color bands are too narrow. In the old version it was very easy to see if the red lane was westbound or eastbound. It is also difficult to determine if the lane is yellow or green. You need to beta test the new app changes with a variety of age groups- as we age our eyes are not the same as a 22 yearold. I liked the previous version a lot better.
I liked the older site a lot better when I first come on the updated site you have to make the site a lot smaller or narrow it done to see where you are and you didn’t before hope this can be fixed. Thanks for the site tho as I use it alot the mehurin 212 site must have one camera view not working
The new format is too technical. I don’t need driving directions. As a driver who is quickly leaving somewhere due to weather or an accident or construction you just want to quickly look at what is happening around you. The app should open up to the events near me map. Then putting in route to look along the way could be an option to select for more in depth. Used to be my go to, but now I don’t bother.
I don’t have the option to select winter driving anymore. What happened to that? It doesn’t show if the roads are green, blue, pink or purple. It only has the option to see how fast traffic is going.
After the latest update to this app, I can no longer figure things out as easily. I’m trying to find road closure information, or construction closures/detours. Seems to be there used to be a place to click that would give a description of the affected roads, duration, detours. I can’t find the usual things anymore. I don’t even see “road construction” as an option in the list of things you can view.
I find this app is great at giving up to date road info. Almost never any issues using it. The road cameras are great and those plow cameras a nice bonus. Keep up the good work and please send help to the Wisconsin 511 app developers they can really use it. Thanks.
I have found that the app does not stay active on your phone, does not lock on your locstion as you drive, and the traffic speeds do not update every couple of minutes like your previous version. Please add those as they are a great help for me, otherwise this app is useless.
I would like to be able to use this app for winter road conditions however, most of the time that layer disappears. I have to delete the app and reinstall but even then, the layer may not be there. Very frustrating!
This app is worthless if you’re trying to look at and find out road conditions. Partially covered...with what? Visibility of roads is not at all taken into consideration. Very vague and more times than not, very inaccurate. The road pictures are often not updated, they simply change the date and time- very misleading to travelers and it is dangerous. Lots of work needs to be done to make this app useful and safe to use. I’m very disappointed.
It appears to be basically a Google app but wastes far too much screen space on the destination search bar and icon bar. Users want to see as much map as possible and the wasted space at the bottom hides a lot of the map.
If I could give it no stars it would still be too many
Currently there is major roadwork between Hwy 14 and Highland Avenue in New Ulm. A roundabout is being constructed. On my iPhone I have been able to access Live Photos of construction going on, but on my iPad I am not able to access any of these features. Do you have two systems or two apps, that is not right. . . . .please fix.
I am not sure why, but it seems like the road reports this year depicted on the app are extremely inaccurate. I have witnessed in multiple occasions where the most recent road report is showing dry conditions and the roads end up being snow covered or icy. Never had this issue in years past with the 511 app, so hopefully they can get it figured out.
Put the legend back on the bottom of the screen! You can hardly find the layers option and the legend is now tucked away where you have to search a menu option and go looking for it each time. Very difficult to find things now…especially if you are traveling. Bring back the old version!
I absolutely love this app hasn’t let me down yet! Only problem I’ve noticed it the camera by silver lake on highway 7 still isn’t working and hasn’t been for quite some time now.
Older app showed better traffic volumes. This new app always shows yellow when there’s hardly any traffic. Bring back the old graphics. Older graphics did a better job of actual conditions.
I wish there were a list of road closures & road conditions during storms, for example. It’s too hard to touch one of the spots where there are issues when there are so many, especially on a cell phone.
What were you thinking?? The app was fantastic - easy to use and no need to enter anything. Now Google wants you to enter a destination - I can’t find where my bets might be able to be seen I have to find something else. I have a position where I travel. Quite a bit in the winter. This was my go to app. Not anymore.
Honestly I'm pretty impressed with the app as it is (Dec. 2022). I feel like it's well put together, and clearly displays the information I want. Thanks!!
I’m not sure who your new app designers are, but they should be fired. The previous app worked wonderful, was easy to navigate and the camera images displayed quickly. I tried on multiple devices and non were better than the other. I would give this new designed app 0 stars if it allowed me to. It’s HORRIBLE!!!
I live in Wisconsin and work in Minnesota. I spend a lot of my leisure time in Minnesota because I grew up there. Wisconsin has a “travel to” option in their 511. When used the 511 system tells you how the roads are for your specific travel plans.
Many of the buttons and functionality does not work on a MacBook Pro M1. Too bad because it's very useful and would be cool to get the alerts on my MacBook instead of having to go to the site please redesign the app to make it work.
It’s not bad. Up to date, show accidents and cameras in real time. Black ice is often labeled as “dry pavement”. I have skidded and slid a handful of times on “clear” roads that were glistening with ice. If the road lines are visible, this app may lead you astray. Look for spin outs, not driving layers.
The app was working wonderfully for a long time, now whenever I want to see traffic, I open the app and it shuts off, open closes, open closes, doesn’t mater how many times I open it, it closes.
This was not an improvement! The info you get from any incident is so general it’s almost worthless. Several times I have tried to select an incident or search for a road and I get, “Application error, we are having technical issues.” I can’t see using this app for getting helpful travel info.
This version is far less user friendly than previous versions. Overly complicated and despite using it a number of times to check winter driving conditions i still have not been able to figure out the legends. Why the need to completely revamp an app that was so good before??
The old site and app used to be so helpful and accurate. I used the new app during a trip to northern Minnesota is the winter- the app would tell me roads were normal when they were actually dangerous and ice covered. Also said there were crashes that had been long since cleaned up. Very unreliable and frustrating.
After the new update yesterday, it’s so hard to see the colors of the driving speeds without significantly zooming in. There is really no contrast to the background and to have to click up in the corner for all the different layers when they used to be right at the bottom of the screen.
This is data without hyperbole. Easy to see crashes and spinouts along my route. I can decide to delay travel or find alternate routes based on the info.
Minnesota 511 is the Minnesota Department of Transportation's traveler information resource. The 511MN app provides statewide, real-time traffic information for Minnesota highways and interstates, including: - Hands-free, audio notifications of traffic events while you drive - Zoom-enabled map with selectable event icons - Near real-time updates on winter road conditions, traffic incidents, and road closures - Roadwork and construction - Travel time delays associated with traffic reports (look for the orange glowing icons) - Current traffic speeds - Roadside camera images and live video capabilities - Road weather information - Snow plow camera images - Rest area locations including real-time truck parking availability for select state-run rest areas - Electronic roadway sign messages Learn about Minnesota's Law on wireless communication devices in vehicles at https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/statutes/?id=169.475 The MnDOT privacy policy can be found at http://www.dot.state.mn.us/information/disclaimer.html#privacy Drive safely! Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
