How can I get Cortana to give me traffic / public transport info for my places?

[Phil Bradburn]

Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

I am using a Lumia 735 in the UK.

I cannot get Cortana to give me a reminder to leave or leave earlier due to road traffic conditions. She has done it once or twice but never consistently. Basically - came up with a note on the screen saying that I should leave now otherwise I will be late.

I am guessing that I'm doing something slightly wrong (I put a calendar event with a location in my outlook calendar).

Aside from that, it has never worked with trains. I'm guessing that doesn't work in the UK.

Can anyone help?

 

[gpobernardo]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

I am using a Lumia 735 in the UK.

I cannot get Cortana to give me a reminder to leave or leave earlier due to road traffic conditions. She has done it once or twice but never consistently. Basically - came up with a note on the screen saying that I should leave now otherwise I will be late.

I am guessing that I'm doing something slightly wrong (I put a calendar event with a location in my outlook calendar).

Aside from that, it has never worked with trains. I'm guessing that doesn't work in the UK.

Can anyone help?

Welcome to Windows Central!

There seems to be nothing wrong with the setup you're creating with Cortana. However, just to be sure, it might be better to have the locations you're concerned with saved in your Maps app account - just save those places as a favorite. This way, the location would be prompted as you setup your appointment in the Calendar (as a drop down menu as soon as you begin typing the name of the location). This should let Cortana remind you more reliably.

However, keep in mind that Cortana is still in BETA. Not all features will be stable. For example, in my country, notifications for departure used to be pushed to my phone; unfortunately, all of those have disappeared for a few months now.

As soon as the BETA ends, we could expect these features to be more stable and more often available. In the meantime, you may send feedback about Cortana (at the bottom of the landing page) to help the developers and programmers make "her" better.

 

[theefman]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

Hasn't worked for me in months.

 

[Phil Bradburn]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

Thanks - will try that.

 

[lucazzo]

I'm in just about the same boat as you: Lumia 735 in the UK

I got some notifications around December and January from Cortana. Told me the status of a flight in December (but not on my return trip), and once gave me transit directions to my next appointment at a museum, and status of my commute while heading home.

But otherwise she has been silent since. Shows me top news per my settings, and occasional weather alerts ("Wind: yellow"), but nothing else. Calendar appointments all have fairly detailed locations to them, and it's like she doesn't recognize they exist.

Half the times I speak to her, she doesn't even recognize what I'm saying.

I don't know if it's the whole beta thing, or if the UK is missing a lot of good features, but Cortana has been remarkably useless.

 

[Phil Bradburn]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

It's wierd. I have had some success with getting a leave now update but only if I find the place on the map and make it a favorite. Never works otherwise. And it has to be a place like a company. And I have to include in location for the appointment. But I can't consistently do it. I do know that it never works if i don't do it in this way. I need to experiment more. Can't get it yo work for public transport. Only driving.

 

[Phil Bradburn]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

with getting a leave now update but only if I find the place on the map and make it a favorite. Never works otherwise. And it has to be a place like a company. And I have to include in location for the appointment. But I can't consistently do it. I do know that it never works if i don't do it in this way. I need to experiment more. Can't get it yo work for public transport. Only driving.

 

[Pedro Bustos]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

I am using a Lumia 735 in the UK.

I cannot get Cortana to give me a reminder to leave or leave earlier due to road traffic conditions. She has done it once or twice but never consistently. Basically - came up with a note on the screen saying that I should leave now otherwise I will be late.

I am guessing that I'm doing something slightly wrong (I put a calendar event with a location in my outlook calendar).

Aside from that, it has never worked with trains. I'm guessing that doesn't work in the UK.

Can anyone help?

Its all very well for people to say that Cortana is in Beta, but what REALLY REALLY annoys me is that these features clearly don't work in the UK, but we are constantly bombarded with Cortana TV commercials, where she says "leave now, or be late" (or words like it).

That says to me that these features SHOULD work.

 

[Jules W]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

Cortana has been in beta for nearly a year now in the UK, and despite all the TV adverts she is still pretty useless on most features. Very unreliable and inconsistent.

Windows 10 with Cortana, is due for World Wide Release in a few months. In her current form she is pretty much a joke compared to Google Now, outside the US.

 

[hotphil]

I'm not sure about that, I can't see Cortana being part of any World Wide Release.
Not unless MS somehow manages to acquire, integrate and maintain immense amounts of region-specific data. In a very short timeframe. Cortana won't be available/usable in most territories for many years, if ever.​

 

[wpfan86]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

I'm going to give this thread a bump. The traffic reminders are horribly inconsistent. I used to get the "time to leave" reminder every day before work and at the end of the work day. Then, one day, that just stopped. I found that by turning traffic reminders off, turning Cortana off, doing a soft reset, then turning Cortana and traffic reminders back on, that fixes the problem... for about a day.

I have only gotten traffic reminders for calendar appointments a handful of times (and I always check to make sure a location has been entered).

Very frustrating that after more than a year, this basic (and heavily advertised) feature doesn't work properly.

 

[lucazzo]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

Wpfan68: how do you set up the "correct" location on calendar appointments?

 

[wpfan86]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

Wpfan68: how do you set up the "correct" location on calendar appointments?

When you go to make your calendar entry, you'll see a "subject" box for the name of your event/appointment and directly under that you'll see a "location" box. If the location of your appointment is already saved as a favorite location in Maps, then you can just enter the name of that favorite location and it should come up automatically. If it's not saved as a favorite location, start typing the business' name where your appointment will be and it often comes up or just enter the address.

 

[gpobernardo]

Update: Traffic-related and departure reminders are now working in Cortana - in the Philippines. Anyone else experiencing this "fix"?

 

[Byrese]

Re: Cortana traffic / public transport info for my places

I'm going to give this thread a bump. The traffic reminders are horribly inconsistent. I used to get the "time to leave" reminder every day before work and at the end of the work day. Then, one day, that just stopped. I found that by turning traffic reminders off, turning Cortana off, doing a soft reset, then turning Cortana and traffic reminders back on, that fixes the problem... for about a day.

I have only gotten traffic reminders for calendar appointments a handful of times (and I always check to make sure a location has been entered).

Very frustrating that after more than a year, this basic (and heavily advertised) feature doesn't work properly.

Me too. i got them all the time. Yours working?