But increasingly, mobile users have fewer excuses for showing up late. More mobile apps are applying situational awareness and intelligence to help prod and prompt people to be punctual. Apps like Google Now, Twist and Bounce are leveraging what it can learn from a user’s calendar and analyzing it against current traffic conditions and a user’s present location. Then it can figure out the optimal moment to leave to ensure they show up on time.

Apps like this display a simple form of situational intelligence, in which software takes data from disparate systems and presents it in an intuitive way. It shows you what a smartphone can do as it gets access to more information from a user. Here’s how these three applications work:

• Google Now, which is available of Android 4.1 devices, scans your Google Calendar and then lets you know when to leave based on your location and how how bad traffic is. It can navigate you to your appointment, and it can also show you traffic info and the total expected travel time when it senses that you’re headed to a regular destination like work.
• Twist is an iPhone app that lets you share your estimated time of arrival with users. Users can enter in their destination or Twist can pull in calendar appointments. After you set a Twist, the app will tell you when to leave based on current conditions and then it will start broadcasting your ETA to recipients.
• Bounce, which started on Android and is now moving to the iPhone, works like the other apps, combining calendar and traffic data to tell you when to leave. But it allows users to set their own buffer, so they can set aside extra time.

The apps, however, also reveal some shared limitations. For instance, the apps require users to keep an accurate calendar. And if their appointment location information is not filled out or is hard to determine, the apps can’t figure where you’re headed, so they don’t know when to prompt you to leave. The apps do try to understand where you’re going even when you don’t put in an address but it doesn’t always work perfectly. I’d also like to see the app work in more weather and events data, which can also affect when I need to leave.

Ultimately, getting somewhere on time is our own responsibility, and I wouldn’t completely rely on an app to ensure I get there on time. But it’s nice to see more useful tools that blend a lot of data and real-time context to help users be more efficient or smart.

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The Twist app for iOS helps you share your estimated time of arrival with friends and colleagues, so they have an up-to-date sense of when they should expect you. The app uses your location and current traffic data to communicate an accurate arrival time. But it doesn’t start broadcasting your ETA until you leave.

The company, founded by serial entrepreneur and investor Bill Lee and Mike Belshe, an original Google Chrome team member,  just raised $6 million in funding from Bridgescale Partners and a number of other investors.

Users start a Twist by identifying where they are headed, which can be either a place or an address. The app plots a route for them by car, public transit or foot and provides an ETA. Users then decide with whom they want to share their Twist. The recipient gets a notice via text message or email when you leave your present location, as well as an estimate on your arrival time. Recipients can also request an update on your location while you’re en route. And if you run into traffic or stop off at a place, Twist updates your recipients on your new ETA. The app gives a notification when the user is one minute from their destination.

The service is kind of a mash-up between location sharing services like Glympse, which broadcast your current location, and Google Maps, which helps you navigate and plan trips. There are some nice touches like prompts to tell you when to leave to be on time, calendar integration which helps with easy routing to upcoming events and information about your destination. But the service has some limitations too. It only really works if you prepare ahead of time. You can program in favorite places, but you still have to remember to set a Twist beforehand to share your ETA. And it doesn’t work underground, which is how my wife and I usually travel.

I feel like Twist might be one of those apps you really wish your friends and family will use, but it might not be something you get into the habit of using yourself. Punctuality and communication are things that are easier to demand of others but harder to carry out yourself. But if you can remember to use it, Twist might be a nice way to be on time more often or, at least, it can help you be more thoughtful about communicating when you aren’t.

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