Web Help: My511 Email Alert Service

1. What are My511 e-mail alerts?
2. Is my personal information safe?
3. Why do I need to register?
4. What is my password?
5. How many e-mail addresses can I use to receive alerts?
6. How many alerts can I define?
7. How do I set up an alert?
8. Can I customize my alerts?
9. What kind of information is contained in alerts?
10. Must I log in every time I visit the Web site?
11. Why can't I access my account information?
12. Suppose I want to change an alert I've created?
13. Why didn't I get an alert?
14. Why don't I get any alerts?
15. What roads can I get alerts for?
16. How large are the alert messages?

What are My511 e-mail alerts?

The 511 Tampa Bay Web site features a powerful, personalized e-mail alert feature. Once you register and set up e-mail alerts, we notify you if there are incidents and travel times for sensored roadways on your commute or travel route. Now you can get an E-mail at work just before you head home that tells you what to expect when you start driving. Or you can have the alert sent to your cell phone or other mobile device to get just the traffic information you want, when you want it. Best of all, it's a free service that is provided to you by FDOT as a part of the 511 Tampa Bay service.

Is my personal information safe?

Any personal information you provide for My511 is protected. We will never sell it to a third party or use it to contact you. The only thing we will use your information for is to provide you with the service you've registered for. For more details, please read our privacy policy.

Why do I need to register?

Registration is necessary for keeping track of your alerts and for sending alerts (a successful alert requires a valid e-mail address). Registration requires the following information: username, e-mail address and zip code. Username and e-mail address have to be unique for each user.

What is my password?

When you register we'll send an e-mail with an automatically generated password to the e-mail address that you provide. This ensures that your e-mail address is valid so we can be sure that you'll receive your alerts. If you don?t receive this confirmation e-mail, you might have typed your address incorrectly. Once you receive your password, you can login and change it to one of your own choice.

How many e-mail addresses can I use to receive alerts?

You can add one additional e-mail address for alerts.

How many alerts can I define?

You can define five (5) alerts.

How do I set up an alert?

To set up an alert, log in to your account, click on the "new alert" link and follow the on-screen instructions. Basically you need to define the road that you're interested in, the times that the alert should be active, and what kind of information you want or don't want.

Alerts can be defined for an entire roadway (all segments in one direction) or a single roadway segment in one direction. Alerts can be scheduled for any start time to occur on any day or combination of days. If you define an end time, we?ll send you updates during that time window as traffic conditions change. Alerts go into effect about 15 minutes after they are created on the web site.

You can also click the 'Alert Me' link on a road or segment page to start the process.

Can I customize my alerts?

Yes. You can choose alerts based on:

• Where (which roadway or roadway segments).
• When (a start time and an optional end time, and day of the week for the alert). A schedule with a start time and no end time will result in a single alert being sent with roadway conditions at the time scheduled. If you provide a start time and end time the same starting alert will be sent so that you have a baseline knowledge of the roadway at the beginning of your schedule, and subsequent alerts will be sent for each new traffic item that occurs on the roadway between the start and end times.
• What (traffic item severity threshold and travel time delay threshold). Traffic items have a criticality value associated with them that indicates how great an impact that item will have on traffic flow. When defining an alert, you can choose which items will trigger an alert by defining the severity as "only the most serious", "important", or "all". For roadways with travel times available, you can define how large a delay will trigger an alert.
• Who (e-mail address(es) that will receive the alert)

You can also:

• Filter out certain elements, such as construction and scheduled events.

What kind of information is contained in alerts?

Once the alert goes into effect, you will receive e-mail with traffic conditions on the roadway or segment chosen. If you don't set an end time for the alert schedule, you will get a single message conveying current conditions of the roadway including travel time (where available) and incidents at the start time of the alert. If you define an end time for the alert, you will receive a new e-mail message as new traffic items occur or conditions worsen on your route. You can also choose not to receive this initial alert if no items match your criteria.

Must I log in every time I visit the Web site?

When you log in, you can choose the "Keep me Logged in" checkbox. If you do this, we will store your log in information on you computer in a 'cookie'. Cookies are small files that your browser stores to remember information about a Web site. Once you?ve logged in this way you won't have to log in again to check traveler information. However, you will still have to log in to view or change your account information.

If you have cookies turned off in your browser, automatic log in will not work and you won't be able to set up e-mail alerts.

Why can't I access my account information?

You must log in with your correct username and password to access your account information, even if you have selected the "Keep me Logged in" option. This ensures that your personal information will be kept secure.

Suppose I want to change an alert I've created?

Once you've created an alert, you can change its schedule, the information settings, or the delivery address. If you want an alert on a different road or segment you have to create a new alert. If you've reached your alert limit, you'll have to delete an existing alert in order to create a new one.

Why didn't I get an alert?

Sometimes e-mail just doesn't get through. This is rare, but it's always possible.

There also may be no incidents on the road. There is an option in the alert set up to "Don't alert me if nothing meets my criteria". What this means is that if nothing serious is happening on the road when your alert schedule starts we won't send you anything. In this case, you can assume that the road is OK.

Why don't I get any alerts?

If you've never gotten an alert, make sure that the e-mail address that you entered is correct. We send your password to the first address you send us, but we don't verify the second one.

What roads can I get alerts for?

You can get an alert for any road in the system.

How large are the alert messages?

We make every effort to keep the alert messages as brief as possible. But the size of an alert depends on the number of incidents on the road and your incident threshold settings. If you've set up an alert to give you all incidents and there are a lot of problems, the message could be quite large.