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03.01.07
Google Maps Gets Real-Time Traffic Reports
 By
Jason Lee Miller
Just once, I'd like to see somebody launch something cool from the Heartland out, instead of the other way around. Whatever it is, big cities get it first, worry about the red states later. Because if you want to take advantage of Google Maps' new real-time traffic reporting, you'll have to not live in Lexington, Kentucky.
All the traffic is in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago, apparently. And don't bother saying Louisville's included in the top 30 cities Google provides traffic info for. It won't help me at all knowing traffic 70 miles away. Besides, Louisville cheated by redistricting the surrounding counties.
That's okay, I suppose. All you really need to know in Lexington is whether or not it's raining. If it's raining, you're screwed: plan on long, inch-along delays.
The feature color-codes areas on the map according to the speed at which traffic is moving, corresponding with the traditional color scheme of the traffic light. Red, as you might imagine, means traffic is not really moving at all; yellow (more of an orange on my screen) means slower, but still 25-50 mph; and green means step on the gas before you get rear-ended.
It is unclear how Google collects the data for this feature, but online marketing consultant Emad Fanous has hopes for how they don't do it.
This is a much better interface than the hard to understand/read icons similar to Caltrans (and other traffic mappers). Rather than seeing where a traffic accident has occurred and that backup begins from there, you can see how far the backup goes. Hopefully this info is accurate and is not just a “point-to-point” reading where they have read the car speeds through sensors in the roads at two different locations that may be too far apart and have decided to color code the entire are between them as red (rather than using some sort of algorithmic extrapolation such as the change in speeds between the two locations to estimate where speeds slow down/stop.
Man, I just love it when he talks physics.
JkOnTheRun's Kevin C. Tofel notes something interesting about. Google pulled a reverse on this one:
It's interesting to see a service hit mobiles first and then get migrated to the desktop clients, but there's definitely value. Folks in an office setting can quickly use Google Maps on the desktop or laptop before leaving work, for example; that's likely much easier than pulling out a mobile handheld for the same info.
About the Author:
Jason L. Miller is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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