Mobile Google Feature Tracks Side Street Traffic

If you’ve ever opted for a side street while trying to avoid a congested highway and ended up in a worse mess, you’ve experienced a problem that Google is trying to solve. Most live traffic websites don’t report side-street congestion. With a new mobile feature for GPS-enabled phones — like the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and the Palm Pre — Google Maps can now track how fast its users are moving around an entire city and relay that info to its live traffic site. The results are a much more granular look at traffic congestion, and it’s available for free through Google Maps.

Google says it takes “almost zero effort” to participate; users only have to enable Google Maps with the My Location feature, which is pre-installed  on the Pre and myTouch. Transferring data to Google is optional, however, and the feature’s usefulness will depend on how many people have GPS-enabled phones and use the feature. After all, you’re basically giving away how fast you’re moving and where you’re going. Google assures users that the information is kept anonymous and private, however.

Comments

Wow, thats way neat. While very cool in theory, I think the majority of people wouldn't bother, and you'd still end up getting stuck in traffic. Maybe if you figured out what percentage of people actually used it, you could theorize actual traffic, hmmm....