One of the most annoying worries of the modern world is heading out for something important and then getting stuck in a traffic jam. However, if you’re proactive and plan your journey well ahead of time, situations involving those infuriating traffic jams can, in fact, be avoided.
There are a number of tools that can provide a general idea about traffic conditions in a certain area including;
- Waze
- Inrix
- MapQuest
- Sygic
- VicTraffic
Even some radio stations provide important traffic updates throughout the day on a regular basis.
However, the web-based application that's by far the most popular among all the traffic update tools and services is Google Maps a smartphone application designed by Google.
If you own a smartphone and travel frequently, it's almost impossible not to have used Google Maps. It's an incredibly powerful app that not only acts as a standard GPS device and directs you to locations, but also gives you suggestions on the fastest routes to reach your chosen destinations.
In order to provide relevant traffic predictions and real-time updates on traffic conditions, Google Maps employs a highly sophisticated algorithm. Google Maps' early versions only used data from traffic cameras and sensors installed by government transportation agencies and some private businesses, which compiled traffic data for a variety of uses.
These sensors used laser radar or active infrared technology that observed the general size and speed of vehicles to determine how fast overall traffic was moving. Initially, Google will collect this information and then add it to maps for people to use. However, that method of determining traffic conditions is obsolete today.
Google Maps now uses a more enlightened, reliable and brilliant technique called crowdsourcing to power the app and provide its users with the latest traffic updates on the go.
Crowd–sourcing is a fascinating model to collect information on by subject, whether that is traffic conditions, reviews about products or even memes! It is a sourcing model where an organization procures services or goods from a large number of people, usually via the Internet.
For instance, the famous ice cream company - Ben and Jerry’s - conducted a crowd–sourcing contest to come up with a new ice cream flavor. Participants were supposed to submit their flavor idea, and in return, they would get a prize.
Since 2009, Google Maps has utilized crowd–sourcing to enhance the accuracy of its traffic updates and predictions.
If you use your smartphone to navigate around a city, you already know that you need to turn on your phone's GPS to use the navigation feature in Google Maps. In simpler terms, if you want to know about traffic conditions in real time, you need to keep your phone’s “Location” turned on.
When you’re driving and your phone’s location is turned on, it sends bits of data, anonymously,to Google Maps.
In this way, Google learns how fast your device — and by extension, your car — is driving. The same is the case with other cars on the road. Their phones are also sending bits of data to the Google database.
The app continuously merge this massive amount of data from all the cars on the road, processes it, and then sends it back to those same phones in the form of real-time traffic updates. In other words, Google Maps gets the data it needs to provide live traffic updates from your phone and the phones of other drivers.
What's interesting about this technique is that if you don't want Google to collect location data from your phone, you can always opt out of the service by toggling your phone's location to 'off'.
However, if you do this, you won't even be able to see live traffic updates in Google Maps.
Pretty smart, don’t you think?
Overall, Google Maps is an incredibly useful and intelligent app that not only takes you places but also helps ensure that you don't spend half your life in traffic jams!
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