[salberry1952]

I don't know if this has been discussed before. I apologize if it has.

I noticed that the new Google Maps 3.2.0 (mobile) shows traffic info (Red, Yellow, Green) on non-freeway, surface streets, where traffic sensors are not normally installed. I saw this on most major thoroughfares like Boulevards.

I guessed that Google might have been using the pings from the "Latitude" users to create traffic maps. I tried a little experiment, I activated Latitude on my Googlemaps and drove Northbound (NB) on a street that showed no traffic indicator color. There was no change on the map.

I then made a U-turn and went SB on the same street to where I started my experiment. Still no color change.

But after the second NB pass, about a minute later, the road on the map turned green indicating my quick speed through that zone. I was the only car on this street.

I u-turned again and went SB once more and the SB side of the street turn green also.

How ingenious!

I had heard a few years ago that cities were thinking of doing away with expensive sensors on the freeways and use the random signals from motorists cellphones. I guess Google proved it could be done.

The fear for me is, the Big Brother crowd thinking of ways to make more money for their municipalities, using this system to track your speed and thus mail you a citation (A La traffic signal camera).

[ekyle125]

Some regular GPS systems like Garmin will tell you if you are speeding or not. They don't send up any signals to the government, I don't think as many people would use them if they did. As far as the man tracking your speeds through Google Maps, I wouldn't worry. I think the technology is still too unreliable and inaccurate for them to issue a citation with any certainty.

[myers022]

Google Maps for Mobile users become traffic beacons
8/25/2009 08:16:00 AM

If you use Google Maps for mobile with GPS enabled on your phone, that's exactly what you can do. When you choose to enable Google Maps with My Location, your phone sends anonymous bits of data back to Google describing how fast you're moving. When we combine your speed with the speed of other phones on the road, across thousands of phones moving around a city at any given time, we can get a pretty good picture of live traffic conditions. We continuously combine this data and send it back to you for free in the Google Maps traffic layers.

Link To Article