Google crowdsources traffic data

08.26.09 | No Comments | by: Dave Jeyes

Google starts crowdsourcing traffic data

For a good while, Google Maps has displayed traffic information along major routes to help guide users around congestion. Now Google is starting to get more in-depth traffic information from a new source: us.

If you have an Android, Palm Pre  or other smartphone, Google can use your movements to determine whether a back road is congested and display it on Google Maps. This doesn’t work with the iPhone since it can’t multitask and you can always opt out of the service.

However this is just one more way that Google can harness something that many people use already and provide it back to us as a service. In fact, with enough users this method will provide much better coverage than any transportation department.

What’s also interesting is how quickly this value would be lost without users. If Google were to lose the trust of its users who then stop using Google Maps for Mobile or sharing their location data, the traffic data would disappear in a heartbeat.

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