Google Inc. said on Tuesday that the company has begun offering mobile phone users in more than 30 major U.S. cities the capacity to view highway maps with “live” traffic data.
The Mountain View, California-based company said that Google Maps for Mobile would allow mobile phone users to chose a destination within Google Maps and select “show traffic,” said Gummi Hafsteinsson, product manager of Google Maps for Mobile. Google Maps calculates the route to the location.
Highway traffic information is sent to the phone, with road conditions highlighted in three colors: — red for congested, yellow or orange for slowdowns, and green for smooth sailing.
Wow! Someone has actually come up with a cell phone feature I would add — if I lived in a city with enough traffic to be a problem.
Eidard, I couldn’t agree more. I haven’t bought a single add-on for my phones in 15 years, but this is the first one I’d pay for!
Ditto. This is a decent application, and the traffic feature works well for my town.
It’s interesting to see how cell phones are becoming a conduit for such technologies. The VZW Navigator program is as good as any in car navigation program I’ve seen, and now this app from Google.
While the cell companies charge too much (to fund their marketing), I do respect their ability to deliver technology to the market. Now where’s my 3.2 MP camera?
This is nice if you are flying over the city in a blimp, but there’s not enough display space or granularity to use this when you are stuck in traffic on the ground.
some else to use and SQUINT at while driving.
Squint at this or talk on it, its all the same to me…
KEEP your eyes on the road.