Working of Google Live traffic Maps
Google Live traffic Map On The Go
So how does Google know what traffic is like on the roads, nearly all the time? From our smartphones, of course. Whether you like it or not, “telephone companies have always known where your phone is,” Dobson says, because cell phone companies need to use location to appropriately charge customers for calls.
That means the companies are constantly monitoring location based on the strength of signal to a cell tower, which allows the phone to switch towers as it travels. Since 2011, the Federal Communications Commission has also required that phones come with GPS, so between the triangulation with cell towers and the GPS requirement, your phone is a marked man.
Google realized that as more and more people continued to switch to smartphones, they had a miniature army of traffic monitors that they could make use of. Thus, the traffic flow that you see on your map is a highly accurate real-time display of the number of Android phones that are currently trying to make that same trek. Basically, they’ve crowd-sourced traffic information (a spokesperson for Google directed us to this explanation of the process).
Of course, Google uses its own algorithms to exclude anomalies, like a postman who chooses to stop much more frequently than the average driver. Dobson also notes that there must be a threshold for how much data they have before they’re willing to label a road green, yellow, or red, rather than gray (which means there isn’t enough data), but they’re not releasing that number.
So how does Google know what traffic is like on the roads, nearly all the time? From our smartphones, of course. Whether you like it or not, “telephone companies have always known where your phone is,” Dobson says, because cell phone companies need to use location to appropriately charge customers for calls.
That means the companies are constantly monitoring location based on the strength of signal to a cell tower, which allows the phone to switch towers as it travels. Since 2011, the Federal Communications Commission has also required that phones come with GPS, so between the triangulation with cell towers and the GPS requirement, your phone is a marked man.
AN ALGORITHM THAT REROUTES PRECISELY THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC IS STILL LIKELY YEARS AWAY
Google realized that as more and more people continued to switch to smartphones, they had a miniature army of traffic monitors that they could make use of. Thus, the traffic flow that you see on your map is a highly accurate real-time display of the number of Android phones that are currently trying to make that same trek. Basically, they’ve crowd-sourced traffic information (a spokesperson for Google directed us to this explanation of the process).
Of course, Google uses its own algorithms to exclude anomalies, like a postman who chooses to stop much more frequently than the average driver. Dobson also notes that there must be a threshold for how much data they have before they’re willing to label a road green, yellow, or red, rather than gray (which means there isn’t enough data), but they’re not releasing that number.
After doing an extensive research I came across the actual method of gathering data, it's called Google Map Maker. Through which various individuals around the world are allowed to share information about roads, places, directions to the pre-existing maps that they know.
By sharing information about the places you know, like businesses in your town or roads in your area, you can ensure that the map accurately reflects the world around you. Your updates will be reviewed and then can appear on the map.
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