Google Maps is one of the top mapping platform access by millions of user on daily basis across the world. Google Maps made a huge change in the GPS navigation system, and it is the most reliable application to know the traffic from.
A couple of days ago a German artist named Simon Weckert played a little trick on Google Maps and created a non-existent traffic jam. How? Do you ask? This is what we will be explaining below.
As we know, Google access the location data collected by your smartphone and Google Maps have the ability to find your location and others as well, so if you and another 99 people are in the same location moving slowly, Google will read that and count it as a traffic.
Weckert used 99 cell phones in a small wagon with Google Maps running, and started to walk down the empty streets of Berlin creating traffic jam on Google Maps.
How Google Maps Works?
Google Maps collects data from different sources to give you near real time traffic updates. Google have partnership with comprehensive and authoritative data sources with the help of Base Maps partner program. Large number of agencies submit data to Google. This data helps to keep the base Maps up-to-date.
Google Maps uses your data that is the path, distance, time to offer you satellite imagery and street Maps, real time traffic condition and estimated current traffic speeds.
Also, since the application can’t measure the distance between one car and another, it can’t tell the difference between two phones right next to each other or two cars with a distance between them; this is why a virtual traffic jam was easily created.
The reason why Weckert did this is because he wanted to grab the attention that Google is the who determines our behaviour and can tell you to choose a direction than another which can affect our physical world when you can easily trick it with the simplest tools.
As for Google, it was announced that the application can tell the difference between a car and a motorcycle but their comment was the following “though we haven’t quite cracked traveling by wagon. We appreciate seeing creative uses of Google Maps like this as it helps us make maps work better over time.”
We wonder what the upcoming updates for Google Maps and if this little trick made a difference for Google team to make new enhancements or not.
