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Google Maps adds traffic predictions
- Windows Live Maps will suggest the best driving directions for avoiding traffic, Google Maps will not
- Google Maps lets you choose the day of the week and time of day to see projected traffic patterns, Windows Live Maps will not.
[via Google Operating System]
Comments
13
Subscribe to commentsQuikboyApr 17th 2008 11:01PM
If looking at just these 2 statements of what they can and cannot do, I'd take Live Maps.
I find more value in getting the best directions, than worrying about a "possible" future accident chart in the future. And both of these have data that could be outdated in a year or even less. So getting the best directions, than worrying about checking something that could be outdated is more important.
Nice to see Google catch-up. :O
MysteriusApr 18th 2008 7:36AM
I'm not sure what you mean by the data becoming "outdated". They're both based on statistics gathered from years of traffic patterns. They're not predicting the future, explicitly, but using past data to tell you how likely you are to run into traffic.
As for which I'd prefer, I have to disagree with you. If Live Maps is plotting my trip, it doesn't take into account what time I'm traveling, which makes all the difference with traffic. It's easy with Google Map's drag-and-drop to move my path around rough spots of traffic, and I can tell Google Maps to show me the traffic at a particular time of the week.
QuikboyApr 18th 2008 7:39AM
Well past data might not be accurate if a lot of people that use Live Maps and Google Maps continue to use alternative routes, changing the amount of congestion on streets. Not that it's wrong, but there will be probably some point when many roads have less congestions, while the alternatives have filled up in congestion. Unless the data they use is updated frequently, congestion can change at any time.
Live Maps DOES take into consideration about the time of day.
"allowing the system to predict congestion based on time of day, weather and other variables like sporting events."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/technology/10maps.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
It's just that Live Maps doesn't directly show on the map what the usual Clearflow predictions are. That doesn't really matter to me, as much as getting the best directions. Google Maps DOESN'T reroute your directions based on traffic. Instead, like you said, you have to reroute the directions on your own.
AlbertApr 18th 2008 7:37AM
WOW! Google is God! He knows the future!
PeterApr 18th 2008 7:38AM
i used to commute back into downtown chicago, but i'd often get tripped up on (Cubbies) game day. talk about standstill traffic for a couple of hours.
so, can google maps predict this?
doesn't sound like it.
JeebusApr 23rd 2008 1:27PM
Sounds like you can predict it.
Juan AguilarApr 18th 2008 11:14AM
I would like it if Google Maps wasn't afraid to route me on 66 inside the Beltway in Northern Virginia. 66 is HOV only 6 hours of the weekday but Google won't send you on it ever. Live Maps has no such fears. I don't know how complicated it is to add time restriction flags to certain routes, but I hope they can tackle it at some point.
JamesApr 18th 2008 11:00AM
While that may be true (I avoid driving into DC unless compelled to do so at gunpoint), you can always drag-and-drop to reroute your GMaps driving directions. If you just drag yourself a midpoint on 66, I think that would solve the problem (if you're convinced 66 is the way to go).
Juan AguilarApr 18th 2008 1:29PM
Unfortunately, Google Maps won't do it, even if you manually try to re-route. It always tries to route you onto 50. Apparently this is a known issue (http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Maps-Troubleshooting/msg/058ba9b4a71068b3) and was even reported in the Post.
MichaelGApr 22nd 2008 6:51AM
How about BRAD?
What a fagot, Brad and Google..perfect.
I was glad to read the responses to his bad rapping of Microsoft.
People make the same point that Google is better than yahoo..Have you looked at the stupid-ass blank page?
There is no comparasion.
Google is just like fivebuck (Starbuck) the best thing about that place is the cup. people love to be seen with a fivebucks cup. It is more important than the coffee inside the cup.
Microsoft has the talent...all these new comers are little boys.
Steve GApr 19th 2008 2:36PM
Hopefully this facility will eventually spread outside the US!
JeebusApr 23rd 2008 1:29PM
The greater problem with all this is that traffic patterns are only known on freeways and highways, so you make get routed to a side street with just as much traffic.
Julian BourneMay 1st 2008 10:18PM
Hi Brad,
In your post you ask for a service that combines the best features of Google traffic for maps, predictive traffic by time of day and day of week and Microsoft ClearFlow that offers a route to avoid congestion. MapQuest is not the answer.
Proxpro (www.proxpro.com) patent pending technology does this and more. Proxpro's new product "Prompt" fuses your calendar with GPS, in effect adding a time dimension to navigation. For a calendar event in the future it calculates the fastest route, with predictive traffic, specific to the time and day of travel; for your next trip, it compares your current location with the location of your next meeting and a "when to leave" alert pops up on your mobile home screen showing the time until your latest departure time, and the real-time and predicted traffic of the drive ahead. On route a user consults Proxpro Prompt to make sure they are still on schedule. We believe it the most accurate personalized traffic solution on the market. It is just as relevant for daily commutes as unfamiliar journeys. The weaknesses of both the above solutions are as follows. They are both: pull-based (you have to input address / time data), web-based (inconvenient, mobile is far superior), and take no consideration of non-re-occuring traffic. Let me know if I can provide any further information.
Best wishes,
Julian Bourne
CEO & Founder
Proxpro Inc.