Google Introduces Traffic Info to Maps

February 28, 2007 · 15 comments

Google has added traffic status information to select cities on Google Maps. This is the first substantial Google Maps update in quite some time and it seems as though Google is playing a bit of catch-up with Yahoo! Maps. Yahoo’s mapping service has displayed live traffic information for quite some time already.

Regardless, I welcome the new feature.

Google Introduces Traffic Info to Maps
Google Maps Traffic Info
Yahoo Maps Traffic
Yahoo! Maps Traffic Info

For more than 30 major U.S. cities, you can now see up-to-date traffic conditions to help you plan your schedule and route. If you’re in San Francisco, New York , Chicago, Dallas, or any of the other cities we now include, just click on the traffic button to show current traffic speeds directly on the map. If your route shows red, you’re looking at a stop-and-go commute; yellow, you could be a little late for dinner; green, you’ve got smooth sailing.

Official Google Blog

PaulStamatiou.com runs on the Thesis Theme for WordPress

How smart is your Theme?  How good is your support? Check out ThesisTheme for WordPress.

Thesis is the search engine optimized WordPress theme of choice for serious online publishers. If you’re a blogger who doesn’t understand a lot of PHP, Thesis will give a ton of functionality without having to alter any code. For the advanced, Thesis has incredible customization possibilities via Thesis hooks.

With so many design options, you can use the template over and over and never have it look like the same site. The theme is robust and flexible enough not only to accommodate a site like PaulStamatiou.com, but also to enable the site to run far more efficiently than it ever has before.

SEO Copywriting Made Simple
I used the Scribe WordPress plugin and service to optimize this blog post for SEO.

{ 3 trackbacks }

Links 28.02.2007
February 28, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Fresqui.com
February 28, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Joe Grossberg
March 1, 2007 at 3:11 pm

{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Josh P February 28, 2007 at 1:29 pm

Very nice. I think I like Googles integrations of the traffic info better…though I tend to prefer the Yahoo UI for maps.

Reply

2 Dimitry February 28, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Very nice!

Reply

3 AJ February 28, 2007 at 1:35 pm

Yes, finally. Although it has been in their mobile version (at least for Palm OS) for a while now, it’s nice to see traffic added to the web interface.

Reply

4 Tony February 28, 2007 at 3:12 pm

Would be nice to see them expand this feature. There are no Canadian cities on the list yet.

Reply

5 Don Wilson February 28, 2007 at 3:57 pm

Is it me or is there no information provided except for colored roads? What’s the difference between gray and green roads?

Reply

6 Paul Stamatiou February 28, 2007 at 4:14 pm

gray means there’s no traffic info available, green means speeds 50mph or greater, red is under 25mph and yellow is in between, IRC.

Reply

7 Ralph Dagza February 28, 2007 at 4:15 pm

This is perfect for the iPhone

Reply

8 jeff February 28, 2007 at 4:44 pm

It’s about time, that was the only thing I used Yahoo Maps for…

Reply

9 Kyle Korleski February 28, 2007 at 7:42 pm

I can’t wait until they actually integrate Canadian cities into that list. I’d love to see traffic results for Montreal and Calgary.

Reply

10 Matt Kurio February 28, 2007 at 11:51 pm

I’ve been getting this this on Google Maps for Mobile on my Blackberry for the last month (that’s when I got the Blackberry)…and yup….the 2 times I was stuck in traffic, it was red.

Reply

11 Zigire March 1, 2007 at 8:47 pm

It’s okay but there’s something better for us in the UK, in the form of http://www.trafficeye.co.uk. It contains real-time info on accidents, congestion etc.. and it should be evolving into a mobile app soon

Reply

12 c. wess daniels March 1, 2007 at 10:32 pm

now if only it will tell you which is the fastest way to get to school during rush-hour in LA.

Reply

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Previous post:

Next post: