Digital Journal — Doesn’t Google take a break? Evidently not, considering the company’s latest announcement: highway maps with “live” traffic data for mobile phone users.
Available for 30 U.S. cities, Google Maps for Mobile displays road conditions in three colours: red for congested, yellow or orange for slowdowns and green for smooth riding.
The service can be found on mobile phone Web browsers at google.com/gmm. It requires downloading Java-based software which not all phones can use.
As impressive as Google’s reach may be, is this really a good idea? Let’s say you’re a driver in New York and you need to check traffic conditions on the road. You log into Google Maps for Mobile and zoom in on your city. The screen on your phone is so small you’re forced to squint at the map. In the glare of the sun streaming through your windshield, you can’t tell if the road is coloured in orange or red, and wham! you end up a statistic on someone else’s Google Map phone.
The obvious concern for critics is how easily you can be distracted by maps on a cellphone. A more practical reason to forego Google’s latest offering centres on habit: Don’t we already listen to the radio — constantly blaring traffic conditions — for ways to avoid jams and accidents?
Google wants us to break the habit and make the cellphone the new PC. It’s a bold desire, one that only a tech giant like Google can make happen. We’ll see if it works.
