A YouTuber hits off Google by fakely crowding an empty road on Google’s Map. Savvy artist Simon Wickert plays a prank on Google’s very own app, by gathering 99 smartphones in a trolley and taking them through the empty streets. While all the phones had their Google Maps app open, there was a visible red line depicting a traffic jam.
If you are a Google Maps user, you must be knowing the trend of traffic shown by a specific color on the app. Green, orange or red colors define how crowded the place is. This feature is quite helpful for drivers to approximate the time required to reach their destination. And even notifies the user prior to being stuck in a traffic jam, so that they may take the alternate route. Google maps have been the backbone of the upgraded transportation business firms like Careem and Uber.
So, how does Google track the presence of back to back vehicles? It takes data from Google Map users nearby and integrates them to provide you with the results. And Simon got the trick! He used the same concept to show a bad traffic day on the streets of Berlin, though in reality, the roads were empty.
“99 smartphones are transported in a handcart to generate virtual traffic jam in Google Maps,” Simon explained.
“Through this activity, it is possible to turn a green street red, which has an impact in the physical world by navigating cars on another route to avoid being stuck in traffic.”
The passers-by couldn’t even imagine a man moving around with a cart is actually fooling Google by making it show hundreds of cars stuck in a bad jam. Tricking in the eyes, Simon even passed right outside Google’s office in Berlin.
A Google spokesman says, “Whether, via car or cart or camel, we love seeing creative uses of Google Maps as it helps us make maps work better over time.” (Source: The Sun)
So, now Google knows that its applications can be used against it as well. And it might get angry on the stunt, carrying out investigations so that no crooks exploit the technology in the future. The idea just requires a number of handsets in your house, and you can stop any car from coming to your street by making them fool with a traffic jam!
