Before the advent of the internet and GPS in our lives, people used to follow paper maps or rely on the kindness of strangers to direct them towards their destination. Now that we have internet available everywhere and the relevant applications for directing us towards the places we wish to go, commutes and traveling have never been easier and more convenient. The most popular application for this purpose is Google maps. Whether it is a highway or a residential street, one can count on Google maps to aid in finding the right direction.
Earlier in 2019, the application was improved when it started giving alerts on how crowded a certain searched route will be. Initially, this included only 200 cities and the rest were not able to benefit from this update. Now, the update is expanding and is almost reaching 10000 cities and 100 countries. This is a staggering number for such a smart update.
The Artificial Intelligence used in this update is based on feedback from people and location trends saved over time. In an update that is only available in Sydney and New York these days, the application tells you which parts of the train one should avoid while staying clear of the traffic.
The feature is called ‘the popular time’ and it will show how crowded a rail station or a car station is at the moment when it is searched. It tells the places that are crowded and the timings in which they will be crowded. This is available when you tap the ‘directions’ option.
With all these updates, people may be skeptical about the privacy issues and security concerns associated with the update. Google has specifically iterated to be responsible in these aspects and pay attention to these concerns. Differential privacy will allow people to stay anonymous.