How does Google maps have live traffic speed data?

[fast4d]

don't know about surface streets but freeway/highways have a system of radars. that's why I had to get my valentine one upgraded to filter it out.

 

[Tharkûn]

don't know about surface streets but freeway/highways have a system of radars. that's why I had to get my valentine one upgraded to filter it out.

 

[auntiebling]

I know this.

You know this.

EVERYBODY knows this.

Convinced that somebody in Walnut Creek/Danville/etc paid Google a shitload of money to try and route traffic up 880 and away from their little bourgeois suburbs.

so you use the nav feature when you already know where you're going?

880 is ~3 miles shorter, so of course dummy google will send you that way

 

[Cycle61]

I use it for rolling time estimates on long roadtrips.

 

[planegray]

I know this.

You know this.

EVERYBODY knows this.

Convinced that somebody in Walnut Creek/Danville/etc paid Google a shitload of money to try and route traffic up 880 and away from their little bourgeois suburbs.




It's totally a big issue. Bitch can't even talk right.

You DON'T want to roll through Walnut Creek these days... the drunk white guys are FIGHTING IN THE STREETS !!!

 

[n10sive]

You DON'T want to roll through Walnut Creek these days... the drunk white guys are FIGHTING IN THE STREETS !!!

sorry. I'm back in Nevada now

 

[JackTheTripper]

Google maps had traffic before android was out so I think they get it from multiple places then glom it all together.

 

[boney]

State uses the toll tags to collect location data. They're pinged at places that aren't toll booths.

They claim it's run through a one way hash and they can't track individuals...

If hashed, I suspect it's a fairly weak hash since you're working with a 128 bit RFID tag.

They also take a picture of your car every time you go through a toll plaza. What? You thought they actually turned those cameras off?

Oh, shit! They know where my cell phone is all the time anyway?

OnStar, yo! Catching guys who throw their wives in the bay since 2002.

Credit/Debit card much?

 

[msincredible]

I don't know about Google, but some tools track using the Fastrak transponder (I believe that is how those highway signs give approximate time to certain locations). You can put your transponder in the Mylar bag they provide to block the signal.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

Google maps had traffic before android was out so I think they get it from multiple places then glom it all together.

dats true.

google still had traffic maps AFTER traffic.511.org, which used the sensors in the roads+RFID . Nowadays I think google's is better though, because it covers the smalles streets--with the data that I think some people have to re-read the first 3-4 posts of the thread or so!!!

 

[boney]

I don't know about Google, but some tools track using the Fastrak transponder (I believe that is how those highway signs give approximate time to certain locations). You can put your transponder in the Mylar bag they provide to block the signal.

Or better yet, just toss it into the toolbox in your garage.

Every toll plaza takes pictures of you and charges based on the plates registered to your account. Why carry a transponder at all? The only catch? No carpool discount on the GGB.

Note: I don't know if the above is true for the toll lane on 680.

 

[speedydave]

I check 511.org every morning that I drive.
Same data as google.

Same with sigalert.com, plus sigalert has detailed incident reports. My commute route isn't really flexible, but it's nice to know what I'm heading toward, or if I need to get my ass out the door a little more quickly than usual.

 

[Asphaultnaut]

Terry Pratchett has prior art on those!

from Wikipedia:

Iconographs

Having nothing to do with religious art, iconography is the Disc's equivalent of photography.

Unlike a normal camera, the iconograph contains a tiny imp who quickly paints the pictures (also called iconographs) of the subject at hand. If it is too dim for the imps to see, salamanders can be used as a flashgun. The iconograph is first seen in The Colour of Magic, where it is used by Twoflower, the Discworld's first tourist, to the bemusement of most other characters. By the time of later books in the series, they have also become very popular in Ankh-Morpork.

you know those little boxes at intersections near the traffic signals?
There are gnomes in there.

 

[goodness-707]

Note: I don't know if the above is true for the toll lane on 680.

A while back, I read over their enforcement systems and plans. They have a few different ways of telling if you are legally in the lane:
- visual (ie the officer looks to see who's in the car).
- fixed Fastrak readers with a beacon light that flashes when a car goes through.
- mobile Fastrak readers in CHP cars

I don't recall reading anything about cameras being used for enforcement. So you'd probably always need your transponder. I imagine that cameras would be easy to beat (just go into the lane after the camera location) and generate too many false positives (baby in the back seat).

 

[Traq]

there's also the receivers on the highways that grab info from toll transponders imbedded for miles long the highway nowhere near the toll booths

Ceiling Fastrak is watching you commute.

 

[Tharkûn]

There are no cameras on the 680 lanes. So if you're solo and CHP sees you go through without your transponder, you'll get a ticket even if your plates are registered to fastrak