Man Tricks Google With Fake Traffic Jam

 

Ha!

I saw that too. Quite funny and yet still makes a point. Watch the map go from green to red as the video progresses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5eL_al_m7Q&feature=emb_logo

Interesting

This guy must have a lot of friends. Most people would be hard pressed to find a dozen people who would loan them their phones.

It does raise an interesting question though. How many slow moving phones are actually required to cause Google to post a traffic jam?

Indeed, It Was Quite Creative

Just proves a point, don't believe every thing you see, it's just like the internet, don't believe ANYTHING you read as fact without researching yourself.

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Rent

bdhsfz6 wrote:

This guy must have a lot of friends. Most people would be hard pressed to find a dozen people who would loan them their phones.

It does raise an interesting question though. How many slow moving phones are actually required to cause Google to post a traffic jam?

He rented them.

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Frank DriveSmart55 37.322760, -79.511267

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muell9k wrote:

Just proves a point, don't believe every thing you see, it's just like the internet, don't believe ANYTHING you read as fact without researching yourself.

Sadly what we used to know as "information superhighway" has become "misinformation superhighway". That is because people choose to believe everything they see/hear. Worse yet, they spread it to their friends and family who in turn believe it too. If it's from friends and family, it must be true. They won't confuse us with false info, right? That seems to be what inter connected devices have become today. They become tools to spread false information at the speed of light.

Very innovative and funny.

Very innovative and funny.

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Garmin Nuvi650 - Morehead City, NC

This begs the question, how

This begs the question, how does Google traffic algorithm know which devices are supposedly in cars and which ones are in pedestrian hands to determine if there's a slow down? Does it track the precise geocoordinates to tell the difference between the street and sidewalk?

Great question

chewbacca wrote:

This begs the question, how does Google traffic algorithm know which devices are supposedly in cars and which ones are in pedestrian hands to determine if there's a slow down? Does it track the precise geocoordinates to tell the difference between the street and sidewalk?

That is the question and maybe it is that precise given the fella's use of the roadway rather than sidewalk.

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CraigW wrote:
chewbacca wrote:

This begs the question, how does Google traffic algorithm know which devices are supposedly in cars and which ones are in pedestrian hands to determine if there's a slow down? Does it track the precise geocoordinates to tell the difference between the street and sidewalk?

That is the question and maybe it is that precise given the fella's use of the roadway rather than sidewalk.

Good points. Wonder what would have changed if he used the sidewalk.

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perpster wrote:

Good points. Wonder what would have changed if he used the sidewalk.

I'd say there will be no traffic jam because the data is likely ignored. Movement of 1 MPH or less on sidewalk is normal.

sidewalk vs street.

chewbacca wrote:

This begs the question, how does Google traffic algorithm know which devices are supposedly in cars and which ones are in pedestrian hands to determine if there's a slow down? Does it track the precise geocoordinates to tell the difference between the street and sidewalk?

In general, consumer grade GPS devices are not really accurate enough to determine if the signal is coming from the street or the sidewalk. That is why road navigation devices use the "snap to road" feature to prevent devices from showing you driving in the ditch. I don't remember the exact numbers that I have read but the rule is something like most gps chips are accurate "within 10 meters 90% of the time". Although Glonass and Galileo have probably improved on that rule, the majority of devices currently in the hands of consumers probably don't include these improvements (that is just my guess, I don't have any actual facts to support that assumption). This is the same reason the device cannot tell what lane you are in on multi-lane highways. This can become very obvious in HOV lanes when the exit prompts don't work correctly.

The crowd based traffic reporting services are probably using some type of statistical analysis to discard low volume reports that deviate drastically from the average, rather than trying to determine from the coordinates whether the report is coming from a pedestrian on the sidewalk vs a vehicle on the street.

Again, I don't really know … just my uneducated guess.

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Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

Waze

I've noticed when using Waze, it prompts the question "are you in a traffic jam" when going well below the speed limit. It usually occurs when traffic is light and I'm the only "Wazer" in the area.

AFAIK, Google does not do this. Some other method must be utilized to determine if the reported data is indeed a traffic jam.

That was an idiot with too

That was an idiot with too much time on his hands.
Let's not give him applause for this.
Not creative, just stupid.

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I never get lost, but I do explore new territory every now and then.

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alandb wrote:
chewbacca wrote:

This begs the question, how does Google traffic algorithm know which devices are supposedly in cars and which ones are in pedestrian hands to determine if there's a slow down? Does it track the precise geocoordinates to tell the difference between the street and sidewalk?

In general, consumer grade GPS devices are not really accurate enough to determine if the signal is coming from the street or the sidewalk. That is why road navigation devices use the "snap to road" feature to prevent devices from showing you driving in the ditch. I don't remember the exact numbers that I have read but the rule is something like most gps chips are accurate "within 10 meters 90% of the time". Although Glonass and Galileo have probably improved on that rule, the majority of devices currently in the hands of consumers probably don't include these improvements (that is just my guess, I don't have any actual facts to support that assumption). This is the same reason the device cannot tell what lane you are in on multi-lane highways. This can become very obvious in HOV lanes when the exit prompts don't work correctly.

The crowd based traffic reporting services are probably using some type of statistical analysis to discard low volume reports that deviate drastically from the average, rather than trying to determine from the coordinates whether the report is coming from a pedestrian on the sidewalk vs a vehicle on the street.

Again, I don't really know … just my uneducated guess.

Often, if Garmin is telling me to exit highway, but I stay on the highway, for about half a mile it will continue its routing "thinking" that I am on the service road after exiting the highway.

In other words, it takes several seconds to realize that I am 50-100 yards away from where it thinks I am.