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Waze is a privacy accident waiting to happen

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Waze is a privacy accident waiting to happen

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What are you really agreeing to when you click that fateful "agree" button? Terms & Conditions cuts out the legal lingo to spell it out in plain English.
When it comes to GPS apps, Waze has it made. The Israeli-born app provides users with continuously updated map information thanks to its unique data-sharing setup: Users are awarded points for allowing the app to track their commute, or for manually entering travel information, like accidents, traffic conditions, weather, and speed traps, all of which can be viewed by other users. Waze even partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Google in the days after Hurricane Sandy to help identify gas stations that had run out of gas. And this past week, Waze launched version 3.6 for iOS and Android to allow users to report fully closed roads.

Most anyone who's used the app will tell you, Waze just works - a prime example of mobile tech and user-generated data coming together to create something new and improved. But tech like this comes with it's own complications - by using Waze, you are revealing a lot of information about yourself to a whole slew of parties. Because of that, it's important to understand what information Waze collects, and how it uses that information.

Waze kicks off its terms with an outline of the "key points," which is something we like to see here at T&C, as it ups the chances that people actually read a bit about what they're getting themselves into. Below, we'll cover these points, and a few other things you need to know.

Who are you?

Waze makes it clear: You must provide your real name and contact information to use that app. It's possible to go into anonymous mode, but Waze punishes users who do this by preventing them from collecting points, which in turn makes it impossible to use certain portions of the app. And if you lie about who you are, Waze reserves the right to cancel your account - or worse. (More on the "worse" in a bit.)

Where you at?

Tracking your location is central to Waze's functionality. It's possible to download maps to use in "offline" mode if you don't want your location tracked. But if you don't do that, Waze is tracking you, and storing your location data. So if you don't like to be constantly monitored, don't use Waze.

Stop! Report time

Not surprisingly, Waze repeatedly states that you must stop your car before you use Waze for anything other than navigation. Posting a report, like a speed trap or accident, while on the move is against the terms - and likely against the law. But let's be real for a second: Nobody is going to do this. Waze is just trying to cover its bumper.

To this end, Waze also states that you use the app "at your own risk," and that the company is not responsible if you take out a pedestrian or roll your SUV while trying to use Waze. So don't even think about blaming the app makers for your bad driving.

Busted

We'll get to Waze's complete data collection and sharing in the Privacy Policy section. But there's something you need to know right now: Your Waze data - including the routes you take and your speed - will be shared with the police if they demand it. It's possible for you to use Waze to help fight a speeding ticket. The opposite, however, is also true: Everything you share with Waze could potentially be used against you in a court of law. So lead-foots, beware - don't use Waze and speed at the same time.

Law of the Holy Land

All that said, it's important to note that Waze is not a U.S. company - it's an Israeli company. As such, the terms are entirely under the jurisdiction of the State of Israel, not the United States or any other country. So if you have any legal problems with Waze, be ready to book a trip to Tel Aviv.

If privacy is your main concern, don't use Waze. I can't put it any more bluntly - the app is essentially a black box for your car that doubles as a kind of social network. But if you don't care about people knowing massive amounts of information about your personal travels, by all means, use Waze. Consider yourself warned.

Think before you report

Remember, Waze tracks your location. It also allows you to post your traffic reports to Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare - which happens automatically if you link your accounts. If you do this, people will be able to figure out where you are, and who you are. Additionally, Waze notes in its "Privacy Issues" page that, "if a wazer comes close enough to see your car and its license plate, that car registration information can be used to collect personal information and identify you." Because of this, Waze urges users to "exercise caution and common sense when submitting information." If you don't, and someone stalks you or worse, that's your fault, not Waze's.

Social problems

This needs repeating: If you choose to link your Waze account with your social-media accounts, understand that this allows pretty much anyone to find out massive amounts of information about you - where you live, work, and otherwise travel. Waze puts the onus on you to manage what information you share, and holds itself immune to any blame if something bad happens to you because of the data you've shared through Waze.

Furthermore, information on your Facebook account or other profiles "may become public to other Waze Users ... if you have defined such information to be public on [Waze]." In other words, unless you tightly control your privacy settings in Waze, you are likely revealing far more about yourself than you might think.

Bring on the ads

Given the other privacy concerns I have with Waze, the fact that the app allows advertisers to serve you ads based on your current location seems innocuous. Regardless, yes, Waze does share your location data with advertisers. But that's not all.

Sharing free for all

As mentioned in the intro, Waze recently partnered with FEMA and Google. This is important because Waze reserves the right to share your personally identifiable information with any "companies or organizations connected or affiliated with Waze." So even if you try to limit who you share your Waze data with, any entity that partners with Waze could have access to that information. And because Waze stores your data indefinitely, it's not just your current data that could be shared, but all of the data collected while you used Waze.

Conclusion

Great as Waze may be at serving relevant, real-time, useful traffic information, the app is a privacy nightmare. It's simply too easy to reveal too much about yourself, not to mention all the data Waze might share about you without your explicit knowledge. In fact, after reading the company's terms and privacy policy, I immediately deleted the app, and will never use it again. If you don't care about your every move being tracked, and the possibility that many details of your life could be leaked to anyone who wants to find them out, then, by all means, use Waze. Otherwise, I'd get rid of it as soon as possible, and find another GPS service that doesn't play fast and loose with your data.

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Terms & Conditions: Waze is a privacy accident waiting to happen | Digital Trends

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What are you really agreeing to when you click that fateful "agree" button? Terms & Conditions cuts out the legal lingo to spell it out in plain English. When it comes to GPS apps, Waze has it made.

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WAZE : If Google can see protesters' movements via this GPS navigation software app, so does the police.  

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WAZE : If Google can see protesters' movements via this GPS navigation software app, so does the police.  

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Imagine activists / dissents mobilise each other to participate in peaceful protests, but in vain, due to their plans being disrupted before. Then, alternative apps (particularly non-proprietary apps) together with non-commercial VPN should be substituted WAZE.

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Slightly provocative title as I do usually use Waze and mostly do think that the apps give a better experience of reducing traffic - BUT - as we can only choose one option, we never really know whether it was right or we just hope it was. I often find that it keeps recalibrating and doesn't pick up traffic ahead so its variable whether the predicted time is reliable. Plus sometimes it teaches really interesting new routes and other times makes really strange decisions that when you know the roads well, you wouldn't choose. My jury is out.
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-maps-knows-about-traffic-2015-11?r=US&IR=T

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Change in user pattern - worsening safety?

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Change in user pattern - worsening safety?

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I love my map apps. My miniaturised paper city map is relegated to the back of the draw. However I often think about how apps like Waze that I use while driving have perhaps changed the way I drive. The article lists ways to make driving safer with map apps. Am I driving more safely because I am not worrying about missing a turning or does checking the app introduce vital time with eyes off the road?

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Because it sources a majority of its vital data from actual drivers on the road, Waze is easily one of the best navigation apps to use if you prioritize safety. Benefits such as crowd-sourced traffic data, police trap locations, and road work avoidance, when combined, help you anticipate traffic conditions with unprecedented accuracy and make adjustments accordingly.

It doesn't end there, either, as there are little things you can do while using Waze on your iPhone or Android to ensure that you and your loved ones get where to you're going in one piece. Because of this, we put together a quick list of three tips you should know about to help maximize safety every time you're out on the road.

Don't Miss: Waze & Spotify Team Up for Easy Access to Music While You Drive

1. Add or Remove Stops While You're Already Navigating

A recent AAA report has suggested that driving while drowsy accounts for up to 10.8 percent of crashes that result in significant property damage. This means that getting some much needed rest - especially in the midst of a long drive - should lead to a safer trip. So when you're starting to get drowsy, you should know that Waze lets you seamlessly add a pit stop to your current navigation.

Adding a stop while in navigation mode could't be any easier. Start by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to see your trip's summary tab. From there, if you're on iOS, you can choose what kind of stop you'd like to add by tapping the corresponding icon. Otherwise, just search for a specific business or location using the provided field. From there, tap on your desired stop once you've found it, and it'll automatically be added to your route.

Adding a stop on iOS

Removing a stop is just as easy - swipe in from the left edge of your screen to access your Waze dashboard, tap on the stop you wish to delete, then select "Remove" to get rid of it.

Don't Miss: How to Add or Remove Stops While Navigating in Waze

It's worth noting that Waze only allows one stop to be added to any current route, so if you want to add another stop on top of the pit stop you already have, you'll either need to arrive at your pit stop, remove it from your current route, or create a separate route for it.

2. Go Hands-Free with 'Okay Waze' Voice Commands

By far one of the best measures you can take to ensure a safe trip is to minimize any manual interactions with your handset while driving. With this in mind, Waze has a hands-free feature built-in that lets you issue voice commands for navigation and traffic info, leaving you free to focus all your attention on driving.

Hands-free mode is easy to enable. Start by swiping in from the left edge of your screen to open the side menu, then tap the settings cog and choose "Sound & Voice." From there, tap on "Talk to Waze," then tap on the toggle next to "Okay Waze" to turn the feature on, granting permission for the app to use your phone's mic along the way if prompted.

Now you can access almost any feature in the app when you're on the road by simply saying "Okay Waze," followed by a command such as "drive home." You can even use this feature to report issues with traffic, hear your next turn, or see how long it's going to take to get to your destination.

Don't Miss: How to Get Hands-Free Directions & Traffic Info with Waze

It's worth mentioning that you will still need to tap the screen on your device to confirm your target destination after voicing your command, and that the "Okay Waze" feature won't work if it's running in the background. Still, it's a better alternative than constantly finagling with your phone while driving

3. Download Routes for Offline Use (Android Only)

Having your navigation cut out on you while driving somewhere unfamiliar can be potentially panic-inducing. This could lead you to make rash decisions that could not only result in getting lost, but also potentially causing a serious accident. Thankfully, Waze gives you the option to download routes if you have an Android device to ensure smooth navigation.

When enabled, Waze saves your routes in the app's cache as a backup. This means that maps can be automatically retrieved by Waze when you encounter an area with poor cellular service, keeping your navigation smooth and relatively uninterrupted. And because it does away with the need to manually retrieve an offline route while driving, Waze's offline feature makes for a much safer trip overall.

Waze's offline feature can be accessed through the app's settings page from within the side menu once navigation has started. Once inside, select "Display & Map" under Advanced Settings, then tap on "Data Transfer" all the way at the bottom. From there, tap on "Download traffic info" to turn the feature on.

With "Download Traffic Info" set, Waze will automatically download your navigation routes and will keep navigating even if you run into bad cellular reception. It's worth noting, however, that vital traffic updates, such as accidents, police traps, and roadwork, will not function without cell service, as the app depends on an internet connection to provide real-time data.

Don't Miss: How to Download Offline Routes with the Waze App for Android

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3 Tips to Help You Drive Safer with Waze

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Because it sources a majority of its vital data from actual drivers on the road, Waze is easily one of the best navigation apps to use if you prioritize safety. Benefits such as crowd-sourced traffic data, police trap locations, and road work avoidance, when combined, help you anticipate traffic conditions with unprecedented accuracy and make adjustments accordingly.

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Vehicular traffic congestion is an emergent problem in many cities around the world but, is it enough to only consider traffic information?

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Vehicular traffic congestion is an emergent problem in many cities around the world but, is it enough to only consider traffic information?

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Considering only traffic-related information for suggesting alternative routes to vehicles is far from achieving the requirements of traffic management solutions. Public safety is also a very concerning issue that needs to be taken into consideration while computing alternative routes, since in several cases it can put the life of drivers and passengers at risk. Different drivers can have different preferences about the fastest and the safest routes. Some may prefer a safer route than a fast one to travel, while drivers with a time limitation potentially prefer a faster route to reach their destination in time.

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It tracks where you go, that data can be used to make inferences about you, where you visit, where you work etc. If a road is congested, it may mean that data is used to extend congestion charging and potential other charges. It may be good as a tool for users to take quieter and less congested routes, but issues may then be created at those alternative routes - such as further charging, noise and air pollution etc. Positives could be the development of new bus routes or alternative public transport in the most popular routes. The data could be used for some good if for example there are display boards that tell you which route will be quicker depending on how many are driving through such routes (this data will be taken from the apps). Of course there are benefits to real-time traffic routing ie getting deliveries made on time, especially during Covid where everything runs slower and in getting you from point A to B with hopefully less hassle than not using an app.

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Cities can inadvertently cause more harm

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Cities can inadvertently cause more harm

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Real-time traffic data can be used by city authorities to decide what roads and areas get funding for development and repair, which can lead to even more disparities between wealthy and poor neighborhoods. This could also contribute to predictive policing, if cities see an area where police are often making stops, they may send even more police to that area, perpetuating unfair traffic stops.

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Engage brain before blindly trusting algorithms

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Engage brain before blindly trusting algorithms

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It's easy to blame a service like waze for being late or ending up going up a dirt track to nowhere. However, these apps should not be a heavily relied on as your own judgment. The algorithms generally try and get you on main roads, often just looking at the map you can see alternatives. Those worried that they couldn't travel without googlemaps, try it. It's not as difficult as it seems. The biggest hurdle to map reading is getting over the thought that it's hard. There is anxieties that people can get being separated from their smart phone. It's not just the fear of missing out but also being lost without being given directions. It's quite freeing to make your own mistakes.

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The directions provided by Realtime traffic routing apps help time estimation, avoiding traffic and also for new route travellers. This does cause traffic to be routed to hither to untravelled roads which may not be liked by some. As long as the roads are public and not private, this almost inevitable. As cities become more crowded and expensive, city folks tend to move towards suburbs and further …this is a common phenomenon anyway. The fact that worries me is that the same people who could survive with a paper map and directional instinct are now at a loss without a navigation system. If realtime routing does not work or fails, maybe there will not be many people who are well prepared to navigate by themselves ( not many people are like London cab drivers who know the routes well). This over dependence on an app which will not work without internet connection could be hazardous if people stop learning about navigation.

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I do not drive but I use this technology a lot as a pedestrian in a big city to find my way. At this point I would not be able to live effectively without it. It makes me wonder how we would manage in areas without internet access such as remote areas or certain foreign countries. My sense of orientation is not very developed so using this technology is a relief but I am wondering if this might cause us to lose essential survival skills in the long run.

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I do not drive but I use this technology a lot as a pedestrian in a big city to find my way. At this point I would not be able to live effectively without it. It makes me wonder how we would manage in areas without internet access such as remote areas or certain foreign countries. My sense of orientation is not very developed so using this technology is a relief but I am wondering if this might cause us to lose essential survival skills in the long run.

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Waze Traffic Displacement hits quiet areas 

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Waze Traffic Displacement hits quiet areas 

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Waze monitors traffic in real time aggregating cumulative traffic flow and rerouting users around traffic jams or road works. This causes once quiet streets to become heavy traffic areas. These streets are not equipped for high volumes of traffic causing pollution and road safety issues. An unintended consequence is other car and truck GPS and Smartphone Apps monitor Waze and reroute their users into the same area. You effectively have a route finding AI Algorithm battle between apps to deliver best routes fanning out congestion over a wider area. With no City wide judication system between apps traffic jams get worse not better.

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Thomas Nehren never knew what to expect when he was on the road in his hometown of Salt Lake City. Whether it was speed traps, accidents or road construction, he too often found himself on the wrong street at the wrong time, when a different way to work might have kept him away from traffic - or potentially a ticket. Then he heard about a navigation app called Waze.

"Waze saves me a few minutes of commute every day, with five days a week and 50 weeks a year, that adds up," Nehren says. "I use Waze to help me find the quickest way out of two or three alternative routes to get to work and back home."

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The app, now about a decade old, functions by collecting map data, travel times and traffic information from users, who can report accidents, traffic jams and police activity. A small Israeli startup, Waze was bought by Google in 2013 for approximately $1 billion. Its 500,000 volunteer map editors globally keep its maps updated, but the app is centered on information provided by its users, according to company spokeswoman Terry Wei.

"It's our community of 100 million users around the world that make up the magic that is Waze," she says. "The information ensures that our maps always have the most up-to-date information, improving the driving experience for everyone."

Well, maybe not everyone.

A city council member in Los Angeles this month wrote a letter to the city attorney seeking possible legal action in response to what he describes as threats to public safety caused by Waze technology. The lawmaker, David Ryu, has been speaking up about the issue since he was elected in 2015.

According to Ryu, many of the shortcuts suggested by Waze end up causing more traffic in an effort to cut travel times by using side roads, leading drivers to make unsafe turns and often unpermitted traffic directions. In one case, Ryu mentioned, a street designed for local use is handling over 650 cars an hour. This, he said, has trapped several residents in their driveways and has led to multiple accidents.

"Waze has upended our City's traffic plans, residential neighborhoods, and public safety for far too long," Ryu said in his April 17 letter. "If we do nothing, Waze will lead us on a race to the bottom - where traffic plans are ignored and every street is gridlocked."

The council member proposed collaboration between the private sector, namely Waze and Google, with the public sector to alleviate this ongoing issue. Ryu spokesman Estevan Montemayor says the council member's office has attempted to bring Waze to the table to work collaboratively.

"The councilman supports technology and alternative modes of transportation," Montemayor says. "This is not an attack on technology. We hope Waze takes some responsibility for some of the problems their app is creating, and they should have legitimate concerns regarding these issues because city officials have been dealing with them day in and day out."

The company insists that it is "committed to helping cities and citizens navigate efficiently and safely."

"It's important to note that Waze does not 'control' traffic but our maps do reflect public roads that federal and local authorities have identified and built for its citizens. If the city identifies a dangerous condition, it is their responsibility to legally reclassify a road, which will then be reflected on the Waze map," she says.

Uri Levine, co-founder and former president of Waze, defends his brainchild even more plainly, saying the backlash is unwarranted and Waze facilitates navigation for the public good.

"All roads are the public domain and therefore the right of everyone to use," Levine says. "In that sense, Waze redistributes traffic to create a better traffic situation for everyone."

He says that when he was starting Waze, he and his team were trying to "solve big problems and to create a lot of value for a lot of people."

"We started back in 2007 with a clear vision of helping drivers outsmart traffic," he says.

But that was a long time ago in the tech world - two years even before the founding of Uber, a company that would revolutionize the transportation sector with its rideshare app that allowed ordinary motorists to connect with passengers who needed transportation and to make a few bucks in the process. The rideshare industry was a boon for Waze, as motorists - who often had less knowledge of their surroundings than a cab driver might - turned to the app to find the fastest and the least congested routes. In fact, demand for such a product prompted Uber to develop its own that can be accessed from within its own app - a helpful feature for its drivers.

"Drivers frequently cite the convenience of not having to switch between apps during trips as a big reason for choosing Uber's in-app navigation," Uber spokesman Michael Amodeo says.

With steadily increasing usage and more navigation apps popping up, more motorists are being directed to less crowded streets across the country.

Hundreds of people on freeways usually try to use side roads as a result of rerouting apps such as Waze, Google Maps, INRIX and Apple Maps, according to Alexandre Bayen, director of the Transportation Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley. These roads are not equipped to handle heavy volumes of traffic, which is why it ends up being an issue.

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"If only a few people are drinking water from a river, it isn't a problem," Bayen says. "But if there are a million people at the river, there will be no more water. The same thing applies to routing apps. With only a few people using the apps, there is no problem. Now, everyone is using them so there is no more capacity."

The result has been traffic displacement - and anger - that is not limited to Los Angeles.

And in 2016, in Takoma Park, Maryland, residents went to great lengths to prevent Waze drivers from flooding their roads during a bridge reconstruction project. A Takoma Park man reportedly started reporting phantom wrecks and traffic jams on his street before Waze banned him.

"Waze is meant to be interactive so people put information about roadblocks to trick the software," says Daryl Braithwaite, public works director in Takoma Park.

The solution to this problem, according to Hani Mahmassani, transportation expert at Northwestern University, is a method called closed-loop prediction. Closed-loop prediction could predict traffic scenarios, taking into account the information provided as well as the potential behaviors and responses to the information.

"An entity like Waze doesn't do closed-loop prediction because they're not in the business of managing traffic," Mahmassani says. "They're in the business of providing information."

Access restriction is a viable alternative to the congestion caused by rerouting apps, according to Bayen. Restricted access to specific neighborhoods during certain times of the day may alleviate the traffic. But, the broader question, he says, is how can the situation be regulated.

"There's nothing inherently wrong with routing apps, but the problem is overuse," Bayen says. "Like the river example, when people are competing for the same commodity, if it's not regulated, there will be chaos."

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Thomas Nehren never knew what to expect when he was on the road in his hometown of Salt Lake City. Whether it was speed traps, accidents or road construction, he too often found himself on the wrong street at the wrong time, when a different way to work might have kept him away from traffic - or potentially a ticket.

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Even those who avoid online services can have their lives affected by them. One day you may wake up to find that your quiet street has turned into a busy highway. Satellite navigation services are to blame for this. Satellite navigation services optimize routes for their users taking into account traffic jams, accidents and road works. These types of applications collect data from municipal services and also from the reports that users send them.

Although they can make life easier for users, they can also create security and privacy concerns. The app diverts cars, trucks, and even tour buses onto quiet streets and alleys to minimize user traffic jams.

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I must admit that I wouldn't be able to get around without Google Maps. I use it while driving, walking and/or cycling. While their user interface could use some updating, the reality is that it provides drivers, walkers and cyclists several route alternatives that should satisfy everyones preferences (no tools, mostly flat, fastest route, etc.). I still remember when you had to use paper maps and well.intended citizens indications to get somewhere. What a nightmare was that! Still, while I enjoy the advantages of these apps I am also concern about some of their perils and particularly about how distracting it can be for some drivers. Not in small occasions I have seen drivers completely disconnected about what's going on around them while trying to figure out what turn is Morgan Freeman telling them to take next. This can be certainly dangerous as a moment of distraction on the wheel can have fatal consequences. Swiping your way through Google Maps while driving is just as much of a distraction and safety hazard as texting.
Luckily for those with a poor sense of orientation, and their mates in the road, most real-time traffic routing applications are already adapting their apps to voice commands. We'll see if that avoids distractions and make the roads safer as this apps are here to stay.

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TomTom, my most reliable traffic companion ever!

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TomTom, my most reliable traffic companion ever!

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TomTom, like Google Maps, is the most reliable driving companion I have ever had.  He never sleeps or slumbers.  He never gets bored or tired with my constant chatter on the road.  And, I, likewise, never gets bored of his.

I take him along with me wherever I go to get me to the places I need to go to, hassle-free.

TomTom has now slowly become my trusted companion on the road that I always drive around with, especially to those places that I have never been to before or not sure of how to get to by car.

For the most part, TomTom's advice on how to get to those tricky spots by car have been spot on.  But, I do remember the few rare times when TomTom's directions were a little bit off and took me off the sure and beaten path to unfamiliar and sometimes pretty tricky and scary terrain.

However, I have to admit that driving has never been the same again for me without TomTom.  With TomTom always by my side, he has transformed by fear of driving alone to one of pure joy!

I really cannot see myself leaving home again without him.  He and me have become one.  Like "Thelma and Louise" on the road, we are complicit ...

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TomTom Traffic knows the road ahead, saving time, fuel and stress for drivers, fleet and logistics providers, on-demand services (ride-hailing, food delivery), and traffic management authorities.

Analyzing real-time incidents and congestion to predict traffic before it happens, our connected services make TomTom navigation software more accurate with enhanced route calculations and accurate estimated times of arrival (ETA). That's why we are the market leader, with our traffic technology in millions of cars around the world.

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TomTom Traffic knows the road ahead, saving time, fuel and stress for drivers, fleet and logistics providers, on-demand services (ride-hailing, food delivery), and traffic management authorities. Analyzing real-time incidents and congestion to predict traffic before it happens, our connected services make TomTom navigation software more accurate with enhanced route calculations and accurate estimated times of arrival (ETA).

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I wouldn't be able to get anywhere without Google Maps at this point.

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It is true that realtime traffic routing enables the user to save whether time and money. However, these type of apps are creating a bunch of disadvantages -in the case of Waze now belonging to Google- it manages an important amount of data automatically sharing with the rest of the users or even alerting the users for potential police presence -that eventually could create more accidents if such drivers were drunk and wanted to avoid a fine-

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Real time traffic Routers are a terrific invention, however are destroying small towns and villages as traffic a great deal of which is HGV are travelling through to cut down time of journeys causing major traffic jams and heightened pollution levels  

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Real time traffic Routers are a terrific invention, however are destroying small towns and villages as traffic a great deal of which is HGV are travelling through to cut down time of journeys causing major traffic jams and heightened pollution levels  

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Albeit beneficial to the driver, sometimes realtime traffic routing causes a small fleet of cars to invade a residential street to detour around traffic putting children at risk.

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Better for you, worse for society in general

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Better for you, worse for society in general

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This article indicates that real-time traffic routing systems might help you but be doing so, impede the overall traffic flow. In essence, it is an "egoistic" way of driving, i.e. trying to save minutes of your drive even though it might disrupt the traffic on smaller local roads.

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"This problem has been vastly overlooked," Alexandre Bayen, the director of UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies, told me. "It is just the beginning of something that is gonna be much worse."

Bayen and a team of researchers presented their work earlier this year at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting and at the Cal Future conference at Berkeley in May 2017. They've also published work examining the negative externalities of high levels of automatic routing.

In the Cal Future talk, Bayen walked through a simulation created in the commercial-transportation simulator Aimsun. The video below shows how the flow of a freeway changes in response to an accident under two conditions: when no drivers use routing apps and when only 20 percent of drivers use routing apps. When there are more app-using drivers, congestion builds up at off-ramps, creating more traffic on the freeway.

"The situation then gets much worse because hundreds of people just like you want to go on the side streets, which were never designed to handle the traffic," Bayen says. "So, now, in addition to congesting the freeway, you've also congested the side streets and the intersections."

While it's clear that traffic on local roads gets worse with the use of these apps, Bayen said that nobody has managed to do a multi-scale analysis that can determine if the apps, even if they create local problems, are better or worse for whole traffic basins.

Nonetheless, the adoption and use of these apps continues to grow, too, Bayen said. Over the last 10 years, traffic-routing apps have become a standard accessory for the driving public. According to a 2015 Pew survey, 90 percent of Americans with smartphones use maps for driving directions at least some of the time. As smartphone penetration reaches up above 70 percent, a vast number of people now have access to real-time traffic data on their phones. The driving public is better informed about routes and road conditions than ever before.

In many local neighborhoods, residents have complained about increased traffic volumes. Bayen's team has been gathering stories from around California of resident complaints and found dozens in even a short time window, as shown in the map below.

Bayen's team showed that their concerns are real. In the chart below from a 2016 presentation, drivers who are routed by mapping applications spend many more minutes on "low-capacity roads," which is to say side streets.

But the Berkeley research suggests there could be a deeper, broader issue. A few people using route-planning maps makes things better, but a lot of people using them might force a deterioration of driving conditions. It is a very 2018 version of Garrett Hardin's " tragedy of the commons," where we, ourselves, are the cattle, the mapping software is the herdsman, and the roads are the common pasture. Nonetheless, the outcome is the same. In transportation-engineering terms, it could be that routing apps increase the price of anarchy.

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The Perfect Selfishness of Your Mapping App

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"This problem has been vastly overlooked," Alexandre Bayen, the director of UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies, told me. "It is just the beginning of something that is gonna be much worse." Bayen and a team of researchers presented their work earlier this year at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting and at the Cal Future conference at Berkeley in May 2017.

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One of the big cons is for small local businesses and local people due to changing traffic patterns either blocking normal routes or decreasing peoples businesses thought space

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Routing Traffic app data put to good use

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Routing Traffic app data put to good use

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This article explores how researchers at the University of Birmingham have successfully measured real-time emissions hotspots through the analysis of crowd-sourced data from routing traffic apps. The researchers argue this might be an effective cheaper solution for gathering real-time insight on vehicle's exhaust gases.

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Researchers at the University of Birmingham have found that routing apps could offer a cost-effective way of calculating emissions hotspots in real-time.

Apps such as Google Maps or Nokia's Here platform routinely capture detailed information as motorists use the GPS technology to plan and navigate routes. And according to new research, this data could be invaluable for researchers and planners who need to better understand traffic flows on busy roads.

Current emissions data from road transport is collated from a number of different sources by the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory and this is fed into annual reports to demonstrate compliance with emissions targets.

Many of these traditional air quality models rely on the assumption that traffic is freely flowing at the legal speed limit - whereas, in many areas, traffic flow will vary throughout the day. These models also overlook finer-grained detail from individual roads or junctions that might be emissions hotspots at particular times of the day.

Although more detailed information might be available to city planners when designing new road layouts or traffic improvement schemes, it requires costly modelling by consultancies. The researchers argued, however, that making use of the crowd-sourced data from routing apps could provide a low-cost and highly effective alternative to both high-level and localised modelling.

"A lot of guidelines and policy on air quality management are based on hourly time snapshots and on the average amount of traffic on a typical day of the year," said Helen Pearce, a PhD researcher at the university's School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. "The difficulty is that traffic can vary an enormous amount within that time window and along individual roads, so in order to make decisions that really work 'on the ground', we need to be able to access and make use of this finer-grained detail."

The approach suggested by the team was tested on roads in Birmingham's busy city centre. Information on the time taken to travel a series of road links was obtained via a map provider's API (application programming interface), conceptually similar to the approach that an individual would take to calculate the time of a journey. But by using the API, the researchers were able to obtain information for multiple roads and at multiple times of the day.

Following its successful preliminary study, the team scaled up their trial to include 920 major road links across Birmingham city centre, extracting information about these roads at hourly intervals. The researchers found they were able to clearly demonstrate the changes in traffic flow between typical weekdays, weekends, and also the effects of specific social events.

Speed-related emissions could then be calculated using a combination of sources including Defra's speed-related emission function database, and traffic count data from the Department for Transport. This information also helped the researchers take into account the relative splits between petrol and diesel engines.

"Our approach could provide significant insights into real-world vehicle behaviours," saidDr Zhaoya Gong. "As we start to see more electric and hybrid vehicles on the road, the emissions picture starts to get more complicated because there will be less exhaust emissions, but we will still see pollution from brakes, tyres and road surface wear - all these will vary significantly according to the speed of the vehicle so this sort of data will be vital for developing accurate emissions models."

Sign up to the E&T News e-mail to get great stories like this delivered to your inbox every day.

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Routing app traffic data used for real-time emissions insights

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Researchers at the University of Birmingham have found that routing apps could offer a cost-effective way of calculating emissions hotspots in real-time. Apps such as Google Maps or Nokia's Here platform routinely capture detailed information as motorists use the GPS technology to plan and navigate routes.

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Many of the shortcuts suggested by apps like Waze end up causing more traffic by using side roads, leading drivers to make unsafe turns and unpermitted traffic directions. Trapping residents in their driveways and casing accidents when local use roads get turned into shortcuts.

Police and infrastructure managers closing certain roads to keep Waze users from using them during rush hour.

Closed-loop prediction takes into account info provided as well as potential behaviours and responses to the information and predicts traffic scenarios based on this.

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Thomas Nehren never knew what to expect when he was on the road in his hometown of Salt Lake City. Whether it was speed traps, accidents or road construction, he too often found himself on the wrong street at the wrong time, when a different way to work might have kept him away from traffic - or potentially a ticket. Then he heard about a navigation app called Waze.

"Waze saves me a few minutes of commute every day, with five days a week and 50 weeks a year, that adds up," Nehren says. "I use Waze to help me find the quickest way out of two or three alternative routes to get to work and back home."

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The app, now about a decade old, functions by collecting map data, travel times and traffic information from users, who can report accidents, traffic jams and police activity. A small Israeli startup, Waze was bought by Google in 2013 for approximately $1 billion. Its 500,000 volunteer map editors globally keep its maps updated, but the app is centered on information provided by its users, according to company spokeswoman Terry Wei.

"It's our community of 100 million users around the world that make up the magic that is Waze," she says. "The information ensures that our maps always have the most up-to-date information, improving the driving experience for everyone."

Well, maybe not everyone.

A city council member in Los Angeles this month wrote a letter to the city attorney seeking possible legal action in response to what he describes as threats to public safety caused by Waze technology. The lawmaker, David Ryu, has been speaking up about the issue since he was elected in 2015.

According to Ryu, many of the shortcuts suggested by Waze end up causing more traffic in an effort to cut travel times by using side roads, leading drivers to make unsafe turns and often unpermitted traffic directions. In one case, Ryu mentioned, a street designed for local use is handling over 650 cars an hour. This, he said, has trapped several residents in their driveways and has led to multiple accidents.

"Waze has upended our City's traffic plans, residential neighborhoods, and public safety for far too long," Ryu said in his April 17 letter. "If we do nothing, Waze will lead us on a race to the bottom - where traffic plans are ignored and every street is gridlocked."

The council member proposed collaboration between the private sector, namely Waze and Google, with the public sector to alleviate this ongoing issue. Ryu spokesman Estevan Montemayor says the council member's office has attempted to bring Waze to the table to work collaboratively.

"The councilman supports technology and alternative modes of transportation," Montemayor says. "This is not an attack on technology. We hope Waze takes some responsibility for some of the problems their app is creating, and they should have legitimate concerns regarding these issues because city officials have been dealing with them day in and day out."

The company insists that it is "committed to helping cities and citizens navigate efficiently and safely."

"It's important to note that Waze does not 'control' traffic but our maps do reflect public roads that federal and local authorities have identified and built for its citizens. If the city identifies a dangerous condition, it is their responsibility to legally reclassify a road, which will then be reflected on the Waze map," she says.

Uri Levine, co-founder and former president of Waze, defends his brainchild even more plainly, saying the backlash is unwarranted and Waze facilitates navigation for the public good.

"All roads are the public domain and therefore the right of everyone to use," Levine says. "In that sense, Waze redistributes traffic to create a better traffic situation for everyone."

He says that when he was starting Waze, he and his team were trying to "solve big problems and to create a lot of value for a lot of people."

"We started back in 2007 with a clear vision of helping drivers outsmart traffic," he says.

But that was a long time ago in the tech world - two years even before the founding of Uber, a company that would revolutionize the transportation sector with its rideshare app that allowed ordinary motorists to connect with passengers who needed transportation and to make a few bucks in the process. The rideshare industry was a boon for Waze, as motorists - who often had less knowledge of their surroundings than a cab driver might - turned to the app to find the fastest and the least congested routes. In fact, demand for such a product prompted Uber to develop its own that can be accessed from within its own app - a helpful feature for its drivers.

"Drivers frequently cite the convenience of not having to switch between apps during trips as a big reason for choosing Uber's in-app navigation," Uber spokesman Michael Amodeo says.

With steadily increasing usage and more navigation apps popping up, more motorists are being directed to less crowded streets across the country.

Hundreds of people on freeways usually try to use side roads as a result of rerouting apps such as Waze, Google Maps, INRIX and Apple Maps, according to Alexandre Bayen, director of the Transportation Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley. These roads are not equipped to handle heavy volumes of traffic, which is why it ends up being an issue.

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"If only a few people are drinking water from a river, it isn't a problem," Bayen says. "But if there are a million people at the river, there will be no more water. The same thing applies to routing apps. With only a few people using the apps, there is no problem. Now, everyone is using them so there is no more capacity."

The result has been traffic displacement - and anger - that is not limited to Los Angeles.

And in 2016, in Takoma Park, Maryland, residents went to great lengths to prevent Waze drivers from flooding their roads during a bridge reconstruction project. A Takoma Park man reportedly started reporting phantom wrecks and traffic jams on his street before Waze banned him.

"Waze is meant to be interactive so people put information about roadblocks to trick the software," says Daryl Braithwaite, public works director in Takoma Park.

The solution to this problem, according to Hani Mahmassani, transportation expert at Northwestern University, is a method called closed-loop prediction. Closed-loop prediction could predict traffic scenarios, taking into account the information provided as well as the potential behaviors and responses to the information.

"An entity like Waze doesn't do closed-loop prediction because they're not in the business of managing traffic," Mahmassani says. "They're in the business of providing information."

Access restriction is a viable alternative to the congestion caused by rerouting apps, according to Bayen. Restricted access to specific neighborhoods during certain times of the day may alleviate the traffic. But, the broader question, he says, is how can the situation be regulated.

"There's nothing inherently wrong with routing apps, but the problem is overuse," Bayen says. "Like the river example, when people are competing for the same commodity, if it's not regulated, there will be chaos."

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Thomas Nehren never knew what to expect when he was on the road in his hometown of Salt Lake City. Whether it was speed traps, accidents or road construction, he too often found himself on the wrong street at the wrong time, when a different way to work might have kept him away from traffic - or potentially a ticket.

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Pros and cons of realtime traffic routing

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Pros and cons of realtime traffic routing

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Privacy and consent seems to be two of the biggest drawbacks. It's impossible to obtain consent from the drivers, while this data is needed for an acurate outcome. On the other hand, it can ease traffic lowering pollution and energy waste.

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What Is Waze?

Waze is a community-driven map app designed by an Israeli company that was acquired by Google (GOOG) in 2013. Waze uses data from app users to provide quicker navigation routes. Data is submitted both automatically as users drive around (using speeds determined by GPS signals) and can be manually entered on the app. Users can report speed traps, accidents, traffic jams, and other things that could slow down drivers. Since being sold to Google, many of Waze's features have been incorporated into Google Maps.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Waze is a community-driven navigation map app designed that was acquired by Google (GOOG) in 2013.

Due to its community user base, many Waze users like being able to get updated on the fastest route, see where friends are, and be wary of reported police traps.

However, the Waze platform can be cluttered with too many features, distracting from the driving at hand.

The Pros of Waze

Why would anyone need another map app? For years, Google Maps has been the go-to for mobile users looking for directions or ETAs. While Google Maps is still the king of maps, for many of the 50 million Waze users, it’s Waze or nothing.

Waze’s strongest feature is its community user-base. Because the app is constantly collecting information, it can adapt quickly to ensure the fastest route possible. Users are able to “level up” and get different characters based on their interaction with the game-like app.

Keeping with the community theme, Waze lets users add their friends so that groups of friends can keep track of each other on a trip, or facilitate chance encounters if a friend appears in a Waze user’s vicinity. The app also allows users to connect to Facebook (FB) and Google Calendar to easily find event addresses and create directions.

What else can Waze do? For starters, the app can be used to find community-recommended restaurants along the route as well as navigate to the station with the lowest gas prices. In addition, the app learns from users and can calculate the perfect route for leaving work at 5 p.m. each day.

Cons of Waze

One of the largest complaints about Waze is the ugly and cluttered layout of the maps. In an area with little activity or users, the app loses its community advantage over Google Maps. But, in areas with a large community, the number of icons on the screen can be overwhelming. Waze displays maps with other users, hazards, traffics jams, police traps, accidents, and much more; a tiny mobile screen can quickly become filled and make it difficult for users to find their routes.

Furthermore, the app can be distracting. Friends appear, accumulating points ding, ads pop, routes are re-routed, and drive-by incidents beg to be reported. Laws against distracted driving should encourage users to put their phones down when driving, but we all know how difficult it is to ignore a beeping phone.

Lately, police offices across the country have begun to take issue with Waze’s police reporting feature. Police argue that alerting other drivers to police traps and police presence are making targets of police officers. Waze disagrees, arguing that the police reporting feature of the app increases driver safety because users drive more carefully when in the presence of police.

Another complaint that users have against Waze is the amount of battery power and data resources it consumes. While battery drain is comparable to battery drain while using Google Maps, remember, the app is still reporting data to Waze even when it’s not navigating. This means that Waze’s battery drain, while the app is running in the background, is much higher than Google Maps’. For Waze users, having a car charger is essential.

The Bottom Line

Waze is an app for Millennials, a generation of people that are used to getting exactly what they want when they want it, preferably, through the Internet. Despite the battery drain, data consumption, and cluttered screen, the app provides irresistible time-saving (and sanity-saving!) measures that make it a must-have for every driver.

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GPS and over-reliance on route mapping was used for comic effect in this episode of 'The Office': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOW_kPzY_JY&ab_channel=TheOffice

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Waze - vulnerabilities and counter-police functionality

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Waze - vulnerabilities and counter-police functionality

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Waze has been a popular real-time mapping and route management app of mine for some time, mainly down to the lovely UX and gamification, with kawai icons which can be customised. What did trouble me somewhat is that you can see the location of other waze users on the screen (with their own icons) which leads you to start to guess if the person you just passed was also using the app. This seems more sinister in light of a vulnerability (now patched) which allowed hackers to ID users and then track them: https://threatpost.com/googles-waze-track-users/160332/

Another feature which I found useful, but also of questionable morality, was the ability to report or confirm police locations. Aside from the fact that this encourages users to update information whilst driving (a distraction), it is also open to misuse and can detract from covert police operations. A few years ago, students used a similar approach to create fake traffic jams: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/waze-hacked-fake-traffic-jam

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Pay attention to the app, or pay attention to the road?

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Pay attention to the app, or pay attention to the road?

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When real-time traffic routing is used to circulate through an area that the driver/pedestrian does not know well, or when the app changes the itinerary mid-course, the time the driver/pedestrian spends paying attention to the app is time not spent paying attention to the road...

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Then the most optimal route gets you killed

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Then the most optimal route gets you killed

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This is an old story, but still happening (although hopefully not that bad) nowadays.

Often google maps (specially) sends you directly through neighborhoods or city centers and mountain dirt paths instead of roads. It has happened to me that despite clearly selecting one route, the application changed it without me noticing, causing issues with the type of van I was driving.

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The pair photographed earlier this month. Reprodução/Facebook

The men were touring South America on motorcycles, officials said, adding they believe the two men entered the favela, which is close to the Santa Teresa neighborhood, a popular tourist spot, by mistake after following their GPS map.

They were immediately stopped by a group of armed men, according to testimony Polato gave police. After spotting that Bardella's crash helmet had a video camara attached to it, they shot him in the head. Polato said the gang mistook them for police officers.

The gang then bundled Bardella's body into the trunk of a car and took Polato with them while they drove around for two hours. Eventually, they dumped Polato and the body by a roadside, stealing their posessions.

The killing took place around 10am, and an hour later the two men were reported missing. A search operation was launched that sealed off the slum, which has officially been "pacified" since 2011, although cutbacks have seen a recent surge in violence between rival gangs.

The security forces now find that they are increasingly unable to enter favelas

Rio's city government says it has spent $560 million on social programs since 2011. But with so much need for the roughly 20% of Rio's population that lives in slums, frustration over what residents see as a lack of progress has exacerbated tensions with heavily armed police.

As a result, lawlessness has risen, and even the security forces now find that they are increasingly unable to enter favelas. The killing of the Italian tourist is the third such case of somebody being murdered after mistakenly going into one of the more than 30 such slums in the city.

During the Olympic Games in August, a police patrol lost its way and found itself in the Maré favela and came under attack. One officer lost his life.

The men were touring South America on motorcycles

In October 2015, an elderly couple was attacked in the Niterói slum. Francisco and Regina Murmura, aged 69 and 70 were held up by a group of armed men. The woman was shot and later died of her wounds.

The state of Rio de Janeiro, which is responsible for policing and security, reported 376 homicides in June in the state up from 272 in June 2015. In the first six months of 2016, there were 2,470 homicides compared to 2,105 in the same period a year earlier.

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Italian tourist gunned down after GPS led him into slum by mistake

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The men were touring South America on motorcycles, officials said, adding they believe the two men entered the favela, which is close to the Santa Teresa neighborhood, a popular tourist spot, by mistake after following their GPS map. They were immediately stopped by a group of armed men, according to testimony Polato gave police.

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Local only traffic roads/ LTN low traffic neighborhood plans

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Local only traffic roads/ LTN low traffic neighborhood plans

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There has been uproar in my old neighborhood in London recently about plans to restrict many of the road outlets to emergency vehicles+bikes - but I recall how in my childhood home in the USA, 50% of  our neighborhood roads onto the main road were designated no entry/exit after a commuter using a "rat run" killed a child on a pedestrian crossing.  Waze and other services obviously help travellers during route disruptions (accidents/road closures) but shaving a few minutes off a commute by making more roads more dangerous is not worth it.

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I like the way this article described the issue "what happens when every driver selfishly picks the fastest route and what the socially optimal traffic outcome would be... In the pre-mobile-app days, drivers’ selfishness was limited by their knowledge of the road network... "

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"This problem has been vastly overlooked," Alexandre Bayen, the director of UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies, told me. "It is just the beginning of something that is gonna be much worse."

Bayen and a team of researchers presented their work earlier this year at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting and at the Cal Future conference at Berkeley in May 2017. They've also published work examining the negative externalities of high levels of automatic routing.

In the Cal Future talk, Bayen walked through a simulation created in the commercial-transportation simulator Aimsun. The video below shows how the flow of a freeway changes in response to an accident under two conditions: when no drivers use routing apps and when only 20 percent of drivers use routing apps. When there are more app-using drivers, congestion builds up at off-ramps, creating more traffic on the freeway.

"The situation then gets much worse because hundreds of people just like you want to go on the side streets, which were never designed to handle the traffic," Bayen says. "So, now, in addition to congesting the freeway, you've also congested the side streets and the intersections."

While it's clear that traffic on local roads gets worse with the use of these apps, Bayen said that nobody has managed to do a multi-scale analysis that can determine if the apps, even if they create local problems, are better or worse for whole traffic basins.

Nonetheless, the adoption and use of these apps continues to grow, too, Bayen said. Over the last 10 years, traffic-routing apps have become a standard accessory for the driving public. According to a 2015 Pew survey, 90 percent of Americans with smartphones use maps for driving directions at least some of the time. As smartphone penetration reaches up above 70 percent, a vast number of people now have access to real-time traffic data on their phones. The driving public is better informed about routes and road conditions than ever before.

In many local neighborhoods, residents have complained about increased traffic volumes. Bayen's team has been gathering stories from around California of resident complaints and found dozens in even a short time window, as shown in the map below.

Bayen's team showed that their concerns are real. In the chart below from a 2016 presentation, drivers who are routed by mapping applications spend many more minutes on "low-capacity roads," which is to say side streets.

But the Berkeley research suggests there could be a deeper, broader issue. A few people using route-planning maps makes things better, but a lot of people using them might force a deterioration of driving conditions. It is a very 2018 version of Garrett Hardin's " tragedy of the commons," where we, ourselves, are the cattle, the mapping software is the herdsman, and the roads are the common pasture. Nonetheless, the outcome is the same. In transportation-engineering terms, it could be that routing apps increase the price of anarchy.

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The Perfect Selfishness of Your Mapping App

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"This problem has been vastly overlooked," Alexandre Bayen, the director of UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies, told me. "It is just the beginning of something that is gonna be much worse." Bayen and a team of researchers presented their work earlier this year at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting and at the Cal Future conference at Berkeley in May 2017.

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This article shows how BMW company is trying to overtake some difficulties of real Time Traffic Information. Infact "Most “real time” traffic reports are outdated by the time they’re delivered, or they’re so scattershot that they have nothing to do with the course you’ve set." This new system is able to recommend the faster route based on travel conditions.

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Most "real time" traffic reports are outdated by the time they're delivered, or they're so scattershot that they have nothing to do with the course you've set. But BMW thinks it may have a better solution in the form of a new service called Advanced Real-Time Traffic Information (ARTTI) that promises to deliver traffic info faster and more accurately.

It uses technology from traffic information titan Inrix, which supplies BMW and most other automakers as well as aftermarket navigation device suppliers and smartphone nav apps with data. The company aggregates data from DOTs and other governmental agencies and millions of "probe" vehicles and matches it with historical traffic patterns as well as live events such as concerts that can cause tie-ups.

But existing data pipelines -- FM broadcast via the Radio Data System or satellite radio receivers - are the primary cause of delays in delivery of traffic information, Inrix spokesperson Jim Baks told Wired. "By the time incident data is reported and sent out over these networks, the traffic could clear up," he says.

Plus, current methods don't allow personalizing the information that's unique to drivers and their particular route, "If you send information about an incident, you have to send it out in a 360-degree radius," Baks adds. "Because that radius is fixed, this often results in sending data that's irrelevant. I don't care what happened behind me; I want to know what's happening 10 miles in front of me on my route and any of the feeder routes I might take."

The ARTTI system differs in that uses a technology known as TPEG, an instrument panel protocol for delivering traffic and travel information to a vehicle and that's tied to the vehicle's location -- and is also much quicker. "What TPEG allows us to do is send out packets of info that's very specific to that driver for the route they're taking and where they are," Baks says. It also allows traffic updates as fast as within a minute, he adds. "It gets rid of the latency issue. It doesn't have to go through the usual cycle."

Only one other automaker is using the TPEG standard: Audi in Europe. BMW will be the first to use it in the United States. ARTTI will be a standard feature of the in-dash navigation systems on all 2013 7 Series vehicles, 550i sedans, the 550i Gran Turismo and ActiveHybrid 5 sedan, and it will be an option on the 2013 528i and 535i sedans, 535i Gran Turismo and ActiveHybrid 3. According to Baks, vehicles with the technology will start shipping in the next three weeks and will be in dealer showrooms by the beginning of July.

And as ARTTI becomes implemented and upgraded, it could get better at predicting traffic tie-ups by tying in more with the car. "For the first time we're working with an automaker that's allowing us to see data that's coming off the CAN bus, the Car Area Network," Bak adds. "So we're able to get data coming from the ABS system, data coming from the windshield wiper systems. What BMW wants us to do is use this data to not only recommend the fastest route based on traffic, but the best route based on travel conditions. If you get a lot of data firing off several vehicles from the ABS system on a certain road, you know there's probably a blizzard going on and you know which roads are icy or maybe haven't been plowed or salted. That way you can recommend a better route. That's not something that will be active in the rollout, but is something we're exploring for future upgrades of the system."

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Most "real time" traffic reports are outdated by the time they're delivered, or they're so scattershot that they have nothing to do with the course you've set. But BMW thinks it may have a better solution in the form of a new service called Advanced Real-Time Traffic Information (ARTTI) that promises to deliver traffic info faster and more accurate.

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Last year Waze introduced a feature that allows users to not only find the fastest route but also the cheapest by comparing the prices of toll roads/bridges.
As far as drivers go I am sure that this is a very beneficial, no one wants to be hit with a surprise fee for using a road right?

https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/1209602/Google-Maps-vs-Waze-new-toll-price-alert-feature-released

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Better Safe than Sorry - Balancing Fastest Route with Safety

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Better Safe than Sorry - Balancing Fastest Route with Safety

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The article I read proposes a system that avoids the congestion created when all Apps send people on the same short-cut or the alternative route goes through unsafe areas.  It sounds interesting and would be implemented by balancing traffic across multiple routes instead of sending everyone to the same place.  They also include the following: "Evaluation of the driver’s preference over the safest and the fastest route: Different drivers can have different preferences related to the fastest and the safest routes. For instance, careful drivers may prefer a safer route than a fast one to travel, while drivers with a time limitation potentially prefer a faster route to reach their destination in time."
Ethical questions: Who determines what is a "safe" street, and could this pull from the PolicePred data that may further disadvantage neighborhoods and small businesses?
https://jisajournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13174-019-0116-9

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As well demonstrated by Simon Weckert, such systems must be resilient against manipulation to avoid 3rd parties influencing real world routing (which he did by causing fake traffic jams with a load of old phones in a cart).

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″ 99 second hand smartphones are transported in a handcart to generate virtual traffic jam in Google Maps.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. ” #googlemapshacks

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https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/waze-the-application-which-supports-or-even-incentivizes-its-users-to-break-the-rules/

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This article from the University of Berkeley’s Smart Cities Research Center presents the case that real-time traffic rerouting is causing residential streets to become gummed up, in the case of Glen Park, San Francisco, as well as areas of London. Apps like Google Maps went from tagging traffic jams ahead so offering real-time suggestions, considering current traffic. Nevertheless, the only data gained by such apps was from a specific set of users causing blind spots. These suggestions also fail to account for cultural context – for example driving by a school at 8:15am before the registration bell. Consumers of these apps and society as a whole are losing out.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/your-navigation-app-is-making-traffic-unmanageable

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This article points out that real time routing works for the efficiency of the traveller but can have significant consequences for communities. An efficient route might bring a volume and type of traffic to a residential area increasing potential harms including noise, vibration, traffic safety and pollution. Having said that, I couldn't go back to using the gigantic UK Road atlas for navigation!

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(Image: Cambridge News)

One man believes it's only a matter of time before a fatal traffic collision takes place in his village - and he's doing everything he can to make people use an alternative route.

Research Company Director Edward James Bass has only recently moved to Stretham, but has quickly become very concerned at the high numbers of heavy goods vehicles passing through the narrow streets each hour, as the village is being used as a rat run during the A14 improvement works.

He lives near the dangerous bend on the A1123 in Stretham, near Green End, and like many residents in the village, he is worried that by using the village as an alternative route for A14 traffic instead of the Ely bypass, a collision will happen sooner rather than later.

Edward previously worked for one of the "big four" advertising companies, and is using his social media expertise to try and capture the attention of both councillors and the media, but so far, he's had little luck. However, the village is hoping that will change on Tuesday (July 16), when East Cambridgeshire District Council member for Stretham, Bill Hunt, will attend a public forum to address the issue, alongside a representative for Highways England.

Speaking to Cambridgeshire Live, Edward explained why the community was up in arms, and why Google's algorithm may be to blame for the traffic crisis.

He said: "Something should have been done about this by now. I've spoken to our councillor, Bill Hunt, and he's assured me that while he's concerned about the issue, it will at least be solved once the A14 reopens.

"But this overlooks the bigger problem - the fact people are using this tiny road as an alternative route while the Ely bypass is empty. The algorithm on Google Maps has altered the route from the A14 so this is now the main alternative, and I refuse to believe that simply opening the A14 again will solve this problem.

"I live on the corner of the A1123 near Green End, so I'm close to the most dangerous bend on the road. You have 30 to 40 HGV's passing hourly in both directions, and as it's a tiny road, a collision is likely. I'd only understand this being a preferred route if the Ely bypass didn't exist. And again, we could wait for the A14 to reopen to stop this problem - but will that stop Google?"

Stretham is far from the only Cambridgeshire village that has faced traffic problems recently. Earlier this year, the News reported that residents of Earith staged a mock protest carrying coffins down the high street, to signify how the HGV's down their narrow roads have polluted the air, ruined the infrastructure and contributed to the "death of a village".

But Edward claims that the issue in Stretham is different.

He continued: "What happened to Earith is awful, especially because they had no clear alternative route for traffic. But we do - there's a bypass that vehicles can use as an A14 alternative instead!

"Having vehicles zoom down these narrow streets doesn't benefit the people in the area, or the industry here. The whole village needs a traffic overhaul, as this doesn't help a growing community."

The Stretham traffic issues meeting will take place this Tuesday (July 16) at St James' Church, Stretham, at 7.30pm.

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'Google Maps has turned my village into a rat run and we need to take action'

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One man believes it's only a matter of time before a fatal traffic collision takes place in his village - and he's doing everything he can to make people use an alternative route.

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When traffic flow is tracked, it is very deliberately watching exactly where people are going and controlling people. this gives a huge sense of power over those controlling data and in the wrong hands or if there are glitches or outages there could be huge consequences.

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Pros
- Less congestion.
- Faster routes for drivers.
- Ability to choose routes.
- Can see ETA.
- In cases of delays drivers can be re-routed through urban and suburban routes meaning more pollution in these areas.

Cons
-The user of a phone while driving could be distracting.
- The ability to show police and speed cameras on these apps mean that drivers can drive at high speeds only slowing down when warned.
-Gathers data about where you are, how long for, usual trips, home address and even phone numbers of telephone contacts sometimes.
-Apps such as these can be used in domestic abuse cases to track the whereabouts of the partners.
- The apps can take commuters on dangerous roads, such as roads that have not been cleared of snow in order to avoid traffic.