Google Maps, new features to avoid traffic

Google's digital mapping app will allow drivers to report any traffic jams and why they're forming. Here's how it works

That the digital mapping apps on our smartphones are useful is beyond doubt. The various Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze allow us to get directions in a matter of seconds to reach a place with our car, public transport or on foot and, in this way, to organize trips and movements in any part of the world we are.

Taking advantage of some tricks, then, you can discover shortcuts or avoid traffic jams so as to further shorten travel time and get to your destination in the shortest possible time. These latter features are particularly appreciated by those who are always on the road and take advantage of Google or Apple algorithms to avoid getting trapped in a queue on the highway or freeway. And from today, Google maps become even more precise, thanks to the possibility for users to report traffic jams encountered along the way and indicate the reasons.

How to avoid traffic with Google Maps

According to the usual well-informed, Big G engineers and developers are working on a new feature, taken from Waze, to be integrated into the source code of the digital mapping app. With the next version of Google Maps for Android, in fact, users will be able to report a queue or a traffic jam and add the reason for the traffic jam. This will allow other drivers to change their route and get to their destination while avoiding traffic.

How will the new Google Maps traffic reporting feature work? Nothing could be simpler: in case you're stuck in a traffic jam, just keep your finger pressed on the app's interface, at the exact point where the traffic jam has formed, and wait a few moments: a window will appear from which to report the traffic and the reason. This can range from a road construction site to an accident, passing through other possible causes of a traffic jam. At that point, the Google Maps algorithms will update the traffic situation in the area, reporting the traffic jam to anyone in the vicinity.