Beat traffic with Google Maps

Google has announced the availability of two new features for Google Maps in India: turn-by-turn voice-guided driving directions through Google Maps Navigation (Beta) and live traffic information for some major cities.

Darren Baker, Product Manager for Google Maps, said that their latest offerings could help people in cities manage their commute better with live traffic updates as well as historical data to determine the best possible route with their navigation system. He said that user phones would anonymously feed information into their system and share the data with other users on their maps.

“Nearly 70 per cent of Google mapping works done in India,” he said and added that the country was the first place where landmark and road data had to be integrated as part of the feature. Though the Google Maps Navigation is available throughout the country, live traffic information would be available in Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, he said.

Google Maps users can even review “typical” traffic conditions on a given road at specific days with green indicating free flowing traffic, yellow for minor slowdowns and red for significant congestions.

 Android 2.2+ smartphone users are provided with internet- connected GPS navigation with turn by turn directions. The maps used gets automatically updated with latest information.