Traffic jams in Google Maps could be spoofed with 99 phones and a little red wagon

Seeing traffic jams in Google Maps can really help you plan your route home from work. But a video posted this weekend seems to show that a traffic jam could be spoofed into Google Maps with nothing more than a bunch of phones piled into a little red wagon.

In the video, posted by Simon Weckert, a Berlin-based artist who focuses on examining the value and impact of technology, a man walks down some city streets pulling a wagon with 99 smartphones that all have Google Maps’ navigation turned on. As the man pulls the wagon, the streets get progressively redder on Google Maps. Those red streets would typically indicate a bad traffic jam — but the video shows that the streets were nearly empty.

Usually, Google determines where traffic jams...

Continue reading…