Google Maps Hack: Man creates fake traffic jam with 99 smartphones

Berlin : Google Maps has become a daily need for car commuters in big cities to learn which route will cost them less travel time. Google itself promotes its service to encourage people to use it before hitting the streets with their cars. But, on a lighter note, a man hacked the system and created fake traffic on the streets with the help of 99 smartphones.

Simon Weckert, a Berlin-based artist, posted a video on his YouTube channel where he demonstrated how to create a fake traffic jam on the Maps. In the video, Weckert is shown pulling 99 smartphones with the location turned on in a hand cart on city streets, including the street right outside Google's office in Berlin.

With the slow-moving cart and 99 smartphones at one location, the Map service mistook it as slow-moving traffic on the street and started featuring red lines on the map, which happens to be the indication of heavy traffic jam.

Google uses this method to crowdsource traffic data the world over; smartphones in cars provide information to Google, including the speed at which they are moving, and how many smartphones are on that particular street.

If the pace is low and number is high, Google would show that segment of the street as red or maroon, suggesting that there is a traffic jam.

The YouTuber has not shared much details about the video, so it would not be correct to claim the authenticity on the claims made in the video. But, in case this is authentic then it would be like an open challenge for Google to come up with a prevention method from such hacks.

You enjoy the video below: