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Traffic Widget

loomer

loomer

Android Enthusiast
Has anyone else noticed the new traffic widget on their phones? It allows you to put a traffic signal on your home screen, and it gets tied in with a destination you put in. It polls for traffic between where you are currently, and that location. Signal changes color (green, yellow, red) depending on the current traffic situation. I am assuming it came with the latest GMaps update? Very cool!
 
I don't see the point of it. It seems to be just an indication of traffic in the general area, and you need to be on your home screen to use it.


I've been suggesting that they make the Google Navigation icon in the status bar (or whatever the top of the screen is called) color coded so that it shows the traffic on your route even if you don't have Navigation as the active top screen. That would be useful, this isn't.
 
Goodspike said:
I don't see the point of it. It seems to be just an indication of traffic in the general area, and you need to be on your home screen to use it.


I've been suggesting that they make the Google Navigation icon in the status bar (or whatever the top of the screen is called) color coded so that it shows the traffic on your route even if you don't have Navigation as the active top screen. That would be useful, this isn't.
Click to expand...


The point of it is you can check for traffic when you are going someplace. I have three on my home screen, set to destinations that I frequent. So before I leave for one of those destinations, I can check the signal, and it tells me if I am going to hit traffic. Seems pretty straight forward to me?
 
loomer said:
The point of it is you can check for traffic when you are going someplace. I have three on my home screen, set to destinations that I frequent. So before I leave for one of those destinations, I can check the signal, and it tells me if I am going to hit traffic. Seems pretty straight forward to me?
Click to expand...

But it doesn't seem to do that--it's just traffic in the general area. How would it possibly know what route you're taking to get from point A to point B? I set it up for my house and it showed that I had a lot of traffic even though I was at my house! Maybe that's because it knew my garage was full? :D And in any case, it doesn't tell you where the traffic is, so you can't avoid it. Seems like just using Google Navigation is a better solution. I use it all the time on the way home from various locations, even though I obviously know how to get home.
 
When you tap on the signal, it gives the signal color that corresponds with the amount of traffic (green, yellow, red), and also the time it would take to get from where you are, to whatever you have as the destination for the signal. It all ties in with Google Nav. The time it gives you is based on the shortest route it to get to the destination. That's how it "knows".
 
loomer said:
When you tap on the signal, it gives the signal color that corresponds with the amount of traffic (green, yellow, red), and also the time it would take to get from where you are, to whatever you have as the destination for the signal. It all ties in with Google Nav. The time it gives you is based on the shortest route it to get to the destination. That's how it "knows".
Click to expand...

Well how would I possible know what it knows? What is the shortest route?


To get to downtown North Seattle from my home I could take I-5 to the west of Lake Washington, I-405 to the east and then take either I-90 or SR 520 over to I-5. All are about the same number of miles, and each regularly has entirely different traffic, from none to horrible. Which of those three routes would it consider the shortest route?
 
loomer said:
Has anyone else noticed the new traffic widget on their phones? It allows you to put a traffic signal on your home screen, and it gets tied in with a destination you put in. It polls for traffic between where you are currently, and that location. Signal changes color (green, yellow, red) depending on the current traffic situation. I am assuming it came with the latest GMaps update? Very cool!
Click to expand...

This is pretty cool. I bet most people dont know about this.
You should post this in the android lounge to let others user know about this ;)
 
I have two traffic widgets installed (one for home, the other for work). Unless I tap the widget it stays asleep for me. It also doesn't show as a running process unless activated.
 
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