Police reported ahead

Humm... I have not read the article yet, but how do they distinguish a car with a single driver with one phone vs a car with 5 occupants each with phone. Or on a bus with many occupants with many phones. If there are multiple tour buses with many occupants slowing down on a highway, will that be represented as a massive traffic jam equal to many many cars slowing down simultaneously?

 

In terms of traffic, the number of phones doesn't matter much beyond distinguishing between a single vehicle's behavior and that of the traffic's. Remember, all the phones in one vehicle will start, accelerate, and stop at the same time. Multiple vehicles on the same road do not move in such concert. Traffic moves in waves; the car in front starts or stops, then the car behind starts or stops, and so on.

So, a bunch of phones moving exactly together get counted as one vehicle. From there the system tracks it against the movement of other vehicles on that road. At least, that is my guess on how it works.

 

Makes sense.

BTW, I'm not sure where the data comes from for the map on my car, but the other day it was showing red for the oncoming lanes of the divided highway I was on. But there were no cars at all in those oncoming lanes. I think I read that it's from HD radio, but where does that come from? Whatever it is, Google seems to be a lot more reliable even though it's also more invasive.

 

Since Google now owns both, and it makes sense to feed inputs from both systems into the same larger database for better results, Google Maps could (and should, now) very well get such information from the Waze users.

I'm not sure there is any need to distinguish such.

If the buses are moving slower than other traffic, the tracking data aggregators should able to see plenty of other phones (other cars) moving through much quicker. So the handles should be there to distinguish the situations, if the programmers choose to use it.

Unless the phone is in Airplane Mode, the phone absolutely is trackable by the cellular phone signal in real time, this is a legal requirement for E911 reasons. Data mode not necessary, though data and wifi modes allow greater accuracy.

This live tracking data then turned into a marketing goldmine, once smart phone users started giving many apps permission (knowingly or otherwise) to use or sell it. And numerous apps got caught collecting it without permission.

Then a major data aggregator serving a large majority of the cellular industry got caught putting all this live tracking data on an open unsecured website. Until this security breach was publicly noticed and closed, anybody (who knew via national intelligence services or the dark web) could just go there and get live tracking information for any desired phone number subscribing to any of those cellular service providers, which was most of them. That particular hole has been closed, but it seems than various others keep getting discovered.

For the live tracking data that is legally available, if Google didn't collect it themselves, they could buy it from those who do.

 

So why would you say "no need to give google your info'...yes, you have to give it info about police you see on the road. Its not all about traffic jams. So yes, there is need for you to give info back if tou wante better application. If you want to get ambushed by police, then google maps is for you.

SM-G973F ?

 

Yeah, I am afraid there is no escaping from the Big Brother watching us. Just a little relief to know that in our neck of the woods, most of the time I'm on the road I have no cellular signal. Moreover, the phone location maybe trackable, but that doesn't mean whoever tracking it knows who I am. My prepaid SIM and phone I carry around has almost no personal information in it.

 

Read what I wrote. No need to give it because they have it. Period. When someone already has something, you don't need to give it to them. Google has your location, so making extra effort to get it to them accomplishes nothing. It has nothing to do with the police. I can't figure out how you dreamed that up.

 

Does Prius driver ever get ambushed by police? I drive mine below or right at the posted speed limit all the time. Oh yes, I may want the report on where those tailgater pickup trucks are on the road. LOL

 

They dont. Do you wanna bet? I will send you a screenshot from Gmaps and waze on the same location, at same time. Wazehaspolice on the map and Gmaps dont. Period.

SM-G973F ?

 

I think you misunderstood what @jerrymildred commented on. He is not making any comment about police location information on the map. He is simply commenting on Google do not need any information from drivers to get the "TRAFFIC" information, because they already get those information without user input. His statement is only about traffic congestion information, nothing to do with police.

 

I know that. His whole point is to compare the 2 apps. And i am challenging this point in a way to show Waze is overall giving more info. Traffic jams are covered in both apps. So no sense in comparing them in this category couse they are the same. I am mentioninf another category, relevant to driver, and it is location of mobile police units. Waze has it, GM dont. Thats my input on comparing this 2 apps. I often speak to GM users, i they dont eaven know app could have police ambushes listed. So they argue about how GM is the same as W.

SM-G973F ?

 

No, I don't think he is making any comparison of Gmap and Waze. He has simply commented on Google getting information about traffic, that's all. I and probably @jerrymildred don't disagree with you on which map works better for you. For me both are useless apps. I don't use map app in a car. I have no data connection on my phone.

 

He is comparing. "Whatever it is, Google seems to be a lot more reliable even though it's also more invasive."

I dont think "wharever works 4 you" is a valid point in any objective comparison. Hors works for me, but car is superior. One couldnot say hors works for me, there fore it is better transportation overall.

SM-G973F ?

 

@RomanCro Carry On! I give up.

 

In that post, Jerry is comparing Google to the factory navigation system in the car, and the post is part of the tread talking about monitoring traffic conditions.

 

This only means that the Waze user interface displays it, while the GM user interface does not display it. It provides no indication about whether they are working from the same or from different databases and data collection systems.

 

Ok. Well apps are to serv a user. If it does not display info to user, it does not matter if it had it or not. Its all the same to user. He is not getting the info. So in comparing 2 apps, my vote goes to one app that shows you police, against one that does not.

SM-G973F ?

 

Remember that the Big Data aggregators are doing their best to link which phone number, SIM, phone hardware serial number, WiFi MAC identifier, Bluetooth MAC identifier, geolocations, and any and all other possible unique identifiers, are associated with each other or to the same user(s). The marketing value of this information is considerable.

So even carrying a burner phone with no personal information on it, now can very often be linked to a specific named person.

 

Yeah you should when you run out of arguments to say. Or is it just who sad first "i give up" and it givs him sence of entitelment?

Just be the first who say I give up? Nice tehnique, but transparent.

SM-G973F ?

 

I said GM is more reliable than the traffic into from the CAR!!! Pay attention and quite trying to argue. Here's all of what I said. Don't go lifting part of it out of context.

And stop trying to say someone said something they did not say and then disputing what they never said. You brought up the police and you brought up Waze. Not me.