While playing with Google Maps, I noticed a new feature (at least new to me / don't know how long it has been there. :huh: ) This is a freakin' Godsend to those who live in, near, or plan to drive in the covered areas. GOOGLE TRAFFIC I checked its accuracy against traffic cameras - every one matched the conditions shown. I will be checking this page every time I need to drive on the freeways. :wub:
That's pretty nifty. Thanks for sharing. There are some portable NAV systems that do that. You have to subscribe to Sirius or XM and pay an extra fee for it. I'll have to bookmark this and check it for my commute.
Double checked the Seattle area with my TomTom ONE Traffic. They seem to match up well. Google Traffic tells you how bad the traffic is by colour coding. On my TomTom, it says there's an accident at Hwy 99/Hwy 509 junction, there's construction on Hwy 599 southbound near S 116th Way, lane closure (it says Slip Road Restrictions..so I can only assume it's the HOV lane) on I-90 to 405. The other traffic areas are just medium traffic volume except in the Battery Street Tunnel. Someone in Seattle can tell me if that's true lol. If so, Google Traffic works!
Maybe they will put something like that in service up where we live. It could show deer on the road, and the occasional flock of turkeys, especially when they have almost finished crossing the road and the last one sees you and turns around, and the rest cross back. It's like a shooting gallery. Tom
or just use http://www.traffic.com Register (for free) on the site, and when you call from your mobile phone it will tell you the traffic for your drive home. Fast and easy. Incidentally, if you have an internet-enabled phone, my favorite mobile app is http://wls.live.com You can check traffic, and also find "points of interest" near where you are. The other day I was looking for ice cream for my kids after a game and I just punched it in and bingo. Another one is 1-800-555-tell.
I've decided to trade in the Lexus on a new LS460 in September, they have XMNavTraffic which does precisely this on the fly. Very cool.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(aaf709 @ Mar 22 2007, 05:00 PM) [snapback]410454[/snapback]</div> NOTE: Also for the san diego / LA area there is www.sigalert.com which has even more detail.
The higher end Garmin NAV such as Nuvi 360 has an optional Traffic Antenna that will get the information from HD FM Radio, so that you don't need to subscribe to Sirious or XM to get the traffics integrated into a NAV system. THe Traffic Button on the Prius Radio dosen't seem to do anything too useful as far as I can see. Just identifies stations that claim to give minimum of at least one traffic report per month I think.
I discovered another nifty thing it does. Although everybody else probably already knows about it. It's always bugged me how bright the map is at night, so I'd always have it on one of the other screens, and how it would be better if the colors would invert at night but couldn't find a setting in the computer to do it. Then the other day I remembered that there is an instrument dimmer and guess what! It inverts the colors! A very exciting time for me!
