SoylentNews

chromas from IRC writes:

████ # This file was generated bot-o-matically! Edit at your own risk. ████

A guy wheeled around 99 phones in a cart to create traffic jams on Google Maps [androidauthority.com]:

Technology is not always foolproof and that’s exactly what a new Google Maps [androidauthority.com] experiment tried to prove. Artist Simon Weckert [simonweckert.com] has posted a video on YouTube showing how he managed to “hack” Google Maps to create virtual traffic jams on the streets of Berlin.

For his experiment, Weckert loaded 99 smartphones running Google Maps into a cart. He then had someone wheel that cart around various streets in Berlin, including outside the Google office.

The phones apparently fooled Google Maps into thinking that there was a high concentration of users on those streets. Because the phones were in a cart, Maps was further tricked into believing that the traffic was slow-moving.

As a result, the navigation app started showing virtual traffic jams by turning green streets to red. You can watch the video below to see the trick in action.

Why did this happen?

Well, Google Maps uses data generated by users to identify fast or slow moving traffic as well as traffic jams. By analyzing things like speed, location, and other crowdsourced data, Google generates a live traffic map of an area or a road.

Weckert apparently took advantage of these very Google Maps features [androidauthority.com] to fool the app into marking streets as red. As a result, nearby users could have been diverted to other routes even though the streets in question were actually empty.

Related: Huawei has found an alternative to Google Maps [androidauthority.com]

Of course, the whole thing could also be a ruse since the artist doesn’t really go into a lot of details in his post [simonweckert.com] describing the so-called hack.

Google has also not commented on Weckert’s experiment but it’s definitely something the tech giant should look into. Someone with malicious motives could take advantage of the loophole to actually mess with the service and its users.

Google Pixel 3a international giveaway! [androidauthority.com]Hey Google, why can’t I buy a Chromecast with a remote? [androidauthority.com]5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week – Android Apps Weekly [androidauthority.com]Google Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a XL: All the rumors and everything we know so far [androidauthority.com]Pop quiz: Which Google app is this? [androidauthority.com]

Original Submission