YouTube prankster creates ‘traffic jam’ on Google Maps using trolley of 100 phones
A YOUTUBE prankster was able to create a “traffic jam” on Google Maps – despite being on a completely empty road.
Savvy artist Simon Weckert pulled off the feat by hauling around a trolley with 99 smartphones inside.
Google Maps users will know that the colour of roads on the app is constantly changing.
The app maps out your journey, and turns roads green, orange or red depending on how busy they are.
This is only possible because Google uses data from lots of other Google Maps users – logging journey progress to gauge traffic.
And exploited this fact to create virtual “traffic jams” throughout his home city of Berlin.
Simon loaded 99 smartphones into a pull-along cart, all running Google Maps.
He then hauled the cart around empty roads in Berlin in order to trick Google.
“99 smartphones are transported in a handcart to generate virtual traffic jam in Google Maps,” Simon explained.
“Through this activity, it is possible to turn a green street red, which has an impact in the physical world by navigating cars on another route to avoid being stuck in traffic.”
To passers-by, Simon will have rightly looked like a lone man pulling a cart.
But to Google’s computer eyes, the road will have appeared clogged up by hundreds of cars, all moving very slowly.
Sure enough, green roads around Berlin quickly turned orange then red as Simon lugged his cart along them.
Simon even performed the prank right outside of the Google offices in Berlin.
In a statement sent to The Sun, a Google spokesperson said: “Whether via car or cart or camel, we love seeing creative uses of Google Maps as it helps us make maps work better over time.”
How to check your Google Location History
Here's what you need to know...
There are several ways to check your own Google Location History.
The easiest way is to follow the link to the Google Maps Timeline page:
This lets you see exactly where you’ve been on a given day, even tracking your methods of travel and the times you were at certain locations.
Alternatively, if you’ve got the Google Maps app, launch it and press the hamburger icon – three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other.
Then go to the Your Timeline tab, which will show places you’ve previously visited on a given day.
If you’ve had Google Location History turned on for a few years without realising, this might be quite shocking.
Suddenly finding out that Google has an extremely detailed map of years of your real-world movements can seem creepy – so you might want to turn the feature off.
The good news is that it’s possible to immediately turn Google Location History off at any time.
You can turn off Location History here:
However, to truly stop Google from tracking you, you’ll also need to turn off Web & Activity Tracking.
You can see your tracked location markers here:
It’s actually concerning that it’s so technically easy to change Google Maps routing.
Anyone with enough handsets can completely re-route traffic, possibly clogging up an area with cars even more.
Google may now investigate this prank to prevent crooks and tricksters exploiting it in the future.
We’ve asked Google for comment and will update this story with any response.
In other news, Apple recently updated its Maps app with more detail and faster navigation.
This genius Google Maps trick puts arrows on your camera screen to stop you from getting lost.
Check out the 10 secret Google Maps locations you’re not allowed to see.
Read about the Google Maps phantom island that disappeared in 2012.
And take a look at the Google Maps ‘UFO’ spotted floating above a Florida swamp in broad daylight.
What do you make of this dastardly trick? Let us know in the comments!
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