Google Maps is by far the best navigation smartphone app available out there. But it does more than just guide users from one point to another like showing real-time traffic updates, nearby places and more. The world's largest internet search titan is adding another nifty feature to its navigation app that will help riders avoid speeding tickets.
Driving on Indian roads, especially cities where commuters often end up in a bottleneck jam, cruising at high speeds is a dream. But whenever there's a chance to press on the throttle upon seeing empty roads, the temptation meets uneventful fate in the form of speeding fines. Several cities in India have speed cameras helping traffic cops fine speeding vehicles without having to be present at the roads with interceptors.
Now, Google is stepping in to help drivers avoid those speeding fines by warning about speed cameras well in advance so you can behave. The feature has been available widely across the UK, the US, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and Indonesia for a while now and it finally arrives in India.
Google Maps relies on its users for the feature to work by reporting the presence of speed cameras in a particular path. When a speeding camera is reported by multiple users on the same path, Google will use that to show a small blue camera icon along with the number of people who reported the speed camera to other users. The crowdsourcing feature will certainly become more efficient over time as more and more users report speed cameras across their respective cities.
For now, Google has the speed camera feature available on Maps for Android while iOS users must wait longer. The feature not only works for speed cameras but can also be used to report accidents. Google Maps will show reported accidents to other users in red and also update the time required to pass the congestion.
