Google Maps now helps users beat traffic jams

Google upgraded its popular Google Maps to suggest faster routes to drivers based on real-time traffic conditions.

Google Maps Navigation, released in beta, or test mode, shows various routes along with estimated travel times and uses red, green and yellow colour-coding to show how traffic is moving at any given time.

“Before today, Navigation would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account,” Roy Williams, a software engineer with the Google Maps team, said in a blog post.

“It would also generate additional alternate directions, such as the shortest route or one that uses highways instead of side roads.”

But from now on, “our routing algorithms will also apply our knowledge of current and historical traffic to select the fastest route from those alternates,” he said. “Navigation will automatically guide you along the best route given the current traffic conditions.”

The new feature can be used in North America and Europe where both Google Maps Navigation and real-time traffic data are available, Google said.

, China has repeatedly prevented Google Maps from providing maps of China because the government would like the right to censor landmarks and locations.

That means people miss out on cool features like Googles 3D view for Android. So China had Baidu, the most popular search engine there, provide a 3D pixel art version instead. Instead of just using simple blocky, textureless models of buildings, Baidus version is actual, realistic pixel-art version of the buildings. One can scroll around the major cities and check it out for himself.