Red Highway

[psingram]

High all, We live in the far PNW, 2 hours north of Seattle. We received 6.1 on 19 Jan. then received it again on 29 Jan. Reading the release notes I could see no changes so, after the first two pages closed the notes and went for a short trip south. Now, up and down the I-5, our DOT uses traffic cameras to monitor loads and spot delays.
We were on our way home north bound on the 5, everything perfect as usual, enjoying some tunes when the radio gave a very soft chirp?? well a few seconds later I glanced at the map just as my wife said, " whats up with that? " A few inches in front of the cursor on the map, the highway lines had turned from green to RED. The change was in both directions for what appeared to be 2 miles or so. As I looked back up the road about a half mile in front of us break lights and flashers were every where. Right where the map changed from green to red, traffic was at a dead stop. We crawled along for a couple of miles and right where the map changed from red back to green, the back-up cleared and we were back to posted speed and the map was normal. Expanded the map to full screen and the red lines were still there but looked to be shorter in distance.
If this is a new feature it is WAY COOL. I have no idea how it works, maybe feed from the DOT cameras through GPS, but talk about heads up to traffic problems.
Anyone else seen this??

 

[NoMoGas]

It's been around for quite a while. You probably touched the traffic signal on the map to turn it on.

 

[roblab]

High all, We live in the far PNW, 2 hours north of Seattle. We received 6.1 on 19 Jan. then received it again on 29 Jan. Reading the release notes I could see no changes so, after the first two pages closed the notes and went for a short trip south. Now, up and down the I-5, our DOT uses traffic cameras to monitor loads and spot delays.
We were on our way home north bound on the 5, everything perfect as usual, enjoying some tunes when the radio gave a very soft chirp?? well a few seconds later I glanced at the map just as my wife said, " whats up with that? " A few inches in front of the cursor on the map, the highway lines had turned from green to RED. The change was in both directions for what appeared to be 2 miles or so. As I looked back up the road about a half mile in front of us break lights and flashers were every where. Right where the map changed from green to red, traffic was at a dead stop. We crawled along for a couple of miles and right where the map changed from red back to green, the back-up cleared and we were back to posted speed and the map was normal. Expanded the map to full screen and the red lines were still there but looked to be shorter in distance.
If this is a new feature it is WAY COOL. I have no idea how it works, maybe feed from the DOT cameras through GPS, but talk about heads up to traffic problems.
Anyone else seen this??

Yup. First time we saw it, I thought it was weird. Map said "go around", NAV mapped alternate route. I figured I knew better. Then we hit the snag, were stuck in traffic for a couple hours, and I learned something new. It is WAY COOL, and now I go around if I can.

 

[johnnyS]

In Southern California we see lots of red on the maps daily. It is fairly accurate on traffic conditions. However sometimes it wants to send us on weird routes as has been noted in another thread.

 

[jerry33]

The other problem is that sometimes the red really means traffic is almost stopped and other times it's just normally slow. No way to tell the difference until you get there.

 

[wayner]

I see the red every day in Toronto. It may seem cool but it is way inferior to Waze which shows actual speeds and also shows collisions, slow downs, speed traps, etc. Let's get a Waze app for the Model S

 

[swegman]

Ive seen the red on the map, but have never heard a chirping sound from the radio to alert you. However, I only listen to slacker, and not XM or FM.

 

[Rheazombi]

Has anyone else seen highways turn black?? Based on the context when I saw it I believe it is worse than red, ie: highway = parking lot.

 

[SteveS0353]

High all, We live in the far PNW, 2 hours north of Seattle. We received 6.1 on 19 Jan. then received it again on 29 Jan. Reading the release notes I could see no changes so, after the first two pages closed the notes and went for a short trip south. Now, up and down the I-5, our DOT uses traffic cameras to monitor loads and spot delays.
We were on our way home north bound on the 5, everything perfect as usual, enjoying some tunes when the radio gave a very soft chirp?? well a few seconds later I glanced at the map just as my wife said, " whats up with that? " A few inches in front of the cursor on the map, the highway lines had turned from green to RED. The change was in both directions for what appeared to be 2 miles or so. As I looked back up the road about a half mile in front of us break lights and flashers were every where. Right where the map changed from green to red, traffic was at a dead stop. We crawled along for a couple of miles and right where the map changed from red back to green, the back-up cleared and we were back to posted speed and the map was normal. Expanded the map to full screen and the red lines were still there but looked to be shorter in distance.
If this is a new feature it is WAY COOL. I have no idea how it works, maybe feed from the DOT cameras through GPS, but talk about heads up to traffic problems.
Anyone else seen this??

This is a feature of Google Traffic. The basic data comes from everyone's cell phones. All cell phones ping the cell network, even when you are not using the phone. The cell network can "trilaterate" your location by measuring the time delay of the ping to 3 cell phone towers, of more accurately, by the GPS inside modern cell phones. If a bunch of cell phones suddenly slow down or stop on a road, the cell network knows that. Here is a decent Wikipedia article on the method Google uses.

Google Traffic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[stevezzzz]

Has anyone else seen highways turn black?? Based on the context when I saw it I believe it is worse than red, ie: highway = parking lot.

Yes, I've seen it. Yes, it's worse than red.

 

[Liz G]

Yes, I've seen it. Yes, it's worse than red.

When it goes "black and red dashed" that's when I look for an alternate route.

 

[swegman]

The OP said his radio chirped to alert him. Has anyone else noticed that? I have not.

 

[jerry33]

The OP said his radio chirped to alert him. Has anyone else noticed that? I have not.

I haven't heard it either, but if it doesn't mute the audio when chirping, it's unlikely to be noticed (at least by me).

 

[andydoty]

So, that's what that was?!? I thought I was hearing things.... :tongue:

 

[EchoDelta]

Does it use regular google traffic info or the waze-augmented version? Having waze Reporting integrated into center screen and steering wheel would be great.