Google Maps Traffic Congestion Colors

[Larry Scholnick]

I was looking at the Live traffic function within Google Maps. In the
midst of some Green (uncongested) sections there was a small section
of RED. I zoomed in and discovered that the ramp from southbound
US-101 to northbound I-405 in Sherman Oaks, CA is shown in RED. This
is not due to congestion; it is due to the sharpness of the turn that
one must negotiate to traverse that ramp, and matches the speed on the
curve-warning sign.

In my opinion, the colored speed indicators should not be Absolute,
they should be Relative to ideal conditions. If traffic is going 25
in a posted 25 MPH zone, that's as good as it gets and should be
colored green, not red. If traffic is going 45 in a posted 70 MPH
zone, that deserves a yellow, but if traffic is going 45 in a 45 MPH
or 50 MPH zone, that deserves a green.

Agree? Disagree?

[Ralph Herman]

On Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:42:23 -0700, Larry Scholnick wrote
(in article
<64c46b6b-6cae-410b...@c28g2000prj.googlegroups.com>):

I think it has to do with the speed indicator data supplied by Caltrans, not
Google. NYC ramps with posted 25 MPH are shown free flowing in green on
Google maps.

I would suspect Google is "garbage in, garbage out" as far as speed maps are
concerned.

[Elmer]

On Sep 28, 7:38 pm, Ralph Herman <rlaher...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:42:23 -0700, Larry Scholnick wrote
> (in article

> <64c46b6b-6cae-410b-8185-08cc1835c...@c28g2000prj.googlegroups.com>):

No, actually it appears to me that Google Maps (the iPhone version
anyway) is collecting real time GPS information from app users. This
is evident when it's showing quite accurate conditions on small
sections of city streets for which there are obviously no installed
traffic monitoring systems.

So, I think Larry may be correct in that the "Red" status is triggered
by the unusually slow speed that traffic is actually traveling at
through that stretch. Not exactly GIGO, but more like someone needs to
tweak the programming a bit.

Elmer