Traffic is a major problem in almost all the major cities across the globe. Many efforts have been made but a permanent solution is not yet out. So in this regard Nokia has took a step forward to add real-time traffic update feature in their Nokia Maps Application.
Today at a press conference in Delhi, India, Nokia showcased their real-time updates feature which is now operational in Delhi and Mumbai. And is planning to bring the same service to other major cities in India also. This feature is only available to Nokia users having Symbian or Windows Phones which have Nokia Maps or Nokia Drive Application in it.
Nokia claims to have covered a total of 1,500 km of roads across the two cities. And will be constantly updating the routes for new developments like a highway or underpass. The feature is powered by NAVTEQ Traffic Pro. When you set your destination on the application the map will show you the route for the same and the roads will be colour coded. For example- if a road is shown in red then it signifies that that particular road is facing heavy traffic. Similarly yellow and green which will signify slow traffic and normal traffic respectively.
So how does the system works? This is where it let us down a bit. It tracks the number of active Nokia devices in the area and then build the statistics according to it. So if a route has a large number of Nokia users using the Nokia Drive App then it will mark that as a congested route(red). Thereby making the system gullible in sense that it is next to impossible that all the commuters have a high end Nokia device and have switched on there Nokia Maps/Drive app. Since most of the users in India turn on there navigation feature only when they are not sure about a route otherwise for a commuter who uses the same route often will hardly use the app.
