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I Like Google Maps

Almost everyone who travels uses some sort of GPS application nowadays. The times where having a paper map or perhaps printed turn by turn instructions have been long gone. All one has to do is pull out their smartphone, launch one of many GPS apps available, and boom, you’re well on your way to your destination. Personally, I have a preference in using Google Maps; it seems like they have the best route calculations when it comes to avoiding traffic. What many people don’t realize is how Google (as well as some others) get their data for these massive physical networks. Google takes advantage of their huge collection of street view data in combination with satellite pictures to establish almost uncannily accurate information. Of course, establishing the shortest route by distance from point A to point B is easy enough, but what about traffic? What if there’s an accident or a road closes, what then? The solution is quite simple; it’s you and me.

Google continuously collects data from its thousands and thousands of users around the world. Anonymously, people’s location, speed, and routes are observed and analyzed. Are cars moving particularly slow down a certain road? Well let’s direct people on a different route. Do people keep turning at the same intersection when they’re supposed to go straight? Perhaps that road is closed and we can account for that. There’s even word that Google Maps sends different users down different routes to help with congestion on the road. The users give Google precious information that makes apps like Google Maps one of the best and most reliable co-pilots out there. Google knows where you’ve been, where you’re going, and can even predict where you want to go. This kind of data collection raises concerns for some; having one of the biggest corporations know exactly where you are at all times is a scary thought.

Recent news of how the NSA and other government agencies are trying to gain access to potentially important intel through our smartphones leave people especially anxious. It’s easy to opt-out of these data collection services and by doing so you effectively remove yourself from the network of information that Google uses to help make its applications perform better. There are a plethora of articles and instruction guides  online on how to uncheck the box that gives away your information. Imagine if everyone suddenly unchecked that box, surely the results would catastrophic! Vehicles would drive right into traffic! We would all be forced to take the same shortest route even though it could potentially not be the fastest route possible, oh the humanity! Of course, realistically, these things would never happen. There are other solutions to these problems, but primarily, it’s because so many users are blissfully unaware to their helpful passive charity of their information.

 

  1. https://privacy.google.com/your-data.html
  2. http://www.androidcentral.com/understanding-googles-android-location-tracking
  3. http://www.wired.com/2014/12/google-maps-ground-truth/

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