Editing Google Maps (section)

=== Traffic conditions ===
[[File:Google Traffic screenshot.png|alt=Screenshot of Google Maps with traffic option enabled|thumb|Screenshot of Google Maps with traffic option enabled]]
In 2007, Google began offering traffic data as a colored overlay on top of roads and motorways to represent the speed of vehicles on particular roads. [[Crowdsourcing]] is used to obtain the GPS-determined locations of a large number of cellphone users, from which live traffic maps are produced.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2007/02/stuck-in-traffic.html|title=Stuck in traffic?|last=Wang|first=David|date=February 28, 2007|access-date=February 13, 2014|archive-date=February 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170212190835/https://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2007/02/stuck-in-traffic.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://crackberry.com/real-time-traffic-information-google-maps|title=Real time traffic information with Google Maps|date=March 22, 2007|work=CrackBerry|access-date=June 23, 2014|archive-date=July 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705061519/http://crackberry.com/real-time-traffic-information-google-maps|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theconnectivist.com/2013/07/how-google-tracks-traffic/|title=How Google Tracks Traffic|last=Matthews|first=Susan E.|date=July 3, 2013|publisher=The Connectivist|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222173908/http://www.theconnectivist.com/2013/07/how-google-tracks-traffic/|archive-date=February 22, 2014|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Google has stated that the speed and location information it collects to calculate traffic conditions is anonymous.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2009/08/bright-side-of-sitting-in-traffic.html|title=The Bright Side of Sitting in Traffic: Crowdsourcing Road Congestion Data|last=Barth|first=Dave|newspaper=Official Google Blog|date=August 25, 2009|access-date=April 3, 2019|archive-date=February 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180204124120/https://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2009/08/bright-side-of-sitting-in-traffic.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Options available in each phone's settings allow users not to share information about their location with Google Maps.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theconnectivist.com/2013/07/how-google-tracks-traffic/|title=How Google Tracks Traffic|last=Matthews|first=Susan E.|date=July 3, 2013|publisher=The Connectivist|access-date=February 13, 2014|archive-date=February 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222173908/http://www.theconnectivist.com/2013/07/how-google-tracks-traffic/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Google stated, "Once you disable or opt out of My Location, Maps will not continue to send radio information back to Google servers to determine your handset's approximate location".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/81875?hl=en&ref_topic=3495927|title=Help Google Maps find my location|date=|publisher=Google Inc.|access-date=2016-12-08|archive-date=October 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024134657/https://support.google.com/maps/answer/1250066?hl=en&ref_topic=3495927&visit_id=637389483169785152-739444035&rd=2|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=July 2018}}