Google Maps drops traffic time estimates

Google has quietly dropped their “in traffic” time estimates from Google Maps. When you set up a route in the past, you would usually see two time estimates, including one showing the estimated time “in traffic.” Traffic conditions are still shown, and you can still change the time of day to visually see the impact on traffic, as shown above. But this won’t change the estimated travel time.

With 550,000 Android activations a day, Google has plenty of traffic probes, but it appears that their data is better than their algorithm. In a brief post on the Google Maps forum, a Google employee said:

…we have decided that our information systems behind this feature were not as good as they could be. Therefore, we have taken this offline and are currently working to come up with a better, more accurate solution.

There’s no word on how this will impact travel time estimates in Google Maps Navigation. A lot of people, myself included, use the desktop feature for trip planning. Here’s hoping they come up with something fast.

Via The Atlantic.