[TusharK]

Since last month, Google has started rolling out speed limit and speed camera information on Google Maps. The features were reportedly introduced in the UK, US, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and Indonesia initially. User reports suggest that the speed camera feature is now available in India as well.



The updated Google Maps app now has an option for users to report a speed camera. Once reported, an icon appears on the map, which is visible to those following the same route. The speed camera notification is shown in blue with the number of people who reported it. The feature is designed to warn commuters of speed cameras along the route and could be used to dodge traffic fines.

The speed camera features is currently not available on iOS devices but could be rolled out soon.

Users can also report an accident, which is then displayed in red along with time required to cross that section of road.

Link to Team-BHP News

[vinaydas]

A nice add on, especially for the folks in Kerala where there are multiple stationary speed traps.

[myavu]

Yes, I am getting this option for more than a month now. I can mark a speed camera location or a crash location directly in the Map and also remove them if those are not existing after marked by someone.




Good initiative by Google

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Since last month, Google has started rolling out speed limit and speed camera information on Google Maps.

Trust our Govt. to block this sometime in the future . Sorry, the correct word would be ban.

This is something trickling in from their Waze purchase I guess, which has all these crowd sourced warnings/updates.

[nishsingh]

Call me weird, but I dont think its a nice idea for Google maps to be displaying speed cameras. If anything, this feature is against public safety.

Pretty sure party revellers will be using this feature to mark points of police personnel presence and breath-analyzer check-points.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by nishsingh

Call me weird, but I dont think its a nice idea for Google maps to be displaying speed cameras. If anything, this feature is against public safety.

+1

We aren't a very self-disciplined society (adhering to speed limits); add that to the general driving aptitude of most drivers in the country, this will be counter-productive to any effort to discipline traffic, which is sorely needed.

I don't think law enforcement or Govts. abroad have taken steps to ban Google from allowing such info so I doubt what level of control the Govt. would want to have in this matter.

[i74js]

Originally Posted by nishsingh

Call me weird, but I dont think its a nice idea for Google maps to be displaying speed cameras. If anything, this feature is against public safety.

Pretty sure party revellers will be using this feature to mark points of police personnel presence and breath-analyzer check-points.

I beg to differ, The purpose is served with such alarms as people bring their speed under control. Speed cameras are installed at accident prone areas (including freeways / highways) and several points in cities where accidents can happen.

Speed cameras cannot prevent accidents / mishaps; they can only assist in penalties. If Google maps can forewarn drivers, what is the harm.

The driver will slow down and avoid any possible accident in that area.

Its just a mindset - Should you believe in penalties? or should you look at the bigger picture which helps in warning and safe driving.

Let me draw your attention to a crude parallel or anecdote: What will you call a speed breaker? It does nothing but makes you dispose of your speed !

Internationally, the speed cameras are almost known to most of the drivers and there is no harm in it.

[locusjag]

There's a slew of CCTV cameras on Chennai's roads now. And Gmap is mis-reporting them as speed cameras.

I understand that these are CCTV cameras, meant to record crime (kidnappings, chain-snatchings etc.) and these cannot sense the speed of vehicles. I could have a wrong understanding - but then again, these CCTV cams have provided footage of murderers and crimes in recent times. One feels like one knows what they're there for!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by libranof1987;4560952I

don't think law enforcement or Govts. abroad have taken steps to ban Google from allowing such info so I doubt what level of control the Govt. would want to have in this matter.

In Europe systems such as TomTom have been providing speed camera information for more than a decade. There are several countries which, by law, forbid this, e.g. France.

My TomTom will automaticially switch off the Speedcamera feature when I drive into France. It will not show speed cameras, instead it will warn the driver for a "stretch of dangerous zone". This is usually 300-500m, so you still need to scan for the speed camera or do the normal thing, just stick to the speed limit.

Speed camera detectors are different and I believe are banned in most countries these days.

I assume the way Google deals with speed cameras, from a legislation point of view, is identical to your TomTom, Garmin etc.

https://uk.support.tomtom.com/app/an...ce-and-the-law

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by locusjag

There's a slew of CCTV cameras on Chennai's roads now. And Gmap is mis-reporting them as speed cameras.

I understand that these are CCTV cameras, meant to record crime (kidnappings, chain-snatchings etc.) and these cannot sense the speed of vehicles. I could have a wrong understanding - but then again, these CCTV cams have provided footage of murderers and crimes in recent times. One feels like one knows what they're there for!

Most of these reports are by other commuters who tag it as a speed camera if they are not well educated.

Interestingly, Google Maps marks mobile speed cameras / police interceptors - as reported by other citizens; but fixed speed cameras are not marked (think Sealink, WEH, EEH in Mumbai).

[GTO]

Originally Posted by i74js

I beg to differ, The purpose is served with such alarms as people bring their speed under control.

And I beg to differ with you .

If you know the exact location of speed cameras, you will slow down only in that area.

On the other hand, if you know there are speed cameras but don't know where, you will generally drive slower all along.

What will you call a speed breaker? It does nothing but makes you dispose of your speed !

I don't think they are comparable. The objective of a speed breaker is to lower the speed in a specific area only. That's why we usually see them in residential areas, around schools, before / after villages on highways etc. One doesn't see a speed breaker installed randomly in the middle of an expressway.

The objective of speed cameras is to curb overspeeding anywhere. A speed-breaker dissuades even driving at 30 kmph, while speed cameras are generally used for multiples of that speed.

Its just a mindset - Should you believe in penalties?

You've been on Team-BHP long enough to know my stand on this point .

[V.Narayan]

Sloppy as any Govt may be I would not want these Big Brother tech companies interfering with law and order matters. Google, FB and the like are trying to be more powerful than a commercial organization should be and over arching above elected Governments. I may be in a minority of one here but I do believe these guys know exactly what they are doing. I do not want Government by Google.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I do not want Government by Google.

I share a similar view, but the hard fact is that Microsoft (powering 99% of computers worldwide), Google (powering the whole of the internet and over 80% of phones) and Apple are the world government, between the three of them is enough information/power/resources to crush the earth in seconds.

We can pretend to be a country that is independent of technology and still believes in the old way of life, but the fact remains that there are more tech-addicts and highly internet-obsessed people in India than anywhere else on earth. I've seen people with little to no education, where in real-life they cannot stitch two words in English together, perform tasks on phone flawlessly.

The true power is neither in the monetary bank nor the vote bank.. true power is in information. Most of them have willingly handed it over. I still catch an auto the old fashioned way (if I must) and I still walk over to the grocery store/restaurant to buy stuff.. a few from my generation will be unable to do these two basic functions without the internet.

[varunsangal]

Originally Posted by GTO

And I beg to differ with you .

If you know the exact location of speed cameras, you will slow down only in that area.

On the other hand, if you know there are speed cameras but don't know where, you will generally drive slower all along.

Completely agree. Have seen this on the highways between Dubai - Abu Dhabi. Most drivers have the locations of the speed cameras down to a point and they go at screamingly loud speeds between cameras and slow to a crawl (~120 kmph in Dubai-speak ) just before the camera range and then pull away again.

[roy_libran]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Sloppy as any Govt may be I would not want these Big Brother tech companies interfering with law and order matters.....I do not want Government by Google.

Completely agree. There are so many arenas where the giants are over stepping their boundaries and remits. But, do the governments, or more importantly, the men that constitute them, have any clue of what's happening to and through them? They are getting owned piecemeal.