An average Lagosian will always complain about traffic on major highways forgetting that most mega-cities of the world like Lagos are characterized by traffic congestion. The only difference is the complexities or availability of multi-modal transport system.
Meanwhile, Google traffic maps now have a service which is not new anyway to those of us already obsessed with maps and other navigation guides.
On your map, you might have noticed some colored lines. These colored lines represent real time traffic conditions on the road.
The Red Line: This dreaded line indicates heavy traffic and such route should be avoided for an alternative route.
The Yellow Line: When you see a yellow line, it means that traffic is moving slowly.
The Green Line: This line is the most suitable for the eyes as it indicate a free flow of traffic. As a result, always watch out for that green line while navigating.
The Grey Line:This is an indication that there is no traffic information available at the time, though very rare to see.
The Red-Black: This line on your map indicates an extremely slow or stopped traffic but at least better than the red line.
So, if you are wondering how the app perfectly predicts traffic situation, it is made possible by triangulating and crowd-sourcing Smartphone users through their location (GPS) data and then transmitting back to server to generate a real time traffic update.
Now you know, so next time you are on the road, probably going home after the day’s work, do not forget to look out for these helpful colored lines.