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Traffic maps on the phone

Andrew Clark

New York: Motorists in the United States can now access live information on their mobile phones about the weight of traffic on busy highways through a new service offered by Google.

The Californian technology company's Maps for Mobiles allows users to zoom in on roads in more than 30 big cities.

Google has begun colour-coding them. Roads are red for congested, yellow or orange for moderately busy, and green for free-flowing. Similar information is already available online from other providers, including Yahoo, although Google's is tailored to mobile phones.

The service is yet to be made available everywhere, but maps are already streamed to mobiles in Canada, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Traffic data has so far only been added in America. A demonstration on Google's website clearly showed clogged arteries on New York's Brooklyn Bridge.

Traffic information is becoming a big earner for technology companies.

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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