Avoid traffic with Windows Live Maps

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Microsoft

Avoid traffic with Windows Live Maps

by Brad Linder Apr 10th 2008

Over the past year or so, pretty much every major online mapping service has added some sort of real-time traffic detection system. But while these systems will let you know which roads to avoid, for the most part they don't do a great job of presenting you with alternatives. Now Microsoft has added a new technology called Clearflow to its Live Maps service which will let you choose a route based on traffic.

What this means is you can now choose to search for the shortest route by time or distance, and you can also have Live Maps redirect you to avoid heavily congested areas. The system is available for 72 US cities at the moment.

The system predicts traffic by time of day, weather, sports events and other factors, so it doesn't rely solely on real-time conditions to determine the best routes although live data is taken into account as well. While the interface is clean and easy to use, we don't see an easy way to let Live Maps know what time you plan to make your trip, which sort of defeats the purpose.

[via New York Times]

Tags: clearflow, directions, maps, route, traffic, windows-live-maps

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Quikboy said 2:13AM on 4-11-2008

Awesome. I really like this feature. Even though it's been there for a few months already, it's nice to see DS cover something on this technology.

I wonder how long it will take you to "discover" the recent changes to Live Maps. You know, like the "discover collections" feature where you can zoom in and out on a map, and view a list of collections that other users have made on that area.

Also check this out : http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=pkg6rv84y7yk&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=13800525&explore=sst.0&encType=1#

Isn't that awesome?

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters