Google Maps Shows Now Live Traffic Information for 13 European Countries - The Data for this Service May Be Provided by You

Today Google Maps added live traffic coverage for 13 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland. The new traffic information will automatically be available in Google Maps for Android, iOS, and mobile browsers.

Left: Traffic layer in Munich
Right: Getting routed around traffic in Google Maps Navigation
With the addition of live traffic data, users in these countries will now also be able to be routed around traffic in Google Maps Navigation (Beta) to save precious minutes when possible.
Where does Google get the data?
Apart from the local highway authorities etc. but also from GPS-enabled phones that use Google Maps with the My Location feature. Everyone can of course opt out but who would do it when you can give and exchange valuable data with you neighbors, friends and Google.


Googles statement:
Google Maps products that include location services will make use of this information for traffic. This includes the downloadable Google Maps for Mobile product for mobile phones as well as the Google Maps application for Android phones. One exception is the maps functionality that Google provides for the iPhone - the iPhone does not provide any location data that is used for traffic crowdsourcing at this time.