Artist creates virtual traffic jam on Google Maps with 99 phones

Team Udayavani, Feb 5, 2020, 4:10 PM IST

An artist created a virtual traffic jam in Berlin by pulling a wagon with 99 cellphones in it.

Simon Weckert posted a YouTube video with a split-screen that showed him pulling a small red wagon through a mostly empty street.

It also showed Google Maps had lit the street up red, falsely signifying that the barren thoroughfare was packed with traffic.

“Through this activity, it is possible to turn a green street red which has an impact in the physical world by navigating cars on another route to avoid being stuck in traffic,” read the video’s description.

All 99 phones had their location services turned on, meaning they were sending data to Google.

According to the video, at one point Weckert pulled the wagon across the Ebertbrücke bridge over the Spree river in central Berlin, right past Google’s offices.

Credit: New York Dialy News