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Google Will Tell You How Crowded Places Are In Real Time (pcmag.com)
Google is updating their "Popular Times" feature in Search and Maps with real-time data that will be able to tell you how busy a place is in real time. PC Magazine reports: "Just in time for the Black Friday swarms, we're adding a real-time look at how crowded a place is right now, to help you decide where and when to go," Google Product Manager Jamie Aspinall wrote in a blog post. "Whether you're rushing to pick up a last-minute gift or seeking a lively bar for some festive spirit, check Popular Times for a sneak preview of what to expect when you arrive." If you're one of those people who always needs a plan, you're going to love the next new feature. You can now see how long people typically stay at a given location, so you can "plan your itinerary to the minute." "After all, you want to be sure you leave enough time to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate at your local sweets shop before heading to your dinner reservations," Aspinall pointed out. In addition, Google will be able to deliver more accurate business hours for your favorite establishments. "You'll know what time to pop by the pharmacy..., when food delivery begins at a nearby restaurant..., and what the service hours are at the auto dealership," Aspinall wrote.
I'm just waiting for the first reports of people getting ads for baby clothing before they even know they are pregnant.
Let's see, 15 minutes to enjoy a macchiato at the coffee shop, 3 hours desperately searching for items that are never stocked locally and must be ordered online, 10 minutes in one of those crap coin-operated massage chairs, and then YUP! Google says the food court should have cleared out enough to give me a running start at flinging myself to a merciful death from the 3rd story balcony.
On the other hand, I've heard that Earth Girls Are Easy.
A few months ago I needed to go to the local DMV and used Google to look up their hours. It gave me a nice chart showing wait times for each day of the week and time of day.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Now I can reliably plan when and where to dump the bodies.
They also spy on the police. Only reason there's such an uproar over routine wrongful police shootings (aka shootings the police have gotten away with committing for decades since generally the courts believe anything the officer says) is because of the ubiquitous cameras.
Also, members of the black community would have had personal experience with wrongful police actions - that is why they would generally not hate on and not cooperate with the police. Now the more liberal members of the white community have joined in on the action because with the camera recordings it is obvious which side is correct.
This only applies to important places, like New York, right? It won't tell me how badly the traffic is banked up down the Frankston/Dandenong road in Melbourne of a morning.
Based on experience, I'd say a Venn diagram of people who read Slashdot and people who still shop at malls would have a very small overlap zone.
So in one sentence you complain about projecting pre-existing biases, and in the next you start making wild guesses based on stereotypes.
Here's some items you might find useful.
Hey, lets binge on positive feedback loops!
They're just counting the number of Android phones which are in a location at any give time. Same as how they do their traffic monitoring, except they don't have to worry about how fast the phones are moving.
... so this is an utter worthless feature. Last year a marketing agency did a large scale survey to verify how accurate Google knows where your phone is. It turned out that the average accuracy was 60 miles off. Google's technology really isn't that good unless you actively opt in with their Maps services.
Now if only their map data were vaguely close to correct.
Which OSM client has the best turn-by-turn again?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
"I'm sure cops will love this feature because they'll be able to use it to track groups of protesters anywhere."
And protesters will hate it not su much because of the idea of being tracked, but because now the press will be able to fact-check their ludicrously inflated crowd numbers.
You seriously think there are terrorists out there all set with their bomb thinking "Hm, now where in the world can I find people? Darn, there's no way to figure out where a crowd might currently exist so I'll have to cancel the attack."
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You seriously think there are terrorists out there all set with their bomb thinking "Hm, now where in the world can I find people? Darn, there's no way to figure out where a crowd might currently exist so I'll have to cancel the attack."
On slashdot you are allowed simultaneously to be paranoid about governments stopping terrorism and governments not stopping terrorism.
Depending on the day of the week, terrorists are either an excuse for governments to have surveillance, or an existential threat to civilisation.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I find it increasingly difficult to excuse people for using "smartphones" because they spy on everyone constantly.
But you are okay with cellphone tracking? It's kind of impossible to avoid, being the basis upon which the system works.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Looks like for maps at least this is only for the phone app so far. The google maps website still doesn't show the Live or Plan your visit sections. The search website just updated to include it, however.
Now it can really be the case that Nobody ever goes there anymore — it's too crowded.