- Google Maps is testing the rollout of more incident reports
- These are weather-related options such as ‘flooded road’ or ‘low visibility’
- The growing library of incidents is a source of annoyance for some drivers
Google Maps is introducing new incident reporting options, fresh additions that pertain to weather-related conditions.
Android Police spotted these new kinds of report, and they include the likes of ‘flooded road’ for when there’s been a huge deluge of rain, or ‘low visibility’ for when it gets foggy. And indeed ‘unplowed road’ for when, well, you should probably turn around and find a plowed road that’s not wheel-deep in snow.
The site noticed these new options in Google Maps for Android Auto first off, and then in the iPhone app.
The not-so-great news for those keen on being able to benefit from a wider variety of untoward happenings being reported is that these new introductions have not yet made it to the Android version of Google Maps.
However, it surely won’t be long before the ability to report a flooded or snowed-up road arrives on Android.
Is an ever-growing library of incidents a good thing?
This is a continued expansion of the reporting of incidents in Google Maps, on top of clearly-labeled Waze reports being piped through alongside native reports since last year. There’s already a wide range of incidents that can be flagged, such as road traffic accidents, stalled cars, lanes being closed, speed traps, and so on.
Sometimes, these kind of alerts can be very useful, of course, and plenty of folks are grateful to have been warned of an incoming thorny issue on the road ahead.
However, not everyone is keen on being subject to more and more of these reports being highlighted in Google Maps – with complaints about them being too frequent only likely to multiply, as Google further expands the library of incidents that can be reported.
The problem is compounded by errant reports – incidents that aren’t there, or were resolved some time back – and there being no easy way to switch off said reports.
It looks like this is a road Google is insisting on driving down, though, despite the ‘stop’ signs being waved by some of the drivers who use its navigation app.
