Man creates virtual traffic jam with android phones!

In a recent bizarre incident, a German artist Simon Weckert has hacked Google Maps and created a virtual traffic jam simply by using android smart phones. Simon recently posted a video on Youtube which showed how he used 99 smartphones and a small cart for creating virtual traffic jams on the streets of Berlin. Simon used the cart to carry those smart phones and walked around the streets of the city creating virtual traffic jams. But how was that possible? What Simon did was quite simple but it tricked Google Maps into thinking that there was a high concentration of people on the streets. Also, as the phones were travelling on a cart and moving slowly, Google Maps thought that there was traffic congestion and the traffic was slow-moving. Thus, the navigation app turned those streets to red from green in the navigation app signifying traffic jams whereas the roads were actually empty. This prompted drivers to avoid those streets where there was actually no traffic and it remained empty. Simon wrote, “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”. Simon also cited a journal article by the German anthropologist Moritz Ahlert who says, “Google’s map service has fundamentally changed our understanding of what a map is, how we interact with maps, their technological limitations, and how they look aesthetically”. Moritz Ahlert also says, “What is the relationship between the art of enabling and techniques of supervision, control and regulation in Google’s maps? Do these maps function as dispositive nets that determine the behaviour, opinions and images of living beings, exercising power and controlling knowledge? Maps, which themselves are the product of a combination of states of knowledge and states of power, have an inscribed power dispositive”. A Google spokesperson said, “Whether via car or cart or camel, we love seeing creative uses of Google Maps as it helps us make maps work better over time”.