Google Will Tell You How Crowded Places Are In Real Time (pcmag.com) 64
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.
Brought to you by excessive tracking (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm just waiting for the first reports of people getting ads for baby clothing before they even know they are pregnant.
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http://www.businessinsider.com... [businessinsider.com]
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Wonder how long it will take for someone to implement a "rent a crowd" service to boost popularity of a location. This time it's First Life rather than Second.
This is Slashdot.
Knowing where the crowds are will be used to know the places to AVOID.
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Wonder how long it will take for someone to implement a "rent a crowd" service to boost popularity of a location. This time it's First Life rather than Second.
This is Slashdot.
Knowing where the crowds are will be used to know the places to AVOID.
Indeed. As Yogi Berra said, "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded.
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It's called coupons. There are plenty of people willing to come to a place for 'free' beer or other low cost things. Just advertise on Facebook you are selling tickets at 20% of the street value, you'll have an instant 500 people there.
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I'll make you a deal on my Kanye tickets.
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In that case the girl already knew she was pregnant. But it would be interesting if a computer could tell you were pregnant based on changing habits even before the person themselves was aware. Perhaps by using a smart watch or fitness band looking at changing sleep schedules, changes in heart rate and blood pressure, or other changes in habits could reveal information that nobody was aware of .
Also, does anybody think it's kind of creepy that they were tracking and processing the data is such a way that
It's a little more mundane than that (Score:4, Interesting)
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I was thinking the same thing.
The thing is, I have rarely found the traffic alerts to be all that useful. I mean, duh, there is heavy traffic in heavy traffic routes.... I didn't need my phone to tell me that.
There are just too many people. Everywhere you go it is going to be crowded... it's a "fish in the barrel" prediction on Google's part...
Re: Great feature! (Score:1)
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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."
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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.
Makes Planning Trips to the Mall a Breeze! (Score:5, Funny)
Works for California DMV offices (Score:2)
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.
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Smartphones that don't have GPS are also a thing. None of my smartphones have ever had GPS.
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They can still tell your position using other information. My kids don't have GPS on their iPod Touch devices, but they can still play Pokemon Go. It approximates their position using WiFi signals. It can guess the distance you are from known WiFi routers based on signal strength and triangulate your position using distances from multiple routers. It's surprisingly accurate. Gets your location within about 50 feet.
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Smartphones that don't have GPS are also a thing. None of my smartphones have ever had GPS.
If you connect to their network, they have a pretty good idea where you are, especially if you are moving.
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Smartphones that don't have GPS are also a thing. None of my smartphones have ever had GPS.
If you connect to their network, they have a pretty good idea where you are, especially if you are moving.
Next thing you know, some of these people will figure out just how the cellular system works.
It isn't specifically designed to track us, but it has to know where we are. Even on a flip phone.
Obligatory Florida Man story http://www.techtimes.com/artic... [techtimes.com]
They just tracked him using the cell phone towers.
I'm seeing Slashdot Man conundrums with a cell phone jammer on a drone.
They approve of the jammer, but they have to shoot down the drone.
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None of my smartphones have ever had GPS.
That seems like a pretty big sacrifice. I rely on my smartphone to get me places fairly regularly and it beats the hell out of a paper map. Once upon a time, people would actually buy devices that did nothing but GPS mapping.
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it beats the hell out of a paper map.
A couple of years ago, I might have agreed.
Now? I don't know.... I like the paper map for the same reasons as the paper book. You can reference it, set it down and come right back to it. There are also useful things like address breaks and elevation on a paper map that I have never seen on my phone's map.
Also, the map is way superior when it comes to viewing the whole picture. On my phone, I can only ever see a detailed view OR the full view, not both at the same time.
Phone map can be convenient, especially
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Yes, but that's aggregated and averaged data. They're now giving you a live view into the same data, basically, they are setting up a view on the current ingress of data.
Also tracks protests! (Score:1)
I'm sure cops will love this feature because they'll be able to use it to track groups of protesters anywhere. Naturally, they'll say they're doing something perfectly innocent like tracking potential gang members in the streets.
Honestly, I find it increasingly difficult to excuse people for using "smartphones" because they spy on everyone constantly.
Re:Also tracks protests! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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A telling reaction, eh? Immediately assume the worst, and project your pre-existing biases on the situation. Let me guess, you were recently waving around the Mexican flag and chanting, "Trump is not my President." Well you're right you know, your president is named Enrique Pena Nieto.
It's kind of the whole idea behind a protest that it's a public event. How else are people going to find it to attend? How else is the media going to cover it and only cover the peaceful part, leaving out the property des
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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. [amazon.com]
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"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.
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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.
Finally (Score:3)
Now I can reliably plan when and where to dump the bodies.
Everywhere? (Score:1)
Re:Everywhere? (Score:4, Informative)
Sure it will [google.com]. Note the Live/Typical traffic box at the bottom.
Venn Diagram: "Read Slashdot" and "Shop At Malls" (Score:2)
Bubbles ... (Score:2)
Hey, lets binge on positive feedback loops!
Google's accuracy is 60 miles (Score:1)
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... 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.
YOUR phone sure. Individual.
Phones in general... well they have a good handle on that. Traffic is already tracked by phones, and most of them are not using some map app at the time.
It's an easy step to get to noting how many phones are in a mall.
But can they tell me how to get there? (Score:2)
Now if only their map data were vaguely close to correct.
Which OSM client has the best turn-by-turn again?
App only (Score:1)
Yogi Berra was prescient (Score:2)
Now it can really be the case that Nobody ever goes there anymore — it's too crowded.