Before we explain to you why the German artist Simon Weckert decided to deceive the Google Maps and create a false traffic jam, it's worth explaining to you how the “miraculous” system of maps works that through a simple color coding so often saves us from endless hours in traffic.
Whenever an iPhone has Google Maps open or a smartphone with the Android system has the location system activated, Google anonymously collects small pieces of information. This allows the company not only to analyze the number of cars on a road, but also to calculate the speed at which they travel in real time.
Taking advantage of this method of gathering information, Simon Weckert decided to cheat Google Maps. To do this, he took a small red cart, filled it with 99 smartphones, all of them with the location system activated, and then strolled through the streets of Berlin.
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This caused Google Maps to assume that the 99 smartphones corresponded to idling vehicles, thus creating a “traffic jam” in the application. With this “work of art” I wanted to “shake” the almost blind trust that people place in technology.
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