Real-time traffic updates available in 12 more Indian cities: Google

Starting Tuesday, people can see traffic information for 12 new cities, including Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal, on Google Maps, a company statement here said.

The other cities for which the facility would now be available are Coimbatore, Lucknow, Surat, Indore, Ludhiana, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur, Kochi and Madurai.

This latest update to Google Maps makes traffic information available for all national highways and expressways in India, it added.

"We are constantly working on making Google Maps a more comprehensive, daily tool for Indians and we hope that this new real-time traffic information for 12 cities and all national highways will help drivers across the country find the best routes to their destinations with the fewest delays," Suren Ruhela, director, programme management at Google said.

This traffic feature is available on both mobile and desktop versions of Google Maps. It helps a person to see real-time traffic conditions across a total of 34 cities in India.

Once the traffic layer is turned on in Google Maps, commuters can see routes mapped out in different colours, indicating the different speed of traffic on the roads.

"Green means there are no traffic delays on the road, orange indicates a medium amount of traffic and red means heavier traffic congestion," the statement said.

While in navigation mode, Google Maps will also use real-time traffic information to more accurately estimate time of arrival and to provide options for alternate routes if there are faster options available.