Google Maps Now with Live Traffic in 13 European Countries

The most popular application available for download at the moment via the Android Market comes from Google themselves and is none other than Google Maps.

At the moment, the software enjoys the highest number of downloads from the storefront, and Google seems keen on ensuring that this remains so.

Thus, the company is constantly adding new features and enhancements into the mix, the latest of which brings live traffic coverage for a number of 13 European countries.

Starting today, the new feature is available for users in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.

Users in Israel will also enjoy the new feature, Google notes, while including the country in the list of European markets that saw the live traffic enhancement added to Maps.

“Coverage includes all freeways and highways, as well as large roads in major cities. Users in the UK will also benefit from a finer grain of street level coverage,” Csaba Garay, technical account manager, Google, explains.

The new live traffic information becomes available now for all owners of mobile phones who like accessing Google Maps on the go.

Whether it involves accessing the service through the mobile browser on the handset, or through the specific applications available now for Android and iOS devices, the new feature will be there for users to enjoy.

“With the addition of live traffic data, users in these countries will now also be able to be routed around traffic in Google Maps Navigation (Beta) to save precious minutes when possible,” Noam Ben-Haim, Product Manager, Google, explains in a recent blog post.

The screenshots attached to this article will show you a traffic layer in Munich, and how Google Maps Navigation can reroute you around traffic.

Mobile phone users will receive information for traffic events from the last 5-10 minutes in Google Maps on their devices, but they can also check on the usual traffic conditions for specific time of the day.

Google Maps for Android can be downloaded from the Android Market here.