14 DAY TRIAL // Google is always adding new features and is very confident in its engineering prowess. Now and again though, it too has to admit that it could do better.
One example is the trip duration estimates which factored in traffic conditions. These would provide a much better, real-time estimate of how much it would take to get from one place to the other.
Google has now decided to remove this information, it is no longer displayed in the redesigned Google Maps.
The company has said that it was not pleased with the accuracy and the quality of the estimates which is why it decided to remove them until they could be improved.
Users noticed that the feature was gone, even though Google had not said anything at the time.
However, one Googler weighed in on a Google Maps help thread and revealed that the change was deliberate and the reason behind the removal.
"We have decided that our information systems behind this feature were not as good as they could be. Therefore, we have taken this offline and are currently working to come up with a better, more accurate solution," Daniel Mabasa, a Google employee, explained.
There are no details on how the data was wrong and when the estimates failed. Google has rather accurate traffic data, it relies on anonymous data gathered from mobile devices using Google Maps to get a real-time picture of traffic conditions, but also other sources.
However, it seems that this was not enough. Still, the trip duration estimates, with traffic conditions considered, have been around for years. Either Google only realized that the data was not up to par now, or it decided to implement more stringent standards.
Google Maps recently got a redesign, one of the biggest since launch, falling in line with the new Google global design. It was one of the first Google products to get the new design in a finalized version. [via SEO Roundtable]