I was “out of pocket” for most of the day traveling and I’m sure everyone has seen this news. Here’s Barry Schwartz’s write-up at SEL and the Google Blog. Here’s Loren Baker’s take at SEJ.
Yahoo (for a long time) and MSFT (since early last year) have both had this feature. And the Google mobile application has had this feature for awhile too. Also, Mapquest offers real-time traffic on Mapquest for Mobile.
Obviously it’s valuable and adds further consumer utility to Maps. As Barry Schwartz points out, only Ask remains as a major engine without traffic.
Where this feature really shines is in mobile. It’s a nice-to-have for online (although probably a competitive must now).
Screenwerk 