How to Fool Google Maps with a Virtual Traffic Jam

Traffic jams. Gridlock. We hate them, but in many parts of the world they are inevitable, especially during certain times of day. Excess vehicles, an accident, road repairs, or bad weather can lead to impressive jams, and as you might expect, Google Maps tries to update quickly when one happens. The problem? It's not that hard to fool Google Maps. German artist Simon Weckert demonstrates this by “faking” a traffic jam on that platform, and no hacking was needed...

Think for a moment about the millions of daily users that Google Maps has. Millions of users who expect proper functioning, with accurate and up-to-date information. In essence, using Google Maps (and by extension, many other online services) is an exercise in trust. Now, what happens when that trust is broken?

Google Maps may be stable and effective in the vast majority of cases, but its way of working makes it vulnerable to a certain level of manipulation. The most surprising thing is that there are no massive attacks or vulnerabilities involved. In fact, all the German artist Simon Weckert needed was a cart full of 99 Android smartphones.

If there are plenty of reasons to hate traffic jams, imagine discovering that a jam reported on Google Maps is fake. Weckert went for a walk through the empty streets of Berlin (with barely one or two cars and several cyclists) with his cart full of Android phones in navigation mode, and Google Maps' reaction was to generate a long red line indicating the virtual jam.

Weckert stayed in each place for one or two hours, a relatively short time, but enough to fool the platform. If you're wondering about the origin of the phones, there's conflicting information. The folks at Motherboard report that the smartphones are rented, but on his official page, Weckert says they are second-hand. A minor detail compared to such an effect on Google Maps.

From a certain point of view, Weckert exploits the “brute force” of Google Maps (read “number of users”) combined with a natural lack of resolution to create his fake jams. The idea behind the project is for the public to consider the “space” we give to cars in public life, and the data we depend on daily.

For Weckert, “the map is not the territory, but another version of reality” (based on a phrase by Alfred Korzybski), and he adds that “there are no neutral data”. Every image, list, chart, and map are simple interpretations, and everything is collected under a specific purpose, with a combination of public, technology, money, commerce, and government. Beyond the artistic analysis, I believe this “hack” has attracted a lot of attention, and maybe Google will decide to review its system...

Official site: Click here

Source: Motherboard