Berlin artist uses 99 phones to trick Google into traffic jam alert

Google Maps diverts road users after mistaking cartload of phones for huge traffic cluster

A Berlin-based artist managed to create a traffic jam on one of the main bridges across the Spree with nothing but a handcart and 99 second-hand phones. But one other thing was unusual about the jam: it only existed on Google Maps.

Simon Weckert's artwork Google Maps Hacks involved the artist pulling a small red cart at walking pace down some of the main thoroughfares of Berlin. The 99 phones in the cart, all reporting their locations and movement back to Google's servers, gave the search company the impression of a huge cluster of slow-moving traffic, which was duly reported on the company's maps.