The next time you are speeding down a highway and are worried about the speed radar, take the Google Maps with you. The app’s speed radar warnings are now being made available in 40 countries. It had limited presence on test basis.
The list of countries is as below:
Australia, Brazil, US, Canada, UK, India, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe.
The feature is available on Android and iOS devices on Google Maps. Google has taken the feature from Waze, the app it had acquired some time back. Visually, the warning appears on the app at the bottom corner and if there are radars or photo radars on your way, it will show as traps. It has to be noted that this feature will work with both fixed and mobile radars.
Interestingly, there are countries which don’t permit apps that disclose locations and therefore users in countries like Germany, Switzerland and France may not find this feature in Google Maps. These regulations are implemented quite strictly.
Android users will be better served with this radar detection feature, though iOS users may also be able to enjoy it to a limited extent. Waze is far more dynamic app with warnings for red lights, accidents and other traffic disruptions incorporated in the app, than Google Maps.
The addition of this feature in Google Maps comes at the right time since the app was seen to be a vanilla one with very few additional features. It does not even indicate the speed at which you are moving.