Dude probably got tired of people using his street as a pass through. Googles gotten tons of heat for routing people through neighborhoods and stuff before. So all the sudden these residential streets started seeing orders of magnitude more traffic.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Dude did it as “art”.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-04/man-creates-fake-traffic-jam-on-google-maps-by-carting-99-phones/11929136

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 hours ago

And for all these other reasons too.

In a statement on his website, Weckert said his intention was to make changes in the physical world by using digital means.

"Through this activity, it is possible to turn a green street red, which has an impact in the physical world by navigating cars on another route to avoid being stuck in traffic," he wrote.

He said he was interested in the day-to-day use of technology in all aspects of life within cities, including in navigation, accommodation, dating, transport, and food-delivery.

Citing a journal article by anthropologist Moritz Ahlert, he wrote: "Google's map service has fundamentally changed our understanding of what a map is, how we interact with maps, their technological limitations, and how they look aesthetically.

"All of these apps function via interfaces with Google Maps and create new forms of digital capitalism and commodification," the article continued.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Aren't streets... designed... to be passed through?

[–] [email protected] 37 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Residential streets aren't generally intended for through traffic. They're meant to provide access to the people who live there. These are areas where kids play and people go on walks and stuff, having a bunch of cars run through trying to get from point A to point B as fast as possible is not ideal. That's why you get cul-de-sacs, intentionally designed with one way in or out, to prevent drivers from cutting through.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Oh I misunderstood OP's message, thought they meant pedestrians as well. My apologies.

[–] chonglibloodsport 10 points 13 hours ago

We have a real issue with the conflation of streets and roads in North America. Some people call these abominations stroads.

Proper urban planning makes a stark distinction between a street:

And a road:

[–] [email protected] -1 points 14 hours ago

Oh, so that's why its always quicker going through the back-streets but Google sends me through the clogged arteries like I'm Sheeple?

Makes sense, I guess. I'll probably keep doing it even though it is a bit of a dick move

[–] Old_Yharnam 3 points 13 hours ago

…no…?

[–] JordanZ 2 points 15 hours ago

A lot of residential areas near here have a main street down the middle and a bunch of horseshoe shaped streets branching off. Makes it kind of worthless to go down the horseshoes unless you have a reason to since it doesn’t really go anywhere but back to where you were only slower.

There is one notable spot that comes to mind for me. There is a neighborhood near me that was originally supposed to have more houses but eventually got sold off and zoned commercial and they put in a Home Depot instead. The street goes through to the parking lot. The city actually put up big construction barriers to block off that access(at residents request) and turn it into a dead end street. Google even years later still routes you down that residential street instead of another block or so down the main road and then turning directly into the parking lot. Why?…it’s a few hundred feet shorter to go through the neighborhood. So a street that should only have like 2-3 cars on it an hour now has several dozen. Not to mention those people are most definitely speeding.