Google is now operating an up-to-date traffic information service at various cities across the US.The feature on Google Maps allows people in the cities included in the service to access information on traffic speed along their chosen route.
Cities lucky enough to benefit from this potentially time-saving service include San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas and New York.
Routes show up as either red, which indicates a stop-and-go journey, yellow, which suggests somewhat slow moving traffic and green, which should mean that commuters will experience a hold-up free drive.
In the cities so far covered by this service, the search engine provider also now gives an estimate of how long your chosen journey will take in minutes, given the traffic conditions.
Although, the service only works "for a limited set of metropolitan areas", as announced on the Google LatLong Blog, the tool may well prove popular among time-pressed travellers.
The traffic predictor will be particularly useful for commuters during rush-hour traffic, the blog adds.
Fellow search engine Yahoo! UK and Ireland launched a social networking tool named Trip Planner on its travel channel at the end of last month.
The tool is intended to mix social searches, advice, insight and photographs from the provider's internet community.
