Labor Day is approaching, on May 1, which is added to the festivities of the Madrid Community Day on May 2; This being said, it is not surprising that many Spaniards take a bridge, and take advantage of it by taking the car.
As always happens with these “exit operations”, these trips are not without problems, and we can have unpleasant surprises if we are not prepared. In this case, Android Auto can prove essential, thanks to its compatibility with several applications like Waze which have roadside assistance functions.
What many people may not know is that Google Maps is already almost as good as Waze and it also has many of the features that made it famous. We are of course talking about the integrated radar alert, which we can use without fear in the car to plan our trips.
Speed camera warning on Google Maps
Google Maps is capable of detecting two types of speed cameras: fixed and mobile lines, even if the rules are different in each case. The position of fixed speed cameras is public data, which any Spaniard can access; so that Google Maps can display the location accurately and in advance.
Fixed speed cameras appear on Google Maps as an orange icon with a camera. They appear both when completing the route and when we approach their location. A very grateful detail is that Google Maps will automatically notify us when we approach the fixed speed camera, as long as voice prompts are active. Therefore, all we have to do is enable voice directions in Google Maps if we have disabled them for some reason.
DGT radar icon on Google Maps
Free Android
In contrast, mobile speed cameras, by their very nature, are more “secretive” and Maps depends on the user community to display them on maps, although it has limitations in this regard. Mobile speed cameras appear on Google Maps as a blue icon with a camera, very similar to the fixed radar but with a different color; Additionally, they generally display less associated information.
A very important detail that is good to remember is that Google Maps will not warn us of mobile speed cameras, due to the limitations imposed by law in Europe. However, they appear on the map and when we establish a route, a tip is to memorize them, or to have a guide warn us.
How to enable traffic layer in Google Maps
Free Android
To activate Google Maps radars, fixed and mobile, you must enable traffic layer. To do this, in the Google Maps application we must click on the layers icon in the upper right corner; Next, on the “Map Details” screen, we need to enable the “Traffic” layer.
If we want Google Maps to warn us about fixed speed cameras, we need to enable voice prompts. To do this, in the Google Maps application we click on our Google profile image and the application options menu will open. Here we must enter “Settings”, then “Browsing Settings”.
On this screen, we go to the “Sound and voice” section and activate the “Sound on” option if it was not already there; From here we can also change other aspects like the volume of the indications, if we want to be sure we hear them.
