Yahoo Inc. is set to offer an online service that lets users view live U.S. local traffic conditions on custom-created maps, the first site to do so nationally, the company said late on Wednesday. In a milestone for Internet-based traffic services, Yahoo has beefed up its existing mapping services to allow customers to plot a route from one local destination to another, and overlay traffic data such as road speeds and potential delays. The new service can be found at https://maps.yahoo.com/.
While local radio, television and weather sites have offered traffic tracking for years, many of the maps and features are primitive. No national site exists that offers dynamically generated traffic maps, Yahoo executives said. "Certainly the distribution of this content on the Yahoo site is just a starting point," Paul Levine, general manager of Yahoo"s local services unit, said in an interview. Eventually, users away from computers may be able to receive traffic alerts via e-mail or on phones with links to live maps, he said.