---
title: "Guy Causes Google Maps “Traffic Jams” By Carrying 99 Cell Phones"
description: "German artist Simon Weckert created virtual traffic jams on Google Maps by walking 99 phones up and down roads, sending drivers on different routes."
date: "2020-02-03"
modified: "2020-02-13"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/guy-causes-google-maps-traffic-jams-99-cell-phones"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Google"
tags:
  - "Google"
  - "google maps"
  - "the digest"
---

# Guy Causes Google Maps “Traffic Jams” By Carrying 99 Cell Phones

![German artist Simon Weckert created his own personal traffic jam on Google Maps by loading 99 smartphones into a small cart and lugging them down a street.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/guy-google-maps-hack-traffic-jam-99-cell-phones.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Simon Weckert via YouTube\</em\>*

## Agent of Chaos

Google Maps makes it easy to spot heavy or slow-moving traffic on busy roadways by highlighting them in orange or red.

But German artist Simon Weckert creating his own personal traffic jams on the service by loading 99 smartphones into a small cart and lugging them down a street.

https://youtu.be/k5eL_al_m7Q

## Simulating Traffic

Weckert's "Google Maps Hack" is straightforward. His red, phone-laden cart essentially simulates 99 full-sized passenger vehicles covering the same stretch at the same time, causing a dark red-highlighted traffic jam to follow him around on Google Maps.

The hack also inconveniences other drivers on Google Maps, re-routing them around Weckert's own personal traffic jam, sometimes leaving him and his cart alone on long stretches of roadway.

## Changing Cartography

To Weckert, having a host of other apps such as Airbnb, Uber, and even jogging maps rely on Google Maps, causes a shift in power in how we perceive both the physical and virtual world around us.

"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," Weckert wrote on [his website](<http://www.simonweckert.com/googlemapshacks.html>).

**READ MORE:** [Google Maps ‘hack’ uses 99 smartphones to create virtual traffic jams](<https://9to5google.com/2020/02/02/google-maps-hack-virtual-traffic-jam/>) \[*9to5Google*\]

**More on Google Maps:** *[Google Maps Now (Accurately) Shows that Earth is Round](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-maps-earth-round>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)