In the US Google Maps displays traffic information for major highways, which is supplied by local highway authorities.
Google is extending the service to include arterial roads by using data it collects from GPS-enable phones that use Google Maps with the My Location feature. As users move around a city Google will be able to tell how freely the traffic is flowing.
Green, yellow and red are used to indicate heaviness of the of traffic on major roads. The feature is being pre-installed in some phones such as T-Mobile's myTouch 3G and the Palm Pre.
Dave Barth, the product manager for Google Maps, said Google has taken privacy concerns into consideration and will "find the start and end points of every trip and permanently delete that data so that even Google ceases to have access to it".
"Crowdsourcing traffic gives us a way to harness bits of location data from our users and give it back to them in a form they can use to make impactful decisions that affect their free time, their pocketbooks and the environment," he said. "The more people use it, the better it will get."
Google is not breaking new ground as many GPS devices already contribute to traffic reports for satnavs, but given the reach of Google's map service it could become widely used.
Google has not indicated when the service will be extended to the UK.
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