MapLab: Killer Apps

Whether it’s Google Maps, Waze, or Apple Maps, chances are you have a go-to routing app. Some 90 percent of Americans who own smartphones get driving directions from them, according to a Pew survey from 2015, and smartphone adoption has only increased since then.

What’s also grown in that time is congestion in major cities. And while numerous factors obviously contribute to worsening traffic delays—population growth being number one, declines in transit ridership another—emerging research suggests that the mapping genie in your pocket may actually be one of them. Which is ironic, since at least one of them (cough, Waze) is supposed to “eliminate traffic” by showing you the fastest shortcut through the rush-hour morass.