Google now predicts the future. Not a Joke.

Ok, so it's only future traffic patterns, but still, pretty damn cool.

In about 30 markets, when you look at Google Maps, and click on the "traffic" button, it will show you current traffic patterns. But look for the button to change the time, and you can change the day of the week and time of day, and Google will tell you what traffic to expect.

Of course, it uses past data to predict based on patterns, so a wreck or other anomaly would not be included, but it would allow you to see whether there are patterns in traffic, and perhaps reroute.

Pretty cool. Now if only this would be incorporated into a car based GPS, and done in real time to calculate the best route. Imagine if Google plotted your route, but knew that a certain area got slow at 5:25 every evening, and your route would take you past there, so it re-routed. That'd be cool.

maps.google.com