[General Topics] GalaxyA325G:
I just added a half-dozen traffic-related privacy-related one-tap shortcuts to my shortcuts folder in my homescreen dock.

The process I wrote up should help you also set up privacy-aware traffic-related shortcuts (or any similar shortcuts).

Tutorial: How to make single-tap shortcuts to real-time traffic (without needing GPS, precise location, or any account)

Single-tap shortcuts to survey real-time traffic with location privacy because they don't require location services to work.

That means, without using Google Maps, you can still get 1-click real-time traffic (with the privacy of not logging into any Google Servers or using GPS or precise location).

As you may be aware, recently Google drastically changed Google Maps routing to require precise location (which necessitated a one-click shortcut to turn off precise location after you do any map routing!).

So how do you check real-time traffic WITHOUT logging into anything and without having to enable GPS and, worse, precise GPS?

Easy peasy...

One way to check traffic with privacy is to create one-click shortcuts to traffic URLs coupled with GPS location spoofing - which allows you to easily survey overall traffic in your area of interest - without revealing your location.

For this, depending on where you live, there are actually many one-click traffic privacy based web sites.

For example, here, in California, there are plenty of real-time traffic sites which don't (as far as I know) report you to the Google servers.

Each real-time traffic map adds additional value Google Maps lacks, where I just picked these three randomly (as there are many) out of the top hit of a localized area search.

511.org (defaults to the SF Bay Area + construction)

<https://511.org>

QuickMap (defaults to the SF Bay Area + Waze alerts

<http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/>

SigAlert (defaults to the LA Area + traffic cameras)

<http://sigalert.com/>

Since the sigalert default page zooms into the LA Area, I changed the URL to zoom into the Silicon Valley area instead

<https://www.sigalert.com/map.asp?lat=37&lon=-122&z=2>

Which means when the shortcut is tapped, it zooms to the SF south Bay Area.

Nobody should be typing this stuff while driving so each of these is a simple one-click shortcut icon that opens to the pre-set general area.

There are many free adfree gsfree apps which will create a shortcut to a URL where I'll arbitrarily use this one for now (as they all work similarly).

*Shortcut To URL* by Mio (free, ad free, rated 4.2)

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.miotti.ShortcutToURL>

Let's highlight the example of the more complex "sigalert" URL above.

Start Shortcut to Url by Mio, which will pop up a Name/URL form.

For the Name field, type "sigalert" (or whatever you like it to be).

URL=https://www.sigalert.com/map.asp?lat=37&lon=-122&z=2

Optionally change the icon (you can download icon packs if you like).

Tap "OK" & then longpress on the icon to place it in your map folder.

Do the same setup for "511.org" and for "ca.dot" URLs listed above.

When tapped, it will open to your default browser with traffic.

(My default browser is set to be Ungoogled Chromium, for example.)

Regarding icons, there are many free icon packs (too many to recommend any as nobody could test them all), so here are just two that pop up on an F-Droid search that you can start with.

*Delta Icon Pack* open source icon pack with search engine

<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/website.leifs.delta.foss/>

*MaterialOS* (nice icons but it doesn't have a search engine)

<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.materialos.icons/>

If you prefer icon packs from the Google Play Store repository, here are a few free ones to start with.

*Monoic Icon Pack, by KD Pixels

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kdpixels.iconpacks.monoic>

*Viral - Free Icon Pack, by DrumDestroyer Themes

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vintage.icon.pack.ddt>

*Whicons - White Icon Pack, by Randle*

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whicons.iconpack>

*LuX IconPack* by JustNewDesigns

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jndapp.lux.free.iconpack>

And since icons are just square PNG images, you can make your own too (I'll write up a tutorial on that later) or you can download zillions of free PNG icons off the web (put them in your icon folder).

As with there being many free adfree gsffree icon packs, there are many free adfree gsfree apps that help you manually create URL shortcuts.

To help others, here's another website shortcut maker I sometimes use.

*Website Shortcut* by Deltac (free, ad free, gsf free, rated 4.3)

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.deltacdev.websiteshortcut>

But you don't want to use too many of these utilities since all the shortcuts disappear if you accidentally delete the app that made them. Better to stick with one simple URL shortcut maker.

You don't even really need those simple URL shortcut makers though, as even the venerable shortcut maker app can create nice website shortcuts.

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rk.android.app.shortcutmaker>

This Shortcut Maker has the added power of being able to open up the link in any app you choose, simply by tapping the "Link Setting" option.

Note there are mobile apps for some of these traffic websites also.

*QuickMap* by the CA DOT (free, adfree, reqgsf rated 4.2)

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.caltrans.quickmap>

*California Road Report* by Adam Levy (free, adfree, reqgsf ratred 3.3)

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adamsappls.carc>

Where you can use these WITHOUT turning location or precise location on.

In addition to web pages outside of the Google domain, you can also open up Google Map web URLs which also do not require location or precise location.

Name=gweb

URL=https://www.google.com/maps/@37,-122,11z/data=!5m1!1e1?entry=ttu

If desired, you can use that Shortcut Maker app to create a one-click shortcut to open to your zoomed traffic area inside the Google Maps app

com.google.android.apps.maps

com.google.android.apps.maps.TrafficHubActivity

and

com.google.android.apps.maps

com.google.android.maps.MapsActivity

Here's how to set Maps up using the free adfree Shortcut Maker app.

Start Shortcut Maker by Rushikesh Kamewar

Tap the "Apps" icon & then search for "Maps"

Then press "Create Shortcut" to save the shortcut to your homescreen

Notice even the Google Maps shortcut will work WITHOUT asking you to set your location or precise location - as it will open up in the general area of the last stored location (which is GPS spoofed so as not to be private).

In summary, if you're a bit clever about it, you can still get real-time traffic without logging into anything and without having a Google account on your phone and without ever needing to turn on your location or precise location (and even then, the location will be spoofed to the general area).

As always, if you know more about this topic than I do, please add value.