Local media getting beat on traffic coverage

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I’ve written before how Google Maps and Live Maps have both added real-time traffic, and now Mapquest has added it, too. Very powerful, especially when you consider that mapping+traffic products extend very nicely to a mobile environment (I use Google Maps on my Blackberry and love it.) Combine these developments with the profileration of in-car navigation (this one even uses “crowdsourcing” to track conditions on less-traveled roadways) and the strengthening of Traffic.com as a national brand destination, and local media is getting squeezed out of the traffic game. Radio will still be able to hold on to a thin slice of market share, but TV brands (with the exception of breaking news) will soon be an afterthought for audiences seeking traffic information.