In summer, road trips multiply. Most drivers rely on Google Maps or Waze to guide them along the way because they give accurate directions and also provide real-time traffic information. Although both apps are very complete and practical options, there is an additional tool that is interesting to consult if you are going to travel by car in Spain.
We are talking about the DGT traffic map, a web tool in which you can check the status of the roads in real time. In it you will be able to see every incident, from accidents, blocked roads, construction sites and much more.
Constantly updated with all road incidents
Apps like Google Maps or Waze are powered by user data. This means that if it warns you about an accident or a section of roadworks, it is because another driver has indicated so. It also uses information from other vehicles to determine if there is a traffic jam or delay at a specific point.
On the other hand, the DGT map draws directly from the information of the DGT itself, which has a network of cameras, aerial systems and of course traffic agents through the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard. In this sense, your map It will reflect incidents more quickly and, above all, more accurately.. For example, we can know what time a traffic jam started or when an accident occurred and even how many lanes have been cut.
This is what the map looks like on mobile
The downside, and what it does not surpass Maps and Waze, is that it is not a navigation application that we can use while driving, but rather it will touch Consult it before starting to drive. To access the DGT map you must enter the website infocar.dgt.es/etrafficWEB from the browser and either give it location permissions or directly zoom in on the area we want to consult.
On the map we will find a lot of icons marking the different incidents on the road. By default everything is checked, but if we only want to check the retentions or if there is an accident, just click on the icon with the three lines (top right) and a menu will open with all the types of incidents so that we can select only those that interest us.
By clicking on an incident we can obtain many details.
When we click on one of the incidents on the map, A window opens with all the details of it. For example, in this case it notifies us of a vehicle stopped on the A7 heading south and even tells us that it started at 08:27 in the morning. In the event that the incident has closed a lane, it also indicates this.
There is more and the map shows us the traffic on the roads with a color code. If when we zoom in we see that there is a section of the road in red, it means that the traffic is denser than if it is orange or yellow. Additionally, by clicking on the fire flame icon at the top right we can see the fires that have caused road closures.
The main drawback of the DGT map is that, as we said, It is a website and its interface is not the most polished in the world. Consulting it from your mobile phone is somewhat uncomfortable, although it adapts well to the screen and is functional. It is not a map designed to be consulted on the road, but rather information to review before setting off.
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