Maps services are becoming more and more attractive to software developers. Microsoft is launching Streetside with Nokia’s Navteq, despite the controversy raised by Google in Germany especially and MapQuest has released a free Android app, increasing competition between several other players such as Ovi’s Maps v3.06, Microsoft Streets & Tips.

IBM has had similar initiatives in the past with City Forward, but this time the company wants to impose itself with an innovative solution in mapping services. IBM Research is collaborating with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and the University of California at Berkeley’s California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT) on this new project for predicting traffic conditions for commuters.

Unlike other services that inform users of present traffic jams, the IBM solution will create a system for measuring traffic, analyse the information and predict how traffic will react to accidents and other anomalies. At the moment the project is on trial but promises to be quite clever and very accurate in terms of updates.

IBM placed its bet right on mapping services, as currently they are gaining traction as they find new applications to fit with. Yesterday, Google announced that its Maps app for the Android has passed 50 million downloads, although it does not mention where this number encompasses unique users or not. Google sees a huge potential in China for its mapping services and up to the 1^st of July has to obtain the license for Google Maps from the Chinese authorities. It’s no wonder to see how Google is withdrawing its mapping services as well from China, just as it happened with Youtube, Twitter and Google Mail in the past, due to the overpowering Chinese regime.