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Google combines Maps and Waze teams in restructuring move
- MBCook 4y agoMakes sense. I’m surprised they weren’t already by this point. What’s the benefit of Waze being a separate app at this point besides the brand name? Why not just fold it into the main Maps app?
- version_five 4y agoHaving separate apps is better for users. I personally find Waze way better than maps for driving (it's still crap mind) - whatever your opinion about their relationship merits, consolidation will remove choice. It doesn't surprise me that Google's doing it, what's the point in having a monopoly if you can't use it to your advantage. It's not good for users though.
- brookst 4y agoNever understood this either. Even if they need to be separate apps on user devices for brand / user / other reasons, seems like they should be light skins on top of the same core app. Amazing it took 10 years to combine the teams.
- vineyardmike 4y agoBesides the brand? I don’t drive but I know plenty of people who use Waze as the “car gps” but gMaps as the “search engine for places”. Even if it’s just a GUI, different apps get you different experiences, and if you succeed it’s a bigger % of phone usage. People who mentally treat location searching and navigation as separate tasks (worthy of separate apps) are at risk of leaving for a competitor. So build two tools specific to each use case. It’s the Unix way. I don’t know if this is the case, but it’s likely there is some left over legal issues to wrt user data.
- jagaerglad 4y agoYeah Waze is just such a different experience for me. I haven't noticed the "riskier driving" mentioned by others in this thread but in Waze I find the voices friendlier in the languages I speak, giving instructions more often timing them better. Also you have the aspect of seeing other Waze users on the road, giving the app a cozier familiar feeling in a way. The ads suck though but oh well
- colordrops 4y agoWaze used to route you on the fastest route regardless of how private or rich a neighborhood is. Don't know if that's the still the case, but Google maps definitely doesn't give you the absolute fastest route, but rather the fastest route that takes major roads.
- Crosseye_Jack 4y agoCould this be simply a case of "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of a few"?. For example I live near a busy road during "rush hour" in the morning and evenings. A few mins up the road from me 2 major roads intersect which causes more hassle during these peak times. Now If you are travelling West to East to wish to turn right at the intersection to continue your journey south its quicker during those times to cut though my neighborhood (and same in the other direction) and cut out the queues leading up to the intersection. However my neighborhood's roads are not designed for that much traffic to flow though them (cars parked in the street narrowing the roads and reducing visablity of pedestrians esp kids playing outside). The handful of locals that travel though the neighborhood to get home (live one side but enter the other) are fine however if Google Maps routed everyone wishing to make that turn though the neighborhood it would make the neighborhoods roads much less friendly to the pedestrians of the neighborhood esp at times kids are going to school or are back home from school and playing outside. Keeping the through traffic to the major roads keeps everyone safer, and actually faster overall because the major roads aren't littered with cards parked in the road creating bottlenecks. Much like how the london underground lies to travellers and routes them around long detours during busy periods to help prevent a crush if they all went the shortest & fastest route possible - https://youtu.be/IrHRQSm6LIs?t=57 https://youtu.be/IrHRQSm6LIs?t=57
- ghaff 4y agoNot really my experience. Seems to depend what "mood" Google Maps is in. I've definitely had it take me on circuitous routes even with recent snow which almost always makes the circuitous routes worse. If you somewhat know the area you can of course usually override.
- thewataccount 4y agoCould be related to Braess's paradox? In this case "adding lanes" would be "increased routing" > [The] idea was that if each driver is making the optimal self-interested decision as to which route is quickest, a shortcut could be chosen too often for drivers to have the shortest travel times possible. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braess%27s_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braess%27s_paradox Personally I'd rather not go through neighborhoods for just a tiny micro-optimization because of how much more "work/attention" is required given the increased pedestrian traffic.
- mcast 4y agoMany people still use Waze for getting live traffic updates on a roadtrip (object on road, police speed trap ahead). I don't think those features were fully incorporated into Maps.
- jrochkind1 4y agoWhy not though? Is there a point to having two maps apps run by two different teams?
- josefresco 4y ago> Many people still use Waze for getting live traffic updates on a roadtrip (object on road, police speed trap ahead). Once I showed my father-in-law the "police reported ahead" and "hazard reported ahead" features he was sold. He now demands Waze on every road trip and he's not especially tech-savvy. Google doesn't supply this same data.
- Bhilai 4y agoNot true, I receive the very same updates (object on the road, speed trap, disable vehicle etc.) on Google Maps app on Android all the time.
- Grazester 4y agoThese alerts on Maps is sporadic for me for some reason.
- notatoad 4y agoI definitely get those alerts on Google maps. AFAIK it literally is the same data, the reporting system is already shared between the two apps
- packetlost 4y agoI can confirm that it is 100% not the case on iOS. There is not a way to report these things on the CarPlay app at all, and only very occasionally will there be a "speed trap" alert on Google Maps.
- avip 4y ago1. Waze has some 150M active users which you're risking 2. Waze has features that google maps does not (?) s.a the "ETA histogram"
- ghaff 4y agoThen Google should add those features to its main product. It seems idiotic for Google to maintain two maps products like this--and has been for years.
- thorncorona 4y agoMakes the UI even more complex. I think for a complex use case such as maps it makes sense to have 2 different UIs.
- ghaff 4y agoYou'd have to convince me why Google has two very distinct map app use cases. Don't see it personally.
- xyzelement 4y agoI'll give you two extremes: - a grandma who is not that comfortable driving, not that comfortable with technology, etc. and is never in a rush. - a urban taxi driver whose livelihood depends on hustling to destinations as quickly as possible, even through trickier driving scenarios. If I told you one uses Maps and one uses Waze, could you guess which one is likely which? That's the two use cases.
- ilyt 4y agoSooo google maps would have to add a switch in it's settings ? Surely a grandpa will be lost in option that's disabled by default!
- xyzelement 4y ago
- lukas099 4y agoOn my old phone, Google Maps would chew up my battery but Waze had no problems. I used Maps just for finding new restaurants and other places.
- buildsjets 4y agoUse case - Road warrior who spends around 3 months a year traveling in various areas of the US, 50/50 urban areas vs rural or very small towns. I find the Waze experience on Carplay to be far superior to Gmaps. I prefer how it provides access to the key features like reporting/voice prompt, the size/position/color how things are displayed, etc. The level of detail (surrounding streets and landmarks) is more useful on Waze. My experience has been that Waze seems to have better traffic prediction and avoidance in the areas I use it. Just last night I was following a cow orker from the plant we were working at to a restaurant about 30 mins away. We were right behind each other when my Waze suggested taking the exit and following a different route than my friend. I arrived at the restaurant a good 5 minutes before him, I asked, and he was using gmaps.
- yreg 4y agoFrom my experience Waze always optimized for getting to the destination as fast as possible, which I really liked. Other navigations like to keep instructions simple and keep you on the large roads, Waze has no problem routing you through 10 extra instructions to save a minute. Disclaimer: I haven't used Waze in years so this might have changed.
- el-salvador 4y ago> What’s the benefit of Waze being a separate app at this point besides the brand name? Why not just fold it into the main Maps app? There are differences in my region which make me think that the apps have different mapping and routing engines. Turn by turn dirrections and road condition information are much more accurate in Waze. There's a larger Waze local community that helps keep maps up to date. We do use Google Maps, but mostly as a Yellow Pages substitute or for checking business opening time.
- emodendroket 4y agoI'm not sure it is a compelling justification to have two whole separate apps but Waze's pitch seems to be "we'll send you down all the little residential streets to save a minute or two" and Google Maps is more conventional.
- GuB-42 4y agoIn France, Waze is essentially a speed trap detector, I am sure it is the biggest use case, more than navigation. Maps don't do that. The thing is: what Waze does is borderline illegal, and it is regularly updated to still do its thing without getting struck down. Google Maps is "cleaner", and therefore much worse at detecting speed traps. I guess the questionable legality is a good reason for keeping these apps separate.
- tinyhouse 4y agoWaze is much better in some countries while GMaps in others like the US. Waze is better mostly in countries where it's very popular.
- vxNsr 4y agogMaps has really bad direction detection imo, Waze is fantastic. Every time I use gMaps it gets very confused about where I’m facing and will randomly assume I’m turning left or right, I’ve seen this happen on both iOS and android, Samsung, LG, and Pixel, since gMaps started having turn by turn directions. Idk what gMaps is doing wrong but it’s really annoying.
- mcenedella 4y agoThe Founder/CEO of Waze wrote a terrific, in-depth post on his decision to leave Google two years ago: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-so-long-noam-bardin https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-did-i-leave-google-stay-s... Very insightful post. And as much as a reader might think it highlights dysfunction at Google, the continued growth and success of Waze within Google argues otherwise.
- whateveracct 4y agoSuccess of a product is only tangentially related to how much of a pain in the ass a place is to work for. Even less so when you are talking about a multi-billion dollar market leader like Google.
- zerr 4y agoThat post makes me think Google might be actually a nice place to work.
- returningfory2 4y agoYes - my reading of that post is that Waze was a toxic place to work, and the author is annoyed because Google is not. > Having trouble scheduling meetings because [...] "I’m taking a personal day" drove me crazy. Yikes.
- ryandrake 4y agoOther things (from that article) he was apparently irritated about: - Not being able to just fire people he didn't want anymore - Having to spend engineering time on things like Privacy protection and Legal compliance - Work life balance - Employee entitlement - Equity compensation being relatively stable, not a win-or-lose lottery ticket ... and then a bunch of rants about political correctness, not being allowed to say offensive things, pronouns... Yikes is right! Holy cow!
- 121789 4y ago
- tpmx 4y agoUh-oh. I can easily imagine how Waze gets Google-transmogrified into something that's only 80% useful to the average person, instead of 95% useful. Google, I'm sorry I never clicked on any of those Waze ads for petrol stations or fast food.
- neonate 4y agohttps://archive.ph/EIQ3A https://archive.ph/EIQ3A
- otikik 4y agoFirst time I hear about Waze. I’ve been using maps since it’s initial release
- donatj 4y agoI have been surprised Waze has stuck around as long as it has. I stopped using it a number of years ago, but my wife still uses it.
- bitshiftfaced 4y agoI only go back to Waze when I need the "plan a drive" feature, where you tell it what time you want to arrive, and it tells you when to leave.
- mfcl 4y agoCan't you do that in Google Maps?
- richiebful1 4y agoThat feature exists in Google Maps, by clicking through the "depart at/arrive by" button
- capableweb 4y agoCan you also just put a destination and it'll show some sort of histogram of when the traffic is the busiest? Basically that + community warnings is the reason I'm 100% using Waze for driving directions. Here is a screenshot of the feature I'm talking about: https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/waze-planned-drives-screen-on-ios-english_us.png?w=1500&crop=1 https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/waze-plann... Basically, I know I want to go to A, but I'm not sure when to leave, I just know I want to avoid as much traffic as possible, so when should I leave? The feature kind of answers that.
- r00fus 4y agoNot on mobile (iOS) unless they hid it very effectively. Only on web.
- _rs 4y agoIt’s on mobile and hidden very well behind the 3 dot menu to the top-right of the start/end location fields. Tap the 3 dots and then you can choose “set depart or arrive time” in the menu that opens With that said, I do prefer waze’s graph showing traffic changing over time to help decide when to leave
- skunkworker 4y agoI still use waze almost exclusively and it's consistently the best way to "plan" a future drive and have a reasonable expectation of traffic and when to leave.
- Xcelerate 4y agoThe only thing that keeps me from completely using Google Maps over Waze is the speed trap reporting (Google Maps has a similar feature, but it’s not nearly as effective as Waze’s).
- jeffbee 4y ago
- surfpel 4y agoOnly if you want to die! The standard highway speed is 15mph over the speed limit here in CA. If you follow the speed limit, you’ll be going too slow to effectively maneuver or see incoming cars and increase chances of a crash. Ergo: break the law or die.
- jeffbee 4y ago
- dang 4y agoWe need you to stop posting abusively to HN. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules from now on, we'd appreciate it. I don't want to ban you—obviously, given the number of times we've already had to ask you this—but if you keep ignoring our requests, we're going to have to. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33311881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33311881 (Oct 2022) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30890360 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30890360 (April 2022) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26628758 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26628758 (March 2021) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26307811 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26307811 (March 2021) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25561372 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25561372 (Dec 2020) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24724281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24724281 (Oct 2020) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24458954 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24458954 (Sept 2020) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24380545 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24380545 (Sept 2020) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23170477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23170477 (May 2020)
- tech234a 4y agoRelated post on the Waze forum: https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=367207 https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=367207
- mtgx 4y agoThe most frustrating thing about Waze is that it doesn't have offline maps. I get that the main selling point is live traffic data, but that's not necessarily an either/or with offline maps.
- AndrewKemendo 4y agoIf anyone at Gooogle is wondering why they are going through this pain or might have been fired it is because TCI, which is an activist hedge fund, decided they want to make more money and they have a giant share of ownership of Alphabet stock. TCI sent Google a letter [1] telling them they need to cut people to get higher margins (>40%) as well as pay the investors more (stock buybacks). Google is choosing to do what this group of investors says instead of supporting it's employees. Just so you know. [1] https://www.tcifund.com/files/corporateengageement/alphabet/15th%20November%202022.pdf https://www.tcifund.com/files/corporateengageement/alphabet/... Edit: This data came from me asking myself of the headline "ok who is it that is putting "Pressure to Cut Costs" on Google." Luckily TCI made it really clear
- edwnj 4y ago[flagged]
- noncoml 4y ago
- astrange 4y agoGoogle and newer tech companies have dual-class share structures so the board's boss is Sergey Brin, not "the shareholders".
- devalidating 4y agoGoogle actually has three classes of shares. Class A common stock with normal voting rights, listed as GOOGL, Class B common stock which has 10x voting rights and over 90% of which is owned by Larry Page Sergey Brin or Eric Schmidt, and Class C capital stock with no voting rights traded under GOOG.
- edwnj 4y agoYes dual class shares means most modern tech companies are de facto dictatorships but that doesnt change the point. Sergey's boss is the shareholders. This is not theoretical. The most infamous example of one sided dual class shares is Meta. Zuckerberg decided to throw the middle finger to the board and share holders, highest employee growth in FAANG.. He ignored activist shareholder letters like the one from Brad Gerstner and now the stock is collapsing, way beyond the corrections the rest of big tech faced. He has already began course correction but lets say he instead Zuck decided to double down. You can easily see more rounds of shareholder rout.
- ct0 4y agoI was never too fond of the GUI of Waze. Luckly there is some neat development in "adjusting" that: https://highwayradar.com/ https://highwayradar.com/
- viiralvx 4y agoI'm sorry but this UI definitely gives me the vibes and engineer designed it and not somebody well versed in product design. There's so much going on here with clashing typography and elements that I don't even know where to look.
- khiqxj 4y agoaaand whenever someone IRL looks at a webapp that is up to date with the latest UX standards, they immediately see that it is also crap.
- progman32 4y agoWebsite is pretty broken on mobile ironically, but will give this a try. Neat how it aggregates ads-b aircraft transponder data. I do wonder what is business model is. Author claims donationware.
- ct0 4y agoI believe highwayradar its mostly for integration with other apps but mostly to connect with radar detectors for seamless integration. There is a fantastic app on rdforum.com that integrates the v1 gen 2 radar detector with the crowd sourced alerts from waze. Ive used it for years and its flawless. The app im referring to is also donation ware.
- insane_dreamer 4y agoSurprised they didn't merge Waze features into G Maps and discontinue Waze as a separate app long ago (could still have Waze app that's a wrapper around Google Maps)
- michaelt 4y agoEh, I can see why features like 'speed trap reporting' and 'encourage drivers to file congestion reports while driving' might be released under a different brand.
- gorbypark 4y agoAt least here in Spain Google Maps warns of speed cameras and has options for reporting police/congestion, etc. It’s just little icons on the map, though, and it doesn’t actually audible warn you of upcoming cameras.
- insane_dreamer 4y agoEven Apple Maps reports speed cameras. Google Maps doesn't?
- lysp 4y agoThe difference is Waze reports mobile cameras and police on the side of the road (via user reports). Google as far as my understanding only shows fixed/permanent cameras.
- karmasimida 4y agoGoogle is so bloated
- acheron 4y agoUgh. I probably need to start using Apple Maps more often, don't I?
- astrange 4y agoApple, being a "functional organization"[0], would never have had two entirely separate maps apps in the first place. It is quite good at routing though. Of course this very strongly depends on where you live. [0] as opposed to a "department" organization, not a "dysfunctional" organization
- egberts1 4y agoAh, FFS!!! Just when I thought I fled Google. @&$/"!#%¥
- mattnewton 4y agoNot sure I understand, Google has owned Waze for some time.
- egberts1 4y agoYeah, my point exactly. That one time that I missed ... way back in 2013.
- smm11 4y agoComputer Science graduations up 600 percent since 2011.
- supernova87a 4y agoI found this section interesting (of the TCI letter referenced in posts above) and I wonder how much this is factoring into Google exec thinking? > Reduce losses in Other Bets > Over the last five years, Other Bets has generated only $3 billion of cumulative revenues but incurred a massive $20 billion of cumulative operating losses. Alphabet's investments in Other Bets have been unsuccessful. Alphabet should reduce annual operating losses in Other Bets (which we expect to amount to $6 billion this year) by at least 50%. > The biggest component of Other Bets is Waymo. Unfortunately, enthusiasm for self-driving cars has collapsed and competitors have exited the market. Ford and Volkswagen recently decided to shut down their self-driving car venture, saying: "We have looked at this every way you can and we just see the profitability a long way out." Waymo has not justified its excessive investment and its losses should be reduced dramatically. And is this kind of thinking just bandwagon, and not potentially accounting for some distinctive performance that Waymo may be on the verge of? (of course, seems like every AV company promises they're on the verge of something breakthrough)
- seanp2k2 4y agoSome day we'll have the technology to report speed traps via CarPlay. I'm guessing that they got a lot of pressure to nerf this feature from law enforcement, as crowdsourcing realtime info on speed traps kinda ruins it for the cops by giving everyone using Google Maps a very powerful long-distance detector.
- FateOfNations 4y agoWell on the technology side, if you use Waze, "some day" is today. There's a big fat "report" button in the lower right hand corner of the CarPlay display, and then you hit the little police dude icon, and off goes your report.
- asdff 4y agoHopefully this breathes life into the absolutely stagnant Google Maps division.
- chupchap 4y agoSoon... Waze to be renamed as Google Maps. Old Google Maps will continue to be available for Google Enterprise customers and will continue to be called Google Maps. /s
- bilsbie 4y agoDon’t mess with my Waze. Also why does Waze think train crossings are a huge deal. It seems to go to great lengths to warn me a bout them.
- mackatap 4y agoI have been stuck on one way roads at a train crossing for 30 minutes at a time, making me way late for work. So I would actually love that in google maps.
- AlbertCory 4y agoTell me you live in the Midwest without telling me you live in the Midwest. Sorry if that's wrong. This was a feature of my boyhood, but I've never seen it in California.
- mackatap 4y agoPortland actually
- FateOfNations 4y agoIt's a safety thing the government and railroads had been begging the navigation apps to implement for years. https://9to5google.com/2020/08/12/waze-railroad-alerts-app-update/ https://9to5google.com/2020/08/12/waze-railroad-alerts-app-u...
- gniv 4y agoIn some countries (Romania) they are -- you have to slow to a crawl since they are usually very bumpy. But I agree Waze is too aggressive, since train crossings are always well signaled.
- tinyhouse 4y agoThis is an acquisition that should've been blocked. They only bought Waze to kill the competition and making sure no one else buys them. I know Waze did things differently, being much more crowd sourced, but it's not why they bought them.
- xs83 4y agoDidnt they say that they would always be separate teams? Im not surprised by this move but surprised because I could swear when they bought it they said they would maintain both teams...
- smugma 4y agoAnd they did for 9.5 years.
- GenerocUsername 4y agoI'd be shocked if there is 5% of the original Waze OR Google Maps teams from 10 years ago.
- tr33house 4y agoYou'll be surprised - that's all I'll say about that
- nevi-me 4y agoI'm personally happy that they maintained this for so long. Even if the apps were to get merged, I'd mostly be content. The data sharing between the 2 services has mostly gotten them to a point where they both give very comfortable estimates about traffic. Waze is still better because someone Maps will tell you to turn too early when Waze's timing is more realistic.
- tsimionescu 4y agoThough I'm not a direct user, I've recently seen Waze has some glaring errors that Google Maps doesn't - especially on "special" days. I saw the most spectacular failure like this on Good Friday this year, where I had to take a cross-town trip and Waze was telling my Bolt driver that it would take 2h+ (and trying to make them avoid all large roads), when in reality and in Google Maps, the city was essentially empty and the trip took ~30 minutes. The 2h+ estimate was definitely correct for a normal day, but that day was part of a long weekend and no one was around, and yet Waze had absolutely no idea. Even on normal days, it typically significantly overestimates how long rush hour lasts by at least another hour. Maybe this is somehow specific to my city, but at least it shows that in some places Google Maps and Waze use significantly different data (or weigh different sources very differently).
- partiallypro 4y agoI like Waze on many things, but it can be a bit sluggish and dated looking. Police reporting, and traffic routes are sometimes just better. You can also chat with a fellow Wazer ahead of you to see what's going on. Google Maps though is generally superior on app performance and any need for walking, mass transit, etc.
- yalogin 4y agoThe first meaningful re-org they did. Keeping them separate makes no sense. They already duplicated a lot of effort for all these years.
- causi 4y agoMaybe Waze will bring some of the good UX choices over from Maps. Like not increasing my risk of crashing by making me click past warning screens, or silently closing itself in the background, or again making me take my eyes off the road to hit the "are you really really sure you want to close Waze?" popup instead of just damn closing when I hammer the Back button.
- zbobet2012 4y agoMaps crashes in the background for me constantly.
- causi 4y agoSure but in Waze it's intended behavior.
- Razengan 4y agoGood UX choices?? Do you mean all the advertisements clutter and crap like almost invisible direction indicator (when not on a route) etc.?
- nigamanth 4y agoTo be honest, Google Maps has degraded in quality and popularity ever since it came out. Other options have become more popular, so I guess Google is going to combine this with Waze and try and make one final effort to become the best navigation app. I think this is for the best of Google's interest.
- perceptronas 4y agoSlightly off topic, but I get a lot of frustration from Google Maps. Waze works well for me, while GMaps don't. So seeing those two merge more is bad news for me. Google Maps is one of the services which actually does some minor damage to me. Delivery drivers usually blame me for not finding my street, while GMaps data is what is the problem. I've had one delivery person stuck in snow and require technical assistance in another street, because Google Maps shows my street there. I cannot get Google to change my street name to correct legal one.I've tried 'suggesting an edit' it at least 10 times. There is no support to contact to or anything. I've looked. They say I don't have any proof that my suggested street name is correct - but I even add a link to Google Street view which has a literal street sign with correct name and coordinates. I tried official street registry links. Still rejected. It is insane. I personally can use openstreetmap.org, but delivery drivers and etc. - they don't use it. So I am stuck in this non-sense.
- SparkyMcUnicorn 4y agoAdd your address (or edit your street location) in Google maps. They've picked up most of my edits relatively quick.
- bobviolier 4y agoSame for me, bur the parent poster said they tried that 10 times already. Maybe ask more people to do it!
- perceptronas 4y agoI did that from 3 different accounts. I've tried doing that on a phones with GPS on so the overlord might pick up that I am a local. But nothing works, I think I am 'shadow-banned' from edits now, because it says my edits are accepted but they are never updated on Maps.
- tluyben2 4y ago> Slightly off topic, but I get a lot of frustration from Google Maps. Waze works well for me, while GMaps don't. So seeing those two merge more is bad news for me. I have the same, but my friend from the UK has the opposite. Does it depend on the country ? Where I live, when I use Google maps, it sends me into fields on roads that are gone already for ages while Waze works perfectly... Google maps sends me to places I cannot get out of or continue (so narrow that I cannot continue or turn and have to drive backwards to get out) etc.
- tanepiper 4y agoNot sure if this is good or bad, but I hope they've removed the current Google Maps product owner - their maps have sent me down very dangerous roads (especially in France and Poland) - once it tried to send me up the side of a mountain to get to the back of an Obsevatory - rather than via the front door. They keep doing UX changes which mess with muscle memory, that already make their product more unsafe - rather than improve the product itself.
- kamilafsar 4y agoPlease keep in mind, he didn't send you there personally. The algorithm did. I've experienced this several times my self, very frustrating and sometimes even dangerous. I think it's unavoidable if you take into account that they operate on planet-scale. Not saying that they can't do better, but probably it's not "someone's" fault.
- hankman86 4y agoTIL that Google owns two mapping services/apps. Where’s the sense in that? And why are they only consolidating their offerings now?
- FateOfNations 4y ago> And why are they only consolidating their offerings now? Pressure to reduce costs.
- redanddead 4y agoI'd wager Maps is going to become more real-time, like showing a blob where a current festival is, mapping the trajectory of a scheduled protest, local activities. Like they did with forest fires.
- silexia 4y agoI had a disastrous drive with Google Maps recently where my family's lives were in peril... https://joelx.com/first-fifth-wheel-road-trip/17702/ https://joelx.com/first-fifth-wheel-road-trip/17702/ I used to have a high level of trust in Google Maps, but starting six months ago or so, the directions got substantially worse.
- zzyzxd 4y agoI will be very sad on the day when Google decides to kill Waze. It is the only Google product I use and I will never abandon it because of one personal reason: it allows users to record custom voice for directions. My wife recorded her voice in Waze and I love hearing from her telling me "turn left, honey", "be careful, there's cops ahead!"...etc.
- Vixel 4y agoThis is great news! It's about time! I was so excited to see the instant, crowdsourced traffic news in the Maps app. I was shocked when they didn't integrate right away. I use Waze for most drives but then have to switch to Maps for better business info
- chadlavi 4y agoTIL Google own Waze.