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Google Maps and Waze
- kailuowang 13y agoAt least from this announcement, it's not merely a defensive acquisition. Google is looking forward to integrate the user-based realtime traffic system from Waze into Google Map. I am a little surprised that whatever Waze provides now wasn't a complete overlap with what Google Map is also offering in its trafic related functionalities.
- dabeeeenster 13y agoI was under the impression that Google Maps already used crowdsourced data for its traffic? I use it in the UK and it's incredibly accurate - scarily so!
- aroch 13y agoFor its traffic updates (Green/Yellow/Red) is does use some user collected data
- lawdawg 13y agoGreat news for both Google Maps and Waze. From my understanding, Waze negotiated a 3 year period where they would be allowed to continue independently, but I imagine there will be quite a bit of data sharing between the two (Waze can now use Google's maps and POI data, and Google can use Waze's data to improve its realtime directions)
- packetslave 13y agosource?
- joosters 13y agoI'll bet you that Waze won't exist as a separate app/product in 3 years. I hope it does, but I doubt that Google are going to maintain two separate navigation apps.
- lawdawg 13y agohttp://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/06/09/google-to-spite-facebook-buy-waze-for-1-3-billion/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/06/09/google-to-...
- masonhensley 13y agoDoesn't Google already incorporate user's data for traffic information[1]? I try to have my maps/ navigation running during my commute home to feed that data. The Google Now traffic feature saves me at least an hour a week on the return leg of my commute (14 miles.) I'm glad they are trying to make it more accurate. [1](2009) http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bright-side-of-sitting-in-traffic.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bright-side-of-sittin...
- clone1018 13y agoThis will allow more specific user information, like which lane is blocked up or " eople can report accidents, traffic jams, speed traps, police and can update roads, landmarks, house numbers, etc." From the Waze wikipedia page.
- masonhensley 13y agoThanks for the clarification. But now that I think about it, when I'm walking out of the office, I want to know whether I should take "Route A", "Route B" or "Route C" to get home. What causes the traffic whether it is construction, an accident or plain old traffic doesn't matter to me. I wish Google Now (GN) would tell me that instead of me having to double check by clicking the alternate routes button in navigation. Sometimes GN does not suggest the quickest route for me even though a $1.33 toll road may save me 20 minutes.
- mikeash 13y agoHaving that info can make routing better, though. For example, if it's just normal traffic volume, the delay is probably fairly predictable. On the other hand, if it's a massive accident, it could take some time before the road gets backed up enough for regular GPS monitoring to notice it, but you know as soon as the massive accident is reported that things will be bad for a while.
- dragonwriter 13y ago> What causes the traffic whether it is construction, an accident or plain old traffic doesn't matter to me. No, but knowing about what is causing the traffic can (if the analytics get advanced enough) make it easier for the central service to determine what the likely impact in the future (e.g., by the time you get to it) is likely to be, which is important.
- nikunjk 13y agoHow much is the question.
- misiti3780 13y agoi read 1.3B a few days ago
- taylorwc 13y agoSpeculation is $1B-1.3B
- diminoten 13y agoWho, other than Google, is a respectable entrant in this space? Did they just consume their only competition?
- fudged71 13y agoApple is very much interested in getting more valuable routing/traffic information! Microsoft and Samsung, too!
- acomjean 13y agoIt seems really redundant for Google to buy it. Wasn't google using andiod directions to feed traffic data back? I guess the more data point the more valuable the more people use it.... and so on.
- alexholehouse 13y agoGreat for Waze, good for Google, but I feel like a lot of the value (from Google's perspective) is stopping Apple (or FB) getting Waze.
- rsl7 13y agoMaybe FB, but not Apple. It's just not the right fit for Apple.
- jonknee 13y agoYea, Apple would have paid for a lot of users that they would immediately screw over (anyone not using iOS, Apple could not cope having a popular Android app). I imagine the Waze team wouldn't have been cool with that either since they weren't even willing to relocate.
- dylangs1030 13y agoI'm excited about this. I actually wouldn't mind if Waze was shut down instead of the 3-year period, as long as Google assimilated all of its technology. It would be fantastic to have Google both data mining traffic data (as it does now) and also combining this with user-volunteered traffic reports. Each technology has something to offer the other, and it will be really cool to bring in the best of both worlds. I'm very confident about this acquisition, it feels like it wasn't just an acqui-hire.
- wizzard 13y agoI really don't see Google incorporating all the Waze functionality. Waze is pretty bandwidth-intensive. And I could see some liability issues with presenting crowdsourced data directly on Gmaps. I feel like this was simply a "keep Waze out of the hands of our competitors" move, and now it will die a slow death like most other Google acquisitions.
- 1gn1t10n 13y agoI wonder if providing this kind of information to the public can lead to worse performance (commute time). This reminds me of Braess's Paradox [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braess_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braess_paradox
- joosters 13y agoI recommend the excellent book 'Traffic' - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Traffic-drive-what-says-about/dp/0141027398 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Traffic-drive-what-says-about/dp/014... - it covers this pretty well.
- gummify 13y agoIt would have been interesting to see Waze remain independent and as an alternative map solution. With 34 million users, it could have been a very profitable business for the long-run.
- tibbon 13y agoI personally can't wait until I can get (and send) Waze alerts using Google Glass for when I'm motorcycling.
- jmedwards 13y agoApple'z biz dev team was on holiday, I suppose?
- lpolovets 13y agoWhat do others think about the safety of using Waze? One thing that I have noticed is that the app encourages me to interact with it as I'm driving in order to add data to the system. It's a little hypocritical of me to complain about this because sometimes I text or check email while driving, which I know I should not do, but it still feels weird that Waze actually encourages me to read the screen and interact with UI while I drive. I wonder if there are any liability issues around this or if the core UI will change as a result of the acquisition. Also, I wonder if Waze will become irrelevant if Google happens to productize self-driving cars (which can presumably talk to each other).
- MetaCosm 13y agoSure, might be a bit hypocritical but i get your point. Most of the noise that comes from Waze is when it detects you aren't moving. That said there is the light social encouragement if you see a something (something in road) to put it on the map, or confirm / deny it. I can personally say the pothole and "thing on the road" warnings might have saved me from damaging my car a few times, maybe even helped me avoid an accident (a mattress was on the highway, yikes).
- georgemcbay 13y agoIn my experience, Google Nav already does a wonderful job of noticing and routing people around "not moving" without Waze, so I'm not sure what the acquisition is about if not for the feedback channels which I do think are unsafe if not explicitly illegal to actually use in a lot of places unless you are a passenger and not the driver. But also, I live in Southern California where car passengers are as mythical as unicorns.
- amalcon 13y agosometimes I text or check email while driving, which I know I should not do I don't mean to pick on you here. You are clearly aware, but it still needs to be said: Please do not email, text, or even talk on a cell phone while driving. Driving is the most dangerous task that is socially acceptable for nonprofessionals to perform. It is very irresponsible to make such a task any more difficult than it needs to be.
- yalogin 13y agoThis looks more like an acquisition to keep Waze out of the competitors' hands than Google needing it. Sure, having the platform will enhance Google maps and also probably be enhanced to get other POI data as well over time (if they are not already getting them) but Google already spent a lot of money getting that data.
- belorn 13y agoI hope that someone will make a OpenStreetMap version of Waze. As a project already based on user generated information, it seems more sensible than sending everything to Google.
- guard-of-terra 13y ago"imagine if you could see real-time traffic updates from friends and fellow travelers ahead of you, calling out “fender bender...totally stuck in left lane!”" Yandex Maps do that, like, forever by letting users to mark accidents, road works and other events on the road as they drive - for fellow drivers to see. Works pretty fine and sometimes even a bit socially.
- mike-cardwell 13y agoFWIW, I used Waze for a few weeks but went back to using Google Navigation. I found that the traffic data on Google Navigation was much more accurate and up to date than that provided by Waze, and that Google Nav's display is much easier on the eyes. Waze showed more information, but most of it was irrelevant noise or just plain wrong. All of the social stuff was also very distracting. This was when I was commuting daily on one of the UKs busiest motorways. Also, they send your login details in the clear. I remember taking a traffic dump of my Android phone to see how easy it would be to scrape information at the time... Not that difficult.
- mikeleeorg 13y agoI did the same, but for slightly different reasons. In the Silicon Valley area, the data from Waze seems more up-to-date. But I found the UI very difficult and frustrating, so much so that I switched back to Google Maps. I'm looking forward to the Google Maps UI with the Waze data.
- uwnav 13y agoI'm confused, very confused. There's talk about this acquisition being in the $1 Billion range. Can anyone break down how this company can be worth that much money? Revenue - no idea if or how much money they made? IP - Patents on using location to perform traffic analytics? Talent - 100+ employees? Userbase - ~50 million users? Technology - Isn't the app easily replicable? It's really confusing for entrepreneurs to know if they are building something of value when we can't discern how these companies are being valued!
- dakimov 13y agoOf course, that company is clearly not worth that amount of money even closely. It was a startup running exlusively on investors' money with no model of generating revenue whatsoever. Without the acquisition their perspective would be to run out of money and fade away. Yes, they have an impressive userbase, but even that userbase is hardly worth $1B. The price paid obviously has nothing to do with the real value of the company. I guess Google managers have their motives. On the Google's scale usual business rationales do not work. Obviously, the giants pay billions mainly because they can. Speaking of the motivation, this deal looks pretty much like shutting down a competitor, though I do not know what Google will actually do.
- joelrunyon 13y agoHas anybody familiar with Waze's monetization system? I used it with a client and saw absolutely terrible metrics. We burned through a ton of cash and got almost zero results. To be fair: I've only had one client try it & I'd argue that they weren't the best fit, but I'd be very interested in seeing what other people's results were here.
- smackfu 13y agoI've seen icons for chain restaurants show up on the map. Is that what you mean?
- Florin_Andrei 13y agoI get ads from Taco Bell on my Waze.
- ja27 13y agoThat's all the ads I get. I can't wait until there are ads from everyone. Then I'll stop using it.
- joelrunyon 13y agoI'm talking about from the advertiser perspective, I (personally) haven't seen great results with their product.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Hyrum_Graff 13y agoAnother service I get to quit. Soon they'll be nothing left.
- jgeorge 13y agoSame here. I trust Waze with my location information, to provide a service to me. I do not trust Google with that same information, because it will be used for far more than providing that navigation service to me. No thanks.
- michaelw 13y agoWaze uses Bing maps on the backend. Wanna bet that "look forward to working with them in our ongoing effort to make a comprehensive, accurate and useful map of the world." means converting to use Google maps?
- jordanthoms 13y agoWell, duh. Can't see anybody being upset about that though, except perhaps Microsoft
- neology 13y agoNSA will also know when, where and how you are driving. Fantastic.
- draugadrotten 13y agoGreat, now tha NSA have a direct pipe to waze too.
- nostromo 13y agoYour phone company already knows where you are at all times and is already cozied up to the intelligence community.
- yen223 13y agoIf you want to go full paranoia, don't forget that the GPS is a US DoD project! Why bother with GPS clients, when you can have direct access to the satellites?
- vuldin 13y agoLooks like I'll need to delete another account.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nobleach 13y agoDoes this mean no more speedtrap data? I can see google not wanting to deal with that tangled web of legality.
- dakimov 13y agoFree app, no monetization model ----> Sold for $1B Take notes folks.
- crusso 13y agoI kind of like Waze at very least for the police speed trap notifications. I can't see Google continuing to support that feature.
- CamperBob2 13y agoAgreed. Is their data format open, in the sense that anyone could write a client that did nothing but transmit and receive police locations?
- mickt 13y agoWill this be another application that Google lets wither?
- URSpider94 13y agoI think people have missed a key value of Waze -- their crowd-sourced mappping infrastructure. They have essentially created from scratch a navigation database that competes with the big two players in the field -- TeleAtlas and Navteq -- with update cycles of a week or less for new user-submitted data. This system would be amazingly powerful in developing countries where the map set is incomplete or full of errors. That alone makes them worth a good fraction of $1b.