In the wake of Apple’s Maps kerfuffle one competitor has been mentioned more than once: Waze.
Waze looks intriguing. You download the app and use it, primarily, for your daily driving commute. You and other people using the app report in any accidents, slow zones, or things like that. It then considers a faster route for you around all of that junk. This, to be honest, is pretty close to a dream traffic app: something that simply knows my commute and knows what’s going on with it on that given day.
I’ll start using the app soon, but I decided to give it a try via the website. It advised me of a different route that, according to Waze, would shave 20 minutes off of my commute time – significant, given it’s ordinarily an hour. So I tried it and… I saved almost 15 minutes. But still! That’s pretty good.
Waze has a lot of bubbly cuteness in its UI. I think I can get along with it. I’m interested to see how this pans out – it’s a good idea, in any case.
Posted in Technology
Paul October 4, 2012, 6:32 am
As a follow-up: I’ve been using Waze for my commutes to and from work this week, and the results are impressive.
My shortest commute home was just 35 minutes (again, normally an hour) and on average I’m saving 10-15 minutes. Waze has shown me some great alternate routes that get me around the ridiculousness of the Eisenhower Expressway.
The mapping problem I had on the first day didn’t recur.
Receiving warnings about red light cameras is quite nice.
All told, it’s good!