[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Waze (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 3/27/2017 6:38:11 AM EDT
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Recently I've started using Waze as my in-car Navigator. Great navigational program if you are looking for one for your phone. Yesterday I was warned of debris in the road and it was spot on with the location. Also alerts you to speed-traps, vehicles on the side of the road, etc.
I even alerted other Waze drivers to debris in the road (blown tire) on the 95N in Florida. Am I a hero for doing that? Yes. 
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I've been using it for a year or so and it works great. I just recently noticed that the amber report button has burned into the screen on my phone. I'm not real happy about that. |
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Once you're on the move, Waze is great and I use it.
I still use Google Maps for finding addresses and just general locating. Also, for distances, etc. I find that Waze is not well suited to those activities. I usually need to have a solid address in order to use it. If I'm unsure of an address, then Waze is a pain. YMMV |
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I drive A LOT. I love Waze for letting you know where the po-po are and other hazards. I still use Google Maps for navigation though. Waze seems to give me some weird directions that take me out of my way |
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I have a love/hate with Waze. It has gotten me around some traffic but it has also sent me on some crazy routes.
Once it had me go down what was the only cobblestone street within 25 miles. I think I lost a few fillings in my teeth on that one and it might have shaved about 4 seconds off my trip. Another time it took me zigzagging through a suburban neighborhood where I had to stop and turn every 200 feet. I made no fewer than 20 turns and a dozen stops in a mile. It's stressful doing that when you don't have a good picture of where you are and where it is taking you and it is calling out the next turn just as you are supposed to make it. |
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I stopped using it after the third or fourth time it gave me wrong directions. Crappy app for directions. Great for realtime alerts. The app was mostly useless in downtown Chicago. So many streets, one ways, light cycles, and unreported construction and it got confused quick. I do not like the new change of making all the alert indicators tiny dots. I prefer to drive zoomed out from default view, seeing 1/4 mile ahead on the app while driving 70 is pointless. At highway speeds I like to see at least 5 miles ahead which gives me plenty of warning of various alerts. |
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.... Waze is spot on. Usually if I second guess a reroute for traffic I pay dearly for it. I didn't really trust it to one day, just for fun, when it said "Rerouting. Take this exit NOW" and I did. Drove along the side rides beside 95N in Boston. Watching all those cars sitting there parked. Seemed like it was a long time till I got back on the highway. But every time I could see the highway, I noticed I was moving and they were not. 
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I stopped using it after the third or fourth time it gave me wrong directions. Crappy app for directions. Great for realtime alerts. |
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So what are you using to navigate? Quoted:
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I stopped using it after the third or fourth time it gave me wrong directions. Crappy app for directions. Great for realtime alerts. It is great for knowing where the po po are. |
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It may not have been crappy directions, it may have been routing you around a known traffic issue. I use Waze everytime I drive farther than a few miles and trust it and its navigation 100%. Trust it, it knows the route that will get you there the fastest (exceptions of course if you have set it to avoid toll roads or other things). |
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Waze was outlawed, specifically by bans against handheld navigation, but I think directly do to lost police revenue. Crock of shit. It worked better when you would not get a ticket for using it.
ymmv but I generally use NAVIGON for trips. Downloaded maps don't fail when you go out of coverage, and less location screw ups than maps or google. |
| I drive a lot too. Most of the time Waze is great. Ironically, I've found it most challenged with directions around San Francisco airport - multiple times its screwed me over there. Does fine on long hauls across Florida so it's my default nav app here in state. |
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You pulled over to make that entry, right? Quoted:
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I even alerted other Waze drivers to debris in the road (blown tire) on the 95N in Florida. Yes. You pulled over to make that entry, right? |
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Quoted: Waze was outlawed, specifically by bans against handheld navigation, but I think directly do to lost police revenue. Crock of shit. It worked better when you would not get a ticket for using it.
ymmv but I generally use NAVIGON for trips. Downloaded maps don't fail when you go out of coverage, and less location screw ups than maps or google. |
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Waze was outlawed, specifically by bans against handheld navigation, but I think directly do to lost police revenue. Crock of shit. It worked better when you would not get a ticket for using it. ymmv but I generally use NAVIGON for trips. Downloaded maps don't fail when you go out of coverage, and less location screw ups than maps or google. 
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You pulled over to make that entry, right? *Tap* *Listening tone* "Report object in road." "Reporting object in road." Done. |
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Works well but be careful. I was driving and to avoid traffic it rerouted me through an area of the Bronx you don't want to drive around. No hood rat ahead warning. Waze is trying to murder me. I took a business trip to southern Illinois several months ago. I landed in St. Louis, never been there before. As soon as I got the rental car I fired up Waze to take me to my destination. It was rush hour and the interstate had a lot of traffic, so it routed me on surface streets. The surrounding area was sketchy as hell. When I got to my hotel I brought up a map to see where I had been driving. Waze took me right through the heart of Ferguson Missouri. |
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Here's a decent rundown of some of the strengths and weaknesses of Google Maps and Waze. Year old but still mostly true. More at the link.
The Bottom Line: Waze Gets You There Faster (by Car), but Google Maps Is Ultimately More Useful
If you live in a major metropolitan city and drive a lot, you’ll probably want to keep both Waze and Google Maps around. Personally, I’ve always found Waze best suited for longer drives, mostly because Waze tends to take you on weird routes through residential districts just to shave off a minute or two in the city. Though, those few seconds might make or break you being on time, so it can be useful when every second counts and you need to get somewhere as fast as humanly possible. If you’re traveling a little further, say 60 or 70 miles, Waze can often cut off a good thirty minutes from your drive. Waze is also much better at redirecting you around accidents, switching highways, or finding completely different routes when traffic is really bad. The social component comes in really handy when you’re on long road trips. It’s useful when Waze alerts you about congestion caused by an accident or a car on the side of the road, so it’s easy to decide if you want to stay on a route or not. Likewise, the police reporting helps you keep an eye on your speed so you don’t get a ticket when you’re not paying attention. If you don’t drive, don’t even bother with Waze, as it’s completely useless for anything but turn-by-turn navigation by car. Conversely, Google Maps is much better for neighborhood driving. Its search makes it much easier to browse local businesses, and the larger map view makes it easier to see exactly what type of route it’s taking you on. Plus, the fact you can easily swap between driving, walking, bicycling, and public transportation means it’s a much more feature-rich navigation app. Google Maps’ recent addition of lane designation is also incredibly handy in cities like Los Angeles, where the highway system seems designed by a drunk toddler on Adderall. Waze being the social app that it is means it’s only useful in certain parts of the country, but when it has a big user base in a city, it really can get you to your destination faster. Google Maps is a much better all around app and its general usefulness far exceeds Waze. If you’re just looking for a phone number for a business, don’t own a car, or generally prefer a more paper map-esque experience, Google Maps should be your go-to. https://lifehacker.com/turn-by-turn-navigation-showdown-google-maps-vs-waze-1761550298 |
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Waze is trying to murder me. I took a business trip to southern Illinois several months ago. I landed in St. Louis, never been there before. As soon as I got the rental car I fired up Waze to take me to my destination. It was rush hour and the interstate had a lot of traffic, so it routed me on surface streets. The surrounding area was sketchy as hell. When I got to my hotel I brought up a map to see where I had been driving. Waze took me right through the heart of Ferguson Missouri. |
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I use it from time to time too. I think it uses google but whenever I put in a route I always compare it to google maps.
Make sure you tell it to avoid toll roads and a few things. It works but can be a little annoying with alerts that are no longer valid. I'll have to check but I know google maps will pop up and say traffic ahead would you like to take another route or something like that. Also like that google says welcome to so and so state |
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Waze was outlawed, specifically by bans against handheld navigation, but I think directly do to lost police revenue. Crock of shit. It worked better when you would not get a ticket for using it. ymmv but I generally use NAVIGON for trips. Downloaded maps don't fail when you go out of coverage, and less location screw ups than maps or google. Police Revenue? Heck i've been sitting and marked my own location |
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You can do voice entries. You can have it listen for a wakeup phrase, or you can set it to listen when you triple-tap the screen, which I can do without even looking at it if I need to. *Tap* *Listening tone* "Report object in road." "Reporting object in road." Done. Thanks. Had my son marking stuff when we went from TN to MD last week, well when his butt was awake 
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Once you're on the move, Waze is great and I use it. I still use Google Maps for finding addresses and just general locating. Also, for distances, etc. I find that Waze is not well suited to those activities. I usually need to have a solid address in order to use it. If I'm unsure of an address, then Waze is a pain. YMMV I don't know how, because I don't drive the speed limit. |
Slacker The rank is tied to your home state but the points are universal.
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I think a GPS app/device maker tried to add in an "avoid bad neighborhoods" feature, and they were threatened with lawsuits by the usual liberal suspects. Quoted:
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Waze is trying to murder me. I took a business trip to southern Illinois several months ago. I landed in St. Louis, never been there before. As soon as I got the rental car I fired up Waze to take me to my destination. It was rush hour and the interstate had a lot of traffic, so it routed me on surface streets. The surrounding area was sketchy as hell. When I got to my hotel I brought up a map to see where I had been driving. Waze took me right through the heart of Ferguson Missouri. |