Waze and Google Maps are exceptional tools that are commonly used by all people who own cell phones for navigation. Especially in Los Angeles, which has a ridiculous amount of weird roads, stressful intersections, dangerous freeways, scary cops, painful traffic, horrific accidents, obscene road conditions, and more perilous things. The criteria used to judge these two apps will be very complicated because it is difficult to evaluate these two as they were made for entirely different purposes. One was made for all forms of transportation, plus GPS (geographic positioning system) and GIS (geographic information system, which contains geographic data combined with software tools for managing analyzing, and visualizing data). While in contrast, the other one was made strictly “as a social navigation tool for private cars” according to support.google.com/waze.
Google Maps was released in 2005 and features aerial photography, street maps, satellite imagery, real-time traffic conditions, and route planning by all forms of transportation. Waze was released in 2006 and does not feature many of the features that Google Maps offers except for real-time traffic conditions, street maps, and route planning, but it also features the ability for social navigation. (Social navigation will be explained further on)
Also, this article is a comparison of Google vs Google because Waze was bought by Google in 2013 for $1.2 billion according to forbes.com. Of course, Google Maps was made and is still currently operated by Google so the question is why write this article in the first place? This article needed to be created because the students, citizens, and people of this world have a right to know which app they should use to arrive at their destination as fast as possible.
Google Maps takes most of the points against Waze when it comes to extra features and the ability to find the fastest route when you are not driving a car. But, Waze stands apart from Google Maps because it uses crowd-sourced traffic information. Essentially, your calculated route is based on the input of other drivers currently using the same roads as you. Every time you are driving and you see a little notification pop up on your screen saying “is there still a police car 50 feet in front of you?” or “do you still see an accident in 300 feet?” You are being warned by a courteous driver. If you ever have the kindness to click “yes” or “no” to that question, that means that you have helped other drivers get to their locations faster just like the previous driver did for you on that same road. Google Maps does not have this feature of social interactions between users and therefore loses points in this battle with Waze.
The final question remains, which app will get you to your location faster? According to all the data so far the answer is Waze. Waze doesn’t have to deal with all the extra features that Google Maps has because its sole purpose is for navigation by car so it is fully calibrated solely for cars. Unfortunately, one big problem with the app is the fact that it occasionally calculates faster arrival times by sending its users down roads with no traffic lights. This is a problem because you will occasionally find yourself trying to turn left or cross a major road like Pico or Olympic with no traffic light and cars blasting down the road at outrageous speeds, forcing you to have to wait multiple minutes for an opportunity. This can be easily combated by having some road name knowledge and checking to see where the app is sending you ahead of time, but it can be a nuisance. Google Maps has more features and is more accessible to all different forms of commuters, but does not have that crucial feature of social interactions between different users. Both apps excel in different factors and are both extremely useful in many different forms, but when it comes down to the fastest arrival time and convenience all together when traveling by car, the winner is Waze. Just imagine if Waze and Google Maps combined… The perfect navigational tool will be created and will lead to perfection.
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