Both the navigation apps help you to get where you have to go on time.
Therefore, how do you decide which is better? Google, in fact, acquired Waze last year but Waze is being operated independently and there isn’t any integration. Waze has an amazing user engagement and Google probably bought it for this feature and to keep it out of reach of Apple or Facebook as well.
Google Maps – Integration of Transportation
It is the best navigation application for Android and iOS devices, and it got even better with the latest update. The app offers traffic information in real time and gives the user data that can be really valuable while traveling. There are also many useful add-on features, such as the venues located on the route. They also don’t interfere with the main feature that helps you to move from one point to another. Google Maps is able to bring together different transportation means, such as walking, public transport and cycling, and offers detailed directions. It can also anticipate the travel time very accurately as most people travel with a combination of walking and driving or walking and public transport or biking and public transport.
It is also very interesting and useful to find the venues that lie along your route, such as restaurants, shops, cafes, drug shops and so on. You can then see whether it will take you too far away from the route of your destination and plan to visit them accordingly. Budgeting your time becomes easy with these details. Another interesting feature is that Google Maps is able to include information about traffic in real time and offers dynamic routing similar to an efficient GPS. However, on the downside, there are some advertisements on the app that some users might find obtrusive.
Waze for Navigation – Getting Active and Passive Feedback
Waze also is a very useful application for navigation. It is a GPS app that offers directions for every turn of the path from point A to B. You can use the directions for a saved destination or for something that you have specifically searched for. Waze also comes with an amazing feature of real-time traffic information. This comes up along the route you travel and is available based on feedback from other users of the app. Feedback provided about real-time traffic is either active or passive. Active feedback from users is based on the reports of accidents and heavy traffic in a particular area and any other information that could affect your route or your path. The data is a crowd sourced one and is pretty accurate. Passive feedback is obtained from users who have the application running in the background. The app gives information on the way traffic generally flows in these routes. This helps improve information that can be used by other users.
User Interface
There have been some complaints regarding the user interface of Waze. Some feel that the buttons are too tiny. Others complain that activating a command involves too many steps. Another complaint seems to be that the user needs to go deep into the settings to enable voice functions. The directions related to text to speech are also supposed to be quite slow. This is important as it can get too late to move into a particular turn or a lane in time.
Verdict
If all you need is directions for public transport or for walking, Google Maps is the app for you. Waze focuses more on offering the user traffic data. Anyone who drives will find a lot of uses for Waze. You cannot use Waze as a replacement for Google Maps, but rather as an addition to the Google Maps. If you are the type who typically moves about in a small radius, you don’t actually need Waze. Yet, it is very useful in informing you about traffic data.
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