London, UK; Monday, 6th June 2011 - Waze, the first community-based traffic and navigation app for smartphones, announced today the launch of its free app in the UK. Available on GPS-enabled smart phones, as well as the iPad, British drivers can now save valuable commuting time, using real-time information generated by Waze users nearby. Just by simply driving with the app open on their phones, Waze users passively share real-time traffic information with other Wazers, helping out the rest of the local driving community with alternative time saving routes. Users can also take a more active role by sharing live road reports on conditions such as accidents, hazards, roadworks and more (for safety purposes typing is disabled while driving).
Alongside the useful live traffic and navigation aspects of the app, users also enjoy the fun, geo-gaming features such as gaining points for activities such as reporting traffic information and validating roads to win real-world prizes and top the leader board. In honor of the UK launch, Waze will be giving a free car mount to every 50th new user who signs up to the service and drives with the app open in the coming week. To win, new users must be fully registered users with a valid email addresses on file.
Waze first launched in the United States, expanding in to France and Italy in 2010, and already has over four million users worldwide. As part of its UK infrastructure investment, Waze has partnered with Intermap to provide users with a base road grid across Britain. This base map will be updated on an ongoing basis as users drive with the app open and contribute to the work already accomplished by Waze's UK mapping community.
"Being based on a live and highly engaged community of drivers is what sets Waze apart," says Yael Elish, Waze's VP of Product. "Our traffic information and other reports are user-generated and 100% real-time, pooling the power of the local driving community to help everyone improve their daily commute and save time. It's that human element, drivers working together for the common good on the road,that excites our users and puts us in an entirely new category."
"Everyday, drivers are faced with any number of dangers on the road including ice, accidents, and flooding for example. The unpredictable nature of these hazards and lack of immediate road data leaves drivers vulnerable to the conditions ahead," said Noam Bardin, CEO of waze. "The only way this information can be collected and distributed in real-time is by the initiative of group-minded individuals and a means to warn their fellow drivers."
Waze takes social driving even further by offering 'driving groups', which allow users to connect with other local drivers who share common challenges on the road, such as people who share their commute, friends, colleagues travelling to the same destination, or small fleets of professional drivers such as taxis or delivery vehicles. Waze groups allow users to receive focused road reports, keep track of one another via a shared group icon next to each member's avatar on the map and follow the group's Twitter account and Facebook page.
Jay Jackson, a regular driver in the north-west of England, comments: "Waze is a great tool to help drivers avoid traffic problems. I've become part of a network of 'Wazers' in the north-east which includes lots of truck drivers. We constantly 'ping' each other using Waze to warn each other of accidents or problems caused by debris on the road, for example. The real-time nature of Waze means we can take an alternative route suggested by Waze and avoid traffic jams. We also get to validate roads and add new roundabouts, ensuring the Waze maps become the most up-to-date for drivers. It's essentially a social network for local drivers, where we help each other whilst earning Waze points, which adds some fun to time spent driving."
Optimised for commuting with iPhone and Android devices, Waze learns users' preferred routes and constantly monitors traffic to ensure they are travelling the quickest way. Waze also does something no other app out there does - it actually makes commuting fun.
To get going as part of the UK driving community, new users can watch a guided tour here and check out Waze tips here.
About waze
Waze is a free community-based traffic and navigation app that uses real-time road reports from drivers nearby to save commuting time and improve everyday driving. Way more than just another free navigation app, Waze's social layer is what sets it apart - giving drivers the power to work together to report and receive the most relevant traffic information available at any given moment. Plus, it actually makes commuting a whole lotta fun!
Founded in 2009, Waze has since grown to become the world's largest and fastest-growing community of connected drivers, reaching more than 4 million users in over 45 countries, worldwide. Waze is available on the Apple AppStore, the Android Market Place, the Nokia Ovi Store, RIM's App World and Windows Market or download from m.waze.com. To learn more about Waze online, visit www.waze.com or follow us on Twitter at @Waze.
(Palo Alto, Ca.) February 8 -- Waze, developer of the world's first social navigation app, today announced the launch of the first voice-based hazard reporting feature for GPS commuters and travelers worldwide. With this added functionality, waze is further empowering its iPhone community to help each other stay alert and get to their destinations safely.
The new feature set allows users to report a wide range of road hazards, weather conditions, and potentially dangerous obstacles with minimal interaction with the app. Once a hazard is spotted, users can record a brief voice-description and share it with others in their area. Those en route towards the hazard will be warned by their fellow wazer's voice-alert beforehand and be potentially rerouted to avoid any danger. In this manner, waze encourages drivers to "pay it forward" and help others stay alert to road conditions.
Features include:
-
Real-time user-voice reporting of hazards including:
- Traffic & accidents ahead
- Dangerous weather conditions including ice, heavy snow, and flooding
According to the most recent U.S. Census statistical abstract, there were close to ten million car accidents in 2008. In New York State, 2009 yielded over 58,000 accidents related to environmental factors alone, according the DMV. In 2011, waze believes people can reduce these statistics by working together to create a dynamic, community-operated alert system to help make roads safer for everyone.
"Everyday, drivers are faced with any number of dangers on the road including ice, accidents, and flooding for example. The unpredictable nature of these hazards and lack of immediate road data leaves drivers vulnerable to the conditions ahead," said Noam Bardin, CEO of waze. "The only way this information can be collected and distributed in real-time is by the initiative of group-minded individuals and a means to warn their fellow drivers."
Updates to the Android, Symbian, Blackberry, and WinMo editions will be announced soon.
Waze is available in the Apple AppStore and Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the Waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. To learn more about waze, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use Waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Palo Alto, Calif. -- December 08, 2010 -- Please visit the waze blog for further information.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- November 17, 2010 -- Waze, the world's biggest social traffic and navigation app, has integrated check-in functionality from foursquare, the popular location-based social networking app, to benefit Feeding America, the nation's leading hunger-relief charity, to help decrease the number of Americans going hungry this Thanksgiving.
Approximately 49 million people, including 17 million children, face food insecurity on a daily basis in America, and the holiday season is no exception. By collaborating with Feeding America, foursquare and waze will help raise awareness and make donating easier than ever before for the millions of highly engaged users who use their apps.
In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, waze will prominently display local food bank's pins on the map, along with a one-click 'Navigate' button providing direct voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation to its location.
Once arriving at the food bank, a built in integration with foursquare allows users to 'check-in' to the food bank venue without even leaving the waze app itself, drawing even further awareness to the issue, as they alert their network to their location and distribute that information via their foursquare-linked Twitter and Facebook accounts.
"We have great faith in the goodwill of our users," says Noam Bardin, waze's CEO, "and we're very excited to use our platform to mobilize them this holiday season, collaborating with our friends at foursquare and Feeding America, the premiere hunger-relief charity in America."
"Every donation has the ability to make a difference for someone." says Tristan Walker, foursquare's Director of Business Development. "It's our hope that our users will take advantage of this great opportunity to not only help feed the hungry, but to raise the consciousness of this issue to all of the people in their social networks."
"We are grateful for the partnership that we have with foursquare and waze," said Molly Hart, spokesperson for Feeding America. "Their work is helping Americans to learn that somewhere in their own community there are families turning to food banks because they are not getting enough nutritious food to eat."
Waze and foursquare are free and can be downloaded from the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry stores. Users who wish to 'check-in' to their local food bank directly from waze can link their foursquare and waze accounts by visiting the 'Settings' section in the waze app.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates
and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze enables users to update one other on traffic, police traps,
construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use Waze, the better (and more fun!)
it gets.
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore, the Android Market, the Nokia Ovi Store, RIM's App World and Windows Marketplace
or downloaded from m.waze.com.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or follow us on Twitter at @waze.
About Foursquare
foursquare is a mobile application that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. It is a friend-finder, a social city guide and a game that challenges users to experience new things, and rewards them for doing so. Foursquare lets users "check in" to a place when they're there, tell friends where they are and track the history of where they've been and who they've been there with. For more information on Foursquare please visit: http://foursquare.com/about.
About Feeding America
Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including 14 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 61,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. For more information on how you can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit http://www.feedingamerica.org. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/FeedingAmerica or follow our news on Twitter at twitter.com/FeedingAmerica.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- October 5, 2010 -- Waze, the world's most popular social GPS smartphone app with over 1.5 million users worldwide, today announced the launch of its long-awaited 2.0 version for Android, featuring the app's new driving groups that allow users to connect with other local drivers who share common interests or challenges on the road.
Driving groups give users the ability to receive focused road reports, plus keep track of one another via a shared group icon next to each member's avatar on the map and follow the group's Twitter account and Facebook page. Users are able to see other members of their group as they advance on the map, which can be very useful to any number of groups who want to stay informed as they travel, such as:
- Daily commuters
- Groups of friends traveling in a caravan of separate cars to a shared destination
- Small fleets of professional drivers - taxis, delivery vehicles, etc.
Since the initial launch of waze on the Android platform about a year ago, Android users have played a central role in the waze community and today make up a meaningful segment of the app's user base, with numbers that are constantly growing.
This release will bring a large influx of new wazers into the nearly 5,000 driving groups created by iPhone users who received version 2.0 one month prior - and similar to other aspects of waze, the more people who participate in driving groups, the better and more useful they will become.
"We see the Android community as a core part of our overall user base and are very excited to bring all that the new version has to offer to them," says Noam Bardin, waze's CEO. "We've been impressed with their level of engagement and expect that Android users' contribution to waze's new driving groups will be significant."
In addition to being able to create and participate in driving groups after updating to version 2.0, Android users will also notice considerable performance and stability improvements, including enhancements such as multi-touch support, zoom and rotations.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use Waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore, the Android Market Place, the Nokia Ovi Store, RIM's App World and Windows Market or download from m.waze.com. To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or follow us on Twitter at @waze .
Palo Alto, Calif. -- September 29, 2010 -- Waze, the popular social driving and navigation app, today released detailed visualizations of Driving Groups that have been formed in the first 30 days since the release of the new feature. These infographics articulate how people are using caravans to drive, and provides insights to the evolving segment of Social Driving. On the heels of the success of Driving Groups, Waze today extends the feature with Custom Groups for media companies, retailers, car companies, etc. which allows icons to be custom-branded and easily identified on a map for other members of that group.
Social Driving - a new trend
People want to connect on the road - it's no fun to be alone out there - and with waze, people are given a convenient way to share really useful road information with one another. It's like all wazers are
driving as a group in a constant caravan - and they're really loving the new sense of community they feel when hitting the road with waze open on their phone. Waze drivers can see where other caravan
members are on a map, and can opt to interact with fellow drivers using Twitter or Facebook.
Custom Groups - the logical next step
Groups - 30 days after launch
4199 Groups
- 691 USA
- 2508 International
- 70% Social Commute (Fellow commuters along your route)
- Interest (Share conditions with other swimmers, bikers etc)
- Others: Lifestyle, Company, University, media and mood like Comcast employees, Firefighters, Filipinos and Sexy While Driving
Groups have formed around specific media companies, car brands, smart-phones, music and destinations. Some brands are even starting their own groups, which inspired the development of Custom Groups. The first two Custom Groups are for powerful local media brands; NBC2 and The Statesman. Waze teamed up with NBC2 in Southwest Florida and The Statesman in Austin to experiment with citizen traffic. Both companies have loyal followers who can benefit from sharing reports with one another and, as citizen traffic reporters, can help ensure they have the most up-to-date road reports. The special groups include branded icons on the map, a real-time group widget and more.
NBC2 in Florida just launched its custom group and is expected to generate more traffic and road reports. This will result in additional
brand engagement and community for NBC2.
The Statesman is a large daily newspaper in Austin, TX that has already launched and is promoting its custom group. In a short time it has grown to over 100 users and is one of the largest groups.
"NBC2 and The Statesman have been the perfect first partners. They are always looking for ways to innovate and we believe partnerships like these will fundamentally change the way in which traffic is reported, providing better coverage, plus a sense of community and participation - so if you're in Southwest, FL or Austin, TX, come join the fun!" said Di-Ann Eisnor, VP Community Geographer for waze.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- August 10, 2010 -- Waze, the world's most popular social GPS smartphone app, today announced the launch of new driving "groups", a feature that allows users to discover and connect to other drivers who share common interests on the road.
While drivers may usually be alone in their cars, they're actually often part of a broader group. Naturally, driving groups are useful for commuters who travel from the suburbs to the city on a regular basis and would like to share specific tips about their route, but groups can also benefit:
- Fleets of professional drivers - taxis, delivery vehicles, etc.
- Groups of friends traveling in a caravan of separate cars to a shared destination
- People seeking cheap gas in a specific metro
- Motorcycle clubs
- Those looking to carpool
- Any other grouping that waze users can dream up!
Driving groups allow users to receive focused road reports from the groups that they have joined. They also allow group members to keep track of one another via a shared group icon next to each member's avatar on the map. Users will actually be able to see other members of their group as they advance in their trip on the map towards a destination. This layer of visual information can be very useful to any number of groups who want to stay informed as they travel. And for those who opt in and would like to connect beyond the waze platform, each member's Twitter and Facebook profiles are clickable on the map to make connecting easy.
Users can create or join as many groups as they like, and to continue the conversation even further, group owners are encouraged to set up a dedicated Twitter account and Facebook fan page. In this first version, available on iPhone and Android only, groups are public and anyone can join them. In the future, it will be possible to create private groups, too.
Some group examples:
- San Francisco --> Mountain View
- Seattle --> Redmond
- Cheap Gas in Austin, TX
- Cabulous Cabbies
- NYC to The Hamptons
"Waze is powered by communities working together to improve their everyday driving experience, and that's why we're happy to introduce these new driving groups to our users," says Noam Bardin, waze's CEO. "Our new driving groups will empower localized, geography specific groups to emerge and share real time information. We're looking forward to seeing the creative groups that they'll come up with, and expect our driving communities, worldwide, to really benefit from this new functionality."
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- July 1, 2010 -- Waze, the world's most popular social GPS application, today announced the launch of its new version, featuring updates to innovative Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare integrations that maximize real-time, user-generated information directly related to users' daily commute. Combining the app's own crowdsourced GPS data and user-generated traffic updates along with Twitter's new extended geo-capabilities, among other new features, this version is sure to provide waze users with the most comprehensive and up-to-the-minute crowdsourced road information available anywhere.
Twitter Integration
User-generated real-time traffic and road reporting has always been a central part of the waze service, but the app is about to take the provision of live information one step further, culling geo-located tweets from the wider Twitter community directly onto the waze map, ones that previously would never have been seen in real-time. This means that even if a non-waze user tweets that they're stuck in traffic, it will appear almost immediately on the waze app with a road report pin (indicating the kind of report it is: traffic, police alert, hazard, etc.), along with a little 't' icon to indicate that the report came from Twitter. Incorporating these tweets onto the waze map will expand the coverage of waze's local driving communities tremendously, providing the most comprehensive picture of real-time traffic possible.
And for Twitter users who want to enable waze to more easily harvest their real-time road reporting tweets, all they have to do is to include the hashtag #wazelive to ensure that their tweet will appear immediately on the map. This integration also allows two-way communication all within the context of real-time road reporting, essentially turning waze into an on-the-go Twitter client. However, due to safety concerns, typing on the waze keyboard has been disabled while the car is in motion.
Facebook and Foursquare Integration
Waze's integration with Facebook will allow users to see their nearby Facebook friends when they appear on the waze map, indicating them with a little 'f' icon next to their waze mood and an audio alert.
If they like, users also have the ability to post their whereabouts onto their Facebook wall as a status update, They can also stay on top of their progress on the Facebook tab of the waze scoreboard, to see how they stack up against their other wazing Facebook friends.
And to further facilitate access to real-time, social platforms in the car, waze also supports an integration with Foursquare where users can check in to locations right as they pull up to them in their cars. This also allows them to unlock coveted 'Road Warrior' badges by checking into Foursquare locations three times using waze.
"We're excited about being able to harness the power of crowdsourced data, integrated with the new geolocation capabilities of social media," says Noam Bardin, waze's CEO. "We believe that our integration with Twitter, particularly, will provide tremendous value to our users as a tweet that would otherwise be relegated to their PC will now be maximized in a useful, real-time context."
iOS4 Support
This updated version is also fully optimized for the iPhone's new iOS 4 which allows apps to run in the background while giving users the ability to simultaneously conduct other important tasks, such as sending and receiving calls, all while still hearing turn-by-turn voice instructions. When waze goes into the background, smart algorithms are applied to detect whether or not the device is in motion. Following a long standstill, waze will automatically close itself when it determines that you are no longer using the app, avoiding needless data and battery consumption.
Waze is available for the iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian platforms. Users are invited to visit m.waze.com/download to download the new version.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- May 4, 2010 -- Waze, the world's first social GPS app geared towards everyday driving, today announced the general availability of its app on RIM's BlackBerry platform. Known for being on the road often, BlackBerry users now have a fun and useful new way to get to where they need to be, plus an entire driving community in which to participate.
"We've had BlackBerry users all across the world requesting a RIM version of waze for a very long time, and today we're very happy to welcome these users into the local driving communities in their areas," said Noam Bardin, CEO of waze. "This version marks the final piece of the platform puzzle for us; users on all platforms - iPhone, Android, Symbian, WindowsMobile, and now BlackBerry - can come take part in the fun gaming and community aspects of waze, while also getting free turn-by-turn navigation on their phone."
Waze is a free mobile navigation app that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also incorporates social elements that give drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more. Since waze is 100% user-generated and routes may not be optimal in all areas from day one, waze learns quickly, so the more people who use waze, the better, it gets.
Waze for BlackBerry will launch in a public beta version for 8900, 9000, 9630 and 9700 devices (excluding Storm). Users are invited to visit http://waze.com/blackberry/beta from their BlackBerry devices to download the app directly from waze, or they can do so via BlackBerry App World at (AppWorld deep-link).
Users invited to munch blackberry 'road goodies' to win a new iPad
In celebration of the BlackBerry release, waze will be conducting a contest featuring blackberry 'road goodies' - small icons worth bonus points - scattered all over the waze maps. From May 4 to May 14, 2010, the user who munches (drives over) the most blackberry 'road goodies' along their daily commute will be rewarded with a brand new iPad - one winner in the US/Canada and one from the rest of the world. The contest is open to those using waze on all smartphone platforms.
More about waze
The waze application runs on users' smartphones, and automatically and anonymously sends back GPS points as they drive. This data is then used to build and constantly update the road grid, driving directions, road changes, traffic flow, and more. Waze also uses aggregated driving speed data to determine traffic jams and other changes in road conditions. All of this information is collected passively, but drivers can also take a more active role, reporting road problems and map inaccuracies easily from their mobile device; more extensive map editing is done via the waze website.
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- March 11, 2010 -- Waze, the world's first social GPS, providing driver-generated maps and real-time road information geared towards everyday driving, today announced their official launch in Germany and France, featuring a developed road grid, German and French UI and voice prompts, as well as a contributor's scoreboard and a road full of 'goodies' to help new users rack up points as they help improve the navigability of the map in their areas.
Up until recently, users needed to record roads entirely from scratch to build the map in their area, however, following a partnership with Intermap Technologies, waze has received access to a comprehensive set of German and French road grids, which the company will merge with data that local users have already contributed on their own, to offer these local driving communities a highly accurate grid upon which to navigate.
All that's missing in order to turn the grid into a fully functioning map is for German and French wazers to validate road directions by driving on the roads themselves, and to add road names via waze's online map editor - and this is exactly where the fun, gaming aspect of waze begins. Users will find that most roads will be marked with plenty of 'road munching' dots - GPS points that, when driven over, set the road's direction, helping to increase map quality and navigability, while providing users with tons of extra points. The process of validation is incredibly quick - within just a couple of weeks, with the help of the wazers in these areas, the German and French maps will be fully navigable and highly accurate.
Waze will also be adding candy and cupcake 'road goodies' - small icons worth 3 and 5 bonus points, respectively - to the map in areas where the system needs validation, as well as virtual treasure chests that, when driven over, have the potential to reward users with valuable real-world prizes, including Amazon gift cards. German and French wazers should look out for treasure chests along their daily routes starting on March 2, 2010, for their chance to win.
After wazers have racked up points by munching these 'road goodies', they can turn to the waze contributor scoreboard to help put their point totals into context. Users are able to see how they stack up against others commuters in their country - as well as other contributors, worldwide. In addition, each week, users will be able to view a status report informing them of the top contributors for that week, as well as who is going up or down in rank.
While waze's navigation capabilities develop, users can still benefit greatly from the app by sharing real-time traffic alerts and live reports (with pictures) from the road, as well as pinging each other for additional information - all in their native tongue, on a fully German and French-supported keyboard.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- February 17, 2010 -- Waze, the first free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information geared towards everyday driving, today announced a new version featuring personalized alternative routes as well as a scoreboard, allowing commuters to see where they stand among the larger driving community in their area.
Waze specializes in optimizing everyday driving. Unlike regular navigation, when commuting, users most often have clear preferences for specific routes, and know the alternatives. The information that they are missing is: what's happening on my alternative routes RIGHT now, and which route they should take. Waze's new alternative routes feature is personalized, allowing users to teach waze the multiple routes to destinations that they commonly travel to.
For the system to learn users' preferred routes, they'll need to travel them two to three times after setting a common destination point. Once waze has learned these routes, commuters can view all of their preferred routes to commonly traveled-to destinations, with alerts as to which of them is most optimal to take at any given moment. Until waze learns users' personalized routes it will provide general system-calculated alternative routes to any selected destination.
The new waze version also includes a much anticipated scoreboard for users who spend a significant amount of time contributing to building of the driving community in their areas. This scoreboard will allow users to help put their rank and point totals into context. Users will now be able to see how they stack up against others commuters in their state/country - as well as other contributors, worldwide. In addition, each week, users will be able to view a status report informing them of the top contributors for that week, as well as who is going up or down in rank.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- February 8, 2010 -- Waze, the first free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information geared towards everyday driving, today announced a Valentine's Day treasure hunt to help save the day for techies who might have forgotten to consider their sweethearts this February 14th.
Waze's 'Valentine's Treasure Hunt' will feature 'road goodies' as well as virtual treasure chests that, when driven over, have the potential to reward users with a real-world prizes - Valentine's 'movie night for two' gift cards or heart-shaped boxes of chocolate. From February 8 to February 14, 2010, users in the US and Canada, should start looking for treasure chests along their daily commute for their chance to win. More details can be found on the waze blog.
Waze's holiday-themed 'road goodies' - small icons worth bonus points - will be implemented on the map, internationally. The Valentine's 'road goodies' include a cupid's arrow, worth 15 points, as well as heart-shaped love balloons, worth 10 points, scattered all over the map. Users can use these road goodies to increase their point totals, in prep for waze's next version which will include a scoreboard, allowing users to check out where they stand among their local driving communities.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. — January 25, 2010 -- Waze, the first global provider of crowdsourced live maps and real-time road information, today announced its first international partnership with Location World, the largest location-based services and solutions company in South America, based in Ecuador, with a strong, fast growing presence in additional Latin American countries including Panama, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Columbia and Chile.
Location World provides a wide variety of LBS services, enabling companies to develop applications quickly and effectively. Among Location World’s customers are the leading local operators as well as big names in the public and private sector, including Telefonica - Movistar, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Manpower and many others. One of Location World’s assets is the largest local geosearch database in Ecuador, with more than 140,000 entries, currently being used by Telefonica – Movistar, among other customers.
Under the terms of the agreement, waze will use Location World’s premium-grade maps for its service and, in return, will provide Location World with ongoing, real-time automated and community-generated map updates and real-time traffic information, transforming it into the most up-to-date map first in Ecuador, and then shortly in rest of Latin America. Waze users in these countries will benefit from a fully localized service, with great base maps that significantly accelerate the creation of free turn-by-turn navigation, real time traffic information and community reporting from day one.
In this partnership all sides benefit; Location World instantly upgrades their maps to become real-time maps, constantly updated via community crowdsourcing, providing them with more value, at significantly less cost. Waze, on the other hand, benefits from the use of a professional grade base map, significantly accelerating its community growth and international expansion.
“The combination of waze’s real-time map building and live crowdsourced technology with Location World’s excellent maps and thorough geo-referenced content opens the door wide open for our users in Latin America,” says Uri Levine, waze’s President and Co-Founder. “As a result, we expect community growth in this region to accelerate exponentially, and we warmly welcome these new users to the world’s largest global driving community.”
Waze is being made available today in Ecuador with a fully localized client and website. More information can be found at es.waze.com.
In addition to waze’s partnership with Location World, waze is also forming alliances in multiple countries worldwide and is seeking partnerships with other international map owners.
“Our partnership program is a response to the increasing number of map providers who understand the benefits of partnering with a company like waze to remain competitive,” says Levine. “Both sides gain in these partnerships; waze enables the map provider to turn their map into real-time, navigable asset, and the map providers allow waze to significantly accelerate community growth within the new geographies that we wish to develop in.”
Parties interested in collaboration can contact waze for more information at bizdev@waze.com.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- December 1, 2009 -- Waze, the first worldwide provider of community-based live maps and real-time road information, today announced a new partnership program geared towards local map providers, worldwide. On the tail of the company's successful international launch and strong traction with international users, waze has begun to partner with local map providers globally.
Currently, local companies across the globe have valuable map data, but are threatened by competition from global players, commoditization of map data and increased costs associated with maintaining and upgrading their data set to remain competitive. The partnership program forms a mutually beneficial relationship in which waze and its users are provided with a base map for accelerating community growth, while the partner benefits include turning their map from a static and costly-to-update resource, into a real-time, navigable asset with significantly lower operational costs. Partners also expand their data set to include real-time traffic, community updates and reports.
"The navigation market is developing rapidly with the proliferation of GPS-enabled smartphones," says Noam Bardin, waze's CEO. "At the same time, user expectations from maps are growing, while revenue-per-user falls as the industry migrates to advertising supported business models. We're interested in facilitating our partner's access to the next generation of maps via the most efficient means possible: our real-time map building and live crowdsourcing technology."
With alliances currently being in fostered in South America and the Far East, Waze expects to announce the launch of its first partnerships in January 2010. Interested partners can contact waze for more information at bizdev@waze.com.
How waze's Crowdsourcing Works
Crowdsourced maps have dramatically shortened the months-long update cycles of map industry giants, and waze has taken this concept one step further; to an even faster rate of map building and updating. Instead of relying on users who edit the map from their home computers, waze empowers anyone to build maps within a game-like environment, passively, as they drive around with the company's free navigation app open on their smartphone.
While users drive, smart algorithms are used to analyze their GPS points and other driver-generated data, which is then converted into a grid of the roads, including turn restrictions and historical speeds plus real-time traffic information. Users can also take an active role, filing traffic and hazard reports with a few easy clicks when not driving.
More About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- November 24, 2009 --Waze, the first free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information, today announced a new version of its free navigation app to include fun gaming elements in addition to smart algorithms, so that waze maps all over the world are updated even quicker. The consumer application is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices.
The new version adds more capabilities to waze's already popular 'munching' game that encourages users to validate road driving directions as they drive around. The game will now be upgraded to munch 'road goodies' - cherries, hammers and small gift packages worth bonus points - that will be placed in areas where the waze system has identified map problems. The highest scoring 'road goodies' will be placed in locations with the most severe map issues, and as users drive around to munch these 'goodies', waze's system will utilize the driver's GPS data to analyze and automatically solve the identified problems.
"We find that users are very tuned in and excited about the idea of improving the map through gaming," says Noam Bardin, waze's CEO. "They can spend hours searching for roads that have not been driven yet, in order to gain points for munching the dots on the road, while simultaneously working to improve the map for the driving community in their area. It's an extremely effective way to increase the quality of our maps, while also keeping our users fully engaged."
How it works
Crowdsourced maps have dramatically shortened the months-long update cycles of the map industry giants, and waze has taken this concept one step further, to an even faster rate of map building and updating. Instead of relying on users who edit the map from their home computers, waze empowers anyone to build maps within a game-like environment, passively, as they drive around with the company's free navigation app open on their smartphone.
While users drive, smart algorithms are used to analyze their GPS points and other driver-generated data, which is then converted into a grid of the roads, including turning and driving directions plus real-time traffic information. Users can also take an active role, filing traffic and hazard reports with a few easy clicks when not driving.
Waze Holiday Contest
In parallel to the launch of the new version, waze will be conducting a 'Holiday High Points Challenge' between November 25-30, just in time for the busiest driving time of the year, over the Thanksgiving holidays. The top three users who rack up the most points during this timeframe from munching 'road goodies' will receive Amazon gift card prizes in the amounts of $500, $300 and $200, respectively, to help out with their holiday shopping. Details can be found on the waze blog located at www.waze.com/blog.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- November 11, 2009 -- Leading up to Thanksgiving, waze, the world's first crowdsourced map platform and social GPS app, has partnered with Thanksgivingforall.org, a grassroots organization that provides turkeys for the hungry, to feed at least some of those who find themselves without a meal this holiday season.
From November 11-25, 2009, waze will donate one turkey for each 10 new @waze followers on Twitter - up to 500 turkeys - to Thanksgiving for All. Waze hopes to make their 'Tweets for Turkey' campaign a success by leveraging the power of the company's Twitter network to help spread the word about this easy opportunity for giving.
"Being a completely user-generated service, it's natural for us to turn to our community to help us help others as the holiday season approaches," says Noam Bardin, waze's CEO. "We hope that people are motivated to help us support a great cause, and that along the way, they might also check out our service for help as they hit the road to travel home for the holidays."
Those interested in spreading the word about the 'Tweets for Turkey' campaign are encouraged to become followers of @waze and retweet this message: Provide 500 turkeys 4 the hungry + a chance 2 win a Flip videocam! Simply follow @waze & RT this msg. http://bit.ly/M7MLo #waze social GPS
Additional campaign details can be found here: http://bit.ly/M7MLo
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Visit www.waze.com for more information.
About Thanksgiving for All
Thanksgiving for All is a non-profit, public benefit organization which raises funds and finds product sources to provide turkey and other food stuffs to small community food pantries, homeless shelters and other charitable non-profit organizations so that less fortunate individuals can enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, at no cost.
Visit www.thanksgivingforall.org for more information.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- November 9, 2009 -- Waze, Inc., the first free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information, today announced the availability of its platform for community crowdsourcing of maps, worldwide. Already, drivers have organically formed their own groups and have started using waze to build local maps in over 20 countries around the globe, including Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Thailand, Kazakhstan, and Trinidad Tobago. Due to driver demand, waze can now be used to generate real-time maps anywhere in the world, quickly and accurately, by simply driving around with waze's free mobile app installed on your phone.
Through a community-based approach, waze harnesses driver-generated data in order to build navigable road maps. The waze application runs on users' smartphones, while automatically and anonymously sending back GPS points as they drive. This data is then used to build and continuously update the road grid itself, road changes, and more. All of this information is collected passively, but drivers can also take a more active role, by joining the map editing arm of the community online at world.waze.com.
Demand from the international community spurred waze to open its platform worldwide, after its successful launch in Israel and the US. With waze's technology, users can now build maps from scratch - literally paving the roads they drive on the map. Patented technology enables the map building process to happen very quickly, for example, in Singapore the highway grid was mapped in just a few days by a handful of active users. Once the map is created, the mobile app automatically provides free turn-by-turn navigation, as well as real-time traffic and community-generated road reports to all wazer's in the region.
"Even without specific country support, we were amazed to see wazers on our live map in clusters all over the world self organizing," said Noam Bardin, CEO of waze. "We are committed to fostering this community of users and supporting them with the new infrastructure launched today. I would like to thank these motivated wazers from all over the world for helping us bring better maps, free navigation and an improved daily commute to their regions."
Waze launched its first mobile application in Israel, where it has been downloaded by more than 200,000 commuters. It is the fastest-growing navigation application in that market with unprecedented real-time traffic information and a navigable map built entirely from scratch by the community's users. Waze launched in the USA over the summer and is currently available nationwide.
"Traditional map making technologies are labor intensive thus expensive," said Mark Fitzgerald of Strategy Analytics. "Real-time maps and crowdsourced data can provide both the functionality and the free-to-consumer cost structure to serve as the map for the mobile generation, just as Wikipedia serves as the Encyclopedia for the Internet generation."
Waze is available for Android, iPhone, Symbian & Windows Mobile users and is actively seeking partnerships with commercial map owners worldwide that want to join their crowdsourced mapping initiative.
About waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more - and because it's 100% user-generated, the more people who use waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter.
San Diego, calif. -- September 22, 2009 -- waze, Inc., Today at the DEMO conference, waze, Inc. launched the first free service for the majority of smartphone users to offer voice guided turn-by-turn navigation, real time traffic updates and driver-generated reports. The consumer application is now available on the Apple AppStore, Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. Waze uses driver-contributed data to build road maps and provide real-time traffic information to commuters. Unlike static maps and first-generation traffic networks, waze relies on a community of drivers to both populate the maps and provide daily traffic information.
Previously available as a beta version on Android and iPhone, today marks the first time the service is also available for Symbian and Windows Mobile users. During the beta period, wazers have driven millions of miles, helping validate roads, pave new ones and provided real-time traffic to the rapidly growing network of drivers. As more users download and use the application, the maps and traffic information becomes more robust and accurate. Now that most major smartphone users have access to waze, the service will be able to accelerate user adoption and provide rapid improvements to service coverage.
"We are still in the early days of waze in the US and every new driver helps improve our service for other drivers, so it was obvious that we needed to develop for all major smartphone platforms," said Noam Bardin, the company's CEO. "Waze users contribute driving information passively via our free mobile application and all members get the benefit of free turn-by-turn navigation and real-time traffic information. In the background, we're using the data to build real-time driving maps that will radically change the established map market. I would like to thank our enthusiastic and active community for their participation, suggestions, ideas and ongoing support of our project. Together, we can make commuting faster, smarter and a whole lot less frustrating."
Waze was one of the first application companies to bring real-time mapping and traffic information to the increasingly crowded "nav app" space by providing a free service to consumers that can take the place of traditional, expensive GPS devices. The application works by running on a user's GPS enabled smartphone to automatically and anonymously sends back GPS points as they drive. This data is used to build and constantly update the road grid, real-time traffic information, driving directions, road changes, traffic flow, and more. This information is collected automatically and anonymously, but drivers can also take a more active role, reporting road events or map inaccuracies easily from their mobile device. Community members can help solve these inaccuracies and manually update the map itself via the web at www.waze.com.
Waze was originally launched in Israel early this year, where it is now the most widely-used source of traffic information. Over 180,000 have downloaded waze in Israel today, which represents twenty percent of smartphone users in the country.
About waze
Waze is social mobile application that enables drivers to build and use real-time road intelligence. By cluing users in to the most optimal routes possible to their destination, waze saves drivers time, fuel, and most importantly, frustration. Waze is Series A funded by Blue Run Ventures, Magma Ventures and Vertex Venture Capital. The executive team brings experience from Openwave, DeltaThree and Comverse.
To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com and follow us on Twitter @waze.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- August 6, 2009 -- waze, Inc., the first free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information, today announced the availability of its mobile application in the iTunes App Store. Through a community of drivers, waze harnesses driver-generated data to build road maps and provide real-time traffic information to commuters. Unlike static maps and first-generation traffic networks, waze relies on a community of drivers to both populate the maps and provide daily traffic information. As more and more iPhone users download and use the app, the maps and traffic information will become more robust and accurate over time. iPhone users can download the app today from iTunes today.
"This is just the start of a crowd-sourced project that will change the way drivers make their daily driving decisions," said Noam Bardin, the company's CEO. "Our community of drivers contributes driving information passively via our free mobile application and all members get to enjoy the outcome, namely free turn-by-turn navigation and real-time traffic information. As in all community applications, the more users drive with our app, the better the map and traffic data become for all. We invite anyone with an iPhone to join the revolution and help us build the world's largest community of drivers."
As the waze application runs on a user's GPS enabled smartphone, it automatically and anonymously sends back GPS points as they drive. This data is used to build and constantly update the road grid, real-time traffic information, driving directions, road changes, traffic flow, and more. This information is collected automatically and anonymously, but drivers can also take a more active role, reporting road events or map inaccuracies easily from their mobile device. Community members can help solve these inaccuracies and manually update the map itself via the web at www.waze.com
Waze was originally launched in Israel early this year, where it is the most widely-used source of traffic information. Over 150,000 have downloaded waze in Israel today, which represents twenty percent of smartphone users in the country. Waze began alpha testing in the US in May 2009 and released on the Android platform in June and is in the process of growing its community of drivers. The iPhone application will make the service available for millions of potential community members who have not yet had the opportunity to participate in the drivers' community.
Waze will soon announce availability of the application on additional mobile platforms.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- June 29, 2009 -- waze, Inc., the first free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information, today announced the public beta of its mobile application for Android users, who are invited to download the application at the Android Market.
Through a community-based approach, waze harnesses driver-generated data to build navigable road maps and provide real-time information to commuters on the most optimal route to their destination as well as the latest road conditions, traffic updates, street closures, speed traps and more. The application first opened as a private alpha in San Francisco, and is now available nationwide to all with an Android phone.
"The Android community was the first to receive access to waze alpha in the US. These users are forming the core of our community, and we now look forward to welcoming even more Android users into waze's network of drivers, nationally," said Noam Bardin, the company's CEO. "By building a community of drivers on the road, we are able to provide the real-time road intelligence that helps commuters answer the every-day question, 'Which was should I go today?' We are excited to open our doors to all Android users and invite them into our community of drivers."
As the waze application runs on a user's smartphone, it automatically and anonymously sends back GPS points as they drive. This data is used to build and constantly update the road grid, driving directions, road changes, traffic flow, and more. Waze also uses aggregated driving speed data to determine traffic jams and other changes in road conditions. All of this information is collected passively, but drivers can also take a more active role, reporting road problems and map inaccuracies easily from their mobile device; more extensive map editing is done via the waze website. The waze map platform is soon to open APIs to allow developers to build other features and applications that leverage the waze-generated collection of live map data.
Waze will soon announce availability of the application on additional mobile platforms.
Where 2.0, San Jose, Calif. -- May 19, 2009 -- waze, Inc., the first free provider of driver-generated maps and real-time road information, today unveiled a new platform for creating and maintaining live maps in the United States. Also at the Where 2.0 conference today, waze launched a private alpha program for its first mobile application, which harnesses driver-generated data to build navigable road maps and provide real-time information to commuters on the latest road conditions, traffic, street closures, speed traps and more. The application, already widely used in Israel, will open to the general public in the coming months.
"While a lot of information is available about road conditions, it doesn't really help us with our every-morning dilemma - what's really happening on the roads, how long will our commute take today, and which route is best right now?" said Noam Bardin, CEO of waze. "waze is a network of drivers who work together to save time - everyone contributes and everyone benefits. By aggregating the status of all connected wazers, such as GPS traces and active reporting of speed traps or road hazards, we can build and share back a real-time or 'live' map which reflects the current state of the roads, finds the best route and guides the waze members though it in their daily driving."
How it worksThe waze application runs on users' smartphones, it automatically and anonymously sends back GPS points as they drive. This data is used to build and constantly update the road grid, driving directions, road changes, traffic flow, and more. Waze also uses aggregated driving speed data to determine traffic jams and other changes in road conditions. Drivers can report road problems and some map inaccuracies with one click on their mobile device; more extensive map editing is done via the waze website. The waze map platform is soon to open APIs to allow developers to build other features and applications that leverage the waze-generated collection of live map data.
History of Successwaze launched its first mobile application in Israel, where it has been downloaded by more than 80,000 commuters and is the fastest-growing navigation application in that market. Within less than a year the community created the entire navigable map from scratch, and real-time traffic information reached approximately 90 percent coverage and over 85 percent 'estimated time of arrival' accuracy. waze has tens of thousands of daily commuters in Israel, using it several times a day to receive optimal traffic-aware routing to their destination for free.
"The market for navigation technologies is quickly shifting to connected devices, led by the proliferation of GPS-enabled smartphones with always on broadband access," said Mark Fitzgerald of Strategy Analytics. "The traditional map making technologies are labor intensive thus expensive. Real-time maps used for connected device applications face price pressure to provide cost-effective navigation and traffic solutions. A user community-driven approach to map and road information can provide both the functionality and the free-to-consumer cost structure to serve as the map for the mobile generation, just as Wikipedia serves as the Encyclopedia for the Internet generation."
Mobile Application Featureswaze's mobile application will include a set of features to help drivers make the right decision about which route to take, every time, including:
- "Live" street maps which will update with road closures or other road changes
- Real-time traffic - for highway and city streets - instantly communicated by other waze users who are actually on the road
- Scrolling traffic and road condition updates
- Driver-contributed information about speed traps, traffic, and other roadside hazards
- Ability to post information directly to Twitter and share real-time photos
Waze has launched an alpha version of its mobile application in San Francisco, Chicago and Boston, and plans to open a public beta in the coming months. The application will be available on iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile devices.
Drivers who would like to sign up for the beta should visit www.waze.com and provide their handset and contact information. waze will notify users as the application becomes available on their device and in their area.
About Wazewaze is Series A funded by Blue Run Ventures, Magma Ventures and Vertex Venture Capital. The executive team brings experience from Openwave, DeltaThree and Comverse.
To learn more about Waze online, visit www.waze.com.