We know you’re changing the world, one road geometry at a time

One of the things that we’re always amazed by are the creative efforts of our top users – sometimes you guys just blow us away. Case in point: check out user Michal Grafik’s video, above, which animates map development across six months in Bratislava – Slovakia, Praha, Brno – Czech Republic and Wien, Austria. It’s super fascinating to see how these area have grown by virtue of the local drivers and map editors’ contributions, dontcha think? We really appreciate your efforts, Michal, thanks so much for showing us a big picture of how you guys over there are getting it done…

Good job on all the berry munching, wazers! But unfortunately, there can be only two… Below you’ll find the contest results, and the top 50 berry munchers in both regions – on the right, Canada and the US, and on the left, the rest of the world. Big congratulations to Oltrepaolo, of Italy, who munched 254 berries for a total of 928 points and TheWoodenShoe, of Canada, who munched a whopping 380 berries for a total of 1272 points. Your hard work paid off and the iPad is all yours! Interesting tidbits – Oltrepaolo joined the day of the contest and TheWoodenShoe joined 3 days in. Anyhoo, thanks to everyone for playing the game and we suggest that you stay tuned to the blog for other opportunities to win that we’re in the midst of cooking up as you read this…congrats to the winners!

Click on the video, below, to check out the clip where waze is name-checked (just before the 3:00 mark) by Deborah Estrin, a professor of computer science at UCLA. She says the capability of GPS mobile phones to record location over time creates a new wealth of analytics. She speaks about the new opportunities that exist where information is gathered from multiple users, and cites waze as her ‘favorite example’. We’re blushing over here, Deborah – thanks for the shout-out!

We’re down to the wire, folks! Waze’s competition for the two iPads ends May 14, 2010 23:59 EST but we wanna suggest you give it one good last push to the finish line. Below are lists of the top 50 berry collectors (in alphabetical order) so you can get some idea if you’re ‘in the running’. Happy munching out there…oh, and by the way, we’ll announce the winners sometime before Monday morning…

Robert Scoble, a good friend of waze, recently came to Israel and met up with many of the cool startups at the forefront of what’s to come in the world of tech. He spent a little while with Di-Ann and Samuel, cruising the streets of Tel Aviv and checking out waze in action, and below is the result of their drive together. You can check out Scoble’s other great interviews with global business innovators here.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…or, at least those of you with Blackberries…waze is now available in an early beta version on the following Blackberry devices: 8900, 9000, 9630 and 9700 – hallelujah!

To celebrate the occasion, we’re conducting a worldwide berry hunt for all users, on all smartphone plaforms – and for those of you who collect the most points from berries alone, a brand new iPad is all yours!

Here’s what you need to know:

* The contest will start on Tuesday, May 4 and run until Thursday May 14, 2010

* Winners will be able to choose either a 32GB Wifi-only version or the 16GB Wifi+3G iPad

* The wazer who collect the most points during this timeframe from blackberry road goodies alone will be the winner. We’ll have two concurrent competitions – one for users in the US/Canada, and one for users in all other countries, worldwide.

* Note there are 2 delicious kinds of berries - regular ones, worth 2 points, and super-charged star berries, worth 6 points…

Wishing you lotsa fun while you’re out there huntin’ for berries!

PS – note that this is an early beta release and there still may be a few kinks. If you need any assistance or would like to provide us with any feedback, feel free to drop us a line at alpha@waze.com. And now, the fine print:

ELIGIBILITY:You must be 18 years of age or older to enter the Waze Inc. (Hereby “Waze”) treasure hunt.  TREASURE HUNT PERIOD: Waze treasure hunt begins at 09:00 EST on May 4, 2010 and ends on May 14, 2010 23:59 EST PRIZE RESTRICTIONS: Each winner is responsible for any applicable taxes. Prizes listed are subject to its general availability on the market. In the event of non-availability on the market, Waze will provide a similar or equal compensation. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: By participating, participants agree to release, discharge and hold harmless Waze and its partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, agents and their employees, officers, directors, and representatives from any claims, losses, and damages arising out of their participation in this treasure hunt or any treasure hunt related activities and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any prize awarded hereunder. Waze reserves the right under its sole discretion, to cancel, suspend or modify the terms of the treasure hunt, in whole or in part; and the right to disqualify any participant in the event of tempering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes which in Waze sole opinion corrupt or effect the fairness, integrity, legality or proper conduct of the treasure hunt.  CONDITIONS: This treasure hunt is subject to federal, state, provincial, territorial and local laws and regulations. Certain restrictions may apply. Void where prohibited. Waze makes no warranty of any kind, express or implied, directly or indirectly, regarding the prize delivery and Waze is not responsible for prize delivery being late, lost, stolen, damaged, mutilated, incomplete, illegible, misdirected, or postage-due. Participants also agree (a) to be bound by these Official Rules; (b) that the decisions of the judges are final on all matters relating to the treasure hunt; and (c) In the event that the selected winner(s) of any prize are/is ineligible or refuses the prize, the prize will be forfeited and Sponsor, in its sole discretion, may choose whether to award the prize to another winner.GOVERNING LAW/DISPUTE RESOLUTION: This treasure hunt shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the State of New York without regard to the conflict of laws doctrine of any jurisdiction; and any disputes, claims or causes of action shall be resolved only in a state or federal court located in the County of New York, State of New York. Any and all claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of pocket costs incurred and under no circumstances will participants be permitted to obtain awards for and participants hereby waive all rights to claim, punitive, incidental and consequential damages and any other damages other than for actual out-of-pocket costs and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased.