Wazers on the map

[Norm95]

I've been watching it on the highway and it updates every 2-3 minutes or miles. Nice knowing you have a "front door" as I followed one user across PA-80 who was reporting AND filling in the description so I knew exactly what to expect. I send him a message thanking him for his accuracy over the last hour or two.

[stevecody]

I've been watching it on the highway and it updates every 2-3 minutes or miles. Nice knowing you have a "front door" as I followed one user across PA-80 who was reporting AND filling in the description so I knew exactly what to expect. I send him a message thanking him for his accuracy over the last hour or two.

That's pretty cool. I haven't had the opportunity to use Waze on a long trip yet. I'm actually looking forward to it.


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[chapelheel66]

I agree with keepitmovin. I think this is something Waze should try and rethink in terms of implementation.

Rather than building a sense of community, I think having wazers on the map in its current form does just the opposite because it is a letdown to know that the people you think are there aren't really there.

If the wazer I see was 2-3 miles away 2-3 minutes ago, and if they are traveling in the opposite direction from me (at, say, 60 mph), aren't they something like 6 miles away from me at the time I see the icon? That's the length of my entire commute. There's a good chance that if I message them, they are already out of the car.

I understand the practical concerns mentioned, and I'm not griping about wazers being on the map (I know I can turn that off). However, I would like to see that "feature" be more useful, so I think Waze should be thinking of different approaches. For one, how about showing what direction the wazer was moving in at the time, with a tiny little arrow or compass symbol or something? I think that would help with me thinking that someone is not really in my vicinity anymore.

By the way Alan, I think I saw your waze icon on I-10 on Saturday (or maybe it was I-75). I just remember thinking your real name must be Alan DeBerg.

[jonnyhuk2]

Hi, do you only see slow moving wazers on the client map or is that a speed bug?

I ask as whenever I tap on a wazer to bring up their info, they're always doing "under 10mph" or "around 25mph" even when they're on a fast road with a 70mph limit during off-peak times. I can't believe not a single wazer on the map isn't going above 50mph!

Does Waze not bother showing wazers who aren't held up in slow traffic?

It's just as important to know when a road is clear (as confirmed by other wazers driving down there just before you) as it is to know when a road is busy. But if Waze hides faster moving drivers, you can't be sure if the road is clear or if no wazer has been there yet to report the problem!

My morning commute is on busy main roads but you don't see many, if any, wazers on the map. I used to use Trapster, that would highlight roads where a fellow user had recently been, hence you knew the road was clear. We could do with something similar with waze, like a confirmation that the road is indeed clear.

[dmcconachie]

Ignore those speeds. I think there's a bug where they only show 10mph now. But even when they didn't it was so vague as to be useless anyway.

[ncc1701v]

Rather than building a sense of community, I think having wazers on the map in its current form does just the opposite because it is a letdown to know that the people you think are there aren't really there.

The only thing it's good for is getting a sense of how up to date the traffic reports are.

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[pogglywoggly]

Real time would be near impossible and completely hose the entire Waze network. Millions of people would opt-in and then we'd have network gridlock with the servers trying to keep user location sent out every second. Your phone would also run at a crawl speed as it tried to keep hundreds of local Wazers updated in real time on the map.

No thanks.

ok...so what is the point of showing them when they are not really where it shows they are? maybe the icons should appear as ghosts.

Just to give an idea of what is going on. Usually if you see a lot of wazers ahead there is probably a lot of traffic or something ahead. I know I wouldn't want someone to be able to actually track me down through the app so the slight delay is welcomed

[erc775]

I know I wouldn't want someone to be able to actually track me down through the app so the slight delay is welcomed

I am curious as to why there is the option to go invisible? The delay is not welcomed at all for me personally and I would love to see Wazers in real time. Also it doesn't load all of the Wazers on the map anyway.

[AlanOfTheBerg]

I am curious as to why there is the option to go invisible? The delay is not welcomed at all for me personally and I would love to see Wazers in real time. Also it doesn't load all of the Wazers on the map anyway.

Looks like I need to add a "why the delay in Wazer location" question to the FAQ...

There are some main reasons: privacy. All social networks allow various levels of privacy. The location delay is just one of them. There will likely be future options to let friends see you in more real time, just like the Share Drive feature right now. However, real-time visibility to everyone would also significantly, and negatively impact the performance of both your smartphone/device as well as saturate the waze outbound network traffic from the servers, sending real-time location of hundreds of Wazers to each of hundreds of thousands of apps active at any given moment. I don't think Waze is prepared for that kind of onslaught.

[Mirarkitty]

However, real-time visibility to everyone would also significantly, and negatively impact the performance of both your smartphone/device

I can play MMOs over my phone's internet, and although I haven't found one, possibly on the phone - it has a rather strong graphics engine. This is not an issue... unless you're looking at the lowest common denominator. (If one user can't use the feature, then noone should have it?)

as well as saturate the waze outbound network traffic from the servers, sending real-time location of hundreds of Wazers to each of hundreds of thousands of apps active at any given moment. I don't think Waze is prepared for that kind of onslaught.

Neither do I. Waze servers are not MMO servers.
I don't think Waze want to pay for the bandwidth for millions of user position updates every second, and it's not needed.

I would like something intermediate. It would be enough to send position and road and direction a wazer is on - then my client could move the icon according to the latest average speed on that road from that position + the time of that position. (And just stop the icon where the road ends.)

On a highway this would give enough precision to make the wazer feel live instead of a ghost, and the position would be inexact enough for privacy. In an area with many turns, you can't follow the wazer, but it would still feel alive.

Most of that can be added just to the client, no extra bandwidth needed (maybe the timestamp). The client already knows the roads and the average speed.

(Add the feature of a smaller delay for wazers near me, say in a 100m radius gives 15s delay. Then I can see whoever is next to me in a jam or at a crossing, or even in front of me on the highway.

That however would need something on the server.)