I’ve been using Waze for a few years now, I turn it on 99.5% of the time I get in the car. Even my oldest son knows to turn it on if he’s got one of my devices in his grubby hands when we go somewhere. I’m an AM that’s been slacking off in his duties due to RL and most recently my addiction to Diablo 3. I’m still ranked #22 overall in Texas, so I have that going for me. I remember the days where I was still in the top ten, but there’s no way I’m catching up to those guys anymore.
I watching the WWDC liveblog from The Verge yesterday and the maps part scared the crap out of me. “How could Waze possibly compete with this?” was running through my head. Here’s what I didn’t see and you’re not going to see from Apple:
- Can’t see other drivers out there, so Waze still has the social aspect.
- You’re not going to earn points driving new roads or munching goodies, so Waze still has the gamer aspect.
- You can’t update maps, no way no how would Apple ever enlist help from us average joes, so Waze still has the “doing my part” aspect that us AM’s have.
- I’m in Houston, my main group is one of the local TV stations, do you think Apple is going to allow local TV stations access to show their live maps on traffic reports? They might, but I don’t see it happening.
IMO Waze still has a lot going for it, they just have to embrace the parts of their product that Apple won’t have and make better use of them to keep themselves relevant.
I signed up for an Apple developer account yesterday through my work. Haven’t received the official email from Apple, so I haven’t been able to download the beta. Once I do I will definitely run them side by side and report back soon. Yes, this is only my second post, but that doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention to the forums.
I have an apple developer account. I have ios6 beta 1. But everyone who has a developer account has an NDA in place, so I would hope it would be honored. And frankly, if the users don’t honor it, I hope Waze staff removes the post.
Keep in mind, Waze themselves have a developer account! One can assume they are evaluating the new maps app and determining the impact.
Finally, according to the apple site… turn by turn will only work on iphone 4s and later. Leaving Waze as a viable option for anyone with an older device.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2
I have no issues following the NDA to the letter. If that prevents me from posting completely about what I do with the beta, then that’s fine.
Waze needs to get v3.2 finished …
It also needs to have:
- Toll road avoidance (to make it usable)
- Worldwide Gas prices
- Regular road goodies, they’ve become the exception rather than the norm.
Keep it what it is … a fun, social gaming nav platform, that can save me money!
It appears that Apple is using Tomtom maps for their new navigation app.
If this is true then Waze will be just fine.
The shocking time it takes Tomtom to update their maps (up to 2 years) is why I found Waze in the first place!
The TomTom app has map share. You can report (not directly fix) map issues from their application and from Teleatlas Mapshare (not tied specifically to any app). The updates are able to come more quickly now. You would assume Apple will be getting regular updates of the mapping data.
Teleatlas’ World Wide coverage is actually quite good in many locations. You can browse around Map Insight (their system to report map issues) and take a look:
http://mapinsight.teleatlas.com/mapfeedback/index.php
Also, keep in mind if what is bundled with the OS is good enough, the average user has no need to look for something else.
I thought apple acquired several mapping companies? What do they need tomtom for? Tomtom is horrendous in my area.
Agreed that was a big part of what moved me to Waze, was the fact that My Tom Tom device, with the latest quarterly updates didn’t have a new major commuter route that had been open for over year let alone a second route that had just opened. I used them both as each one made my commute significantly shorter. The Tom Tom turn by turn was useless as I drove across supposedly empty farm land and through/over a river. Oh and the Tom Tom had no traffic capabilities.
The Google Maps app on my phone was much better, it had the first road but three months later still did not have the second new route, where-as Waze not only had both routes but allowed me to actually fix errors, not just report them and hope they’d eventually get fixed. And in recent months two new roads have opened, one a totally new route and the other a major upgrade, and I was able to draw them in as they were being built, and turned them both on to go live within days of their opening to the public. Until Google or Apple offer such timely maps, they both suck compared to Waze.
Unless Apple provides some way for the users to submit either update reports or reviewed edits, it’ll be a non-starter compared to Waze. Even with reviewed edits (GMap’s system), due to out-of-state/country/planet editors that are aerial conformists there’s a lot of “new” (past year or two) construction that isn’t on any maps but Waze’s.
I always had the hunch that Waze was just treading water hoping to be bought by Apple
(the way that Facebook will acquire instagram), making them millionaires. Either that or they’ve had knowledge of how Apple would integrate Waze’s innovations into iOS. In both of these cases, they couldn’t disclose to us, of course, but would explain the lag in addressing concerns and feature requests. Just my guess.
Greetings,
Just in case you missed it:
“Waze And Others Contributing To Apple’s iOS 6 Maps’ Crowd Sourced Traffic Data”
Nothing new, this is in iOS5 as well (I posted a screenshot somewhere here over a year ago).
Check this post:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12813714&postcount=2
Can anyone from Waze confirm the level of integration?
http://www.slashgear.com/apple-using-waze-data-in-new-ios-6-maps-13233706/
So… the eastereggs that I put in the Waze-map are going to show up in Apple’s map? :lol:
I thought I posted in here, but from what I understand, there are reports that waze map data is going to be used…
Sounds a little like Waze to me :lol:
I can assure you Apple has no need for any traffic data from Waze. They are likely generating 10x, 100x, 1000x more traffic data with everyone’s iPhone with iOS 5 sending traffic data back to Apple. Those SlashGear and TechCrunch articles are pure speculation and is referring to old news. Of course I am speculating also.
Again, I do not believe that Apple would consider using Waze’s immature map data. You think that Apple wants to build algorithms to try to figure out what turns are allowed and denied, what direction the road goes, etc. where they are not yet confirmed in Waze’s data? You think they want to adopt 3+ year old US Government Tiger Maps data that have yet to be edited in many areas (at least in the USA)? You think they want some first time Waze community map editor hosing the routing for millions of their customers? Remember the ‘it just works’ that Apple is known for?
Again, I suspect Waze has patent(s) that Apple has licensed so that they can use the technology/features in the Maps application. Anyone care to try to find what patent(s) Waze has applied for or been granted?
Here is what I think will come out eventually (some has come out already):
- Map data is coming from TomTom (TeleAtlas specifically). It’s possible Apple may augment this data with other mapping data for countries where TeleAtlas does not have good enough coverage or some of these other countries will only be partially covered. Eg. Israel, China, Japan, etc. TeleAtlas generally only has the main roads mapped in some cities / countries. Since the TeleAtlas data is not complete in Israel and the Waze map data of Israel is supposedly fantastic, maybe the Waze map of Israel could be something that Apple is interested in.
- Routing algorithms and traffic avoidance algorithms - TomTom.
- ETA calculations based on historical traffic derived from GPS points (TomTom calls this IQ Routes and has a patent on it) - TomTom.
- 3D imaging via one or more of Apple’s recent acquisitions.
- Real time traffic data - from Apples iOS 5+ devices that are sending anonymous traffic data to Apple since October 2011.
- Events on route (Accidents, construction, etc), likely Apple is providing this to augment their traffic data. I assume there will be some method for the ‘community’ to report such events in the Maps app.
- POI - likely a combination of data from TeleAtlas and Yelp.
- Street addresses - TeleAtlas.
I am forgetting anything?
Every iDevice will be sending realtime trafficdata, but Apple may give extra weight to data from devices that are running any app from the navigation-category. Those devices are currently on the road for sure and amount to a multiple of what Waze can bring. (my bit of speculation ofcourse)
That’s possible. I have noticed that with my iPhone it seems to be more likely that Apple is collecting the traffic data when I am driving and running Waze or any other Navigation App (verified by seeing the purple arrow for Traffic in Location Services, System Services). Don’t know if it’s just random or that Apple has advanced control of when the iOS devices send the traffic data to Apple.