While I'm all for Waze getting better better, for now, until NYC becomes more saturated with users, I still use Google Maps Traffic to plan my commute. I'll open up Waze first and quickly see if there are any incidents that I should know about. I might also start the route process and see which way it directs me each day. But I'll also open up the google map app on my Android and take a look for the little red lines and plan accordingly. It is quick and easy and clear, oh and I find it to be quite accurate. Hopefully Waze will get better at this since I think it has greater potential as my area becomes more saturated (I've gotten a couple people at work to start using it).

for those of you familiar with NYC I commute between Rockland County and Queens. I have daily commuting choices such as the TZ bridge or GW Bridge, and the Major Deegan or the Harlem River Drive, among other choices. It is a nice feeling when I choose correctly and am moving swiftly up the HRD and see traffic at a standstill across the East River on the MD. Here you can see these roads side by side: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UT ... 14&layer=t
lots of traffic info there, even shortly after midnight. The corresponding view on the waze map currently shows a some congestion on the Cross Bronx and a Tweet message on the GWB but little else.

I guess I'm kinda curious on how Google is getting all it's info. This article just clued me in a little:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/ ... affic.html so it seems that anyone almost anyone with a smartphone is crowdsourcing for them.

I'm really not ranting here, Waze has features that I really like, such as the Police Offcer spotting (I'm not a speeder but it's nice to know when smokey is around the corner)

I do have a question though. Google Maps Traffic has all these green, yellow, and red lines. I think I read in one of these threads once that if a spot, such as the Cross Bronx Expressway, has bumper to bumper traffic every afternoon, that it won't show up as red or black on the Waze map because it is routine congestion? That the same event at the same time day after day is perhaps something that every local knows about so doesn't show up, is that true?