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When did Waze first become USEFUL?

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Hello fellow Wazers!

I think that one thing most of us "early-adopters" have in common is that we understand how cool the concept of crowdsourced traffic and map building is, and many of us have put in a lot (ok, actually a LOT!) of time helping to turn Waze's vision into a reality. And now, just in my area, the map in the UK has gone from almost no roads at all, to a very respectable skeleton from which further roads can now easily grow, and the number of users I see on the screen each evening has gone from only a few, to well in the 30's.

If we keep the buzz going, we will eventually hit critical mass, and this thing is really going to take off.

What I'm curious about is - what are the milestones by which we can measure our progress, and how many of you have hit them....

So could you respond if you can answer "yes" to these questions?

- When did you first notice another Wazer on YOUR stretch of road?
- When did you first get a traffic report for a stretch of road you were planning on travelling down?
- Have you actually ever been re-routed because of a traffic report someone else generated?
- Have you actually tried to use Waze to route you somewhere other than your normal commute, and have it work?


I'm not doubting these days will come soon - they just haven't quite come for me, and I'd like to get excited that all the work I'm putting in will soon be rewarded, and get excited by the potential that I think this project has, so hearing from fellow Wazers would be really encouraging!

zzyzxuk
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Post by Alty
- When did you first notice another Wazer on YOUR stretch of road?
I haven't yet, but I saw them in cities when driving up the M1 a couple of months ago

- When did you first get a traffic report for a stretch of road you were planning on travelling down?
Not yet :(

- Have you actually ever been re-routed because of a traffic report someone else generated?
Nope
- Have you actually tried to use Waze to route you somewhere other than your normal commute, and have it work?
Yes! I never use Waze on my commute, since it's a relatively short route (8 miles; but it takes 45 minutes, stupid city centre traffic) but I have used it at random times while primarily doing a Waze new road drive if I get a little lost and see if it can get me somewhere, and it's worked.

One thing I wish it could do is use Google's lookup to find a place through long/lat, plant a marker to that place on your GPS and then you could drive there with just the arrow or something (kinda like GTA before GTA4 did, this way I can navigate there while plotting my own route on the roads; we'd get much more mapping done this way.)
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Post by Alty
Saw a couple of Wazers on my drive from Blackburn to Manchester. Happy times!
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Post by asterix06
3dr question - probably yes 2-3 times
4th questions - full yes
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Post by Elgirts
- When did you first notice another Wazer on YOUR stretch of road?
I had been seeing other wazers around my area for a while, but it wasn't till recently that I actually had a possible encounter. About 2 months ago, I was in traffic and noticed that there was another wazer on the same stretch of road as me but he was coming at me. Well, I kept watching till he got near me, then I stuck my arm out the window and started waving at all the cars on the other side of the road. Alas, I never got a return wave, I doubt he/she even saw me, but it was neat nevertheless. :)
- When did you first get a traffic report for a stretch of road you were planning on travelling down?
Living in Los Angeles County, I get various slow traffic reports all the time. However, I got my first "Police Reported Ahead" about 30 mins ago for the first time. That was a nice treat. :)
- Have you actually ever been re-routed because of a traffic report someone else generated?
No, not yet. Still waiting for that one.
- Have you actually tried to use Waze to route you somewhere other than your normal commute, and have it work?
Yes I have. I had an appointment in a confusing area of town, and though I was somewhat familiar with the area, I decided to let waze guide me. If it failed, at least I kind of knew the area. Well, it got me there, and it did it efficiently. even better than the route I would have taken. I was impressed.
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Post by enormekever
-Yes
-Yes
-Not yet
-Yes
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Post by JAMBRAM
1st - Have seen other, but just yesterday managed to pass someone travelling in the opp. direction.
2nd - Never
3rd - Never
4th - Yes, quite often. I always verify the route with GoogleMaps on my phone. If i am going to Business XYZ, i enter it a a google local search and generally get decent directions or at least pointed in the right direction.
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Post by macneo
- I've seen the first wazer close enough last January, we almost met at a crossroad. I have yet to see/recognize a wazer "in real live".
- Probably around December.
- Never re-routed yet, but it changed the ETA.
- I've tried thinking "ok Waze, i want to trust you today"… and it managed to make me cut my home-office route from 50 minutes to 35-40 :)
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Post by naesstrom
I can just answer Yes to that first question, and that was the other day!
But I can see by the rate the roads are growing around here that there are plenty going on! When I first started wazing at new year I was alone here in my town... hardly any roads at all and now everytime I check the livemap new parts have been mapped :D
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Post by padril
zzyzxuk wrote: - When did you first notice another Wazer on YOUR stretch of road?
- When did you first get a traffic report for a stretch of road you were planning on travelling down?
- Have you actually ever been re-routed because of a traffic report someone else generated?
- Have you actually tried to use Waze to route you somewhere other than your normal commute, and have it work?
Last week - somebody popped up 100m away from where I was sitting in traffic and said hi via chit chat
Never have yet
no
not yet
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Post by PeterG
Hi,
unfortunately now and as I think some time in the future my answers are and probably will be:
-No
-No
-No
-No

Of course I have recorded and edited most the roads here myself and there are great white parts in the real North of Germany remaining not been driven by anyone yet... there are not even Arials here :o

Regards
Peter
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