How can I be seen on the map too? 

I think you are not grasping how much data this could potentially be, the extra server load this could generate.

Would it be nice to see people update in realtime, sure. Is it necessary for the main goals of the application. No.

Just recently drove to gas station at night and on map I could see another Wazer there. In reality there was no one else on the station and after a few minutes the wazer also vanished from the map. The only way out of the station was the same route that I came in and didn't see any cars then either. So I'd say the delay is closer to 5 minutes than 2.
 
 

usa_aupxw4jx wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 9:37 pm How can I be seen on the map too?

 

 I am sure a lot has changed in the 11 years since the last post

Make sure you are set to visible in the app settings

In addition, it may be a big turnoff to recruiting users due to the privacy issues. I for one don't want my exact location disclosed to every other Wazer.

And if they give an option to hide, many people will choose that options since they also don't want their exact location disclosed.

As we know, the traffic data is better when there are more active Wazers. Being able to see other Wazers on the map is a reassurance that there are other Wazers in the vicinity and that the traffic data is current. If Wazers can hide, we don't have this visual regarding other Wazers close by.

In addition, being able to see stats on the Wazer (number of points, royalty rank, etc) keeps people interested in contributing to Waze to earn points and beat out the next guy...

The two minute update if other Wazers locations is surely also for minimizing data usage, minimizing all of these updates of other Wazers locations via the Waze back-end and for client and Waze infrastructure performance reasons.

It refreshes every couple of minutes but that's not to say there isn't a slight delay too I'm not sure.

That driver would have been ahead of you on the road irl.