alexxys wrote:David, can you please forward the information above to Waze HQ as well?

I will, of course. Before I do though: can you give me exact times and dates for your example? Waze HQ is in a different country, so from their point of view it might be reasonable that there was a tailback on the Knocklyon/Firhouse exit of the M50 that you showed (as far as I remember there are traffic lights there for traffic turning right).

The more examples and hard data we can provide, the easier it will be for them to investigate.

++David

alexxys wrote:David, That issue happened on June 22nd 2018 at 8:54am UTC+1.
I see similar issue at the same place every working day at about 9am-9:20am. Waze usually makes ETA about 4 minutes bigger than the actual driving time when the traffic is very light. Sometimes it's even bigger which leads to those wrong detours.
The wrong ETA happens mostly on these segments.
Once I saw the same weird route at about 4am when the roads were completely empty.

Thanks Alex. I've passed on your two posts to Waze HQ. I'm not sure whether it's an issue with Waze's use of Google's traffic data, or an unrelated routing issue, but they'll look into it now. Watch this space.

++David

karl_db wrote:Waze just isn't taking traffic data from Google Traffic. I am forever finding myself driving into traffic jams using Waze, only to find the traffic jams are on Google traffic.

One interesting thing about Waze's use of traffic data from Google: Waze would prefer to rely on its own data where possible, so (if my memory serves me right) if there are two or more Waze users on a stretch of road, then Waze ignores Google's information and instead uses the speed data from its own users.

I think there's a certain amount of sense here, since if Waze can see that there are a couple of users making good progress on a road, then it might be reasonable to assume that any traffic that was there has cleared.

Of course, the risk is that these two users got past just before the traffic suddenly increased (maybe the lights changed or something else happened to stop the traffic for a short while).

My understanding is that Waze uses traffic data from Google only when it has no users of its own to provide that traffic data. On possibility is that Waze's definition of "heavy traffic" is different to Google's definition of "heavy traffic". I don't think Waze highlights traffic as heavy onscreen unless it's significantly slower than what's usual for that road at that time. If it's *always* very slow at this particular moment, then from Waze's point of view it's just normal and nothing to write home about. Certainly Waze will take the speed at that time into consideration when planning a route, but the road colouring Waze uses just means "this road is even slower than usual", not "this road is slow" if that road is always slow at that time.

Maybe Google Maps displays a traffic jam when there is a jam, even if there's always a jam at that particular time, and maybe that's the reason why we're seeing a difference. I have no idea how Google Maps decides when to display a traffic jam though.

++David

I rejoined WAZE on the strength of the previous comment as repeated below. So far, I've seen no Google Traffic influence, although the number of Wazers is now higher in Dublin.

"Waze HQ wrote:
We enabled the google traffic data for Ireland now, by next week you will see more jams on the map and better ETA."

Waze just isn't taking traffic data from Google Traffic. I am forever finding myself driving into traffic jams using Waze, only to find the traffic jams are on Google traffic.

Hi guys,
You might be interested by a discussion started a while ago and how real-time traffic data and Google Traffic are sourced, see here.
It would be great if Waze can add the Google traffic data as suggested especially as it does not seem to have any CCP programs with Irish authorities about sharing data, am I wrong David?

davidg666 wrote:One interesting thing about Waze's use of traffic data from Google: Waze would prefer to rely on its own data where possible, so (if my memory serves me right) if there are two or more Waze users on a stretch of road, then Waze ignores Google's information and instead uses the speed data from its own users.

Confirming this, When 2 wazers pass over a segment in a rolling 30' window it ignores traffic data from Google Maps and use their own.