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Post by davidg666
lsin023 wrote: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? :roll:
You're right - we don't have a CCP programme to connect Waze with Dublin (and vice versa) ... I do have the name of a couple of people in Dublin City Council though and a conversation *had* been started a while ago to get them involved, but I think that fizzled out...

So it would be worth trying to kickstart that again.

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Post by davidg666
alexxys wrote:Hi David. Any news from Waze HQ?
Err, no - sorry. I think our community contact has changed from one person to the other over the last few weeks, so I'll contact the new person - I think my request probably got lost during the transition.

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Post by davidg666
alexxys wrote:Hi David. Any news from Waze HQ?
Good news; just in from HQ:
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.

If you see examples for bad/ fake jams please share with us and attach:

Screen shots, permalink, user name, time and date.
So let us know how it works out - and as the message mentions, send on the details for any issues.

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Post by davidg666
alexxys wrote:Looking at the Waze and Google Maps, looks like Waze still doesn't have traffic data from Google. But let's hope it's just a delay that HQ mentioned.
Yeah, my own impression is that there is more heavy traffic shown on the Waze map, which is a good thing - but I rarely drive at peak times, so it's quite possible that a lot of heavy traffic is still missing.

However, there have been reports of traffic not showing up as much as it should (compared to Google maps), so we've sent specific examples on to Waze HQ, and it's being looked at...

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Post by davidg666
'morning Alex,
alexxys wrote:Waze still doesn't see many traffic congestions that Google sees and makes very inaccurate ETAs during peak hours when Google makes much better ETAs. So import of Google traffic data to Waze definitely doesn't work properly.
David, do they need more examples of such issues? I could send them some.
More examples would be great. If you post them here I'll send them on to our community contact in Waze HQ - thanks!

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Post by davidg666
alexxys wrote:This is an example from today.
Waze didn't see a standstill traffic near Dundrum Shopping Center.
Thanks Alex. I've passed this on to our community contact in Waze HQ. I've also asked them whether Google Maps has access to a different source of traffic congestion that might not be available to Waze - that could provide an explanation.

I'll let you know what I hear back.

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Post by davidg666
alexxys wrote:I have a theory why Waze doesn't see heavy traffic in some places but sees it in others. And it correlates quite well (not 100% always though) with what I see on the maps. Looks like the issue happens on the roads that have different names on Waze and Google maps.
That makes sense to me - I suppose it has to match on something, although you'd hope that roads that cover almost exactly the same path should be enough - after all, countries with multiple languages could easily have a mixture of road names in the different languages.
alexxys wrote:I suppose Waze may import not raw GPS tracks from Google maps, but traffic data in some preprocessed form. Google maps may link each GPS track to a road. Waze may take that preprocessed data with road names and try to correlate it with its map by comparing the road names. If a road name differs it may not able to correlate Google data with its map, so it may not able to import such data.

On the other side, in the places where I definitely saw heavy traffic correlation between Google and Waze, road names were always the same.

Some proofs of the theory:
- My yesterday's example: Google's road name is Wyckham Way. Waze's name is Ballinteer Rd.
- Another example where I saw significant traffic mismatch: Google's name is Stocking Ln. Waze's name is R115.
- Another example: Google doesn't have a road name. Waze's name is Ballycullen Rd.
Do you think Google is capable of disregarding the R115 (or similar) that we use at the start of road names and just using the name part that comes after the number, assuming we have it? We do have quite a few roads where we just have the number (like "R115" and nothing else.

We should ideally add the proper road name, but not necessarily what is shown on the Google map, both because we must not copy information from the Google map and also because it's frequently wrong anyway. I hope we get information from Waze about how it matches roads on the Google map with roads on the Waze map. You'd hope that it doesn't just use road names, but matches based on the physical location of the roads!
alexxys wrote:May be worth forwarding it to Waze HQ as well.
I pointed them at this conversation when I sent the email this morning, so they should hopefully read everything in here.

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Post by davidg666
alexxys wrote:Also I noticed that the exits from M50 are never red/yellow in Waze, even such heavily congested as the one above. It again can be explained by the road name differences in Google and Waze. In Google the exits are unnamed or have name "M50". In Waze all exits have names like "J12 to R113 - Knocklyon, Firhouse".
Thanks for these examples, Alex. I haven't heard back from Waze HQ yet, but I've pointed them at this thread and I'm reminding them every few days. I will let you know as soon as I hear anything.

I really really hope they don't just use road names for matching - that would be crazy. We usually name roads in order to give sensible directions to users (like "J12 R113 > Knocklyon, Firhouse").

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Post by davidg666
alexxys wrote:Hi David, any news from Waze HQ?
No, they've gone quiet :(

I'll poke them and see what response we get...

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Post by davidg666
davidg666 wrote:
alexxys wrote:Hi David, any news from Waze HQ?
No, they've gone quiet :(

I'll poke them and see what response we get...
Good news: we've just heard back from Waze HQ:
Waze HQ wrote:Happy to update you that the developer fixed the issue and now the traffic should be better!
So keep a look out and see if things have improved.

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