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Post by Colonel667
Of course it's illegal here in Germany. Communes make deals with private companies to put up the static speed traps, and communes need the revenue they make from non-locals who get caught by those traps.

It's not political interest to warn people and make them slow down, it's political interest for communes to get some cash.
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Post by DFFF00
man, that's a shame !

i live in germany, and used blaupunkt and navigon navigation systems before.
then, i checked waze out, and i think i'm speaking for most of us when i say, that the best about waze is showing speedcams.
google navigation is showing traffic jams, too.

i'm sure, most waze users don't use that app because they can map chat or report stopped vehicles on the side of the road.

now, check this:
in germany, it's illegal to use phones while driving. now, while in motion and trying to enter a destination adress, waze asks if you're a passenger. so IF the driver still wants to write the adress, he clicks on "passenger" and can decide to do something illegal himself.
so, even IF speed cam reports would be illegal in germany, why turn them off completely ? why not let the user decide if he wants to be a "criminal" (haha) or not.

but let's talk about speed cam reports being illegal or not:
a few users already posted links about StVO, §23, 1b (they even wrote a translation). it clearly says:
it's illegal FOR THE DRIVER (!!!) to have a device that's made to show or disturb speed cams.
but a cell phone is NOT a device to show a speed cam. a phone first of all is a phone, and it's not a device made to show speed cams. get it ? huge difference !

it's a shame that all the work done by the community is being pissed on like that. without the community, google wouldn't have bought waze for such a huge amount of money, and as far as i'm concerned, the community doesn't get nothing of the money waze got from google. now, that's pretty unfair if you ask me, but ruining the work of so many users who worked on waze for free, is even worse !

so, maybe you forgot to study the law thoroughly, but then you could still ask yourself:
IF speed cam warnings are illegal in germany, how come it's not illegal for navigon, garmin, blaupunkt and all the others to have speed cam warnings ? (sure, they might inform you when turning that function on, that it's not legal for the driver, but it's on you to decide).
and how come it's not illegal but very common in germany to report speed cams to radio stations, who warn people in the radio news about it ?

long story short:
speed cam warnings being illegal in germany ? totally wrong !
disabling that function in waze without even asking the community or having a poll: totally wrong, too.
waze losing a lot of wazers and demotivate the community ? think for yourself !

why not spend a few hundred dollars of the billions google gave waze and just ask a lawyer IF it's illegal, and if it really is, ask him what the legal loopholes are.
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Post by DFFF00
forgot to say:
even after taking speed cams out of waze in germany, i still can report speed cams and see them for myself on the map when passing them.
so, disabling speed cams because it's illegal but still letting me put them on my own map is ok ?
what a contradiction...
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Post by DFFF00
sboden wrote:What is considered illegal in Belgium are those devices that actively detect radar signals.
it's EXACTLY the same in germany !
that's what StVO, §23, 1b is saying: a device to detect speed cams or disturb them. waze can't do that, so it's not illegal...
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Post by DFFF00
come on now, how long is it gonna take to either get speedcams back, or to get announced that it's never going to come back so we can quit using waze? :-\
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Post by DFFF00
it really would be nice to get some statement.
today, google maps got its update, and to be honest, it looks pretty nice: showing traffic jams and stuff. plus, google maps is much better in searching for stuff, e.g. restaurants.
now, in my opinion, maps is quite a bit better than waze without speedcams.
i can imagine, there are lots of germans who will switch to maps and stop using waze if there's no speed cam warning anymore. trying to get these people back won't be that easy
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Post by DFFF00
i guess waze realized that hiding speed cams is not what the community wants. and if they didn't get it by now, they will never understand.
google's or waze's decision would be interesting to know, but since this happened without even asking or informing the community, it stinks either way... at least thats what i'm thinking.

man, taking speed cams out is as if all the map editors would delete all their work at once...
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Post by DFFF00
well, as you can see, a lot of people think, there IS a point in them coming back and tellung us what the status of the situation is.

what i don't understand: reporting mobile speed cams still is possible.
and another thing: german laws on speed cams have been the same for a very long time now. how come waze came up with that right now?
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Post by DFFF00
well said, Detlev.

people's tone may be rude sometimes, even mine (i apologize for that). but i think the rude comments just show the frustration of the community because of the speed cam situation.

let's face the truth:
there are quite a few navigation systems out there. people who decided to use waze did so, because waze gives people what it afvertizes with: traffic infoemation, alternative routes, speed cams.
and after using it for a while, peopke saw that it's good and wanted to give something back by editing maps and stuff.

now, this might not be the case with the US, but in germany, there are a lot of speed limits that just don't make sense, or chance 3 times within 100 meters. now, it's true that just driving carefully saves you from getting speeding tickets, but nothing can save you from such chaotic speed limits, especially if you're tired or in a hurry or have little children in the back, spilling something.

but that's just the second reason. the first reason is: it's not forbidden in germany.
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Post by DFFF00
if waze was just a gps nav, why would spend people years editing maps to bring waze to the point where it's nearly as good as google nav? we all could just use google nav and not spend nights editing stuff in waze.
all the people using it and editing did so because waze gave them what they needed.
now that speed cams are gone, many lose what was a big feature of waze.
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