Before Google announced their street-level (arterial) traffic feature for Google Maps, Waze was on the mobile scene with their innovative crowd-sourcing service that leverages the power of the “crowd” to determine traffic flow and give drivers a heads-up on speed traps/cameras. But, then, of course, Google jumped in and wanted to play the street traffic game. How is Waze taking the news? In stride, apparently.
In a blog response to Google’s entry into the crowdsource traffic space, Waze makes it clear that their crowd-sourcing service relies on “active participation” from wazers. Google uses the crowdsource term to reference the fact that they get speed and location data passively – basically using zombie smartphones running Google Maps as data points. With Waze’s fleet of active participants, users help the community by “editing the map, reporting events, adding pictures and text, sharing their GPS points, validating traffic, testing new releases, giving us feedback.”
Waze also mentions that their service provides turn-by-turn GPS navigation at no cost – a service that’s only going to get more reliable as more people use Waze and help build their maps. And, taking into account Google Maps’ inability to serve up reports on speed traps and accidents, Waze might just manage to make Google sweat.
Waze is available for iPhone and Android. Download it here.
[Via: Waze]