Do you live far from your work? Do you waste countless hours of your life avoiding traffic while driving? Without a doubt, your solution could be between Waze and Google Maps. Although these applications will not make you fly to arrive in seconds, at least, they could become your best ally to tell you which is the clearest way to get there faster.
The big question is which of the two applications is best for you?
Currently, our smartphones can provide step-by-step instructions that allow us to navigate with relative ease, so we will never have to use paper maps again. However, and despite the ease of use, time is still the deciding factor for many when choosing which navigation application to use: Google Maps or Waze.
Both are perhaps the most popular, since they consistently provide accurate directions and, in addition, are very easy to use. Both are owned by Google. Personal preference often determines whether you choose Google Maps or Waze, but we can still ask: “Which is really the best?”
We will try to give an answer.
What are Waze and Google Maps?
Waze is a navigation app for cars. It acts as a crowdsourcing social network while also giving directions to drivers.
With Waze, users can alert others about accidents, alternative routes, road closures, presence of police controls and / or radars, etc.
Google bought Waze in 2013, but it’s still different from Google Maps, especially in terms of appearance and interface.
For its part, Google Maps is a standard navigation application that not only gives directions, but also provides route options to use public transport, biking or walking.
In addition, Google Maps can be used to search for different restaurants, places of interest, museums, etc.
What are the differences between Waze and Google Maps?
Waze
- Live traffic reports provided by users
- Large number of voice navigation options, including celebrity voices
- Monitoring your speed, letting you know if you are going very fast
- Remember commonly used routes, frequent destinations and travel times
- Re-routing to save you time
- Mode for motorcycles
- Notification of police controls
- Integration with Spotify
- Supported advertising
Google Maps
- Provides instructions for driving, biking, walking and using public transportation
- Voice navigation options for driving, biking and walking
- Integration to share travel
- Google Street View integration
- Step-by-step instructions that are still offered offline
- The search incorporated in Google provides information about businesses and lets you know if a business will close soon.
- The lane designation allows drivers to know which lane they should be in before turning
- Drivers can find their cars parked easily since the application saves parking locations
- Change of navigation based on day / night
- Offline functionality
Which application will take you to the destination faster?
The answer to this question, unfortunately, is not so simple.
To drive in the city, Waze is excellent at finding alternative routes when an accident or traffic jam has occurred, especially because it warns drivers ahead of time if there is an incident nearby.
Police reports from Waze are also quite advantageous, as they help drivers control their speed and avoid fines. However, to save time, Waze tends to take drivers on indirect routes through more residential neighborhoods. And that can be a bit annoying. and not so significant to save time. for shorter trips.
Meanwhile, Google Maps will take you to your destination in a timely manner and alert you to accidents and traffic jams. However, alerts are not as informative as Waze’s, mainly because Google Maps does not have a social aspect. Google Maps, however, offers a larger and more informative map view, which allows drivers to see routes more clearly.
So, which application is better?
As with the previous question, the answer is not so simple. Mainly, because personal preferences greatly influence the decision of which application to use.
If you like the social aspect of Waze, that is the perfect navigation application for you. However, if the interface is more important to you, it is likely that Google Maps is your preferred navigation application.
Also published on Medium.