In a sea of applications that assist with getting you where
you want to go how do you pick the one that is best for you? My commute
consists of 26 miles each way from the “country” to the “city”. There are days
when traffic is wonderful and in 40 minutes I’m sitting comfortably in my
office ready to get things started. Then there are the other 364 days of the
year where traffic is no so cooperative. Welcome the WAZE app. I have tried
what seems like every navigation app on the App Store and in some why they all
left me wanting more. Some are great with directions and some are pretty to
look at. There are others that do a great job with social media and others with
media interaction. But only one that I have found integrates all of these and
actively helps me with my commute, WAZE. In the morning and in the afternoon, I
don’t start my drive without it.
Waze, like other apps, knows my home and knows my work, but it also knows what time I leave for work and what time I go home. These timings were not programed but learned by the app over time. Additionally, it knows the route that I like to take when I am traveling between home and work, again not programmed but learned. These features are great and save me time when getting on the road, but they are not the key features with Waze.
Waze is a crowd supported app that relies on drivers input
to keep the map and navigation updated. I know, not another crowd sourcing app
but bear with me. When I tell it where I want to go it will provide three
choices of routes, you can alter your routing methods in the app settings. Once
I select my preferred route I can just follow the purple line. While I’m
driving WAZE allows me to report any issues that are along my route, i.e.
police, stopped vehicles, construction, and roadkill. My reports show up on the
app for all users along my route and help them avoid trouble. The primary
feature of the app in-line with crowd reporting is traffic reporting. If a
Wazer encounters a traffic jam, be it heavy or moderate, they can report it.
Once a significant number of reports are entered for a specific area WAZE will
begin to reroute traffic around the jam. Thus, saving me time and frustration.
I know you’ve heard this before and it’s hard to believe, I was once a doubter
too. I became a believer and avid Wazer while on a trip through Knoxville
Tennessee. I was following the purple line and noticed it trying to get me off
the interstate. I didn’t listen to it, and thought it was messed up. Over the
next hill though, there was all the traffic it was trying to get me around. At
the last minute I made an abrupt exit along with my purple line. I went about
15 miles on a surface street waving to all the cars on the interstate sitting
still. I was sold.
So, where is the bad with all this good. The app is very user friendly and has a ton of
features. However, when using the reporting feature on a smart phone the
buttons to press are quite small. So, positioning your finger on the button
while driving can be a challenge. In an older version of the app the buttons
were large and easy to hit, they need to bring them back. Also, the app boasts
of music app integration. It does have integration but not with all music app,
particularly Apple Music. If you are a Spotify, TuneIn, IHeartRadio, or Pandora
listener you are in luck. You can see now playing, up next, and control your
music directly through the app. But, if you are like me and use Apple Music you
are out of luck as Waze does not and will not support it. Lastly, probably my
biggest gripe with the app is the map is just that, a map. There are many times
when I needed to see what the world
around me looked like to locate my destination. There is no option for a
satellite or hybrid map. You have the choice of day/night and map, no frills
here.
