The purchase of Waze by Google back in June finally bore fruit for Google Maps users back in August when Waze real-time traffic information was added to Google Maps for users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, UK and the US, but Google has announced today via Twitter that the service is now available in 46 new countries and territories for Mobile and Desktop users.
Get home faster w/ @waze incidents available in 46 new countries & territories in #GoogleMaps on mobile & desktop pic.twitter.com/rF93BAPEb6
— Google Maps (@googlemaps) November 11, 2013
There’s been no update to the Google Lat-Long blog or Waze Blog which normally updates with information on additional services or functionality that is added to Google Maps, so it’s uncertain at this stage as to whether Australia is included in the 46 new locations that are receiving the additional data, but as Australia does participate in Waze updates, if we’re not, it should only be a matter of time.
Do you use Waze and report incidents in Australia?
Was an early Waze user, even helped map/fix a lot of Brisbane and my local suburb. The only thing that lets it down really was the lack of update schedule. I had mapped my entire suburb (including street) yet waited 6months for the update to push out to the phones. Lost faith in it after that, may check it out again now that googles involved.
I used Waze for a while a couple of years ago. It’s pretty cool but to be honest I never really had faith that it would correctly identify traffic bottlenecks and re-route me properly. I did update it when I hit jams, but you have to remember touching the screen may count as using your mobile phone and if you get caught it’s a heavy fine. In the end I stopped using it as it seemed more of a gimmick than anything else. Google obviously thought otherwise!
How does one go about using Waze ? I use gMaps alot but have never used Waze.
I started using Waze a few months ago, after it was posted here. I do find the live traffic useful, but also the ETA that updates as I’m driving. Hopefully Google Maps will have that as well.