Waze

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Waze

Waze logo.png
Basic data

developer Waze Mobile
Publishing year 2008
Current  version 4.63.0.2 (Android),

4.63 (iOS),
3.7.4.5 (Windows Phone 8)

operating system Android , iOS , Windows Phone
category Mobile navigation system
License Proprietary since 3.x , before that GNU General Public License Version 2
German speaking Yes
www.waze.com

Waze is a GPS- assisted navigation system for smartphones . Waze automatically reports current speeds back to the operator, users can manually transmit further traffic information and also actively work on improving the map material on which the turn-by-turn navigation is based. The program also integrated social media aspects.

The free Waze app is being actively developed for the Android and iOS platforms . Older versions are available for Blackberry OS , Symbian , Windows Mobile and Windows Phone .

Originally developed by the Israeli start-up Waze Mobile , the company became the property of Google in 2013 .

Spread and awards

Waze can be used anywhere in the world, and in some countries the entire road network is already mapped. Other countries still need user support to record, check and update the data.

Editing of the map is approved in every country and requires the support of the user community, which everyone can join, due to constant changes due to construction sites, new buildings and renaming of streets and places.

In Austria and Switzerland, the motorway network, most of the federal highways and major cities have been navigable since 2011.

According to Forbes' Tomio Geron, Waze had 2 million users in December 2010 and 7 million in October 2011. PC Mag's Marc Hachman stated that Waze had 9 million users as of December 2011. At the end of October 2012, Waze said it had 30 million users worldwide. This enabled the company to triple its user base in 2012 (Golem.de, January 3, 2013). Waze won the "Best Overall Mobile App award" at the Mobile World Congress 2013, beating Dropbox , Flipboard and other apps.

Existing functions

Mobile internet connection required

Use of the device requires a smartphone with a GPS module and a mobile internet connection in order to continuously transfer maps from the internet at a rate of approx. 10 kByte / km, depending on the location. This corresponds to a consumption of around 10 Mbytes when navigating a distance of 1000 km.

Route recommendations take into account the current traffic situation

Data collected anonymously on the location and speed of Waze users is available to all users via a database. The data make it possible to adapt the recommended route to the current traffic jam situation when driving. In the event of a traffic jam, Waze users in the vicinity receive traffic jam messages with the street name as a pop-up message.

Road data are only edited by users

Unlike other GPS navigation systems, Waze receives data from users of the app when they use the app. The software and the use of the streets and landmarks database are free of charge.

With the help of the many users, like Wikipedia, this keeps the database up to date, but is also prone to errors. Other Waze editors or so-called area managers , Waze users with a lot of experience in editing, can correct errors.

In addition to recording and changing street courses, house numbers, location details and speed limits, you can share data on accidents, police checks and traffic jams with other Waze users. With reward points, Waze motivates to keep the cards up to date.

Current reports with photos of traffic jams, hazards and accidents

In the event of a traffic jam or an accident, fog, black ice or a police check in a freely selectable area, Waze warns with information about the place and street in each country.

In contrast to other apps, Waze is also used to report traffic incidents when road users do not need route recommendations at all. This is the case with 70 percent of all Waze tours: Users mostly use the Waze app when driving on known routes to receive traffic information (e.g. traffic jam reports) or to feed them into the Waze network.

Direction-dependent traffic jam reports on motorways in some countries

In English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Great Britain, USA) and in Norway as well as Sweden, the name of each motorway segment contains directions and details of the motorway section. This is not the case in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, as the Waze wiki designed by the area managers only provides the motorway number for all motorway segments.

In the case of traffic jams on motorways, in countries with directions in the motorway segments you can see in the Waze real-time warning list and in the pop-up message on the smartphone which exact motorway segment and in which direction the traffic jam is. In Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands you have to tap and zoom on the screen while driving. The direction of travel is only visible graphically and only for drivers with local knowledge.

Points of Interest (POI) and completeness of the maps

The acquisition of the points of interest and the street data require a lead time. In some countries, roads with little traffic are not yet recorded, but can be added by the user community. The coverage is highest in Israel.

When it comes to points of interest, Waze has the advantage over commercial navigation systems that many companies can be found with their names, such as supermarkets, hardware stores, petrol stations. It also covers non-public roads in closed industrial companies that are not included in commercial navigation systems.

Since the inclusion of Google search in the Waze app, POIs have been found that cannot be found in Waze but in Google Maps. Since version 3.9 it is also possible for every member to add POIs semi-automatically in the app (including a photo).

Warning of Palestinian Territories

After sometimes Israeli drivers, including soldiers, with Waze in forbidden Palestinian territories (Zone A) and thus in life-threatening situations, a setting “Keep within areas under Israeli authority”, which prevents navigation in those areas, was added. Nevertheless, on February 29, 2016, two elite soldiers went on an odyssey to a refugee camp, which led to a firefight with an extensive rescue operation. The option is sometimes switched off because it also avoids roads in East Jerusalem , which leads to long detours.

Motorcycle assistance

Since December 2017, Waze has also been supporting motorcycles in order to record their average speeds and arrival times in Southeast Asia. In some countries, in a traffic jam, you are allowed to drive between stationary vehicles and this could falsify traffic jam reports.

Car connectivity

Waze has been available with Android Auto since July 2017 and Carplay since September 2018 .

Cooperations and owner of the Waze company

Cooperation with television companies

According to Waze, the US television station NBC 2 began in October 2010 to improve traffic information for Florida with data from Waze. The broadcaster later switched to using only the data from Waze. In July 2011, the broadcaster ABC also started receiving information about traffic jams in the Los Angeles area via Waze. Other broadcasters belonging to ABC followed, including KGO-TV San Francisco, WFAA Dallas and WPVI-TV Philadelphia.

Cooperation with German media

Waze cooperates with the Rhineland-Palatinate radio station RPR1 and the regional television station RNF . The broadcasters receive the processed real-time traffic data so that they can use it for traffic reports.

Owners and shareholders

As the site TheMarker reported, Microsoft invested $ 25 million in the summer of 2011 in the Israel-based navigation solutions company Waze. Microsoft's investments should allegedly decrease from year to year, but obviously they were interested in Waze's special navigation apps in connection with Windows Phone 7.

At the end of 2011, China's richest man, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, acquired a stake in the Israeli start-up Waze through his investment company "Horizons Ventures". Waze received $ 30 million from "Horizons Ventures" and the Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers "Digital Growth Fund". Before this investment, Microsoft and Qualcomm were among the shareholders.

Takeover by Google

On June 12, 2013, Google announced the acquisition of Waze. Google did not comment on the purchase price, but according to statements from people familiar with the topic, the purchase price was approximately USD 1 billion. Waze was not integrated into Google's map service, but is supposed to provide information about the traffic for Google Maps .

License

The software is licensed up to and including version 2.4 under the GNU General Public License v2 and the source code of the Free Software is publicly available. With the release of Waze version 3.x, the change was made to a proprietary license, the source code is no longer open . Waze justifies this change with legal problems of the GPL with regard to the guidelines of app stores and device manufacturers.

The map material is not subject to a free license and was partially available before the Waze project started. The rights of the data entered by the user are assigned to Waze Mobile. In this way, possible problems with the use of map material that restricts commercial use due to its licensing are to be avoided.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Google Play Store: Waze Social GPS and Traffic , June 01, 2020
  2. ^ ITunes Store: ' Waze Social GPS, Maps & Traffic , June 1st, 2020
  3. ↑ Waze for Windows Phone 8 , February 25, 2014
  4. ↑ Thomas Wolf: Google brings Waze to Windows Phone 8 TWCportal, November 24, 2013.
  5. ↑ a b Tomio Geron: Waze Nabs $ 30M From Kleiner Perkins, Li Ka Shing; Mary Meeker To Advise. Forbes, October 18, 2011 (English).
  6. ↑ a b Marc Hachman: Waze traffic app Added to TV traffic reports . PC Mag, December 8, 2011 (English).
  7. ^ Hoffman, Tzahi: Waze wins Best Mobile App award in Barcelona . In: Globes , February 27, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2013. 
  8. ↑ CNET News - Waze iPhone app provides real-time, crowdsourced traffic data
  9. ↑ Waze in a New York Times blog
  10. ^ Waze Brings Google Search and Street View to the Community. In: Waze Blog. Waze Mobile, August 20, 2013; Archived from the original on August 20, 2013 ; accessed on February 16, 2018 (English).
  11. ↑ Waze Releases New Version: Introducing Places! , Waze - Official Blog, September 29, 2014
  12. ↑ Guided by Waze Into the Heart of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict , Ha-Aretz on September 19, 2015
  13. ↑ Waze Denies Blame For Directions That Led Israeli Soldiers To Palestinian Refugee Camp , Fast Company on March 3, 2016
  14. ↑ Waze directing users away from 'PA controlled' East Jerusalem , Y-net on August 28, 2015
  15. ↑ 'Tis the Season to Ride Your Own Waze. Retrieved December 1, 2017 .
  16. ↑ Navigation: Waze for Android Auto . ( stadt-bremerhaven.de [accessed on September 24, 2018]).
  17. ↑ Waze brings 'citizen traffic' to NBC 2 online's traffic reports . Waze, October 19, 2010 (English).
  18. ↑ Tom Simonite: Navigation in the Swarm . Technology Review, February 7, 2011.
  19. ↑ Dennis Schirrmacher: Google's traffic app Waze cooperates with broadcasters . heise online, January 27, 2015.
  20. ^ Zach Epstein: Microsoft invests in navigation service Waze . ( Memento from July 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) BGR Media, July 12, 2011.
  21. ↑ Amitai Ziv and Guy Grimland: Israeli start-up Waze draws investment from Chinese billionaire . Haaretz.com, October 19, 2011.
  22. ↑ Google Expands Its Boundaries, Buying Waze for $ 1 Billion , The New York Times (Bits), June 11, 2013
  23. ↑ Navigation app “Waze”: Google Maps integrates traffic information from drivers , Der Spiegel, August 21, 2013
  24. ^ Official Waze Wiki: Source Code, accessed June 11, 2013
  25. ↑ Terms of Use: "Software is a free software" (status from June 10, 2013)
  26. ↑ Waze is no longer subject to the GPL and closes its source code ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , MiCRoPhoBIC, Tonev.net, June 30, 2012, accessed June 12, 2013.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tonev.net
  27. ↑ O'Reilly Radar - Waze: Make Your Own Maps in Realtime