Acquired by Google
Google Maps is the ultimate navigation app that you can download on your smartphones to get directions and also get plenty of other interesting features.
On the other hand, Waze is also a very useful app that offers crowd sourced data for offering real time information about traffic on the path that you are currently on. The interface of both the apps is excellent, but recently Google acquired Waze and some of the data present in Waze is also available in Google Maps.
Google Maps – Where it Scores
Google Maps has added plenty of useful features over the years. The auto-rerouting feature added recently is very useful for certain traffic conditions. It can save you a lot of journey time. Also, after acquiring Waze, Google is getting the advantages of accidents and any other traffic jams being reported in its app.
Guidance for motorway lanes is another addition that helps put the car in the correct position, when approaching a major junction. The markers for the lane can be viewed on the screen top, so the user gets a lot of warning for getting across.
Google Maps – Search and Directions
In addition, as you can expect from Google, the search features are very good. You can enter postcodes or a road name or just the venue name and you get excellent results. There are also many shortcuts offered along with useful amenities in the neighborhood of the current location. However, at times, this feature might be a little erratic. The directions are very clear and you also have the option for overlaying traffic data in the live map. However, the overhead view could be a little confusing for some users.
The selection of routes is also very good for both short and for long journeys. It also offers live data related to traffic, which is gathered from the data offered by other Android users. It is very accurate most of the time.
Time in Traffic Jam – Where Waze Scores
If you are looking for an app that is best in searching for directions from point A to point B, there is only one best app and that is Google Maps.
However, Waze has come up with a new feature, which is known as the time in traffic bar. The purpose of this feature is that it will inform users about the time duration for which they might be likely to be stuck in a particular traffic jam. On the other hand, there is a similar feature available in Google Maps, where you can see a red line on the map stretching in front of the car, presented as a dot. But such a line will not give the actual picture of the time that you may be stuck. On the contrary, in Waze, you can actually view the time in the form of minutes. The time is also updated in real time, so that you can know exactly how long it will take before you can proceed. This feature works excellently, as Waze is a crowd-sourced application.
With its new update, Waze has also become much faster and offers support for U turns as well. There have also been several fixes for bugs and the user interface has been enhanced considerably.
Verdict
Google Maps can be quite heavy and demanding on your phone and can crash at times. It would be a good idea to save maps of a specific location in offline mode. It is a great map for day-to-day travel, as it is powerful and accurate and does not have any of the unnecessary distractions present in Waze. Waze is an excellent app and can be used as a complement to Google Maps, rather than on its own.
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