Google Maps is letting both iOS and Android users report traffic jams, accidents and speed traps just like its sister-app Waze
- Google maps users can now report speed traps, jams, and hazards
- The features will be included for both Android and iOS users
- Many of those have long-been included in its sister-app Waze
Google Maps has borrowed several features from the company’s other popular navigation app, Waze.
In a blog post, Google said its Maps users on iOS will now be able to report speed traps and traffic jams while users on both Android and iOS will be able to report both road hazards and incidents.
Google has also expanded the types of road hazards that can be reported through its incident feature to encompass ‘construction, lane closures, disabled vehicles, and objects on the road (like debris).’
Notifications regarding speed cameras and speed limits will now be available to users of Google Maps in 40 countries around the world
The new features combined with speed limits and trap alerts rolled out for Android users earlier this year have all worked to slowly make Google Maps indistinguishable from Waze, at least feature-wise.
It was long-speculated that when Google purchased Waze for $1.1 billion five years ago that the features would be swiftly migrated to Google Maps, but the company has waited until recently to pull the trigger.
The company’s slowness on integrating Waze’s best features may be related to Google’s desire to keep the map’s app more of a platform for connecting users to businesses and destinations as opposed to strictly just a navigation app.
Google also may have been wary of potentially cannibalizing its other apps by making features interchangeable.
Where navigation apps like Google Maps and Apple Maps tend to lead users along the same mainstream routes, Waze purports to give users alternatives using less trafficked back streets.
Whether Waze’s algorithm actually delivers on its promise of providing faster travel times through more alternative routes, however, remains a point of contention.
In one man’s test last year, Waze was found to consistently provide the most optimistic estimated travel travel times to users while delivering the least efficient outcome, while Google Maps tended to be almost or right on par with its projections.