Which one should you use between Waze vs google maps? When you require to move someplace, you seek the best route with the lightest traffic and fewest obstructions. Today’s mapping and navigation applications are there for you. The two most popular apps for both iOS and Android — Google Maps and Waze — both present a considerable amount of up-to-the-minute information, real-time turn-by-turn directions, and much more.
Google Maps goes with its database to select the quickest route, while Waze receives data from various current users in real-time and uses it to tailor your trip in the most efficient, obstacle-free way. Google Maps and Waze — both held by Google — are the most popular navigation apps, even amongst iPhone users, because they are easy to use and consistently deliver accurate directions. So which one should you choose? Let’s figure it out.
What Google Maps Does Best?
Google Maps has been around for a while and has increased ever since it was offered as a smartphone app apart from just being a desktop site. It acquired mapping and navigation services into the palm of your hands and has shown to be the most preferred mapping service by many.
This has allowed Google Maps to gain more data and insight, building a robust feature set. Google Maps supports the most common modes of travel: driving, public transportation, walking, and bicycling. Existing for more extended and being quite popular has its perks. Google Maps combines well with other applications – say, ride-sharing applications like Uber and Lyft, music apps, and car-services like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.
Google Maps gives more details and information on locations on its maps. Users tend to add missing details, and Google Maps is their first-go-to when listing their business locations. Google Maps also offers users the capability to download maps to their storage for offline usage. This is quite useful when traveling or exploring newer places as you can download the necessary maps in advance.
This makes Google Maps high for getting from point A to B and exploring newer places in general.
What Waze Does Best?
Waze has been related to Google Maps even before Google bought it in June 2013 for around $1.3 billion. But both are quite different from each other when it comes to the user base they cater to.
Waze works like Google Maps – gives navigational and routing data to its user but with an attached cherry on the top: crowd-sourced traffic, cop location, and hazard data. Waze distinguishes itself from the rest by enabling users to share any incident or things they encounter on their commute. This shows up on different users of Waze, and Waze also uses this user-generated data to calculate the best route on the fly in real-time.
The same crowd-sourcing method is applied to the maintenance and updating of Waze’s maps. Waze offers the Waze Map Editor to give trusted local experts to edit the map data. This performs sure that maps on a local level are just a little bit better than Google Maps.
Comparing Waze vs Google Maps
User Interface
Google Maps has an automated look to its interface and focuses on function rather than form. Waze, on the other hand, has a somewhat cartoonish and friendlier user interface.
Customization
Google Maps has further customization options regarding different map views, voice prompts and commands. Waze does a better work of advertising trademarks on the objects as you run, while Google Maps does a great work of consistently showing the information.
Location Search
Google wins hands down when it arrives at searching for locations. Google employs a much better search index optimized to factor in your location to provide you with relevant locations from the area you are searching in.
That is not to say Waze is unusable. It is just that Waze’s searches are not as clean as Google’s and usually provides an accurate match to your search input, but they might not be anywhere near your current location.
Integration
Both Google Maps and Waze combine well with popular apps and services such as Spotify, Google Auto, and Apple CarPlay.
Miscellaneous
Data Usage
Both Google Maps and Waze do not require much data to function – a few megabytes for an hour of commute within the city. Google allows pre-emptively downloading the maps for a critical area in advance. Waze also offers offline maps, but one must remain connected to receive the community’s updates and reports.
Privacy
With both Waze and Google Maps being owned by Google, data collection is considered in terms of user behavior and their location data to improve upon their services and provide accurate information. We’d side with Waze here since Google tends not to notify its users that it actively manages user’s location timelines even while the GPS-service is off.