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Google adds incident reports to Maps app following Waze purchase

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Aug 2013 10:21 User comments (3)

Google adds incident reports to Maps app following Waze purchase Two months ago, Google purchased Israeli startup Waze for over $1 billion.
The service, which offered high-end mapping with social/real-time updates, has now been integrated (in part) with Google's market leading Maps app.

Google says they have added real-time incident reports to Maps, sourced from the Waze community. This includes accidents, construction zones, road closures and more, in the United States, UK, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Switzerland will have access to the data.

Says Google:

No one likes getting stuck in traffic. That's why the Waze and Google Maps teams are working together to harness the power of Google technology and the passion of the Waze community to make it easier to navigate your daily life.

Users of Google Maps for Mobile will now benefit from real time incident reports from Waze users. This means when Wazers report accidents, construction, road closures and more on Waze, the updates will also appear on the Google Maps app for Android and iOS in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, UK and the US.



The Waze community will also benefit from two new features. First, the Android and iOS versions of the app have been updated with Google Search. Wazers will now have access to even more search results when navigating. Google Search joins other search providers making it easy to find favorite businesses and any local address.

In addition, after a successful beta test, the Waze Map Editor now includes Google Street View and satellite imagery to build out the map and make it easier to correct map errors reported by the community. For more information, visit the Waze blog.

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3 user comments

120.8.2013 22:44

And yet another distraction for drivers. LOL I can see it now...Man sees accident ahead. Posts accident on G Maps while driving, causing yet another accident. Someone behind him sees two accidents, posts, and causes third accident... Like dominoes!

221.8.2013 01:17

Well if it is like Waze, the driver can't report stuff with their hands. I believe you can do it with your voice, but if you try to press things while driving it gives you a warning that you must be a passenger to do it.

321.8.2013 12:39

I honestly don't see the point of using Google Nav and not Waze, at the moment. Google Nav is just SO damn buggy =p .

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