# Waze vs Google maps



## henrygates (Mar 29, 2018)

Is there any benefit to using Waze for Uber? It seems like that's all my millennial pax talk about. They sit there with their Waze app open.

I installed it and it looks like a toddler app with Fisher Price buttons.

Anyone do Uber with this app?


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## Tommy Vercetti (Aug 28, 2016)

Haha. I know exactly what you mean about it looking like a toddler app. I use Google maps, hasn't let me down yet and I doubt it will.


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## hollowhollow (Aug 2, 2017)

Waze heats up phone pretty fast and if you don’t have bad connection gps won’t start.


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## Prius Mike (Jul 6, 2017)

I use Waze because:

Waze gives three route options that show time and distance. This lets you choose a route that minimizes time vs. distance (but Waze usually choose this route by itself anyway). It's worth checking the alternatives when there's a route that may be just as fast, but longer or easier driving. 
Waze has a taxi mode that does a good job of getting you on the right side of the street. This can also help pad the miles.
You can set an alert for when you exceed the speed limit (by a threshold you set)
Waze can display the speed limit for the road you're on.
Waze can alert you to accidents, stopped vehicles, police, and potholes reported by other Wazers.
On some phones Waze consistently launches faster than Google Maps.
In my experience Waze is viewed by pax more positively than Uber nav (by a huge margin) or Google Maps (by a small margin).
Disadvantages:

Google has a clearer display of traffic information along your route.
Waze doesn't seem to recalculate your route along the way if conditions change.
Waze sometimes takes strange little shortcuts that really don't save much time or distance. 
Waze looks like a cartoon.


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## henrygates (Mar 29, 2018)

Thanks for the rundown.


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## mikes424 (May 22, 2016)

Prius Mike said:


> I use Waze because:
> 
> Waze gives three route options that show time and distance. This lets you choose a route that minimizes time vs. distance (but Waze usually choose this route by itself anyway). It's worth checking the alternatives when there's a route that may be just as fast, but longer or easier driving.
> Waze has a taxi mode that does a good job of getting you on the right side of the street. This can also help pad the miles.
> ...


I have found that Waze does recalcuate routes


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## Grunions (May 25, 2018)

I have used the choosing another route hack to gain a mile (and 75 cents on the fare). Though if you have an alert pax they will tell you to just turn left, it's quicker. 

I had a pax who works for Waze. He struck up the convo when I marked that a vehicle was stopped on shoulder, and he said he appreciated that I did that. He then asked what I like and hated about the app. A hate was the shortcut thing to save a few seconds, even if traffic was dead. 

I hadn't though about it looking cartoonish until this thread.


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## thatridesharegirl (Jul 7, 2016)

henrygates said:


> It seems like that's all my millennial pax talk about. They sit there with their Waze app open.


Yes, this has been my full-time job for years.
Yes, I've given multiple thousands of successful rides.
I couldn't possibly know how to get around or use a map app expertly!
PLEASE, BY ALL MEANS LECTURE ME ON WHICH ALGORITHMIC MAP APP TO USE.
Ugh. Millennials.

Waze is good for disperse freeway driving. The accident reports/police ahead is good for known familiar long-haul commutes. I use it going to/from home.

In densely packed urban environments, Google Maps lets you know which lane you need to be in ahead of time. Waze becomes cluttered and illegible in these environments, and is also slow to load the next step until way after the turn. I use Google Maps exclusively for ridesharing.


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## Kodyhead (May 26, 2015)

Not sure if they added it but I like always having the speed limit on Waze

I used maps for one reason, when you get to a destination it tells you if it's on the right or left side of the street.


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## thatridesharegirl (Jul 7, 2016)

Kodyhead said:


> Not sure if they added it but I like always having the speed limit on Waze
> 
> I used maps for one reason, when you get to a destination it tells you if it's on the right or left side of the street.


Maps has speed limits too - if you enable it.
Knowing the side of the street is super important here in CA, with our palatial 9-lane-wide roads.


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## Kodyhead (May 26, 2015)

Google maps? Just checked all settings can't find it. I did turn off a bunch of crap I didn't like before though lol

Also not sure if it was there before but after a major android update, does anyone like the picture in picture feature of Google maps?


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## fork2323 (Aug 27, 2014)

henrygates said:


> Is there any benefit to using Waze for Uber? It seems like that's all my millennial pax talk about. They sit there with their Waze app open.
> 
> I installed it and it looks like a toddler app with Fisher Price buttons.
> 
> Anyone do Uber with this app?


Tell sill pax that waze sucks becuase it purposly have you drive down the streets that advertisers pay the most.. see all those icons for Carl's Jr and Stadard Gas? They pay to have their adds in there and the ap will take you past them instead of a faster shorter rought. Tell them to google it and find out for themselves.. aslo the ap will have you make wack left turns accross 4 lanes of traffic with no stop light and put you in lame spots trying to cross lanes or have you jog around alleys and blocks saving you nothing.. but the worst is they have been proven to Lie about their rought times. On a side by side test Waze will always estimate a shorter time.. but when you test it its off about the exact same ratio would be the time as apple maps and google maps.. so Waze is a scam that is not faster or quicker and just sells more add space. The only thing it does is tell you if cops are around... and its owned by google for over 4 years now..


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## Uboo (Mar 21, 2018)

Google is faster for me! Prior to pressing start on google you can zoom out and click on alternate routes to see what the mileage and time is on each route.


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## backcountryrez (Aug 24, 2017)

I use Waze for this reason:










A lot more intuitive and faster than using google maps when milking a fare.


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## madhatter (Aug 2, 2015)

The one big plus for Waze over Google maps are the speed limit warning especially here in UK as some are 20MPH mixed up with 30MPH. The sooner Google gets it the better imho.


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

mikes424 said:


> I have found that Waze does recalcuate routes


Me too, but only if there's something major going on. If I close it and reopen during a drive it will often find a faster route, but it won't have rerouted to it automatically. But if there's a big traffic slowdown it will reroute.


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## Cdub2k (Nov 22, 2017)

I own an older smart phone. With the Uber Driver App and Pandora running it seemed like when I added Waze to that list it overwhelmed my phone and it over heated. And it seemed that Waze was always updating something everyday. I tried Waze for a week and I think some of the Veteran Local Uber Riders gave me bad ratings because of the "shortcuts" Waze recommended. 

It was not worth it for me and kind of annoying.


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