Well, it's official.

[Fat Charlie]

I drive waaay too much.

[MetroMPG]

OK, I wil embarrass myself by asking what the heck the screen shot is.

[dirtydave]

Waze www.waze.com

I wouldn't take a trip without it!

[Fat Charlie]

I don't get in my car without it.

It's a great map app. It's got a good nav function, but I've found that simply having a scrolling map display with your car in the center is invaluable. What they did that really makes it kick is crowdsourcing the data- users report traffic conditions, accidents, hazards and radar traps. They can even edit the map. All those reports get verified by other users, too: driving along it'll give you an alert to an "object on road ahead" or something, and you can give it a thumbs up or down, either scratching it off everyone's map displays or adding confirmation for everyone.

Here's a shot I took this morning- there's construction going on, but it's a Friday in August and a lot of folks are on vacation so traffic is otherwise pretty light.



They gamify the process. You choose how you appear on your map and to everyone else and the system gives you points for using the app and making reports. Near holidays they'll sprinkle "road goodies" around the map- drive over one and you'll get points. The more points you have, apparently the more weight your reports, etc have.

While waiting in traffic yesterday I checked settings to see where I was in points. With my pathetic commute, I'm #11 in the state. Yay me.

[wdb]

And to think I drive my car with a steering wheel and pedals. I must be a neanderthal.

Seriously, I've been looking into waze myself. I don't put a phone in my line of sight currently, so I have a bit of a road to travel to get there. But it does seem like it could be a useful tool.

[Fat Charlie]

I've got a phone holder mounted in the left center dash vent. Just like any other instrument, it's in the corner of my eye. If it pops up with an alert or something bad scrolls onto the screen I'll spot it without trying- just like with a tach or a speedomoter, you don't have to study it to get useful information from it.

When I glance at the map I've still got the road in sight, just like when I glance at the gas gauge or anything else- like my UltraGauge that's taking up a bit of dead space in front of the cluster. It's been a few years now, and even around home I feel a bit uncomfortable if the map isn't there on the dash.

[Arragonis]

Just installed Waze out of interest.

I've never seen any app require so much access before - pretty much everything including my pants colour...

[UltArc]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Just installed Waze out of interest.

I've never seen any app require so much access before - pretty much everything including my pants colour...

It's from Google, so, yea...but most of those do have an excuse. I like Waze but it does frustrate me sometimes. Making things "simpler" makes it hard for me. I'm used to how computers work, not how "made up intuition" works. Very agitating, personally, but Google Maps has been widdled down to nothing, so Waze is what's left.

[P-hack]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

All those reports get verified by other users, too: driving along it'll give you an alert to an "object on road ahead" or something, and you can give it a thumbs up or down, either scratching it off everyone's map displays or adding confirmation for everyone.

Why does this make me think of the Prisoner's Dilemma?

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Just installed Waze out of interest.

I've never seen any app require so much access before - pretty much everything including my pants colour...

......and.......



you didn't give up our real names did you!!??!!??