Last week I mentioned a trip to the "big city" and using my GPS.
So today, back to my big city experience.
I was going somewhere and had just reinstalled Waze. I was also running the family GPS. They both directed me the exact same way on my 25 mile/35 minute trip. About three quarters of the way to my destination Waze changed and told me to take the next right.
I ignored it because, well, I do not know for sure… but I did. OK, still driving along and all is well then Waze "bugged" me again and told me to take the next right…again I ignored it. All of a sudden I got to the top of a hill and I saw that I was on a highway parking lot. The cars were sitting still and the people looking rather hostile.
I sat there for almost an hour barely moving until finally traffic started to move. I have no idea what stopped it. The Garmin and Waze agreed again, ah, harmony. When I got to my destination I checked everything out and found that even though the Garmin has a traffic alert function it did not work; however, Waze did. If I had taken the first right where it told me I would have only been five minutes later instead of almost an hour late. I also checked the reports in the area and saw a user had submitted a picture of the truck/car wreck.
How does Waze do this? It tracks all of the GPS signals from its user base and figures, "Hmm, Ron Doyle was going 40 in a 40 mph zone and now he is going 5 mph." Then other cars near me slow down as well for a few minutes. Waze then automatically reroutes you the quickest way to get you going.
It also allows you to let people track you by emailing or texting them a link. They can follow you on a map to see when you will be there. It has other fascinating features like posting pictures of the traffic, reporting which lane is going slowly, police sightings (I guess that is for you speeders out there) and several other useful settings. You can either read this information or supply it. The choice is yours since no information is taken from you unless you grant Waze permission to do so.
If you ever travel out of the area or even if you are in a hurry to get somewhere locally, try out Waze and see if it helps you avoid traffic problems.
