I find this particularly helpful when I’m in an unfamiliar area and my departure time is flexible so I can avoid rush hour traffic or long delays. One of the significant features that Waze offers is the ability to see the best times to start your trip based on historical traffic data. If you live in a rural area, the primary value of Waze may be lost unless there are lots of other users in the area providing updates. If you live and drive in an urban area, Waze is more likely to offer time-saving alternatives during heavy traffic commutes because of its real-time data updates. One of the reasons Google acquired Waze in 2013 was to integrate some of this user-generated information into Google Maps which we see today. Waze allows any user to alert others to traffic accidents, cars on the side of the road, speed traps, and road closures as soon as they encounter them. It’s sort of a social network for commuters. From the beginning, Waze was designed to be a ‘crowd-sourced’ navigation tool that allowed real-time updates from its users to provide the most efficient route to your destination.
